Nice report! We haven't hosteled too much but have stayed in our fair share over the years. The camaraderie has always made up for any shortcomings the facility had. Even now that we're in our 40's and can usually afford a little extra we find hostels to be just fine for certain destinations.

On another note, I love TripAdvisor too! I always research our destination on their site and have even made a couple of contributions of my own. But you always have to take everything that's written, both good and bad, with a grain of salt. The site doesn't usually verify the accuracy of posts. Often times I've found people are usually mad because they didn't do their homework before setting out on their journey and they're trying to lay blame on someone other than themselves.