The hostel movement started in Germany in 1907 but became popular during the 1920 s as a way of promoting peace and world understanding as well as communing with nature with a view to protecting the environment, promoting healthy exercise and camaraderie among other backpackers. It is no wonder that the first hostels in Canada began in the Canadian Rockies. Today hostels are found all over the world. BHC is a network of private hostels, which have banded together for marketing and an exchange of information. It is an Canadian federally-registered incorporated company with headquarters in Toronto.
Travellers bring their own bedding, and two or more people share the same room.
The host provides genuine hospitality and is knowledgeable about what to see or do in the locality. Some facilities include breakfast or coffee and doughnuts in the price. There is a special interactive ambience about hostel life that offers an attraction to the thousands of travellers who use them. And of course the price is right. Hostels can be inns, budget bed and breakfasts, farms, residences, retreat centres, hospitality homes, camps campgrounds, or houseboats.