What is the diffrence between hostel and bed and breakfast as a lodging establishment?

Question

What is the diffrence between hostel and bed and breakfast as a lodging establishment?

Answer 1

Hostel has no breakfast and its normally cheaper and not as good. In Spain they are called Pension.

Answer 2

A hostel is pretty much a bed.  Sometimes it is in a miltary barricks type setting, sometimes it is a few people to a room, if you are lucky, you will have a small private room.  The bathroom is usually shared.  There may be a community TV.

A Bed & Breakfast is pretty much a small hotel.  You have private rooms and all the expected amenities such as a private washroom and a TV.  Sometimes (as the name suggests), you get breakfast in the morning.

Answer 3

In general, a hostel was intended for young people to stay who are broke and don't mind sacrificing comfort in the name of saving some $$$.  This means that you may be sharing rooms with lots of people that you don't know (some are single-gender, others are mixed so do you research in advance if you care about these things).  You will also be sharing bathrooms.  Sometimes hostels have curfews which can usually be ignored.  In most hostels they will give you a locker where you can lock up your valuables.  Hostels most likely won't serve any food although some have bars which are pretty sweet.  In general a hostel is a very social atmosphere where you can meet travellers from all over the world, though sometimes this comes at the expense of "living like a traveller" instead of "living like a local".

A B&B tends to be more like a small hotel, generally run by a small number of people (as opposed to a large chain like bigger hotels), with a small number of rooms.  The innkeepers are usually very social and are happy to help you plan your adventures in whatever place you are staying.  B&Bs tend to be in "out of the way" destinations as opposed to in the city center (though this is not always the case).  Also, most B&B's cater to romantic interests so they usually leave you alone to do whatever you want.  The "breakfast" part refers to the communal breakfast that is usually made on the premesis just for the guests - and at least in my experience - is awesome.  Depending on your interests, it is possible to meet other like-minded couples/groups/people at a B&B, but it's usually more quiet like a log cabin in the middle of the mountains.  

Your preference, of course, depends on what kind of experience you're trying to have.  What destinations are you looking at?