For a youthful rite of passage or a midlife meander, the hostel remains a staple of low-budget travel. The typical hostel's no-frills barracks-like interiors keep costs down but lack a sense of the city beyond'and fun. London-based, American entrepreneur and veteran traveler Josh Wyatt is harnessing design to create a new hospitality model for his Generator Hostels'shaking up the industry by doing both.
Generator took root in 2007, when an investment company, Patron Capital, for which Wyatt is Hotel & Leisure senior advisor, bought a pair of hostels in London and on Berlin's east side. They were both typical of what budget travel offered at the time: bleakly evocative of a dilapidated student dormitory, with a grotty main-floor pub and harshly utilitarian character. Wyatt began thinking of how to rejuvenate them to address the market more strategically. His solution: invest in a design concept that today's free-spirited travelers want (with social spaces for drinking, dining, and conversation), and leave out what they don't need (fine linens and detailing, excess furniture, even TVs).
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