Term
A hostel is a low-budget place offering temporary accommodation, different to a hotel in terms of the number of places in rooms and the sharing of equipment and space with other guests (e.g. a shared kitchen, common room, bathrooms). A hostel is also different to a hotel in terms of the atmosphere: less official and more homely. While the typical room type at the beginning was beds in a shared room, increasingly hostels offer private rooms too.
The term `hostel` comes from English. It is transcribed verbatim into Polish and means a youth hostel or lodgings. Given that the youth hostels in Poland are regarded as being quite low quality, the word hostel was used to describe places which also accommodate guests but at a higher standard. The offer of most European hostels is on the basis of 6, 8 and 10 person rooms in which you pay for a single bed. In many locations you can also find private rooms: 1, 2 and 3 beds and whose price is somewhat higher than the larger dormitory style rooms. The bathroom is usually shared with other guests. The price rises when there is a bathroom for each room - even so, the hostel offers a much cheaper alternative to the hotel.
Polish hostels are usually at the same standard that one would find in Western Europe, different only in terms of price since they are much cheaper. The largest number of hostels are to be found in Kraków and the number is steadily growing.
The unwritten hostel standard is: access to the Internet (often for free), frequently a free, simple breakfast or tea and coffee, common room for the guests (often with a TV) where you can meet new friends, and a reception which is open 24 hours. Hostels are to be found all over the world and are playing an increasingly large role in the tourist trade.
History
In 1912 Richard Schirrmann opened the first youth hostel (Jugendherberge) in Germany aimed at serving the needs of poor young city dwellers who wanted to go on holiday. In order to cut the cost of the hostel, the majority of the management and services would be provided by young people, which meant that at the same time there was an educative element to the whole venture. The idea quickly spread to other countries with the result that the not-for-profit Hostelling International (HI) was created and grew to include 4,500 hostels in 80 countries all over the world.
