Hub worlds are basically unavoidable in games like Super Mario 64 and its successors, as each level has multiple objectives to accomplish. Can you imagine how annoying it would be if you had no choice but to play each level in consecutive order while trying to accomplish each separate task?

 you could easily solve this with a menu, rather than having to run around to the entrance to each level.

Depends on the type of game.

In a platformer... I perfer the "Mario 3" method.

A Map. That lets you quickly decide which ways you want to go, and where you want to skip and lets you go back etc.

There is nothing I hate more than an enviroment that is wide open just for the sake of being wide open.

I actually liked the hub worlds in Mario 64, SMG, and (oddly) Diddy Kong Racing on the N64. I didn't really care too much for the one in Sunshine but that had more to do with me not liking the design for Sunshine in general rather than anything negative about hub worlds.

Sonic and the Secret Rings has a menu rather than a hub world and it works fine for that game as well.