On a February night the hostel was full with guests staying in 19 rooms ranging from a double to a 10-room dorm at prices ranging from $20 a night for a dorm bed to $70 for a twin or double room. In the crisis the clean bright rooms with modern IKEA furniture are among the most sought after in the bustling Russian capital where hotels are still charging a minimum of $150 a night per person plus tax and breakfast.

The price includes use of kitchen facilities, baggage storage and Wi-Fi Internet. Godzillas has a public Internet terminal and a laundry room. A young multi-lingual staff, fluent in English and Russian but including French, German and Spanish in their skills are cheerfully accommodating and ready to advise guests on the what to do and where to go in Moscow.

Godzillas can arrange tourist visa invitations, train tickets and taxi pickup from Moscow airports or mainline train stations.

One February evening, gathered round a kitchen table socializing, were an eclectic mix of Russians, British, a Frenchman, a Canadian, a German and a South African. Many were waiting to board or had just arrived on the Trans Siberian Express from Vladivostok, Ulan Ude in Mongolia or Beijing. The Russian girl from the Urals city of Yekaterinburg was staying four days waiting for her visa to be processed by The Netherlands Embassy. One of the British men was here to watch his League team play in an UEFA Cup soccer match. The other was a newly arrived intern staying in the hostel while he located more permanent accommodation for his six months tenure with an international business organization.

Just across the road the lights burned late in the Moscow offices of McCann Erickson Russia, the international advertising agency and Mercedes and Audi saloons were parked on the street outside as their owners enjoyed dinner in the up-market Peppino Italian restaurant which occupies the basement of the same building as the hostel.

Godzillas is the leader of the pack of a handful of budget accommodation hostels that have opened in Moscow in the last decade, catering to budget travelers and backpackers. “It’s brighter and more modern than others I have stayed in, and the Wi-Fi is a tremendous advantage,” said one frequent visitor to Moscow.

Mr. Skinner is now preparing to open a sister hostel in the tourist destination of Suzdal on the famed Golden Ring of historic Russian towns that pre-date Moscow.