• A guest checks out of the Marin Headlands hostel near Sausalito on Aug. 10, 2009. (IJ photo/Frankie Frost)

  • An employee prepares a room at the Marin Headlands hostel near Sausalito on Aug. 10, 2009. (IJ photo/Frankie Frost)

  • A guest at the Marin Headlands hostel near Sausalito on Aug. 10, 2009. (IJ photo/Frankie Frost)

  • The Marin Headlands hostel near Sausalito on Aug. 10, 2009. (IJ photo/Frankie Frost)

A hostel in the Marin Headlands has closed and is being converted into employee housing for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

The park did not renew the contract with Hostelling International for the site, returning management of the buildings to the National Park Service, said Julian Espinoza, a park representative. Espinoza said the employee housing will help the park recruit and retain staff.

Hostelling International is a nonprofit with more than 3,000 hostels in more than 70 countries, according to its website. The Golden Gate National Recreation Area plans to keep another hostel operating at Fort Mason in San Francisco.

Danielle Brumfitt Norris, a vice president at Hostelling International, said the hostel closed on March 31.

“The park service notified us of their extreme challenge with affordable housing and retaining staff at the park. They did an internal analysis at different buildings in the Marin Headlands,” Brumfitt Norris said. “The park identified the hostel as one of two buildings to convert into staff housing because they are not able to attract and retain staff. They couldn’t afford to live in the Bay Area and the park was hurting as a result.”

Brumfitt Norris said there are no hard feelings about the park service’s decision.

“We sympathize with their struggles around affordable housing. We have the same trouble with our own staff,” she said. “We hoped for an alternate solution or compromise to maintain the hostel. Unfortunately, the park was not open to compromises.”

The former hostel is at Fort Barry, which provides visitors close access to Sausalito, Rodeo Beach, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Point Bonita Lighthouse.

The hostel had operated since 1978, Brumfitt Norris said. It received about 20,000 overnight visitors annually, with 70% traveling from within the United States, she said. The average rate for a bed was $39.50, she said.

Brumfitt Norris said location was also used for the Youth Hostel Association, which operated for 35 years and gave younger visitors a chance to explore and appreciate the natural environment, she said.

The demographic makeup of the program’s participants is about 30% White guests, 15% Black guests, 24% Asian guests, 25% Latino guests and 5% from other heritages, she said.

Brumfitt Norris said the Marin Headlands site attracted a “more diverse population of kids, who frankly had not been able to experienced this natural environment.”

She said Hostelling International hopes to continue the program out of its other sites in the region, including Fisherman’s Wharf and Union Square in San Francisco, Point Reyes National Seashore, Point Montara Lighthouse near Moss Beach, Pigeon Point Lighthouse in Pescadero and downtown Sacramento.

“The program operates out of other Bay Area hostels,” she said. “But the Marin Headlands was, by far, our headquarters and main location.”