The good things hostels do

Orie in front of her hostel, the 1166 Backpackers, in Nagano.

The quality of a hostel, of the people we meet there, of the services we get, will influence how we see a city or even a country.

If I've already given tips to choose the right hostel, I thought of giving examples of what made the difference sometimes. I went with the hostels I liked enough to recommend them on my links page.

• Pella Inn - Athens
  The strength of Pella Inn was not in its rooms, small, or in the price of the laundry, very high. In this case, the location was key. It was easy to reach the main sites, like the Acropole. But the main thing was the rooftop bar with a view on the Parthenon. Hard to go to bed when you can admire the ruins all night long. Extra points for the employees, some of the nicest I met.
• Ngoc Thao Guesthouse - Ho Chi Minh City
  In Vietnam, this hostel has a family vibe. That is because it is family owned. You can often meet the owners in their pyjama, in the morning or in the evening, because they live there. Their children play with the clients. And because there is no other employees, if they want to remain open, they'd better offer good services. They make the breakfast and have pertnership with trustable companies for tours. There is enough people to make sure someone is always ready to help at the reception.
• Kyoto Hana Hostel - Kyoto
  Two fantastical ideas, other than the possibilty to rent bikes : curtains around the beds to avoid light from disturbing guests and to give intimacy, and on the inside door of the bathroom, posters with the translation of some keywords in Japanese... It's obvious they are read.
• Goodnight Hostel - Lisbon
  If the mattresses are old, Goodnight Hostel differenciate itself because of the staff who can recognize most of the guests and call them by their name all the time. If they don't remember you, you have with you a card they have given upon arrival to confirm you were a guest. The living room, without a television, has a L shaped couch, ideal for meetings and discussions with strangers.
• 1166 Backpackers - Nagano
  In the house of the only owner, Orie, this hostel feels like you're staying at a local's place. On the first floor, there is a huge table where all the guest sit inevitably. On the wall, a map with pins telling where the previous guest were from. And there is Orie, sometimes offering food or sake...
• St-Christophers - Prague
  Almost a hotel, the St-Christophers has huge bathrooms with toilets recuperating rain water. The lights turn themselves off when there is nobody inside the room. Same for the temperature, which adjusts according to the number of guests. The beds are huge, like the pillows, and lockers on wheels, also huge, are placed under the beds. The large windows can be completely covered by opaque curtains. Rare in hostels
• Adventure Queenstown Hostel and Chalet - Queenstown
  This hostel is owned by an experienced traveler. Decoration is made with pictures he took around the world, with bank notes he gathered traveling. Good idea : the quiz at night. Teams are randomly formed with guests from everywhere. They need to answer general knowledge questions. No choice to talk to each other. Reward for the winners : free beer.
  Congrats for the wooden structures for the beds. No noise. For the bean bags we can sit on in the rooms. For the power supply in the lockers, so you can charge your phone or computer while sleeping. For those velcro tag you put on the beds for 1) claiming them 2) introducing yourself to the other travelers. For the individual reading lights. For the power supply for each bed. One often need to search for them in hostels.
• Hey Hostel - Sao Paulo
  When the owner has traveled around the world for seven months, he knows what he's talking about. 24 h reception, security cameras, a computer linked with a big flat screen on the wall, to help with communications sometimes, a wall completely made of a blackboard, to draw, to leave a message, to inform...  plastic bottles in which spices grow, outside, and of course power supply in the lockers.

All of them offered free wi-fi. Note the inner courtyard, with no roof, used as a common room at Backpackers HQ in Sydney, the restaurant in the hostel at Phoenix Hostel in Shanghai, the warm feeling in Purple Gobelin in Tallin, giving the impression you are couchsurfing, where you can play poker with owners like they were travelers too. Good points for Che Lagarto in Brazil, where they have 110 and 220 volts plugs.

We like the sinks outside the bathrooms too and the typical free dinner some hostels offer sometimes.