WAR OF WORDS:AN IRISH COMPANY that provides online hostel accommodation all over the world has launched a campaign to have the dictionary definition of "hostel" changed.
www.Hostelworld.com, which offers online reservations for more than 17,000 hostels and budget hotels in 168 countries, wants the major dictionaries to change their definition that a hostel is either for homeless and destitute people, or students and young travellers. For example, the Oxford Pocket Dictionary describes a hostel as "an establishment that provides cheap food and lodging for a specific group of people, such as students, workers, or travellers".
Meanwhile, the Collins English Dictionary says a hostel is "a residence providing shelter for the homeless, especially one run by charitable rather than for profitable purposes".
According to Hostelworld, the vast majority of hostels are comfortable, clean places and many are of an extremely high standard. "To describe them as homeless shelters or cheap bunkhouse accommodation for youths is simply wrong. Dictionaries are stuck firmly in the rambling shorts and knapsack era of Enid Blyton books. They need to get with the times."
Hostelworld has written to Oxford, Collins and Chambers dictionaries asking for the redefinition. Hostelworld, which is headquartered in Dublin, books in the region of 15 million hostel beds each year. Its website also offers budget travellers free podcasts, customised city guides and a travel social network.