In case you haven’t noticed, there’s not a lot of money being spent to research the hostel industry. We have prestigious universities and million-dollar research firms dedicated to studying hotel management, but when it comes to hostels, often the best we can do is take research from other realms and extrapolate the findings to our own. Dr. Gang Li is a professor at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at the University of Surrey. Last month in the Journal of Travel Research he published a paper on how owners being motivated by lifestyle over profits impacts small tourism businesses. Although his research subjects were guest houses in China, the similarities with the hostel industry couldn’t be more striking. Check out what Professor Li’s research uncovered and how it applies to owner-operated, independent hostels.

Everyone in the hostel industry should be familiar with Hostelling International. The worldwide organization has been around for more than 100 years and operates in eighty countries. As an old-school non-profit organization, HI is not known for being edgy and splashy. However, don’t write off HI as being a hostel industry dinosaur. Here in the United States HIUSA is building a new hostel in New Orleans. Although they probably won’t invite DJ Khaled to the opening party,  their newest property will definitely be different from other HI properties. The upgrades at the latest HI echo changes within the hostel market as a whole. Here’s what HI is up to in the Mardi Gras city and why we should all notice what it says about our industry.

Recently I had a chance to speak to the CEO of Percepture, Thor Harris. Percepture is a digital marketing company. Their clients include hotels, cruise lines, tourism boards, even a railway! They have one big hostel client right now, but for most hostels, hiring Percepture would be like using a flamethrower to light a cigarette. Regardless, even a little hostel can learn from what a travel industry leader has to say, so read on!

The HostelSkills conference in Lisbon saw more than sixty industry insiders gather in Portugal for two days of presentations, networking, and parties. Many American hostels asked me about the conference, whether it was valuable and worth attending. Today I'll describe the big picture of why the HostelSkills conference was a valuable experience. If you missed the conference, subscribe to the blog to receive future posts sharing specific learnings from the presentations. Were you at HostelSkills Lisbon? Leave a comment and share your perspective on the conference.

In 2017 Hilton’s CEO Chris Nassetta announced that they were developing a new brand for a “hostel on steroids.” Wow, the fourth largest hotel company, with 8,976 properties in the world getting into the hostel space. Can you imagine? The resources they’d have at their disposal would make Generator look like a little guest house. That would be pretty scary for hostel owners or would-be hostel owners. Sure, many backpackers enjoy staying exclusively at independent hostels but with plenty of chains like USA Hostels, Vietnam Backpackers, Mad Monkeys, and HostelOne, it’s clear there’s a huge segment of our audience that’s happy to stay with a chain, so why not Hilton Hostels? Yesterday Hilton announced their new brand, “Motto by Hilton” and although there may be steroids, there’s no hostel. Here’s what Motto is going to be about and why they dropped the S and decided to stick to doing hotels.

It’s amazing how much we can suffer from a tiny little bug that doesn’t do any real harm. Bed bugs are the scourge of the hotel and hostel industry, even though they don’t transmit diseases. Being infected with bed bugs is just so unsettling that the sting of your hostel being hit with bed bugs is way worse than their actual bite. Bed bugs are a big issue and this ultimate guide to bed bugs for hostels will help you handle bed bugs if you already have them, or hopefully prevent problems before they. start

Is your hostel humming along smoothly? Are you considering starting a second? There are still so many cities that either need a hostel or need more hostels that now is a great time for operators to consider a second location. Andy Ward is the owner of Drifter Jack’s in Austin and Ember in Denver, two top-rated hostels. He joins us today to tell American Hostels what it was like to start a hostel, the second time around.

Did you know that road trips are back in fashion? Turns out we can only watch so many fiascos  or suffer through so many baggage fees (paying for a carry-on? Really? ) before many of us decide it’s time to pack up the SUV and hit the road. The particulars of the recent uptick in road trips can be a boon to the hostel industry. In particular, isolated, off-the-beaten-track hostels should take notice of the recent road trip trend.