Hotel Chain Claims to Have Reinvented the Hotel ... By Building Hostels

How do you sell a hostel without dirtying your mouth with the word “hostel”?

If you’re AccorHotels — the French brand that operates hotels like Sofitel and Novotel in 95 countries — you say you’ve devised a “totally reinvented and disruptive experience in terms of design approach, catering, service, and customer journey.” Because it’s 2016, hostels are dirty, and the kids are lining up to co-everything. It’s the sharing (hotel shampoo) economy, y’all.

With their new concept Jo&Joe, Accor is undoubtedly mimicking the success of Generator Hostels, which has launched hostels in Paris, London, Stockholm and other equally expensive European cities. You may be sharing a room, but Generator makes it possible to stay on London’s tony Tavistock Square for around $25 a night. That’s made it a success with economy-minded travelers.

Each Jo&Joe location will share certain features: proximity to the city center, shared kitchen spaces, a bar and both shared and private accommodations, as well as an app that Accor is saying will act as a “social accelerator.” (We’re imagining a hotel-based Tinder.)

If you’re looking for a cheap room in either Paris or Bordeaux, hometowns of the first two Jo&Joes, you’ll have to wait — neither will open until 2018. Until then, you’ll have to make due with the category-leading Generator, or, of course, your standard Airbnb. You’ll have to accelerate your social life all by yourself, unfortunately.

For images of the hostels to come, see below.

Meet your guide

Diane Rommel

Diane Rommel has written for The Wall Street Journal, Outside, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Travel + Leisure, Wallpaper and Afar, as well as The Cut, Buzzfeed, Huffington Post and McSweeney’s. She once drove from London to Mongolia, via Siberia.