It\u2019s impossible to miss Hostel Detroit<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>A diagonal strip of bricks on the building\u2019s front bears neon paint. Another wall is covered in painted faces, each with striking blue eyes that stare down approaching visitors. It\u2019s a far cry from the Hampton Inns my mother booked during family vacations when I was a kid.<\/span><\/p>\n Like a lot of people from the U.S., I\u2019ve never stayed in a hostel. I know they\u2019re common in Europe and Asia. But I just got my passport last year, and I\u2019ve yet to put it to good use. Even my world-traveler friends admit that they\u2019ve only \u201cdone the hostel thing\u201d outside the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n Midwesterners are particularly separated from hostel culture. A quick search on hostelworld.com<\/a> <\/span>reveals fewer than 20 in the flyover states. Ten are in Chicago. I search for hostels by city and only manage to find a handful more. Many of them are only open in the summer.<\/span><\/p>\n So it\u2019s hardly a Midwestern girl\u2019s fault that hostels are outside her realm of experience. But I hope to travel in the near future, and I\u2019ll likely be making use of dormitory-style rooms during those exploits. It seemed wise to try the hostel life when I\u2019m still in a familiar country, so I booked two nights at Hostel Detroit. It\u2019s the only one in the Motor City.<\/span><\/p>\n It would be cheesy to say that a travel experience changed my life. But my first stay in a hostel definitely altered the way I\u2019ll be vacationing from now on. Listen up, fellow Midwesterners: We\u2019re missing out. Here\u2019s why.<\/span><\/p>\n The Hostel Detroit building is nearly one hundred years old. In former lives, it was a shoe store, a Levi\u2019s store and a four-unit apartment complex.<\/p><\/div>\n Zach Fairchild, co-director at Hostel Detroit, stayed in his fair share of dormitories during trips in Asia and Europe. He fell in love with the hostel scene overseas. \u201cHostels get you based on the ground in a new city, and they usually provide resources that allow you to better experience that city,\u201d Fairchild said.<\/span><\/p>\n Fairchild could be Detroit\u2019s biggest hype-man. He grew up there, and when he landed back in his hometown as an adult, he knew he wanted to give back. During the housing market crash, people left Detroit in waves, turning parts of the city into a ghost-town. Fairchild wanted to change that vibe, and he realized a hostel might be able to help.<\/span><\/p>\n Before Hostel Detroit opened, Fairchild said, visitors had two options: a $200-plus hotel downtown, or a seedy motel. Neither offered what Fairchild calls a true Detroit experience. \u201cIf you go stay at a chain downtown, it\u2019s a cookie cutter experience,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re going to see what the tourism board wants to send you to.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Two part-time staff members hang out in one of Hostel Detroit\u2019s common areas, ready to answer questions. Computer access and free Wi-Fi are available at the hostel.<\/p><\/div>\n Not so at Hostel Detroit. The staff has the inside scoop on the city. Like barbecue? Obsessed with techno music? Interested in urban planning? They know where to go, and they\u2019re more than willing to point guests in the right direction. Several volunteers even give walking tours of various parts of Detroit to help newcomers get acquainted.<\/span><\/p>\n But Hostel Detroit aims to do more than revitalize the tourism industry. The team wants to help new businesses and entrepreneurs get familiar with the city. They\u2019ve already had some success: The owners of Brooklyn Street Local<\/a><\/span>, a sustainable breakfast and lunch diner that uses local produce, stayed in the hostel while deciding whether or not to open up their restaurant. <\/span><\/p>\n Fairchild said others have moved to Detroit after spending time in the hostel and getting more comfortable with the city. \u201cWe want to be a resource for people who don\u2019t know anything about Detroit but are interested,\u201d he said. \u201cThey can come in and get a local\u2019s perspective on what\u2019s really going on here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Empty lots in Detroit are being transformed by urban farmers. Behind Hostel Detroit sits a community garden, as well as a fenced-in parking lot where guests can park for an extra $5.<\/p><\/div>\n I spent my first night in Hostel Detroit sitting in a sunset-orange kitchen, chatting with a friendly stranger. His name was Oliver Unger, and like me, it was his first time in Detroit. Unlike me, he\u2019s from Berlin, Germany. He\u2019s in the U.S. for a graduate program, and he spent his spring break exploring the Midwest.<\/span><\/p>\n Unger was baffled when I started asking him about his experiences in hostels. \u201cI didn\u2019t perceive it as something extraordinary,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I was young, my family took me to hostels. Many families do because they have spots all over Germany.