Generator Hostel, Venice, Italy

Closely following the launch of a Berlin outpost, the latest Generator Hostel has opened its doors in Venice and - as with all the recent openings from the brand - it is designed by Toronto-based The Design Agency. Lighting and furnishings by Tom Dixon and Marcel Wanders for Moooi are not on the spec' list of your average hostel, but it is the mix of these classics with locally sourced antique mirrors, a marble fireplace, a vintage pharmacy cupboard and other 'found objects' that gives the ground-floor public spaces their charm. Housed in a former flour mill and granary store, the lodgings are located right on the waterfront of Isola della Giudecca, with a grandstand view across the archipelago towards St Mark's Square. Featuring the usual dormitory and bunk bed sleeping options, the hostel's front rooms sleep two to three guests and come with en-suite bathrooms stocked with L'Occitane en Provence toiletries. Even in the fast growing hostel market the expansion of Generator, by owners Patron Capital is impressive. The three openings in 2013 (Barcelona, as well as Berlin and Venice) will be followed by over 1,000 more beds in Rome and Paris in 2014. Guests will be pinching themselves in disbelief at this pioneering brand's game-changing design initiative.