Skift Take

Forget what you think you thought you knew about hostels. Today's hostels are still budget-friendly, but also incredibly design-forward and sophisticated.

During the Skift Global Forum in New York City in September — our biggest gathering yet — we focused on a hospitality sector often disregarded as being only for backpackers, youths, and travelers on a strict budget: the hostel.

Today’s hostels, however, and their guests, have matured and evolved. Today’s hostels are true lifestyle products unto their own, even appealing to business travelers in some cases. And there’s no better example of the new breed of hostels than Generator Hostels, which got its start across the Atlantic in 2007. Today, the brand continues to grow throughout Europe and it looks to expand in the U.S. as well.

Generator Hostels CEO Fredrik Korallus sat down with Skift Senior Editor Greg Oates to talk about how hostels have become a huge missed opportunity in hospitality, and why more in the industry should be paying attention to the hostel model going forward.

You can watch his full discussion, below.

Read more coverage of Skift Global Forum 2016.

At this year’s Skift Global Forum in New York City, travel leaders from around the world gathered for two days of inspiration, information, and conversation for panels such as this as well as solo TED-like talks on the future of travel.

Visit our Skift Global Forum site for more details about 2017 events, including our London event in April of 2017.

Have a confidential tip for Skift? Get in touch

Tags: generator hostels, hostels

Up Next

Loading next stories