After airfare, accommodation is the fastest way to wipe out your travel budget. Staying at a hostel is the easiest way to stretch it, as students gearing up for summer travels quickly learn. Spend £75 ($150) a night on a low-end London hotel, or £25 ($50) for a bed at Hostelling International Oxford Street”¦ That’s a lot of cash that could be diverted into pints of Guinness.

There are both benefits and drawbacks to staying at hostels. It helps to know what to expect and how to get the most out of your experience when you arrive.

Hostels vary widely, but their hallmark is a communal experience through shared sleeping quarters and common rooms like kitchens and lounges. Private hostels can be a bit inconsistent, but you can expect a certain standard from those accredited under the Hostelling International (www.hihostels.com/) banner. You don’t have to be a member to stay at HI hostels, but the $35-per-year membership will save you about 20 percent per night. You can buy a membership and book beds on-line at the Canadian web site, www.hihostels.ca/.

Heather Cleland, marketing coordinator for Hostelling International Canada’s Pacific Mountain Region, explains that a hostel can be anything from a rustic cabin to a converted castle to a new, multistorey building. Australia, for example, has a great network of modern hostels.

“The dorm rooms are smaller,” Cleland says by phone from her Vancouver office. “It’s not massive dorm halls that a lot of people equate with hostelling from years ago. You’ll get four-person dorm rooms with an en suite bathroom, fully equipped kitchens, big-screen TVs in the lounges”¦just a lot of comfort.”

Cleland says many hostels in the HI network offer private rooms and family rooms as an alternative to shared accommodation. While guests are predominantly in the 18-to-35 age bracket, a lot of seniors and families frequent hostels as well. “It’s a wide range of people,” she says.

“One of the main perks of hostelling is the social component,” Cleland explains. “That’s why a lot of people like it. Instead of going to a hotel where you’re in your own room, isolated from everyone else, you sometimes share a room to sleep and then there’s plenty of common rooms.”¦There’s a lot of interaction with other travellers. It’s a true travel experience—you’re getting out there and experiencing new things with new people.”

Because of this, hostels are especially good for single travellers. They’re also a great source of information for planning the next segment of your travels, due to both knowledgeable staff and fellow hostellers.

More benefits? Kitchens allow you to cut down on the cost of eating out. Hostels often offer good-value day trips, or free tours and activities led by local volunteers. Cancellation policies are generally good, with little or no fee charged with 24 hours’ notice. Then there’s the cheap and easy access to laundry facilities and the Internet, both of which can be frustrating to access for hotel denizens.

The tradeoff: privacy and convenience. Hostellers usually have to share bathrooms, and for those in shared rooms—which typically contain four to 12 beds, and sometimes more—sleeping and waking times may not mesh. Noise can be an issue, especially if large groups check in. And sharing a room means you have to keep your belongings relatively self-contained, and ensure that your valuables are secured.

For tips on how to make your hostel stay more comfortable, watch this space.