Usually you make a mistake traveling and you tell yourself it won’t happen again. Then on your next trip you go and do the same thing. For me, the two biggest traps I fall into are 1. waiting to find a better place to eat which always ends up with me walking aimlessly around a city, becoming increasingly starved and ultimately having to spend more money at an expensive place that never tastes half as good as the first place looked. 2. Having a great time at a hostel and thinking just because another one in another city has the same name or is owned by the same company it will be great too.
As far as the first problem…I’m a lost cause. I’m always looking for something better and the longer I wait and the hungrier I get the less I can make up my mind. My advice…eat the first Doner Kebab you find and wander aimlessly with a full stomach. Regarding the second problem…never ever, NEVER EVER, expect hostels to be like fast food restaurants. Always the same and with the same exact flavor as your last visit.
My first experience with this situation came on my first trip ever to Europe. I had flown into London and was excited to get to my hostel. I had read the reviews and booked my room months in advance (I was excited, usually this isn’t even close to necessary). When I finally arrived I spent the next couple days enjoying the time of my life. The bar at the place was always hopping. There were fun games played every night which helped in meeting fellow travelers. 
The breakfast was awesome and I could even pay a couple pounds extra for eggs, sausage, pancakes etc. The rooms were clean, the location was great and the Internet access was fast, ample and cheap. They even had a tourist info desk that sold tickets for local tours (I went to Stonehenge) and other traveler’s needs like toothpaste and soap. On my last night in London, I asked them if they could arrange a cab the next morning to take me to waterloo station so I could catch the Eurostar to Paris. They not only did this but when I overslept (did I mention the bar was great) they came to my room and woke me up. I definitely thought the Generator in London was a spectacular Hostel. I even spent my last couple nights during that trip back at the same hostel as I sadly awaited my return home. Funny thing…I overslept that last morning too and had to catch a later flight (I did mention the bar was loads of fun right?)
Looking at their website I realized that the same company owned another hostel by the same name in Berlin. Well, I was going to Berlin and I certainly had a good time at the Generator London. I certainly could expect the same experience at the Generator Berlin! Nope. The place was huge…I’ll give it that but with all those extra rooms meaning extra travelers staying there…they certainly did not provide for all. Internet access was sparse, washing machines might as well have been non-existent and they constantly ran out of breakfast items. The bar was not nearly as happening as the one in London and generally no one was having a good time (some of this may speak to the differences between Berliners and Londoners). The location was definitely not central and all in all I felt genuinely bummed out during my stay. My expectations were just too high and placed in an ideal that just doesn’t exist.
So, I learned my lesson and never judged a second hostel by the previous again…I
wish! The fact of the matter is on my most recent trip I did it again. Once again I found myself in Berlin but this time steering clear of the Generator Berlin and staying at the Baxpax downtown in Berlin. Once again I had a great time and found a hostel I would return to again and again. The bar was excellent and cheap (a selling point to me obviously) and they had several big TVs on which they played the finale of Eurovision (you have to check this out if your overseas during the finale. It is an American Idol type show for established bands all over Europe. They compete within their own countries and eventually get narrowed down to one representative competing against all other countries. It is soooo much fun and Europeans love it). They provided a service where they would wash dry and fold all my clothes for a ridiculously cheap price and their location could not have been any better. The staff was always helpful and Internet access was always available. There was no free breakfast but that was certainly forgivable. Now, the same company does own a couple other hostels in Berlin and I have heard from other travelers that each is run quite well. However, since I never saw another location I would be making the same mistake I’m warning against if I were to recommend it based on my experience at the Baxpax downtown.
Eventually my time was up in Berlin (I stayed two days longer because I was having so much fun) and I had to move on. Looking through my travel guide I was pleased to discover that there was another Baxpax listed in Venice. They have the same funny name they must be similar. Nope! (another rule of thumb as a side note…never expect anything in Venice to be particularly fun…think ambiance not experience) Finding the place was a huge chore and to make matters worse I was wandering around trying to find something to eat at the same time. I was just asking for it that day. Finally after asking several shop owners where the listed address was I realized I had passed the small piece of deteriorating paper thumbtacked to a old wooden door which read “Ba
xPax hostel”. Already things looked bad. The door lead to an ally way and the ally way lead to a building that seemed to be under construction. I went up anyways, still hoping for the cheap laundry service and great beer prices BaxPax downtown Berlin provided. After wandering around a place that was obviously under construction for a bit I started to leave. Just then a rather unkempt man came around the corner shouting at someone on the phone. Since it turned out that I was in the hostel and they did have beds I realize now that it was very telling that he seemed just as shocked to see me as I was to see the accommodation. After a short exchange I determined that this certainly was not the place I would be staying. I may sound like I was being rather picky and complaining about not having a TV and a bar for the night but this place was bad. There were 4 old spring mattresses arranged on roll-away cots in a room that seemed due for demolition within the week and also seemed to be where all the other construction dust and tools ended up. The Internet was down and hot water during the “remodel” was not going to happen. In the end I like to think I learned my lesson and spent a little time writing a suggestion to Let’s Go guide books recommending they reevaluate this suggested hostel.
Certainly there are going to be hostels out there whose standards cross country lines and can be relied on to provide the service you come to expect from previous stays. My caution to you here is that you never assume this to be the case. Read reviews on the individual hostel and ask other travelers for recommendations on places to stay. Your best source for finding a great place is going to be the people your sharing a room with who have just come from the city your headed to. Even though I recommend a place does not necessarily mean it hasn’t since gone under construction or changed owners (The Generator and Baxpax are currently ,11/26/07, still great places to go). Popular guide books can even have trouble keeping all the information current and some hostels change over the years. Worst comes to worst, you will certainly remember a horrible stay as much as a good one and even a bad memory from Europe will bring a smile to your face.
