Home Sweet Hostel
April 19, 2010 
15 Comments
I think it is high time Spokane opened a hostel. You know what I’m talking about. Those low-rent hotels that offer communal accommodations with bunk-style bedding. Great for young people, those traveling long distances for long periods of time, and those that just don’t want to commit to anything pricier. If Portland can sustain 5 hostels, and Seattle can support 8, then yours truly is overdue for at lease one!
While we are already slated to get our very own version of Boise’s hip-but-not-too-exorbitant Modern Hotel, our local hospitality developers are curiously quiet on the hostelling front. How many houses do you see like the one below in Browne’s Addition that could be easily filled up with bunks? For an award-winning neighborhood that is close to the amenities and is smooth sailing (hill free) from a bicyclist’s standpoint, I think Browne’s would be an ideal home for Spokane’s hostel. (Not that I’m biased or anything!)
The Portland Hostel in the Hawthorne District
Scott Shaprio, one of Spokane’s many lost sons, just so happens to be the brains behind a renovation of the American Hotel, which was built in 1925 as a single room occupancy (SRO) hotel in the International District of downtown Seattle. I asked him a few questions about hostels and his home town. Here were some of his more notable answers:
1. What kind of people usually start hostels? Retirees? Small business owners? People in hospitality?
Hostels are started by all of the above, although most are started by non-profits such as Hostelling International USA (www.hiusa.org) or small business owners. They are started based on identifying a need in a community and doing the research and analysis to support that the business will be financially sustainable.
2. What will be the social, cultural and economic benefits to Spokane if our community can open and sustain a hostel?
Hostels host people from all of the U.S. and world, so it would bring people with different backgrounds who would share their experiences (and spend their resources) in Spokane.
3. Why doesn’t Spokane already have something like this?
Economics. There is not enough demand from travelers coming to Spokane, yet the cost to build and operate a hostel are very similar to Seattle. As for supply, there is already a surfeit of low-cost lodging options in Spokane.
4. How would Spokane advertise and promote a hostel effectively?
Affiliating with Hostelling International is the best thing one could do to make a hostel successful. Other web based activities are also crucial.
Click here for a stunning virtual tour, complete with a soundtrack!
Then there are immaculate places like City Hostel in Seattle that double as local arts incubators. In this arrangement, each artist has been provided a room in which to display their original art. This is totally something we could do right here in Spokane without undue cost or complication. RiverSpeak will provide the artists, the Inland Creative Trust could conduct focus groups and market research, the CVB could assist with promotions, and AHANA could provide the small business consulting. All that is left is the person, the plan, the property and the loan. Bring it!
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The cross-city promotion network within the hosteling program is excellent and hostelers are exactly the type of folk that would dig an off-the-beaten-path treasure like Spokane.
Even better, I did some research a couple years ago and twenty-somethings looking for a place to relocate account for a BIG slice of traveler pie.
I vote yes!
Funny thing, I was looking for one a week ago. Maybe something in the International District.
Hostels have been a mainstay in my travels – great idea to have one in Spokane!
Look at all these couch surfing locations in Spokane – http://www.couchsurfing.org/mapsurf.html
The most fun I’ve had traveling and the most comfortable I’ve been – not to mention the most I’ve learned about a place – is when I’ve stayed with a surfer and been “shown the ropes”
Yeah, a hostel would be great and all and it would be fun to “divert” wandering travelers to Browne’s to show them our hip neighborhood, but I think we should push for more couch surfing.
You know how Spokane runs that “ambassadors” program through GSI and the City, well what if we all became active couch surfers and did our own informal ambassador program by hosting travelers and REALLY showing them Spokane. Not the Spokane GSI wants them to see.
Just a thought
I agree!
Thanks for pointing this out. I love the Hawthorne house for traveling alone in Portland because you have an instant community there and the proximity to buses. I too have been wondering why Browne’s doesn’t have one.
I think one should be within walking distance of the Train/Greyhound Depot. Its not like there is a shortage of empty buildings in that area, not to mention thats where a good deal of the Spokane “Nightlife” is located.
I really like the idea of a hostel in Spokane. I do agree that Browne’s addition would be a great place for it. Somewhere downtown would be great too. Thanks for the heads up on the Seattle hostel. I might start using it for trips over there.
It is a good idea, but it is NOT original! During Expo ’74 a youth-hostel existed in Downtown Spokane. While I don’t remember what even happened to it, I think perhaps it went back to being a low-rent hotel or apartment before passing away. Sorry I don’t have any more vivid memories to scare with you. At least that will give you a place to start your research. Good Luck!
Here is a message from reader Jeremy Street:
“Recently I got the impression from one of your posts that you thought there was never a hostel in Spokane. Since I moved here in 1993 there have bee at least two. one was at 930 S. Lincoln street and the other was a few blocks north on 7th. Attached are photos of these buildings today.”
What a good idea! It’s an easy thing to forget about in the city you live in.
Hey Mariah – I remembered you posted that blog entry about Hostels. . .I dodn’t know if anyone expressed interest – but I think this looks like about the best location/building for a small one!
http://www.commercialmls.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=property.detailFS&ln=466750
I will be visiting Spokane in July, do you know if any hostels have opened?
Cheers
Sorry Nicole, but no hostel yet.
Back in the late 1990s, I stayed at a hostel in Spokane. Since then Spokane has developed some fun attractions and I would love to visit Spokane with a hostel on my way east to Montana, the SD Black Hills or before dipping down to Yellowstone.