What is a youth hostel? The movement, its history and how membership works

Youth hostel meaning: one name for a hostel and a movement

Merriam-Webster defines hostel, in its travel sense, as an inexpensive lodging facility for usually young travellers that typically has dormitory-style sleeping arrangements and sometimes offers meals and planned activities, and notes that it is also called a youth hostel. In everyday use, the two terms overlap.

The difference is one of origin and organisation. Youth hostel points to the national associations that grew out of the German idea and later joined together. Hostel is the broader word, and it also covers independent hostels that have no connection with that network. Wikivoyage makes the same distinction: many hostels have affiliated with Hostelling International, but not all are affiliated, and there are other hostelling networks as well.

Richard Schirrmann, a thunderstorm and the castle at Altena

Hostelling International tells the story this way: in 1909 a German schoolteacher, sheltering with his pupils from a storm, wondered how young people could travel affordably and safely. Wikipedia names him as Richard Schirrmann and says that after a stormy school camping trip in August 1909 he proposed the idea of affordable youth travel and opened a makeshift hostel for hikers in his school.

Wikipedia's article on Schirrmann says he met Wilhelm Münker, later his partner, in 1903, when he was transferred to a school in Altena. The first official hostel was set in the castle at Altena in Germany. Wikipedia's article on Schirrmann gives the opening date as 1 June 1912. HI's own history and Wikipedia's article on the castle give 1914, the year the castle's restoration was finished. The sources disagree, so treat 1912 to 1914 as the opening window rather than a single fixed date. The original rooms are a museum today, and a separate hostel has run in the lower courtyard since 1934.

From German idea to international federation, 1919 to 1932

Wikipedia says Schirrmann founded the German Youth Hostel Association in 1919. He had also reflected on the Christmas truce of 1915, when French and German troops made peace spontaneously, and wondered whether young people of all countries could be given suitable meeting places. He later called hostels bridges of peace.

Other European countries adopted the idea. The International Youth Hostel Federation was founded in October 1932 in Amsterdam, by representatives from eleven countries, including Britain, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands. HI says the founders committed to letting young people travel and learn from one another regardless of nationality, religion, background, colour, sex, class or political opinion. Schirrmann was president from 1933, and resigned in 1936 when the German government forced him out and brought the hostels under Hitler Youth control.

After the war the idea spread. Wikipedia says that through the 1950s it reached Asia, Africa and Latin America, that the network passed 500 million overnight stays by 1977 and one billion by 1997, and that the federation adopted the name Hostelling International in 2006.

Early hostelling in Britain: wardens, duties and walkers

Wikipedia's article on the Youth Hostels Association in England and Wales says the British body formed on 10 April 1930, and that separate associations cover Scotland and Northern Ireland. The first hostel opened that December and shut in 1931 over its water supply, and by the end of 1931 75 hostels had opened, though 15 closed permanently.

Early hostels used single-sex dormitories with bunk beds, self-catering facilities and meals at many sites, and each was run by a warden. Membership was required, and everyone staying took on duties such as washing up and cleaning. The emphasis was on a communal atmosphere shared by walkers and cyclists. By the outbreak of the Second World War the association had 297 hostels and 83,000 members, according to the same article.

The charity's stated aim was to help all, especially young people of limited means, to know and care for the countryside, and to appreciate the culture of towns and cities. Today the British capitals such as London and Edinburgh also have apartment-style stays to compare.

Membership cards and the network today

HI describes itself on its own website as a charity, not a chain. It says the network spans 57 countries with more than 2,100 hostels and 2.63 million members, that each member association stays independent, and that income from its hostels is reinvested in the network. These figures are HI's own, so treat any count as approximate.

Wikipedia says that at the federation's founding, representatives agreed on an international membership card and minimum standards for hostels, and that membership is still required today. Wikivoyage is more nuanced, noting that for some national hostelling organisations you must be a member to stay, while others do not require it but give members a discount. In practice you should read the specific hostel's terms.

Do youth hostels still have age limits? How they changed

Despite the name, Wikipedia says hostels are popular with backpackers and young travellers but most do not impose age limits. Wikivoyage notes that some hostels have a minimum age unless you are accompanied, and some a maximum. Wikipedia's article on the federation adds that growing backpacker culture pushed hostels to change.

Concrete changes include the end of the chores practice, which Wikipedia's Hostelling International article says was phased out in England and Wales during the 1980s, and, according to the YHA article, a move toward smaller rooms, more showers and the abolition of washrooms as young travellers wanted less spartan facilities. Many hostels now sell private rooms as well as dormitory beds.

Choosing a hostel for a longer or family trip

For a short route, a hostel in the network offers a known baseline and member rates. For a longer trip, check whether your hostel has a kitchen, laundry and a quiet space. A bed and breakfast gives more privacy, and an aparthotel gives a private kitchen and living area. See the history of serviced apartments for another accommodation format that grew in response to longer stays.

If you outgrow the dormitory in a city like Berlin, compare apartments with a kitchen through Berlin stays with a kitchen, or look at lower-cost options in London. Ratings also work differently: how aparthotels are classified and rated explains why stars say little about shared-room lodging.