Grungy hostel rooms crammed with bunk beds, shared mouldy bathrooms and rat-infested kitchens were once accepted as the price of cheap travel.
And there are still plenty of hostels keeping that grimy tradition alive, if online reviews are anything to go by.
But the backpacking accommodation industry has shifted dramatically in recent years, with the youth no longer as willing to spend the night trying to block their ears against their neighbours’ night-time activities.
The new backpacking experience incorporates digital nomads and their penchant for Instagrammable backgrounds, and the “bleisure” (blending business and leisure) crowd.
There’s more of a focus on sustainability, wellness and authentic experiences, as well as on privacy and hygiene. Private rooms, rooftop bars, pools, cafes and co-working spaces are blurring the line between hotel and hostel.
“It was ripe to evolve,” says the chief executive of the hostel association YHA Australia, Paul McGrath, who was brought on early in the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Even before Covid it was starting to evolve. Guests were coming with higher expectations.
“They wanted to travel, and they wanted low-cost accommodation, but they weren’t prepared to spend $15 to stay in an 18-bed dorm.
“In the bad old days – or good old days, depending on how you look at it – they were coming and having a blast, partying, drinking. Now they’re coming to work, to have an experience.”
In Australia and around the world, hostels have been closing down, turned into apartment blocks, demolished or transformed.
Sunny’s Adelaide Backpackers Hostel shut its doors after Easter.
Owner John Dwyer says while the cost of living and other factors were part of his decision, the industry had also changed.
“The kids prefer Airbnb. They don’t want dorms any more,” he told ABC Adelaide radio.
He said people coming through said their friends weren’t resilient, they weren’t adventurous, and that they didn’t know how to talk to strangers.
The number of YHAs has halved in recent years, leaving just 18 operating in Australia.
But the services they offer have expanded. Food and drinks have become part of the business case, with options for à la carte meals, cafes, or pizzas on a rooftop bar.
McGrath says it’s “blurring the line between a hotel and a hostel”, creating social spaces with better amenities.
“There are some good things about hotels and some not so good, and vice versa,” he says. “Our secret sauce is every night building a community within the property.”
Frazer Graham, 26, arrived from Portsmouth in England in 2024 and booked into a Sydney hostel with only a rucksack while he worked out how to get to the ski slopes.
“I think I stayed at five or six different hostels,” he says. “I went to one … 14 beds, no privacy curtains, the air conditioning doesn’t really exist, and there’s only one bathroom.
“And that’s the horror – 14 alarms in the morning. To hear all the [bag] zips … I’ve been to some where they’ve just crammed in as many beds as they can.”
It’s a matter of hostels finding a balance and giving people what they want, he says – whether that’s parties or privacy.
He arrived in Thredbo, stayed at a YHA and never looked back. Now he runs activities for them in Sydney – tours, pub crawls, bowling nights and Aboriginal cultural events.
“When people travel around and they see a set standard, it gives them a bit of relief,” he says.
It’s not just Australia feeling the shift. In 2023 the YHA in England and Wales announced it was selling 20 of its 150 hostels. Their website now shows 108 available properties.
The reduction was blamed on the pandemic, inflation, the cost of living – and Brexit, which has reduced European school trips to the UK.
“The UK is slightly behind,” McGrath says, adding it is in part because they had to furlough staff during the pandemic. But they are also starting to transform, he says, to keep up with the times.
New Zealand YHA closed down in 2021 and went into liquidation in 2024.
YHA may be the most recognisable hostel brand in Australia, but they are only part of a loose network of cheap, shared accommodation. There are also family-run hostels, anarchic share houses with a fluid flow of bodies, illegal bedsits – and all manner of ad hoc accommodation.
And there’s the regional network, where agricultural workers provide an essential service to farms – sometimes suffering exploitation in return.
Other chains are filling the gaps. Tequila Sunrise Hostels, which specialises in capsule-style beds promising security, privacy and “soft lighting”, now has six properties in Australia.
The Wake Up! hostel chain bought Bondi Backpackers in 2019, and renovated its Byron Bay property to include a resort-style pool and a wellness area.
The latest statistics from Tourism Australia show working holidaymaker (WHM) visas are up on pre-pandemic levels. From about 300,000 in 2018-19, the visas plummeted to zero, but were up to 376,600 last financial year.
“The world around WHMs has shifted as a new generation of youths enter the market,” its report notes.
“They seek extended, immersive, and challenging experiences. They want to live like locals, experience daily life, and gain a deeper understanding of Australian culture.”
