You're sure as hell going to remember it if your shit gets stolen, or worse, something happens to you or your travelling companion. I'm with Frebis on this one. When I was in my early 20's, I wouldn't have given a shit about staying anywhere I could lay down at. I think it just goes with being a young adult; you assume you're always going to be fine and you'll always be able to take care of yourself. But now, I'm old. And I would NEVER be able to live with myself if something happened to my wife while we were on vacation because I was too cheap to sport for a decent hotel. I mean, you're asleep. All some creepy dude has to do is come over and start fondling her tits or something. Even if I wake up and beat the shit out of the guy, it still doesn't change the situation. I'll stay at the hotel with locked doors please.
Sorry if this offends anyone, but I wish all older people generally took this stance on hostels. There's nothing more depressing than rocking up to your hostel ready to meet some people and party, only to find your roommates are a 40+ couple. Some hostels have an age restriction (generally around 30-35) which is great. I'm in the middle of a European trip at the moment (it's been roughly three months), and the entire time, with the inclusion of one or two places, we have stayed at hostels. A couple of "gamboling" experiences include: A man who wasn't even supposed to be staying in our room loudly masturbating in the shower. The "shower" was a square foot thinly walled one that stood in the corner of the room. Not the most pleasant way to wake up. Shortly after he left, never to be seen again. A significantly older man using our room's toilet (this time in a separate room to our bed's) with the door open. Three times. While myself and my two mates were in the room. He also lived by the "if it's yellow keep it mellow" rule. Other than that, not too bad. And while these sound horrific, they're clearly also hilarious, and made for great stories for our mates back home. I wouldn't change a thing.
Staying a hotel with locking doors isn't any guarantee against bad people doing bad things. Bad people can do bad things to you pretty much any time you walk out your front door (and sometimes, I hear they even break in). Not to mention all the random accidents you can get yourself into where bad things happen to you without bad people involved. Besides that, most hostels have lockers and even private / double rooms available. And they have locking doors.
Seriously, where is this illusion about hostels being filled with criminals coming from? I've stayed in a dozen hostels in three different countries, and they are consistently filled with some of the greatest people I've ever met. Everyone is ridiculously nice, friendly, laid-back, peaceful, smart, and interesting. There have been people I didn't particularly care for, but I can't think of a single person I considered shady. Even the token guy-who's-way-too-old-to-be-in-a-hostel tends to be harmless and is usually just some hippie who thinks he's young at heart. People who like to travel tend not to be the same people who like to steal things or assault people. It's the people outside of the hostel you have to worry about, and just because it's a hostel doesn't mean that me and my things aren't behind 1-4 locks and sometimes a security guard. Having your qualms about the cleanliness, privacy, and general level of enjoyment is one thing and totally understandable for some people, but hostels are generally no less safe than hotels or your apartment.
One of my current favorite people in the world is a 39 year old New Zealander, who seemed odd at first merely because he was at least 10 years older than the next youngest person in the hostel, including the owner. Sure, he's an indirect cause of a few of the dumber things I've done in my life, but damned if he wasn't a hilarious addition to the trip.
I guess I was responding more to the people that said they sleep in parks or under benches or stuff like that. And yes, bad things can happen anytime to anyone. But it's an odds game. You're infinitely more likely to be fucked with sleeping in a park than in a hotel. I don't like hostels, because I hate people. Being in confined quarters with strangers is at the top of my 'no thanks' list.
When my brother and I travelled we stayed in hostels except for one instance. The hostels we stayed in were chosen well in advance and had to have a few requirements. One of those requirements was personal lockers. If a hostel has personal lockers and you bring your own lock you stuff is safe assuming no one picks the lock. We had a general positive experience in almost all the places we stayed. There was only one instance in which we had a creepy old guy stay in the room but my brother quickly ran him out. This guy was an old (read 50's), fat, annoying, hippie. He tried to tell me and my brother that we would see an armed revolt in the US in our lifetime. He was absolutely certain of this. Because of him being a hippy, and too old, and stupid, my brother and I basically ran him out of the room. Yes we were dicks, but fuck that guy.
I have a group of friends that plan EVERYTHING on trips. We went camping for 3 days and they wrote out menus for each meal. Excessive for my tastes. The good thing about it is you know exactly what's going to happen. The bad thing is that you know exactly what's going to happen.
People make menu's for camping? I couldn't be friends with your friends, that'd drive me insane. When I travel I plan things out but not to the smallest details. Its more like I research and plan the hotels/hostels well in advance, but thats as far as it goes.