From The Straits Times    |

After luxury, budget and short-term rental apartments, there’s another type of accommodation that’s squeezing its way into the hotel market: enter, the “poshtel”.


The Backpack hostel in Cape Town, South Africa, is Lonely Planet’s 2014 pick for top budget hotel. © The Backpack.

According to a wide sweeping trend report released at the World Travel Market in London this week, design-led hostels that offer high-tech facilities, free Wifi, en suite bathrooms, and luxurious designs are becoming increasingly popular among both leisure and business travellers alike.

Written by market research firm Euromonitor, the report pointed out that emergence of poshtels, led by brands like Clink, St Christopher’s Inn-Village, Safestay, The Dictionary and Generator Hostels, is forcing budget and mid-range hotel chains to rethink their pricing and distribution as well.

Lonely Planet’s pick for the top value hotel of 2014 is The Backpack hostel in Cape Town, South Africa, while Hostelworld.com gave Tattva Design Hostel in Porto, Portugal the top spot in the category of large hostel.

Though the report says that Generation Y — those born between 1981 and 1990 — makes up a key part of the “poshtel” demographic, the report adds that budget accommodations like these could also find a market in older age groups as well as the business segment.