HI-San Francisco City Center welcomes Sam Hussein as new general manager

Posted by Sarah on Mar 23, 2011

HI-USA Golden Gate Council is pleased to welcome Sam Hussein as the new general manager of the San Francisco City Center Hostel.

The announcement comes as no surprise to hostel and council staff members — Sam has been the hostel’s assistant general manager since 2006, after previous gigs at HI-Boston and HI-San Diego.

Unlike many American backpackers, whose first hostelling experience happens abroad, Sam’s first hostel stay was right here in the U.S. — at age 17, he and some friends set out from their Boston area home to catch a punk show in Philadelphia, and stayed at Philly’s HI-Chamounix Mansion.

In college, he took his first hostelling trip abroad, traveling for a summer through Western Europe. "After that, I was really just hooked on traveling and hostelling," Sam says.

As soon as he returned to Boston University that fall, he sought out HI-Boston and applied for a job.

Since then, he says, he’s stayed in somewhere between 75 and 100 hostels, from Morocco and West Africa to India, Peru, and all over North America and Europe.

His takeaway from all that hostel experience? It’s the little things that count. Other than the City Center Hostel, of course, Sam’s favorite hostel is a little place in Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic. While there, he was most impressed by the "laidback vibe and great decor." Right down to the woodwork, he says, "they paid attention to the little things that, if you’re looking, you’ll notice." That they provided inner tubes so guests could bar hop while floating down the local river, he adds, certainly didn’t hurt.

Working in hostels, Sam really enjoys making connections with guests. "I love to be a host, so I love to get out of the hostel and show somebody my favorite restaurant or bar or view." And he appreciates that at the City Center Hostel, most staff have the same approach. "They’re all really happy to be doing their jobs — more than that though, they’re really happy to be involved with guests rather than just be pleasant."

Stepping into the role of general manager, Sam says he has lofty goals — he’s nervous to share all of them, actually, for fear of sounding too ambitious.

Primarily, he says, he’s hoping his hostel can stay on the cutting edge of what he thinks is a "travel and hostel revolution," in which technology and the ways that hostels relate to their guests is rapidly shifting.

"We’re getting more sophisticated, more connected," he says. As travelers use new tech tools to interact with companies, each other, and their friends back home, "we want to incorporate that into the vibe of the hostel and the ways we interact with guests."

And what does the head honcho have to say about Sam’s ambitions? Danielle Brumfitt, executive director of HI-USA Golden Gate Council, says his "inquisitive nature and his drive to discover new trends, examining how they can enhance both guest and staff experiences," make him a great fit for the position.

"Ultimately," she says, "his experience and, most importantly, passion for HI-San Francisco City Center and the Golden Gate Council, staff, and guests, are exciting and motivating to work with. I’m looking forward to the future at the City Center Hostel with Sam at its helm!"