Hostels are now a rung above what you remember: Drifter Christchurch in the old woolworks in Lichfield St.
Hostels are now a rung above what you remember: Drifter Christchurch in the old woolworks in Lichfield St.
Bunk beds are back, and flashier than you remember.
There was a period when it looked like the humble hostel had been wiped off the map. With a proud 100-year history in New Zealand, the cheap communal dorms made them the mainstay of young, mostly international tourists. The budget hostel model made them especially susceptible to the 2020 pandemic. Like the backpackers living pay cheque to pay cheque, dire financials meant there was a wave of closures.
Now, all of a sudden there is a glut of hostels reappearing and they’re a place that Kiwis might consider staying.
One of the newest arrivals on the hostel renaissance is Drifter. There are three such “hybrid hostel-hotels” due to open throughout New Zealand, with the Drifter in Christchurch’s Lichfield St set to welcome the first guests from June 1. With rooms priced from $70 all the way to $270plus, the first to check in are likely to be an eclectic bunch.
Even from outside the grand folding windows of the old wool textile plant, it’s clearly a more upmarket offering.
Gone are the backpacks and BO. Instead you’ll find soundbaths, breakout rooms and co-working spaces. But are there dorm rooms? You betcha.
Generously spaced 4-8 bunk rooms, mixed and female-only arrangements. Ensuite bathrooms are a relative luxury for shared accommodation.
Bunks in the new Drifter Christchurch hostel-hotel.
“The rooms are fantastic, but it’s not our intention for travellers to sit in their bunks,” says Luke Moran, chief executive of hotel group Leisure Accommodation Co.
Instead, the hotel has gone big on social areas. The shared living spaces promise “daily activities” throughout the hotel. On the first floor, Moran says there will be DJ sets and pop-up tattoo studios and games. The only challenge is catering to such a diverse range of tastes.
The upper levels, which are mostly private rooms starting from $200, offer a more sedate pace. With a wellness space dubbed the Drifter Leisure Club and a library media room, there is a sense of a more grown-up space.
Fitted out by Auckland-based designer CTRL Space, the design choices are surprisingly mature by hostel standards.
Inside the Private Queen and King rooms there is a variety of unusual retro inclusions. LP turntables, umber and forest-green details, fleece beanbags — the Private King rooms contained more than a few nostalgic touches.
The Doors and Pink Floyd and another selection of boomer-tastic vinyl records are proudly displayed on the private media station.
It’s designed to appeal to the “young at heart,” but certainly not a youth hostel.
The building, which formerly housed a Livingspace studio hotel and halls of residence, is on the home straight for works completion. The last piece set to be in place is the food and beverage offerings.
Retroactive: LP turntables and choice decor suggest the Drifter hostel-hotel is targeting the "young at heart".
The Rambler Bar was still a work in progress when looking round in early May, providing space for 150 covers; it is an ambitious proposal, on schedule to finish in August.
Not far from the city’s food quarter and sports district, within view of the ribs of Christchurch’s new stadium under construction, it’s sure to be a popular fixture for match-goers and guests.
It’s a space that’s making the most of the enormous art deco front from the Wellington Woollen Manufacturing Company.
Murals by Australian artist Beni Single definitely wouldn’t look out of place in Byron Bay — conveniently where the first Australian Drifter is set to open. There are also Drifter hotels under development in Auckland’s old T&G building and in Wellington; however, it is Christchurch that would be the first to open to the public.
“It was about waiting for the perfect building,” says Moran, and the Christchurch rebuild offered plenty to choose from for what he referred to as the “Drifter blueprint”.
So is it a hybrid hotel or a “Hostel 2.0″? The Drifter is certainly about two times as expensive as your classic Youth Hostel dorm room, like the YMCA down the road. Yet, another dorm property that received a recent revamp waas the Hotel Give in 2022.
Beni Single murals inside the courtyard of Drifter Christchurch.
Moran says Drifter is intentionally priced above competitors Lylo and Haka House, which recently took over operations at more than 10 former YHA NZ properties as part of an upmarket remodelling.
There’s no shortage of “grown-up” hostels appearing, where the more budget bunks once were. Hostels have all had to step up their dorm room game.
