What’s the difference between extended stay motels and a hostel? The differences are not so subtle. Hostel (some spell it hostals) are usually associated with European countries, where motels are usually associated with the United States. The biggest difference is usually the hostel is a room usually without a private bathroom and a shared common area, such as the kitchen, tv room, locker room and so forth. Sometimes that means that your particular room is rented out to more than one party. You’ll have a bathroom in your room, or space, but you’ll have to share it with the other renters of your hostel. In a motel, what you get is usually just a step down from a hotel. You don’t get the lobby and the long walks to your room, but you’ll usually get your own private bathroom. Both offer free room cleaning, tv…the usual amenities you would come to expect. When I first went to Spain, I stayed in a hostel. Which turned out to be an apartment building owned by one person. There were many tenants there that were permanent renters, while the rooms around the owner of the building were rented out. My girlfriend and I didn’t have to share with anyone else, and we did have our own bathroom, but there were certain things that really bothered us. One was the noise. Not from others, but from us. Around 10pm or so, you had to be very very quiet otherwise the owner would knock on your door and start telling you the rules of land. The other, which surprised me, especially being an American, was the control of electricity! At my home or any hotel / motel I’ve ever stayed in, you could bring your computer, turn on the tv, run the air conditioning, use your fridge, and plug in my phone for recharging. But here, there was none of that. You were allowed to only plug in two electrical items at once. Anything more and the electricity would be turned off until the manager or keeper turned your power back on. If that wasn’t bad enough, the owners have no problems telling you how to use the electricity wisely, and how bad you are for not following the rules. After about 2 days of this place, we found another hostel and moved our stuff to that place, but this time there were absolutely no restrictions on electricity, which was very nice. So all in all, if you want to save money overseas, it’s not a bad idea to get yourself a hostel. The cost is very cheap, and can be used as an extended stay motel / hostel. Just be sure to check the reviews of the place before hand. They usually run in the neighborhood of 20 – 37 euros a day. Which is not bad, but you lose alot of privacy. There are also several motels in the european area, although most of those were called inns. They were about double the price, but offered you the same luxuries (with no electrical limits) as the motels here in the States.