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From Wikipedia

Hostels provide accommodation where guests can rent a bed, sometimes a bunk bed in a dormitory and share a bathroom, kitchen and lounge. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex, although private rooms are increasingly common in all types of hostels. All hostels are generally cheaper for both the operator and the occupant; many hostels employ their long-term residents as desk clerks in exchange for free accommodation.

The traditional hostel format involved dormitory style accommodation. Some newer hostels include en-suite accommodation with single, double or quad occupancy rooms. In recent years the numbers of independent and backpackers' hostels has increased greatly to cater for the greater numbers of overland, multi-destination travellers (such as gap-year travellers, railtrippers, those on sabbaticals etc.)

The quality of such places has also improved dramatically. Whilst some hostels do still insist on a curfew, daytime lockouts, and/or require occupants to do chores, this is becoming the exception rather than the rule, as hostels adapt to meet the changing expectations of guests