The Hoscars: Toronto hostel named one of top ten in the world

Sweet Dreams. Photo by Sue Frause.

Clarence Castle, a hostel in Toronto, has received the coveted Hoscar. What's a Hoscar? It's Hostelworld's annual award selected by guests around the world. The Top Ten Worldwide Hostels were recently announced at Temple Bar's Button Factory in Dublin:

1. Flamingo Hostel | Krakow, Poland
2. Mama's Hostel | Krakow, Poland
3. Clarence Castle | Toronto, Canada
4. Jetpak City Hostel | Berlin | last year's winner
5. Hostel Estoril | Buenos Aires
6. Hilux Valencia Feetup Hostels | Valencia, Barcelona
7. Hostel of the Sun | Naples, Italy
8. Travellers House | Lisbon, Portugal
9. Backpacker Hostel K’s house | Tokyo, Japan
10. East Seven Berlin Hostel | Berlin, Germany

More than 600,000 Hostelworld users rated the 15,000 hostels. Voting customers, who booked their hostel stays online, were surveyed after their stay and asked to grade their accommodation based on character, security, location, staff, fun and cleanliness. The average individual ratings determined the winners.

Awards were also presented to the most secure hostel, the cleanest hostel, the most fun hostel and hostels that don't have as many beds as others, aka the best small hostel.

More than 300 hostel owners and managers attended the awards ceremony, which were part of Hostelworld's fourth annual Hostel Conference held at Dublin's Hilton Hotel. This year's theme was Engaging the online customer -- the social web and you.

The conference featured keynote speakers and a backpacker panel on the subject of user generated content, social networking and online reviews.