2007's Hoscar Winners Announced


Flamingo Hostel in Krakow, Poland has won the much coveted award of ‘Best Hostel of 2007’ at Hostelworld.com’s 6th Annual Hoscars Awards ceremony.

Pawel Wawro from the hostel said “It’s amazing! We are really proud but we didn’t expect it. We are doing everything that we can for guests who are coming to Krakow.”

When asked what makes a good hostel Pawel stated “The first important thing is having the best place, the second thing is atmosphere. That is the best thing you can offer to the customer, to the guest.”

Pawel added he believed the atmosphere is one of the main reasons his hostel is so popular when he said “I think the best thing about Flamingo Hostel is the atmosphere. It’s difficult to describe in words.”

More than 600,000 Hostelworld.com customers selected the winning hostels from more than 15,000 hostels featured on the site. The customers were surveyed after their stay and asked to grade their hostel based on six different criteria: character, security, location, staff, fun and cleanliness.

The coveted “Hoscar” Awards ceremony was part of Hostelworld.com’s 4th annual Hostel Conference which was hosted in the Hilton Hotel, Dublin and was themed ‘The Social Web and You. Engaging the Online Customer’.

The awards were presented at a ceremony in The Button Factory in Dublin’s Temple Bar and were attended by more than 300 hostel owners and managers from around the world.

The winners of the coveted Hoscars were:

  1. 1. Flamingo Hostel, Krakow, Poland
  2. 2. Mama’s Hostel, Krakow, Poland
  3. 3. Clarence Castle, Toronto, Canada
  4. 4. Jetpack City Hostel, Berlin, Germany
  5. 5. Hostel Estoril, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  6. 6. Hilux Valencia – Feetup Hostels, Valencia, Spain
  7. 7. Hostel of the Sun, Naples, Italy
  8. 8. Travellers House, Lisbon, Portugal
  9. 9. Backpacker Hostel K’s House, Tokyo, Japan
  10. 10. EastSeven Berlin Hostel, Berlin, Germany

Top Hostels by Continent:

North America
  1. 1. Clarence Castle, Toronto, Canada
  2. 2. Pacific Tradewinds, San Francisco, USA
  3. 3. HI Buffalo Niagara, Buffalo, USA

Latin America
  1. 1. Hostel Estoril, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  2. 2. Hostel Lao, Mendoza, Argentina
  3. 3. La Chimba Hostel, Santiago, Chile

Africa
  1. 1. Cape Town Backpackers, Cape Town, South Africa
  2. 2. The Backpack Africa Travel Centre, Cape Town, South Africa
  3. 3. Ashanti Lodge, Cape Town, South Africa

Asia
  1. 1. Backpacker Hostel K’s House, Tokyo, Japan
  2. 2. Spicy Thai Backpackers, Chiang Mai, Thailand
  3. 3. Red Palm, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Oceania
  1. 1. YHA Wellington City, Wellington, New Zealand
  2. 2. Jailhouse Accommodation, Christchurch, New Zealand
  3. 3. Backpack Oz, Adelaide, Australia

Special Category Awards were also given to the following hostels:
  1. Cleanest Hostel: Jetpak City Hostel, Berlin, Germany
  2. Most Secure Hostel: Greg-Tom Hostel, Krakow, Poland
  3. Most Fun Hostel: Giovanni’s Home, Naples, Italy
  4. Hostel with Best Location: Traveller’s House, Lisbon, Portugal
  5. Best Staff: Hostel of the Sun, Naples, Italy
  6. Hostel with Best Character: Traveller’s House, Lisbon, Portugal
  7. Best Small Hostel [Max 50 beds]: Greg-Tom Hostel, Krakow, Poland
  8. Best Large Hostel [Min 500 beds]: H.I. Chicago, Chicago, USA
  9. Most Improved Hostel: Hostel Beautiful 2, Rome, Italy

Best Hostel Chain
  1. Wombats, Austria and Germany
  2. USA Hostels, USA
  3. Sant Jordi Hostels, Spain