Grupo Habita, the Mexico City-based team behind the upscale Hôtel Americano in New York, is known for taking an unconventional approach to hospitality. Still, its latest property — Downtown Mexico, a hotel within a 17th-century palace in the Centro Histórico district of Mexico City — houses a bit of a surprise: the company's first hostel, Downtown Beds.
Downtown Beds occupies the palace's former service quarters. "The space had the bones for a youthful project," said Carlos Couturier, managing partner at Grupo Habita, which created an upscale hotel at the opposite end of the building. "But there was an intimate patio and a rooftop that could be transformed into something cool." The local architecture firm Cherem Serrano kept the original Catalan vaulted ceilings, painted the wooden floors white and installed up to eight bespoke lattice-brick bunks in each room, as well as en-suite bathrooms with rain showers. The patio is now a "chela" garden (that's slang for beer) and the rooftop has a swimming pool and bar that draws a steady stream of locals. There's also a kitchen serving Mexican street snacks, a screening room, table tennis, foosball and free use of bikes.
"People don't come to Downtown Beds because it's cheap; we have had guests pay with Amex black cards," said Mr. Couturier, whose company also plans to open a hostel in Mazunte, Oaxaca, in two years. "They come because it's fun and different."
Clearly, Downtown Beds is not your traditional hostel, nor could its guests be defined as typical backpackers. There are no chores required, no lockout hours or curfews, and linens and toiletries are provided in each of the 17 rooms, whether private or shared. It is one of the latest examples of a global, industrywide trend focused on accommodating design-conscious 20- and 30-somethings who are seeking out the scene (via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) for reasons beyond saving a buck.
"We're seeing more and more travelers who can afford to stay at hotels, yet choose to stay at hostels for the social experience," said Aaron Chaffee, director of hostels at Hostelling International USA, who noted that many modern hostels are offering the same amenities as hotels: private rooms, concierge service, Wi-Fi, restaurants and bars. And, of course, stylish interiors.
According to Mr. Chaffee, the trend has its roots in Asia, known for its capsule hotels, and Europe, largely considered the vanguard of hosteling. There is, for example, Matchbox, which opened near Singapore's Chinatown in 2011. It calls itself a "concept hostel." Think breakfast all day (Indian rojak or Malay cookies) and pod-style bunks with panels that open and close, in case you'd like to chat with your neighbor.
Meanwhile, outside Munich, the German Youth Hostel Association has tapped the Laboratory for Visionary Architecture, also known as LAVA, an eco-conscious local firm, to transform the circa-1930 Berchtesgaden Youth Hostel. "We were commissioned to rethink what a hostel could be in the age of boutique hotels," said the LAVA director Tobias Wallisser. The first section reopened just over a year ago with natural-wood "cocoon" bunks, energy-efficient wood pellet heating and cantilevered window nooks affording views of the Bavarian Alps, where a resident outfitter arranges mountain biking and ski trips; the next phase, with a bistro and lounge, is set to be completed by 2015, along with LAVA's second hostel, in Bayreuth.
And in Reykjavik, a group of former soccer player and filmmaker friends recently turned a disused biscuit factory — originally scouted by the Icelandic director Oskar Thor Axelsson for his movie "Black's Game" — into Kex Hostel. With a retro barbershop, a gastropub and a music venue-slash-art gallery that stages events from the likes of Sigur Ros (or Russell Crowe and Patti Smith, who recently gave an impromptu performance), it has a cult following among travelers and locals.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: February 23, 2013
An earlier version of this article misstated the title held by Aaron Chaffee. He is director of hostels at Hostelling International USA, not chief executive.
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