Hostels lay the groundwork for revival in New York City
POURI NG rain one day last week did not stop a dozen or so European and US hostel owners and executives from taking a four-hour bus tour through the industrial neighbourhoods of Queens.
Intent on reviving and expanding New York’s atrophied hostel business – which they say could enhance the city’s appeal to youthful tourists – the visitors were sizing up thousands of square feet of commercial space and warehouses.
The properties included an auto body repair shop, a hardware supplier; and a clothing restoration business that over the years has worked on Winston Churchill’s military uniform, Princess Diana’s gowns and Melania Trump’s wedding dress.
“Old buildings all have great stories,” said a visitor from Dublin, Anne Dolan, a founder and director of Clink Hostels, whose keystone business is housed in a former London magistrate’s court.
“Hostel owners are like backpackers,” Dolan said. “We dare to go where others haven’t gone.”
Noncomforming rentals
But the issue in New York City, these hostel experts say, is that too few backpacking and other young and budget-conscious travellers dare to pass through town, because of a dearth of hostels. As a result, they said, the city is not only losing tourist business and tax revenue, but also the chance to advertise itself to young people from around the country and the world who might someday return to work and live in New York.
“I think hostels make great cities accessible to young people,” Dolan said. “New York is missing out.”
Hostel proponents blame a sixyear-old New York state law, the Illegal Hotels Bill. The law was aimed at nonconforming rentals, over- crowded single-room occupancy residences and other forms of lodging deemed substandard by the legislation’s sponsors.
Although Airbnb was not as big a presence in 2010 as it is now, the law has been wielded to crack down on various types of listings on the company’s service.
Last week, Airbnb settled a lawsuit against New York City in which the company had opposed the city’s right to impose fines on Airbnb hosts who listed properties that did not conform to the 2010 law.
Also caught in the 2010 law’s dragnet were almost all of New York City’s hostels, according to Feargal Mooney, whose company arranged last week’s tour. Mooney is chief executive of Hostelworld, a hostel booking firm that represents properties in more than 170 countries.
Nearly five dozen New York City hostels were put out of business by the 2010 law, and new ones have been prevented from opening, Mooney said. Most of the remaining ones advertise as hostels but are now formally classified as hotels.
Mooney and others on the tour say they hope that a new piece of legislation, awaiting a hearing by the New York City Council, could revive the city’s hostel business.
Right now, the only bona fide hostel in the city is run by a nonprofit group, Hostelling International USA, on Amsterdam Avenue on the Upper West Side, he said. It is able to operate its New York City property because of its building classification and special use permit.
Aaron Chaffee, Hostelling International’s vice president for hostel development, said he would welcome additional hostels in the city but supported the need for regulation.
Before the 2010 legislation, some hostels were substandard, Mooney conceded, but not all. He said that hostels around the world today were typically safe, clean and modern, with kitchens and laundry facilities, on-site cafes and even 24-hour reception desks. Many reflect high-end design similar to boutique hotels.
Hostelworld has hired Jerry Kremer, president of Empire Government Strategies, a lobbying firm, to help change the law affecting hostels.
“Young people coming to the city have very few choices,” Kremer said. “The hostel industry is frustrated that the city hasn’t embraced a form of tourism that not only brings in money but also encourages young people to come to the city and stay. Any other major city in the country would be chasing after us.”
Affordable accommodations
New York yields about $234 million per year in revenue from hostels and related tourism – about a third of the amount a city its size should be generating, according to a recent Hostelworld analysis.
“Hostel owners will go in areas that are underserved and turn them into something special and change a neighbourhood,” Kremer said. “They are ready, willing and able to write checks.”
The group met with City Council members to discuss legislation that would authorise the creation of hostels and provide specific oversight for their licensing, regulation and operation. The hostel group hopes to have a hearing before the Committee on Housing and Buildings by early next year.
“It was a good and productive meeting,” said the bill’s primary sponsor, Councilwoman Margaret Chin, a Democrat whose district is primarily in Lower Manhattan.
Providing good, safe and affordable accommodations for young travellers is “critical,” she said.