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Leaders of the cash-strapped YHA are probably casting envious glances across the channel, where Flanders Today reports a 31 million euro government investment in expanding and upgrading Flemish youth hostels:

The youth hostel in Brussels, for instance, will see its shortage of beds alleviated with 52 additional beds, increasing its capacity to 187. The city of Bruges will receive a new youth hostel boasting 120 beds, which is twice as much as the current offering. The city of Hasselt will receive its first youth hostel ever and Brasschaat near Antwerp will receive a youth residential centre with 120 beds in the vicinity of the sports hotel. The antiquated youth hostel in Kortrijk will be renovated and extended to accommodate 120 overnighters and the Ploate in Ostend will relocate to the current Admiral Hotel and an adjoining warehouse.

The work is scheduled to take place between 2012 and 2015. While they’re at it, they might want to spend a bob or two on the Flemish Hostel Fedration’s rather ancient website too!

Once again it’s time for hostelworld.com to publish their list of the world’s best hostels, gleaned from the ratings entered by their customers.

Top-rated hostel, for the second year running, is the Travellers House in Lisbon. The Portuguese capital seems to be the place to go hostelling – the top three hostels, and half of the top ten, are located in the city.

Closer to home, the best UK hostel (ranked 6th in the world) is the River House Backpackers in Cardiff. Tipped off about the award, The Guardian paid them a visit. It sounds great:

Our quarters are fitted out with a bunk bed (albeit a brand new one), sheet sleeping bags and a stripped wooden floor, which makes us feel less guilty about booking a twin room rather than a dorm.

Elsewhere, there are eight sparkling showers and loos, a spotless kitchen with all mod cons, and a patio out back where you can sit at a table with an endless supply of free tea and coffee. The TV room is packed with DVDs and a Wii, there’s a free internet, WiFi throughout, and the dining room is strewn with bowls piled high with fruit.

All for around the same price as the YHA alternative.

There’s good news for the YHA in the results too, though. London Central YH, which was in 9th place in the UK list last year, has risen to 8th place this year. Not a stellar performance perhaps, but steady progress in the right direction. Let’s hope they can rise further in the year ahead.

Hostelling International have announced a list of the world’s best hostels, based on the votes of visitors to their website. The winners are:

• Best Hostel 2009: HI Baan Dinso, Bangkok, Thailand
• Friendliest Hostel 2009: Tønsberg, Norway
• Most Comfortable Hostel 2009: Kyoto – Utano, Japan
• Most Efficient Hostel 2009: Eastham (Mid Cape), USA
• Cleanest Hostel 2009: Grindelwald, Switzerland
• Best Hostel Country 2009 – Luxembourg

The awards are based on the customer ratings in each category, as entered by people who booked hostels through the HI site (you can’t vote if you booked in some other way). Hostels also needed to have had at least 50 votes between 1st November 2008 and 1st October 2009.

Unlike the “HOSCARs”, there’s no continent-by-continent breakdown, so it’s hard to tell how far down the leaderboard the YHA’s hostels are. Maybe, with the benefit of a full year’s votes, could we see one of YHA’s London flagships on this list next year?

Awards season is upon us again! The rows of limos, the click of the cameras, Kate Winslet blubbing for Britain.

But it’s not just lachrymose actresses getting the red carpet treatment. Hostelworld have announced the winners of their annual Hostelworld Customer Annual Ratings – a.k.a. the HOSCARs, geddit?

Top spot goes to Travellers House in Lisbon, with two other Lisbon hostels taking second and third place. Only one HI hostel makes it into the list: YHA Rotorua Treks in New Zealand, the top-rated hostel in Oceania. The kiwi YHA must be doing something right, as last year YHA Wellington City held the same spot. There’s also a British hostel amongst the winners. Rated number four overall (and with the world’s best staff), the River House Backpackers in Cardiff sounds like it can give the local YHA alternative a run for its money.

Now all this needs to be taken with a lorry-load of salt. These awards are made on the basis of reviews entered at Hostelworld’s website. Therefore they tend to reflect the tastes of young, international backpackers, not the range of markets addressed by the YHA. Also, they tend to favour independent hostels, since many satisfied HI users will be using their own networks’ sites, or the HI site (where we already know YHA did well last year).

Still, it all serves to push hostels into the public eye. Maybe people who read about these awards in The Guardian will be inspired to brave a YHA hostel this summer, and not necessarily a New Zealand one either.

STOP PRESS: Travelbite.co.uk have just posted Hostelworld’s top ten UK hostels, and one of them’s a YHA one! The relatively new London Central YH is number 9 in the list, the only HI hostel to feature. Maybe with a full year’s voting they can challenge New Zealand next time!

Independent hostelling website Hostelworld announced the winners of their annual “Hoscar” awards in a ceremony held in Dublin last week. Based on the votes of visitors to their site, these awards pick out the best of the more than 15,000 hostels that they list.

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