Hostel is not a pure cheap accomodation option for travellers. Often travellers pick this option for their atmosphere to meet other travellers, to meet friends, or to share their travelling stories. We have met many friends at hostels that hotels or B&B cannot offer. There are certain quality to be qualified as a hostel such as a place to hang for travellers to interact, travel information, kitchen facilities.
I have a few friends who passed by HK to visit have asked me for hostel recommendation here. There are lots that claim to be hostels but they are just cheap hotels with bed in a room. That is not hostels! There are a handful that are sort of like hostels with common area but lacking some nice to have ammenities. But why?
We have a friend who attempted to open a hostel in HK but gave up mainly because of the ridiculous rent and it was difficult to get landlords to sign lease longer than 2 years, which makes it hard to recover the rennovation cost he needs to put in.
On top of all these, the HK government do not give any slack to hostels in terms of requirement over "safety". Hostels owners needs to put in a significant investment to match these standards that are shared with hotels.
All these make it awfully difficult for potentially hostels owners with limited fund to start one up on top of the fact that you cannot make huge profit from running a hostel (may be in some countries you can).
It is shameful that HK does not nuture this alternate type of accomodation to travellers. Aside from shopping, HK has so much to offer that are not promoted. One of the things I love about staying at hostels is the opportunity to interact with the staffs who are locals and go to places recommend by locals that are not in any travel books. Travellers can get a deeper exposure to the local culture through hostels. HK is such an interesting place with a mix of Western and Eastern culture that it is shameful that we do not support the passionated locals to run hostels and give travellers an option to be closer to our local culture and people.
