Seriously, hostels are the most fun way to visit any first-world country (if you're young, at least). Meet new people every day, with an obvious instant common topic to talk about. Super easy to schedule ad hoc adventures with your fellow hostellers.
As compared to a hotel, which will generally be just like every other hotel in the entire world, and you might as well have just gone to a hotel in your home city. Or the usual tourist traps, where you'll compete with a giant mob of people too busy checking off items on their checklists to chat or adventure.
The only way a non-hostel vacation makes any sense is if your #1 goal is to post selfies to make yourself look rich and successful.
>As compared to a hotel, which will generally be just like every other hotel in the entire world, and you might as well have just gone to a hotel in your home city.
What? If I'm trying to see the Louvre, a hotel in Paris is hardly interchangeable with one in, say, Chicago.
>The only way a non-hostel vacation makes any sense is if your #1 goal is to post selfies to make yourself look rich and successful
Or really any goal that isn't "hang out with strangers and sleep in uncomfortable beds".
You seem unreasonably certain that what you want is the only thing any sensible person could possibly want, which is utter nonsense.
I agree that hostels are fun for the reasons you said, but I've also gotten bed-bugs, I have shared a bunk with a dude who snored so loud he put ear plugs in his own ears.
I have been in a hostel with two scary ass dudes from a favela or something, luckily I wasn't the young, female solo-traveller they kept hitting on - literally: "kissy kissy?"
There are a million reasons to NOT stay at a hostel.
I like privacy, cleanliness, comfort, and I often need to be left alone to recharge after a long day. It makes sense for me to not use a hostel and I don't use any sort of social media.
As compared to a hotel, which will generally be just like every other hotel in the entire world, and you might as well have just gone to a hotel in your home city. Or the usual tourist traps, where you'll compete with a giant mob of people too busy checking off items on their checklists to chat or adventure.
The only way a non-hostel vacation makes any sense is if your #1 goal is to post selfies to make yourself look rich and successful.