Checking into the Abraham Hostel Tel Aviv in spring 2017 at the end of a family trip to Israel, Amy Friedman’s two teenage daughters took a look at the bare-bones room that slept four for about $130 and wondered if the trip was ending on a thud rather than a bang.

“It took about four hours to fall in love,” said Ms. Friedman, a television executive who lives in Montclair, N. J. Looking around the communal spaces, the girls found an art exhibition on the roof, swings in the living room, Ping-Pong and “a lot of young travelers so they could project what it might be like to travel when they’re older. We wanted to help the girls to picture travel they will be able to afford.”

Sparsely furnished, communally focused and very affordable, hostels — which traditionally offer shared bathrooms and dormlike sleeping quarters that might house dozens of strangers — have usually been associated with student travel. But hostels have evolved to appeal to couples and especially families by providing private rooms, often with several beds and private bathrooms.

In the United States , a number of new-wave hostels with family rooms and hotel amenities, such as those run by the London-based group Generator, have recently opened. Hybrid hotels such as the Freehand brand in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and New York have adopted the model to offer rooms that sleep up to six people traveling together. In 2020, the Berlin-based hybrid Meininger Hotel plans to open its first American outpost in Washington, D.C., with 616 beds in 154 rooms.