Sustainability Stories: Pride, Place & Purpose – How The Cool Hostel built a queer-friendly space rooted in community

“The Cool Hostel, where you can show up exactly as you are.”

Pride Month is a time to celebrate LGBTQ+ visibility, inclusivity and diversity.

But in Coquimbo, Northern Chile, one hostel is building that – not just for a moment, but every single day.

We met Cris Sankari, co-founder of The Cool Hostel, the first queer hostel in the region, to understand how a traveller-led idea turned into a space built on connection and care.

From constant travel to coming home

Before opening the hostel, Cris and her business partner spent years travelling the world as digital nomads.

But after many years of working remotely, they found themselves missing something: a sense of belonging.

“We were always moving around, travelling constantly, and being surrounded by people from around the world, but in a way that always felt temporary and rushed.”

As their lifestyles evolved, so did their needs.

“We no longer had the same energy for nightlife, and it became harder to find LGBTQ+ spaces that existed during the day, spaces designed for real connection.”

When they returned home to Coquimbo, to reconnect with friends and family, they realised that kind of space didn’t exist either – social, welcoming, queer-friendly and intentional.

So, they built it.

Building what didn’t exist

The Cool Hostel didn’t start with a traditional business plan; it started from a need.

“A space built around everything we had always wished existed for us and shaped by all the lessons our travels had given us over the years.”

When an abandoned property became available behind a family restaurant, the decision came quickly.

“It felt like now, or never.”

What followed was a hands-on build, navigating construction and project management challenges as female founders, and shaping the space from the ground up.

All with one goal in mind: a space where people feel comfortable being themselves, and where connection happens naturally, without pressure.

More than a label or symbol

For The Cool Hostel, being LGBTQ+ isn’t about decoration or branding; it’s about the people and how the space feels.

And it starts with removing a question many travellers carry:

Am I truly welcome here?

The answer is built into every experience:

🤝 Staff chosen for empathy and openness

☀️ Social spaces designed for connections

🎨 Community-led events (yoga, live music, painting clubs, etc.)

Inspired partly by Cris’ time in New York, where queer identity was embedded in daily life, the hostel recreates that same sense of ease and belonging.

At the centre of this is one key (and beloved) space, a combined coworking and social area.

By day:

💻 Remote working

🍳 Community kitchens

☕ Relaxed coffee conversations

By night:

🎶 Live music

🌈 Queer-themed events

🎨 Workshops and gatherings

This is where the magic happens – bringing people together, without forcing interactions.

Pride in practice

Inclusivity here isn’t written in the rules; it’s experienced through the culture and the people behind it.

Intentional human interactions, including:

🤝 Proactively connecting guests

💛 Supporting guests without pressure

“If someone arrives alone, we introduce them to others. If someone feels uncomfortable or isolated, we notice it.”

The result: a space that feels safe, relaxed, and genuinely welcoming.

The hostel is proudly queer-focused and openly communicates that. It also welcomes guests beyond the LGBTQ+ community who respect the space and the environment of the hostel.

“We’re very clear about who we are, and people naturally adapt to that energy.”

Sometimes that leads to quiet moments of reflection.

“The most positive changes happen simply by sharing space, conversations, and experiences together.” 

Sustainability rooted in community

At The Cool Hostel, sustainability goes beyond environmental impact.

It’s about building something that supports people long-term.

Showing up through:

🎨 Supporting local artists, creators, and businesses

💬 Hosting community-led workshops and events

🧘 Creating space for wellbeing (yoga, social activities)

🧠 Providing emotional support, including an on-site psychology consultation space

🥗 Offering plant-based, well-being-focused food options

“For us, sustainability means creating a space where people, ideas, art, local culture, and wellbeing can coexist and support each other.”

It also exists in everyday moments:

🌱 Small acts of care from staff

🌍 Open, inclusive environments

🤝 Accessible, human relationships between guests and staff

Challenges – and why they matter

Running an independent, queer-focused hostel comes with its challenges.

Fortunately, in Chile, where LGBTQ+ acceptance is relatively high, challenges are less about direct discrimination and more about operations: seasonality in a tourist destination.

Visibility during the low season, between April and August, when tourism naturally slows, means more work around showing travellers that it’s still a great time to visit Coquimbo, with the added benefit of significantly lower prices.

Another challenge is managing guest expectations, which can vary. Some guests arrive expecting a constant party environment, while others expect something exclusively centred on queer identity.

In reality, The Cool Hostel sits right in between: A space designed for connections and accessible to all types of travellers.

Limited resources can also be a challenge at times, like many independent projects. But rather than restricting the hostel’s growth and development, it’s helped shape the personality and strong sense of community:

More collaborative.
More human.
More community-driven.

The impact

The most meaningful moments are often unplanned.

Cris recalls a guest who extended their one-night stay after finding something unexpected:

“He said he didn’t want to leave because he had found the hostel to be such a peaceful, healing place.”

What made this moment impactful wasn’t just that he enjoyed his stay, but that the space seemed to give him a sense of calm and connection that he wasn’t expecting to find.

A welcome reminder that hospitality can go far beyond simply providing a place to stay; it can have a profoundly lasting effect on someone’s life.

From the community, for the community: creating spaces where everyone is welcome, today and every day 🌈

If you’re visiting Coquimbo, here are a few of Cris’ local recommendations: 

🌌 Valle del Elqui – for its world-famous observatories, known for having some of the clearest skies on the planet. Stargaze and see the Milky Way in unreal clarity, something you won’t soon forget.

🍇 Pisco distilleries & vineyards – explore a region deeply rooted in wine and pisco culture, with beautiful wineries, tastings and some of the most important pisco producers in Chile. Nature, local tradition and slow travel at its core.

🐋 Whale & penguin tours – experience the incredible marine life of Northern Chile up close.

🌅 Pueblito Peñuelas – right in front of the hostel, one of the most iconic coastal areas in Coquimbo. A beachfront neighbourhood filled with local restaurants, cafés, bars, craft shops, live music and ocean views.

Slow down and relax into the pace of the region – meet the locals and watch the sunset. Or for something a little more adventurous, go a little further and try sandboarding nearby.

There’s something here for every kind of traveller.