Backpacker Buzz Issue 83: Happy 1st Birthday, HI-Whistler!

On July 1, 2011, HI-Whistler celebrated its first birthday—and what a year it has been! HI-Whistler could not have chosen a better year to open, with the 2010-2011 winter season in Whistler enjoying its second snowiest season on record, and the slopes staying open until late spring.

The energy following last year’s Olympic Games is still being felt by visitors and locals alike, as many people travelled across the world to see and experience firsthand what they had seen on TV during their coverage. With summer now in full swing, we are having a blast mountain biking, hiking and zip lining. You name it, we are doing it! Pretty soon, we’ll be eagerly waiting for the next winter season to kick off, so we can dust off those skis and head back up the mountains.

HI-Whistler and the World

During HI-Whistler’s first 12 months, we’ve seen our fair share of guests come and go. Some came for one night, some stayed for one week, and some even stayed for a month! We’ve had guests

from all over the globe call our hostel home for a short while. Canadians have been our most frequent guests, with travellers from Australia and the U.K. coming in close behind, just before Germany and the U.S. We even had the Canadian bobsleigh team stay at the hostel for a week! Here are some of our guest’s comments:

“What a site! The managers were very helpful. The hostel was first class, with outstanding decor. The kitchen, being stainless steel, was easy to keep clean. There were lots of places to hang out by myself or with new-found friends! Thanks again!”

“Very clean, super awesome staff. I’ll come again for sure.”

“It’s pretty far outside of town—but this doesn’t matter because there is a bus coming regularly, and it takes no time to get there. The hostel is awesome, more like a hotel than a hostel. Best I’ve stayed in!”

It Takes a Lot to Run a Hostel

HI-Whistler employs 24 staff members, hailing from eight countries. Our staff has worked 39,879 hours over the last 12 months to ensure all runs smoothly. Six housekeeping staff have changed more than 13,000 beds, vacuumed for a total of 3,650 hours, and washed 2,920 loads in our industrial washer. They have replaced 3,760 rolls of toilet paper and used 204 litres of bathroom cleaner.

Five front-desk staff have checked in more than 12,870 guests, given out directions, booked activities, and even starred in an Aussie TV program! The local bus has picked up guests from right outside our hostel door 15,330 times, and dropped them back off again.

Cheakys Cafe @ H.I. Whsitler

Cheaky’s Café, HI-Whistler’s onsite café, has served 14,246 snacks and 16,059 beverages to both guests and locals. We reckon our hostel kitchen has been used to make at least 20,000 meals. We’ve held 52 weekly hotdog nights, 78 yoga classes, 32 pasta dinners— and one massive birthday celebration pancake breakfast! We even held a candlelit Scrabble tournament during Earth Hour.

We’ve been doing our bit for the environment too. All of our clean­ing chemicals are green-certified and all of the toilet paper and paper towels are made from recycled products. Our empties, paper, plastic, tin and cardboard are collected and recycled; and we are currently looking into how we can divert organic materials for composting. Cheaky’s Café also uses organically-grown, fair-trade coffee.

HI-Whistler has proven to be a fantastic new addition to the HI-Canada-Pacific Mountain Region network of hostels. This hostel is leading the way in hostel facilities, decor and comfort, ensuring guests have a pleasant and memorable stay. If you have not stayed at HI-Whistler yet—or, if you have and want to come back— we suggest you take advantage of these outstanding Outpost magazine rates fea­tured below.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 14th, 2011 at 4:13 pm and is filed under Hostelling International. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site. Add to del.icio.us.