The Adventure Ethos
Adventure Hostels’ core aim, is to simply look after our guests, invest in staff and provide as much as possible for free.
There’s only one thing that we charge for after check-in: laundry, which we will do for you.
Here’s what we found makes for the best hostels...
No micro-transactions or addons…
Simply include as much as possible in the room price.
As well as lots of hooks for every guest, a bath towel is always included, hairdryers, (lots of hooks), dimmer switches on bedroom lighting, free tea and coffee, (lots of hooks), small reading lights on every bed, USB and charging ports in every bunk, ample underbed lockable-storage. And, two pillows for everyone. We also have free sport equipment hire, free disc-golf hire, free go-pro hire.
Oh, yeah… and lots of hooks!
The only thing after check-in that we charge for is our laundry service – where our crew will wash, dry and return your laundry to your bunk, once it’s clean and dry.
Plus...
Our Hostels, so far...
AQ - The original Adventure Hostel!
The New Zealand hostel experience before 2010 was about as basic as it got. Hostels across the country sported squeeky aluminium beds. You were lucky if there was more than 2 charging outlets between 6 guests. Bathrooms and kitchens were very basic and social activities ran by the hostel? unheard of!
Brett jotted all of the positives from his travel and hostel experiences into his little notepad, and set about with the intention to shake things up, to offer a premium hostelling experience where non existed. Our new ‘niche in the market’ opened on February 10, 2011.
The average age of our guests is about 29, with plenty of young’uns and 30-somethings rounding it out nicely. We’ve created not just a nice hostel, but taken care of all the small things people hope for but don’t always get when travelling.
We’re always looking for ways to improve, so if you have your own little notebook, come and find Brett in the office and let him and our Management team know what you’d add to our little hostels.
Adventure Q2, we need you!
After 6 years of being consistently sold out, we decided it was high time to expand. The conundrum was where?
Adventure Q2 was opened in 2016, less than 100 meters away from our original hostel! A massive undertaking, this bespoke designed hostel – built from literally the ground up, was eventually managed by one of our guests! Lisa spent 9 years with Adventure Hostels, and worked her way up from work-for-accommodation housekeeping to Crew Member, Duty Manager and finally Hostel Manager.
Lisa has since moved on, but Adventure Hostels continues to invest in our crew members, mostly as a means of enriching our guest experience.
Happy crew makes for happy guests!
Welcome... Adventure Wānaka
Just over another 6-years later, after the madness of covid, we set off in search of Hostel number 3. And luckily for us, a fabulous opportunity arose in nearby Wanaka, located an hours drive from Queenstown.
The Covid-19 pandemic devastated our industry. New Zealand spent nearly three years with closed international borders, which effectively shut out any international backpackers or travellers. As a result, New Zealand’s hostel industry was decimated, and 14,000 beds across the country (or over 200 hostels) were lost to hostel closures. Many hostel owners (usually small, owner-operated businesses, like ourselves) simply weren’t able to survive, and had to close their doors.
We picked up this fantastic location, right in downtown Wanaka. After more than 16 months, and more than a million dollars of extensive refit and refurbishment, we officially opened our doors to guests on November 3, 2023.
Up and coming at URBANZ
Speeding things along, we added Hostel number four only 6-months after opening Adventure Wanaka. Adventure Hostels acquired the still-operating Urbanz Backpackers, located in downtown Christchurch in May 2024.
We set Urbanz on an 18-month journey, and by the end of this journey we hope to have given this property much more than just a facelift. As of mid-2025, we’ve installed a state-of-the-art kitchen, renovated several bathroom spaces and started work on replacing the age-ing metal frame beds with our bespoke Adventure Hostel wooden bunks.
Guests are loving the changes so far, and we’ve seen a 20% increase in guest experience ratings across our booking platforms – Urbanz is well on it’s way to transforming into Adventure Christchurch.
North Island, here we come
After 5 weeks of living at the hostel during which there was a lot of hard graft, sweat and a blisters – painting walls and building bunk-beds Brett and team opened Adventure Taupo Hostel, formerly Tiki Lodge in the October of 2025.
As of mid-2026, Adventure Taupo remains New Zealand’s best rated hostel and is managed by another former Team Member, who started his Adventure Hostels journey in Queenstown – it’s our boy Toby.
what are you waiting for?
