Hostel membership?

Yes, a membership in HI-USA can be used at HI hostels worldwide. Check their website for the list of hostels.

Billy, I believe that an HI Hostel membership can be used at any of their properties worldwide. I usually have a current membership when I travel, as I tend to prefer HI Hostels when I'm not using budget Hotels.

I've found that the HI facilities are fairly consistent (for the most part), and they usually provide a great breakfast.

Happy travels!

Dear Billy,

I question how useful HI membership is. I have stayed in dozens of cities across Europe, and have never needed membership. Most places say that they will charge a supplement to non-members, but that only happened to me here in the UK.

In my opinion, HI hostels are generally fairly soulless and dull, if reliably clean. Have a look at www.hostelz.com, for the cities you plan to travel to. As for more organised hostels, there are great non-HI hostels out there which are just as organised (Meininger and Wombat's spring to mind).

Mark

"I question how useful HI membership is. I have stayed in dozens of cities across Europe, and have never needed membership. Most places say that they will charge a supplement to non-members, but that only happened to me here in the UK."

That depends: if you stay in small towns they often charge extra fee (e.g. you have to pay for "stamps") and at least in France, in HI-hostels you can't stay without a card (or without purchasing those stamps)

Billy,

For the small cost that's involved, I felt it would be worthwhile to have a Hostel membership. If staying at HI properties, it provides preferred booking (over those that don't have a membership) and slightly better rates. Also I stayed at one HI Hostel in Switzerland where a membership appeared to be mandatory.

I tend to prefer HI Hostels, and don't find them "souless and dull" at all (IMO of course). As the facilities are fairly consistent between locations, at least I have some idea what to expect when arriving at a new location.

Cheers!

I hate HI hostels, they have no personality and the staff usually isn't very nice. My friend got really sick and I got into a screaming match (in French) with the staff, because they wouldn't let my friend stay in the hostel to rest (she had gotten sick from a bad fruit pastry and was puking all over the place! no way she could have gone anywhere!).

I will never stay at one again after that experience.

If your itinerary includes a lot of hostel stays, getting the HI card is worthwhile. Yes, a card purchased here is good everywhere.

Erica, thats standard good business and a courtesy to other guests as well as staff. They dont know if what she has was contagious so they would rather turn someone away then have an entire building of sick people. I would prefer a place to do that, and on the other end, I myself would understand if I was sick and had to leave. I would just check into a cheap hotel and quarantine myself for a day or so until I felt better.

I'm sorry to hear about Erica's bad experience. I think there's something to what Tami said, but I wonder what would have happened if Erica's friend say sprained her ankle badly and couldn't walk. That's certainly not contagious.

I think some hostels would still try to get her to leave, the ones that close during the day that is. Everyone gets kicked out because they don't have a staff during the day or they have to clean or whatever. But not all HI hostels do that, some are open 24 hours, so note their hours when you book Billy.

I recommend getting the membership, it's not much, what $28 I think, and it helps support the cause so to speak. I stayed in many hostels in Europe and had a great time, met lots of neat people of all ages and learned a lot. Some have bars and lounges and some are lower key; they're all different. I didn't find any of them to be soul-less, but some were more soulful than others.

Billy, take note of what the others said, the membership gives you priority over those without and it even gives you discounts at some non HI hostels.

Have a great trip.

Cheers,

Maggie

I spent a month staying in hostels, and in all that time only one of the hostels that I stayed in was an HI hostel. That is not to say that you will not, but you might want to research where you will be staying to ensure that the membership fee is worth it. Many HI hostels let you stay if you do not have a membership, but you must pay a small surcharge. For me, this surcharge was worth it as it worked out to being 1/5 of the membership fee. They even let me make a reservation in advance without the membership.

Of course, if it appears that you will be staying in a number of HI hostels, then certainly go ahead and get the membership before you leave!

Just to make sure you see all your options, I recommend a good website like hostels.com to search - make sure you are not just restricting yourself to the HI search. I always read the reviews of the places before I booked, and was never disappointed.

Have a great trip!

I find my HI membership to be more useful in the US and Canada.

In countries like Italy and France, where non-HIs are few and far between, it can also be useful.

While Rick Steves constantly preaches that unaffiliated hostels are generally dirty and disorganized, well, I don't think he's slept in a hostel in decades.

I've spent over 120 nights in hostels in Europe, and at least 100 of those were in independents. While some were dumps, most were acceptable and quite a few were amazing. Please note I've stayed in unpleasant HIs too (the one in Rome comes to mind).

Additionally, many European HIs are far from the center, have a midday lockout (which also makes for inconvenient check-in and luggage storage), and, tend to filled with school children on class trips.

There are some brilliant independent hostels in Europe. The best hostel city, hands down, is Lisbon, where the standard is so high, there is a large assortment of great options.

Search the cities you plan to visit on hostelworld.com. Anything you find with more than 100 reviews and 90+% rating will be outstanding.

My top 5 favorites in Europe:
1)Living Lounge, Lisbon
2)The Circus, Berlin
3)Czech Inn, Prague
4)Hostel Ruthensteiner, Vienna
5)Wombats, Vienna