Four-storey bunkbeds and fighter-jet snores. Alarms sounding at 5am. Making friends for life. Hostels have offered independent travelers both affordability and sociability for generations, but can they tempt people back during the pandemic?
Hostels are still social spaces
Just minutes from the recently reopened Sore point District, The Amsterdam Winston Hostel has a bit of a reputation as a party hostel: DJs, beer pong, and it is own nightclub. But because the sun flickers across its outdoor terrace, beads of condensation running down chilled pints of lager, it also has that magical pull that only the best hostels do: an area where like-minded travelers gather to laugh, to organize, to make new buddies.
“Hostels are naturally big social bubbles,” says Sophie Herbert from The Winston. “If you're traveling by yourself, you don't want to be sitting in a hotel room. The entire reason people stay in hostels is to meet other travelers and come together to share stories.”
Safe interactions at hostels
However, during a pandemic, where strict social distancing rules are in place, hostels are experiencing to produce a new normal. Like many European hostels, the Winston has installed plastic screens, increased the frequency of its deep cleans and reduced capacity in public places spaces for example bars.
It still wants to retain as much interaction between guests as it safely can, so events for example quizzes and live music are back around the cards. Dormitories are reopening too. “What we're attempting to do is persuade folks to book out dormitories like a group or household or social bubble,” says Sophie.
Social distancing rules now mean you will find fewer beds in every shared room and also the hostel has converted some dormitories into private rooms. But regardless of the changes, travelers are returning.
“We're beginning to see increasing numbers of people booking online and coming to stay,” says Sophie. “It's all been extremely positive, actually. Backpackers are quite young and resilient.” Although occupation minute rates are nowhere close to the usual 98 -100% they are utilised to in the summertime, numbers are rising and appear particularly promising for September.
Changing what's on offer
Over in Berlin, The Circus Hostel has begun to welcome travelers back too. “We actually have 16 guests within the hostel, mainly German, that is very strange for all of us because usually we have such a huge international crowd,” says the hostel's Maja Stefanovic.
Attracted by its proximity towards the Party Line (the U8 U-Bahn route to clubbing center Kreuzberg), the frothy lagers offered by the on-site microbrewery, and exclusive after-hours tours towards the Opera House or even the Natural History Museum, this hostel was built was backpackers in mind.
“We were started by five friends who lived together, traveled a great deal and try to thought: 'what would we like to have when we are traveling ourselves?'” says Maja, “and then they chose to create that for Berlin visitors.”
Since COVID-19, they're having to rethink that premise again. As well as lowering numbers within the dormitories, your accommodation will make face masks mandatory for staff and switch the breakfast buffet with pre-prepared options only. It's also luring guests back with deals. “We are lowering all prices,” admits Maja. “But we're also doing other little things like including breakfasts in the booking, free cancellations, and later checkouts. We're giving people options.”
What do travelers think?
Tactics like this, used over the continent, seem to be working. One intrepid traveler already on the go is Ray K, who works for the US government in Germany. He took two buses to get from Nuremberg to Hamburg for a three-night remain in a shared room at the a&o Hostel Hamburg – Hauptbahnhof.
“I've had a long weekend due to July 4 [Independence Day in the US],” Ray tells Lonely Planet, “plus [the government has] just started to allow travel within Germany.”
Despite finding yourself in the high-risk category should he catch COVID-19, Ray plans to go sightseeing with friends from Bremen he met whilst staying at a hostel in Dublin this past year.
“Masks have to be worn in the building, except in the rooms,” Ray explains. He adds that there are at least two other guests remaining in his six-bed dormitory, plus a whole family browsing line to check-in with the arrival line snaking on your way.
Even though he has been in a full bus for 10 hours, Ray admits that he isn't that concerned about remaining in shared accommodation. “I'm just happy to travel,” he states.
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