As a hostel owner/manager, you have the privilege of creating life-long memories for guests from across the globe. Your business is not just one of revenue, but one of necessity. The world needs hostels, and hostels need the world. So, thank YOU for being the space-holders of the experiences that make life a bit more magical for us all.

Read below for 10 insightful beyond-bed experiences travelers crave and you can make possible in your own hostel!

1. Music

Music has been and always will be a connecting force. Whether you host karaoke nights, live music, jam sessions, or local concerts, making music your main event encourages everyone to participate. A DJ, small band, singer, etc. can entice guests to have a reason to come socialize more comfortably. You could even gain fellow outsiders to listen from other hostels! In addition, music can be more than an entertaining element, immerse your guests in your culture’s music and dancing, and watch their eagerness amp up!

2. Family Dinners

This is highly recommended for any long-term volunteers you have in the hostel. Family dinners are not just a splendid way to spend time in a hostel, but meals have a magic to them. Family meals create the chance for travelers to build intimate bonds with each other. In Ingrid Lee’s “5 Secrets to Designing Unforgettable Experiences“, she states, “…joy begins with the senses…the more diverse and rich a sensory experience is, the more likely those sensations are to get encoded into our memory.”

A comfortable place to cook and enjoy the meal is essential to an excellent beyond-bed hostel. Even better if the meal is shared recipes or a local dish. One could even turn them into cooking lessons for hostel volunteers and goers. Teach your guests traditional recipes or new ingredients and create an experience that involves all their senses!

3. Wall Painting

Artists are, almost inevitably, also travelers. By allowing your artistic guests to leave a special mark on a designated space, you gain something quite valuable to the experience economy: uniqueness! Ingrid Lee mentions Dutch designer, Marcel Wander’s go-to principle for creating memorable experiences… “an unexpected welcome“. Adding an element of quirkiness to something familiar you inherently prime guests to be on the lookout for joy.

Art holds value. Letting your hostel gain some new color will also help it become more memorable. This can help it be identified in word-of-mouth exchanges with others on along the trails of travel. In the experience economy, one wants to stand out…let the guests help!

4. Game Nights

Game nights can consciously connect guests, creating more conversation and fun competition. As a top-tier beyond-bed hostel it’s always best to invest in some type of game table. This can range from pool to ping-pong, etc. If by chance, you also have access to an outside court or yard, consider implementing volleyball, football, etc. tournaments!

You can host game nights of all kinds and keep rotating them throughout the month, keeping your offerings fresh and exciting. Certain games like poker, trivia, card, and board, are great, with some of my favorite “souvenirs” being the card games I learned from different countries. These nights can sometimes be more fun than a night out, so do not skip out!

5. Yoga/Reiki/Meditation

No one gets far down the road of backpacking without taking care of oneself. Plus, French sociologist Emile Durkheim says a joyful experience is one of “collective effervescence” or “euphoric oneness“. Lee states that the best ways to create these moments is through synchronized group movement. By offering group yoga, or meditation as a consistent activity not only does it help fill up your daytime experiences, but you help others enhance their feeling of belonging! Offering these will show your guests you provide a range of experiences to satisfy all guests’ interests.

6. Host Art/ Artisan Fairs

Do you know many local artists and craftsmen? Then consider holding art shows, or showing their art on your walls. Showcase talented photographers, sculptors, or drawers and painters. Your hostel could even double as an art gallery and help promote local art! Along with one-of-a-kind experiences, travelers tend to also love one-of-a-kind souvenirs. Some hostels have even offered tattoo artists to come in and take clients on the spot. Or consider holding a “crafting hour” which can diversify your hostel’s offerings and help travelers expand their skills.  Even better, you can have a wall for travelers to leave their own art for others to see.

7. Cultural Discussions/ Workshops

Curiosity beckons us, and travelers are the ones who answer. Why not take their starvation for knowledge and perspective and create an experience for them to learn and exchange philosophy, discourse, literature, and beliefs? Offer a lesson on the history of the area, or create a talk about an important aspect of the country, or travel in general. This can range from lessons on sustainable tourism, and mitigating climate change in the area, to famous philosophers and ancient myths of the land. The ideas are completely expandable. You also help to give a basis for conversation and smooth out any bumpy small talk between guests.

Use the community of like-minded and curious travelers to spark meaningful conversations and mend the beauties of debate and discourse across cultures!

8. Local -Off the Beaten Path- Tours

Walking tours and pub crawls are a tried and true favorite. However, many tours can too easily fall into the tourist quick-sand. Review your recommended places and make sure these are local, lively, and unique. Easy answers to the question “what do you recommend around here?” can be as simple as the places you enjoy in your own city!

Not only are these a signal to a well-established hostel, they also show guests the awareness a hostel has as for its locality. If hotels are international places for international people, then hostels are local places for international people. By providing events and tours, in local places, you can become responsible for helping travelers (and their spending) get off the beaten path. An important drive for many.

You not only connect travelers to local culture and spaces better, but you also distinguish yourself as an expert in your location. This develops trust with your guests and will raise your popularity to the top!

9. Movie nights

Although seldom will admit it out loud, even travelers get tired. Creating a cozier night will encourage travelers to want to stay after a weekend, even in a party hostel. Not all travelers travel with technology to watch TV, so the comfort of a movie night could be more popular than one may believe. Not to mention it is a great filler for your quieter nights. Consider investing in a projector to create an experience that could accommodate many. Bonus points if the movie is notable to the area!

10. Meeting a Soulmate

For hopeless romantics…this could secretly be the main reason for their hostel travels. Who knows if it is the high that travel brings, or the bewildered state it keeps us in, but we cannot deny the reality that some lucky travelers have met their soulmates in hostels. The world pulls and we go, not always for reasons completely known or thought out, but for the feeling of magic.

And perhaps this one is not a direct activity, but it can happen in your hostel nonetheless, especially due to the experiences you offer! Hostels are the places that host such wonder-filled possibilities. With the spontaneity of people it receives, they have seen their fair share of strangers turned into soulmates, both friends and lovers.

Have your own love story that began with hostels? Be a featured writer and share it with the community on Beyond-Bed Talk!

All of these are gateways to the larger pulse that keeps hostels running: connection! If beds are the mind of hostels, then their beyond-bed is the heart. The very pulse that gets travelers excited to cross through them. Here at HandyHostel, we want to invigorate that heartbeat for the world to hear! So come join our team, write us your stories, and connect with the hostel community worldwide! 

For hostel owners and managers, wonder how you’ll manage a hostel AND all these beyond-bed experiences? Look for a HandyHostel beyond-bed volunteer! By assigning one person to manage the atmosphere of your hostel you place an importance on the guest’s experience, and save yourself time!