Tough times has forced a developer in South Florida to rethink his condo hotel development, so he’s reconfigured it as a hotel-hostel that offers not just the standard shared room arrangements familiar to any college student who’s traveled, but also slightly more expensive private rooms with kitchenettes and basic hotel amenities for $50 a night, writes the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

New hostel-hotels no longer target just back-packing students on long international journeys. They also seek out “flash-packers,” an older vacationer on a two- to four-day trip who carries along his flash-drive and other high-tech devices, wants a private room but still likes the camaraderie of global travelers, experts say.

“Right now, people are looking to travel a lot but spend less,” said Lieberman. “A “playcation” is the direction we seek — to offer not just a place to stay but a place where people can meet each other and do group activities.”

Eli Roth movies notwithstanding, a hostel stay doesn’t have to be an unsavory experience. Two sites—hostelworld.com and hostelbookers.com—are good places to start if you want to find out what hostels are available in the US. Hostelworld only accepts reviews from guests who have booked through the site and stayed at the location, which makes it a fairly reliable source for first-hand accounts.

“New breed of hostel has a toehold in South Florida” [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
(Photo: mollypop)

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