The Siem Reap Hostel's guest facilities are mostly centered on the ground floor - where you'll find the tour office, restaurant/bar, and swimming pool - but the management makes having fun with fellow guests an all-floors affair.

I found the cinema room on the second floor, located on the other end of the hall from my dorm room - the cinema screened Cambodia-themed documentaries and Hollywood movies in the afternoons and evenings.

On the same floor, the foyer facing the street had a billiards table and foosball set. The floors above us had a yoga room and day-spa facilities.

Ground Floor Facilities

The social center of the hostel, the ground floor restaurant/bar, contains comfortable couches, table-and-chair sets, and a menu consisting of both Khmer and international food favorites.

To a traveler used to getting plenty of value in a Singapore hawker center, the food in Siem Reap is expensive as a rule; Siem Reap Hostel compensated somewhat with generous servings (I could barely finish the $4 curry beef, as delicious as it was). For more on Siem Reap's legal tender, read about money in Cambodia.

Booze in Siem Reap, though, is cheap, and so it is in the Siem Reap Hostel, too. Angkor Beer costs about a dollar per can, and you can spend even less for your tipple during happy hour, when they slash the prices for draft beer by half and sell three cocktails for the price of two. (Read about the best beers in Southeast Asia.)

The swimming pool at the far end of the ground floor was pretty, but wasn't getting as much attention as the hostel's real indispensable amenity, the tour office opposite the check-in desk. Helped along by text-bites of tips scrawled onto the blackboard on the opposite wall, travelers consider their options and make arrangements with the tour officer on duty. The hostel boasts its own complement of in-house tuk-tuks, sparing guests the need to dicker with strangers outside. (Read our four tips for riding a tuk-tuk.)

Giving Back to the Community

Such bang-for-the-buck means the Siem Reap Hostel does brisk business at all seasons - and that's good news for the Cambodian families who benefit from the business' largesse.

Considering the high quality of the hostel's traveler-focused services, it might come as a surprise that the hostel was founded as an explicitly charitable enterprise in 2007. This means travelers who come to Siem Reap as volunteers for NGOs get special long-term stay rates. And this means that Khmer employees - at last count composed of 27 staff members and 21 tuk-tuk drivers, mostly from impoverished rural backgrounds - get an even better deal for working there.

"Siem Reap Hostel was purpose built as a hostel by its current owners as part of a greater wish to assist in the redevelopment of Cambodia," Gus, the Aussie resident manager, tells me. "[The hostel is] run on principles of love, fairness and seeking to instill good work ethics in those who come to work with us."

To that end, employees are given perks far beyond those offered by other businesses. Salaries about 50% above the Cambodian industry standard, hospital assistance and generous maternity leave schemes only scratch the surface.

"Our handyman has had half his electrical trades schooling paid for by the Hostel, and we micro-finance our drivers when they need to renew their motorbikes or tuk-tuks," Gus tells me. "We strive to provide happy, well remunerated and safe employment and I feel this is evidenced by our very low staff turnover."

The Siem Reap Hostel at a Glance

Location: 7 Makara Street, near the corner of Wat Bo Road and High School Road in the Wat Bo neighborhood, Siem Reap, Kingdom of Cambodia. Location of the Siem Reap Hostel (Google Maps). Twenty minute drive from Siem Reap International Airport; five minutes' walk east from Siem Reap's Old Market.

Rooms: four storeys, with guestrooms ranging from 18-bed basic dorms, 6-bed deluxe dorms (mixed and female-only), and two- and three-bed private rooms.

Amenities: Air conditioning, bathrooms en suite and WiFi access in all rooms. Cable TV access in all private rooms. Swimming pool, bar/restaurant, tour office and free Internet terminals on ground floor. Billiards table, cinema, yoga room and spa on upper floors. Basic buffet breakfast free for private room guests, available to dorm guests for $2. Free pickup by tuk-tuk from the Siem Reap Airport or the bus terminal.

Rates: Rates start from $8 for a basic dorm bunk (buy direct). Cash basis only.

Contact Details: Phone +855 63 964 660, www.thesiemreaphostel.com, info@thesiemreaphostel.com