Hostelworld.com provides online reservations to the budget, independent and youth travel market, representing online reservations for over 20,000 hostels and budget hotels in 170 countries worldwide. They recently tabulated the ratings of 800,000 site visitors to come up with the 2009 list of world's top hostels. These awards, known as Hoscars (HOStelworld Customers Annual Ratings), recognize the best hostel accommodations in the world.

Voting customers, who booked their hostel stays online, were surveyed after their stay and asked to grade their accommodation based on six different criteria; character, security, location, staff, fun and cleanliness. The average individual ratings from all users were combined, and Travellers House, located in Lisbon, Portugal, was the overall winner for 2009.

“We believe Travellers House is so popular because guests are treated the way they like to be treated,” said Adriano Cardoso, Manager of Travellers House, in reponse to hostellers' 99% satisfaction rating with the staff. “You have to be there for travelers and take care of them – know your guests and offer the things you know they need.”

Hostel Seattle, located in Seattle, Washington, was voted the best hostel in North America. The second-place winner was Pacific Tradewinds Backpacker Hostel in San Francisco, California, followed by HI-Baltimore, in Baltimore Maryland (see list of top 10 winners below).

Additionally, this fun-loving group of backpackers and flashpackers (the industry term for young people who prefer more upscale, stylish accommodations), were asked to pick the Best Tour they'd experienced in their travels. Hostelworld.com users came up with these three: "Backpacker Pub Crawl" in Dublin, Ireland; "Bus2alps" tour from Florence to Sorrento and Capri in Italy; and "Wild Wicklow Tours" to Ireland's Wicklow mountains.

Top 10 Worldwide Hostels
1. Travellers House, Lisbon, Portugal
2. Rossio Hostel, Lisbon, Portugal
3. Lisbon Lounge Hostel, Lisbon, Portugal
4. The Riverhouse Backpackers, Cardiff, Wales
5. Greg- Tom Hostel, Krakow, Poland
6. Sitting on the City Walls Courtyard House, Beijing, China
7. Academy Hostel, Florence, Italy
8. Goodnight Backpackers Hostel, Lisbon, Portugal
9. Flamingo Hostel, Krakow, Poland
10. Mambo Tango Backpackers, Barcelona, Spain

Top 10 Hostels in North America
1. Hostel Seattle, Seattle
2. Pacific Tradewinds Backpacker Hostel, San Francisco
3. HI-Baltimore, Baltimore
4. Green Tortoise Seattle Hostel, Seattle
5. Times Square West Hostel, New York
6. Hostelling International, San Diego Downtown
7. HI - Portland, Northwest
8. USA Hostels, San Francisco
9. Green Tortoise Backpackers, San Francisco
10. Music City Hostel, Nashville

Top Hostels by Continent

Latin America
1. Hi Patagonia Hostel, Puerto Madryn, Argentina
2. Hostel Estoril, Buenos Aires, Argentina
3. Hostel Lao, Mendoza, Argentina

Oceania
1. YHA Rotorua Treks, Roroorua, New Zealand
2. Dreamtime Travellers Rest, Cairns, Australia
3. Jailhouse Accommodation, Christchurch, New Zealand

Africa
1. Equity Point Marrakech, Morocco
2. Hostel Essaouira, Essaouira, Morocco
3. The Backpack & Africa Travel Centre

Asia
1. Sitting on the City Walls Courtyard House, Beijing, China
2. Zhengjia International Youth Hostel, Pingyao, China
3. Eight Elephants Hostel, Taipei, Taiwan

In addition to the top ten honors, awards were also presented to the most secure hostel, the cleanest hostel, the most fun hostel and those hostels which don't have as many beds as others, the best small hostel.

Cleanest Hostel: Lisbon Lounge Hostel, Lisbon, Portugal

Best Staff: The Riverhouse Backpackers, Cardiff, Wales

Most Secure Hostel: Budapest Bubble, Budpaest, Hungary

Best Location: Travellers House, Lisbon, Portugal

Best Character: Travellers House, Lisbon, Portugal

Most Fun: Rossio Hostel, Lisbon, Portugal

Best Large Hostel (min 300 beds): Wombats City hostel, Berlin, Germany

Best Small Hostel (max 50 beds): Rossio Hostel, Lisbon, Portugal

Most Improved Hostel: Marlborough House, Dublin, Ireland

Best Hostel Chain
1. Wombats
2. Hatters
3. St Christopher’s