It’s that time of year again! The time when I hang out with over 150 people for 24 hours who are all discussing hostels and budget travel so that I can use what I learn to better serve you guys… the hostel travellers!

The Hostel and Budget Traveller Conference 2016 London - The Hostel Girl 2

This year The Hostel & Budget Traveller Conference took place near the Marble Arch in London, so not only was I excited to be re-visiting an iconic London landmark but I also got to stay near the beautiful Hyde Park area at MEININGER Hotels London.

Watch my snapchat story for an insight of what the hostel industry gets up to behind closed doors!

Interested in what I got to up to when I left Morocco for a week to visit London and hang out with MEININGER Hotel…

Posted by The Hostel Girl on Friday, 20 November 2015

The Hostel & Budget Traveller Conference 2015

The Hostel and Budget Traveller Conference 2016 London - The Hostel Girl 5

Hostels Around The World

The Freehand, US

Here on the blog, as you guys know, I focus almost entirely on hostels in Europe.

But thanks to a really interesting session run by Blake Danner, COO of Sydell Group who own the exciting Freehand Hotels in the US, I’m interested in the hostels you guys are most interested in reading about here on The Hostel Girl…
For those who haven’t heard of Freehand, they are an emerging hostel chain in the States – popular not only with international backpackers but also with business travellers looking for the quality of a high class hotel combined with the social atmosphere that hostels offer.

Thanks to @the_hostelgirl for shout out on my presentation at the #hbt2015 conference in London! @sydellgroup @freehandmiami @freehandchicago A photo posted by T. Blake Danner (@tbdanner) on Nov 18, 2015 at 12:16am PST

Urban House Hotel, Copenhagen

At the conference afterparty at Clink78 Hostel, more than a few people were discussing the presentation of Urban House Hotel by Jason Rasin of Pandox, who focused the bulk of their investment in the property in the social public areas.

Which explains the tattoo shop!

The Hostel and Budget Traveller Conference 2016 London - The Hostel Girl 15

What is a hostel?

I don’t know if you realised but both the properties that are mentioned above describe themselves as hotels…

Last year we spoke about how ‘hostel’ shouldn’t be a dirty word, yet from the video below it’s clear that we still need to convince you guys that…

[Tweet “Hostels aren’t the cheap and nasty budget accommodation options of the past!”]

And if you’re new to hostel travel, make sure to read my comprehensive guide: What Is A Hostel? The Ultimate Hostel Guide to find out more about the history of hostels and how they are developing into modern, social environments for the 21st century budget traveller!

The Hostel & Budget Hotel of the Future

From research presented by Simon Eder of Voxburner, and a panel discussion led by the leaders of JLL, The Hotel Culture, Hostelling International, IHG and my favourite hotel news reporter Terence Baker – it was clear that the focus for the hostel and budget hotel of the future is on the security, privacy, and facilitation of social interaction for young travellers.

I especially loved this quote:

[Tweet “Our main focus is for young people to come in to a better world – Stephen Lane @Hostelling”]

And if you’re ever worried that hostels are becoming too much like budget hotels… Liam Doyle of of Clink Hostels is keen to make sure hostels keep their focus on social interaction!