Hostel statistics show a broad travel market shaped by independent properties, young and solo travelers, short booking windows, and social features. In 2025, Hostelworld reported 7.0 million net bookings, while its key facts described a network spanning more than 180 countries and more than 18,000 budget-accommodation destinations. Other official datasets show that “hostel” can also refer to temporary shelter for people experiencing homelessness, so the figures below keep travel accommodation and social-housing measurements distinct.
Contents
- Hostelworld’s platform scale
- Bookings and financial performance
- Who books hostels and when
- Social-hostelling activity
- Hostel and temporary accommodation in England and Wales
- Backpacker and hostel stays in Australia
Hostelworld’s platform scale
Hostelworld’s 2025 key facts provide one of the clearest snapshots of the international hostel-booking market. The platform listed hostel partners in more than 180 countries and covered more than 18,000 budget-accommodation destinations. These are platform coverage measures, not a census of every hostel operating worldwide. (Key Facts – Hostelworld)
The same 2025 source reported more than 3.4 million social members and more than 4 million traveler profiles. Hostelworld also described a workforce of approximately 270 employees spanning 34 nationalities, with employees averaging more than five years of service. (Key Facts – Hostelworld)
The properties represented on the platform are predominantly small and independent. More than 80% of listed hostels were described as independent, owner-operated businesses, and at least 66% had 50 or fewer beds. This profile matters when interpreting platform statistics: a large international booking network can still be supplied mainly by relatively small properties. (Key Facts – Hostelworld)
Hostelworld’s audience is also concentrated among younger travelers. About 80% of customers were aged 18 to 35 in the 2025 key facts. The customer-age figure describes Hostelworld’s own customer base; it should not be treated as the age distribution of all hostel guests or of all international travelers. (Key Facts – Hostelworld)
Bookings and financial performance
Hostelworld recorded 7.0 million net bookings in 2025 and generated €93.8 million in revenue. Its annual report also states net revenue of €93.8 million, a net average booking value of €13.43, administrative expenses of €75.9 million, and profit for the year of €7.0 million. Adjusted EBITDA was €19.9 million, equal to a 21% adjusted-EBITDA margin. The company ended 2025 with €12.2 million of cash and €1.6 million of net debt. (Annual Report & Financial Statements 2025)
Direct marketing equaled 48% of generated revenue in 2025. The effective commission rate rose from 15.3% in 2024 to 16.2% in 2025. These figures describe Hostelworld Group’s reported platform economics rather than the nightly price paid by a traveler for a bed. (Annual Report & Financial Statements 2025)
The 2024 results provide a useful comparison point:
| Measure | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Net bookings | 6.9 million | 7.0 million |
| Net or generated revenue reported | €91.5 million generated; €92.0 million net | €93.8 million net |
| Net average booking value | €13.21 | €13.43 |
| Adjusted EBITDA | €21.8 million | €19.9 million |
| Adjusted-EBITDA margin | 24% | 21% |
| Profit for the year | €9.1 million | €7.0 million |
The 2025 report describes net bookings as 1% higher than the 6.9 million recorded in 2024. It also puts the 2025 average booking value 2% above the 2024 value of €13.21. The comparison shows higher reported booking volume and average booking value alongside lower adjusted EBITDA, margin, and profit for the year. (Annual Report & Financial Statements 2025; 2024 preliminary results)
The 2024 preliminary results also reported €2.0 million in featured-listings revenue from hostels advertising on the platform. That figure is advertising-related platform revenue, not accommodation revenue earned by the hostels themselves. (HOSTELWORLD GROUP PLC PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024)
Who books hostels and when
Hostelworld’s 2025 key facts reported that about 65% of customers traveled solo and about 28% traveled in pairs. Together, those two groups account for most of the customer profile described by the source, although the figures should not be extended to every booking channel or every hostel guest. About 67% of customers booked within seven days of their stay, indicating a strong short-lead component in this platform’s booking behavior. (Key Facts – Hostelworld)
Membership is associated with repeated use. Hostelworld said in 2025 that social members booked approximately two times as frequently as non-members. This is a reported frequency comparison, not a claim that membership itself caused the additional bookings. (Our Story – Hostelworld)