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Unger told me he was surprised there weren\u2019t more hostels in the U.S. \u00a0I explained that when I traveled as a kid, my parents just always got a hotel. We concluded that hostels in the U.S. just lack the momentum they have in Europe. People like what they\u2019re used to.<\/span><\/p>\n Hostel Detroit\u2019s guest list reflects that trend. Fairchild told me that between 60 to 70 percent of the people who stay at the hostel are not from the U.S. \u201cWe\u2019re definitely infrastructure for foreign tourists because they expect hostels, whereas Americans in general, it\u2019s not their first choice,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n The diverse group of visitors, though, make hostels prime spots for meeting fascinating people. Unger told me that at the last hostel he stayed in, he met a Somali refugee. And there I was, getting to know a guy from Berlin \u2014 who slept in the bunk above me.<\/p>\n One of three kitchens in Hostel Detroit \u2014 the perfect space for meeting other guests from around the world.<\/p><\/div>\n Some of those characters can become good friends. Evan Ambrose, the other co-director for Hostel Detroit, made friends with a group staying in a Canadian hostel, and he was later able to stay on one of their couches when visiting Montreal. \u201cYou get to meet people, and yeah, hanging out with them when you\u2019re both in the same city, but hopefully you can keep those friendships going. That can lead you to your next adventure,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n I don\u2019t think I built any lasting friendships (no offense, Oliver), but I did enjoy chatting with people I never would have met had we been staying in a hotel and locking ourselves in our rooms at night.<\/span><\/p>\n\n According to the hotel price index<\/a><\/span>\u00a0created by Hotels.com, the average hotel room cost $120 per night in 2016. I paid $30 per night at Hostel Detroit, plus an extra $5 per night to park my car in the fenced-in lot.<\/span><\/p>\n Over two days, my $70 got me a bed for two nights in a room with ten other people. The hostel staff provided me with a set of sheets, some blankets, a pillow and a towel for the communal bathroom (the building had four, shared between 30 guests). I also had access to a kitchen with a microwave, an oven, a fridge and plenty of cooking utensils.<\/span><\/p>\n All this, plus a staff with insider info about Detroit? I could have paid three times the cost per night and still not had access to so many amenities.<\/span><\/p>\n Ambrose said the affordability is one of the biggest draws. \u201cHostels are the perfect way to save money on lodging,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the whole point of it, to make Detroit affordable and accessible.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Other hostels around the Midwest have similar deals. The J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Hostel<\/a><\/span>\u00a0in Chicago, for example, is $34 per night. The HI Madison<\/a> <\/span>is $26-28 per night, depending upon the size of the dorm. The more people staying in a room, the cheaper the price. <\/span><\/p>\n Visitors feeling weird about sharing space can pay extra for a private room. Hostel Detroit\u2019s private rooms have one bunkbed and cost $64 per person, so they\u2019re ideal for two people traveling together who still want their own bed.<\/span><\/p>\n One of the dormitories at Hostel Detroit. When each guest arrives, they choose a bunk and set up with the bedding provided by the hostel staff. At the end of their stay, they simply strip the bed and leave the blankets at the foot of the bed to be washed.<\/p><\/div>\n I was worried about the sharing aspect \u2014 I love my personal space and quiet time. But my bunk bed was designed almost like a spacious hole in the wall, so once I climbed in, I was insulated from most of the outside light and noise.<\/span><\/p>\n Not everyone felt the same. Another guest I met at Hostel Detroit, Shivali Rao, would have preferred a private room. She\u2019s a student at Purdue University in Indiana, and she was in Detroit for a community service trip with several classmates. I asked her how she liked the hostel. \u201cIt\u2019s not too different from the dorm lifestyle. But I\u2019m used to having my own space, so it\u2019s kind of weird,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n Rao told me that she\u2019s always traveled with her family. \u201cMy dad\u2019s not going to stay in a hostel,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s going to get a hotel room. It\u2019s about comfort, I guess.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Even though Rao wasn\u2019t completely sold on the hostel concept, it seemed like the affordability might bring her back. \u201cIf it\u2019s just me, then I\u2019d stay in a hostel again,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s so cheap.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/urban-plains.com\/2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_0680-1124x749.jpg\")
A Tailor-Made Travel Experience<\/h6>\n
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Warm Company<\/h6>\n
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So. Freaking. Affordable.<\/h6>\n
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