If you are travelling alone, our Sociability Index will be very helpful to you, as it tells you how likely you are to meet other travellers in the evening. The index runs on a scale from 10 (most sociable) down to 1 (not sociable). Sociability Scale..
Many travellers choose hostels rather than guest houses or hotels because they want to meet other travellers. Solo travellers in particular, while they value their independence, often like to meet and mingle with other travellers in the evenings. Solo travelling can be very lonely when one is ensconsed in a self- contained room, no matter how well-appointed or inexpensive.
Many guidebooks and websites rank hostels for cleanliness, security, location etc., while tourist agencies give hostels a star ranking for facilities. All these are important, but none of them adequately represent how easy it is to meet the other people staying in the hostel.
No, they reflect rather different aspects. Some 'party hostels' are not very sociable; for example, they may be patronised by long- stayers; or the party room may be rowdy and smoky and the hostel not geared to good sleeping. Conversely, some hostels have a great sociable atmosphere but discourage noisy partying and go quiet after 2300. Our Sociability Index helps to distinguish these; we give the best score to hostels where you find yourself sitting next to others eating your dinner, and poorer scores to hostels where the communal area is a bar with loud music, or a room with sofas arranged facing a TV that is always on.
Of course, however well the hostel is set up, if you are the only guest(s) you might still feel lonely! Conversely, even if a hostel is poorly laid out for sociability, you might meet really cool people in your dorm and get on great with them. But in that case, travellers staying in a different dorm may be disappointed. A high index means that the hostel is laid out such that all those who wish to meet other travellers are likely to do so. The best hostels have a real communal atmosphere in their main common areas.
This is probably a small hostel. It has a common room with a few large tables, located where everyone has to pass through, probably with the booking desk right there. There is no TV in the main common room, but there may well be background music. It has a kitchen which may be large or small but which is fully equipped and maintained in good order all day. You are likely to meet all the guests except those who go straight to their rooms and stay there.The staff are friendly and active around the hostel, and have suggestions about things to do; or the hostel may be self-run, with notice boards giving plenty of guidance about local walks and activities. The hostel is open all day; it is adequately clean; and almost all reviewers are very enthusiastic about it.
At hostels in this category you are likely to find it easy to meet many of the people staying there; the hostel has most of the characteristics of a Class 10 hostel, but with some small limitations. For example, the common room may have a supervised TV, or be used for DVD shows; or the maintenance is somewhat lacking; or the kitchen is less than adequate; or the hostel is closed for part of the day. Or it might be a larger hostel without the cosiness of a small one, but with good kitchen/dining facilities and a good sociable common room.
Class 8 hostels have a TV in a common room, but also a comfortable smoke-free common room without a TV (this may be the kitchen/dining room) where guests typically sit and plan trips, write diaries, play games or chat.
Class 7 hostels lack several important features of a Class 10, or are similar to Class 8 with some niggles, for example there is no adequate non-TV room, or the hostel is patronised largely by families who tend to keep to themselves.They have a kitchen, but it is part of the TV room.
Class 6 hostels have a bar as part of the hostel, which may be sociable for those who like this type of atmosphere, but may be noisy and not conducive to easy chatting with other travellers. Or they may have an adequate common room but no kitchen, and therefore, if you are solo, you will probably eat alone.
Class 5 hostels have a potentially sociable area available but people do not congregate there, rather they tend to just go to their rooms. Or the guests are mainly families & groups. Or the common areas without TV are small. They either have no kitchen or the kitchen is not patronised much.
The only area where people congregate has a TV dominating the room, or dominant background noise.
All common areas (including kitchen) have a TV. Or the dorms/bedrooms have TVs.
Hostel comprises small sleeping units, perhaps with common room/kitchen with TV attached to each. Each small unit may be sociable, but you won't meet most of the hostel guests.
Hostel comprises small sleeping units with no common areas. It therefore is no more sociable than a Pension or Motel.