The company reported 227 employees in 2024 and 260 employees in 2025 in its published results, while its 2025 key-facts page described approximately 270 employees. These counts come from different company disclosures and should be read as reported workforce figures for their respective publications, rather than as a single precisely reconciled series. (2024 preliminary results; Annual Report & Financial Statements 2025; Key Facts – Hostelworld)
Social-hostelling activity
Hostelworld’s social-network figures illustrate how hostel booking can overlap with traveler communication. Messaging volume grew 81% year over year in 2025. The company’s proprietary dataset contained 16 million chat messages and 17 million bookings since the social network launched, covering the period from launch in 2022 through 2025. (Our Story – Hostelworld)
Hostelworld said it had welcomed more than 3.4 million social members since launching the social network in 2022. Because the source reports cumulative totals, these are not annual totals and should not be added to the 2025 platform figures. (Our Story – Hostelworld)
App bookings grew 16% year over year in 2024. The share of bookings made by Social Members reached 80% in 2024, compared with 67% in 2023. Those percentages measure the share of Hostelworld bookings attributed to the company’s Social Members, not the share of all hostel bookings worldwide. (2024 preliminary results)
The 2024 results also reported a 7% increase in net margin to €46.6 million. This is a company-reported financial measure and is separate from the €13.21 net average booking value and the €92.0 million net revenue figure reported for the same year. (HOSTELWORLD GROUP PLC PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024)
Hostel and temporary accommodation in England and Wales
Hostel statistics can describe a different reality outside tourism. The Office for National Statistics’ Census 2021 data recorded 14,100 people in hostels or temporary shelters for the homeless in England and Wales on 21 March 2021. This category accounted for 1.4% of all communal-establishment residents in England and Wales. (Communal establishment residents, England and Wales: Census 2021)
The geographic distribution was uneven. In the City of London, 0.99% of usual residents were in hostels or temporary shelters for the homeless in 2021. Exeter’s corresponding figure was 0.18%. Almost every other English and Welsh local authority had 0.1% or less of its population in this hostel or temporary-shelter category. These are resident-population measures, not tourism occupancy rates. (Communal establishment residents, England and Wales: Census 2021)
The ONS estimated a 76% Census 2021 response rate in hostels and temporary shelters. Its related homelessness analysis cited a comparable Homeless Link estimate of 32,184 available bedspaces in England in 2021, while the ONS final Census measure estimated 13,955 people in hostels or temporary shelters for the homeless in England and Wales. The bedspace estimate and the Census resident estimate measure different things and should not be treated as interchangeable. (People experiencing homelessness, England and Wales)
The same ONS analysis reported that 66.9% of occupants of hostels or temporary accommodation for the homeless were male in the 2021 Census. This is a measurement of occupants in that specific accommodation category on the Census date, not a profile of travelers staying in tourist hostels. (People experiencing homelessness, England and Wales)
Backpacker and hostel stays in Australia
Tourism Research Australia’s survey of working holiday makers in 2020 provides another focused view of hostel use. Backpackers or hostels were used for 28.1% of the 61,106 accommodation stays reported in the survey. The measure is a share of reported stays, not a share of people or a forecast of future demand. (Perceptions of Australia’s Working Holiday Maker Program 2019–20)
Location changed the pattern. Backpacker or hostel stays represented 33.4% of working-holiday-maker stays in Queensland and 24.0% in Victoria. In very remote Australia, they represented 24.4% of stays, while more than 25% of stays in outer regional and remote Australia were at backpackers or hostels. (Perceptions of Australia’s Working Holiday Maker Program 2019–20)
Industry and booking arrangements also differed. Backpackers or hostels accounted for 22.1% of stays among working holiday makers in agriculture and transport. Employers arranged 13.5% of employer-arranged backpacker or hostel accommodation stays. The survey also reported that Airbnb or other holiday rentals represented 9.6% of working-holiday-maker accommodation stays, compared with 28.1% for backpackers or hostels. (Perceptions of Australia’s Working Holiday Maker Program 2019–20)
These Australian figures come from a 2020 survey, while the England and Wales figures come from the 2021 Census and the Hostelworld platform figures are reported for 2024 or 2025. They are useful for describing different hostel-related populations and behaviors, but they are not a single global time series and should not be combined into one market-size estimate.