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Top 10 things to look for when booking a hostel

6/30/2013

10 Comments

 
Picture
1. Location, location, location
Location is always the big one, when you’re searching for the right hostel. There’s nothing worse than arriving to a city and ONLY then realizing that your hostel is in some far outskirts of where you actually wanted to be.

2. Public transportation
It can also be a huge headache when you realize your hostel is 30+ minutes walking from the closest train or bus stop. For all of you backpackers who are traveling mostly by foot, make sure there’s public transportation near your hostel.
3. Past reviews
This one is an obvious one, and most of us will voluntarily look at the star-based rating, but that’s not exactly a true tell of what the facilities are like. It’s often that a hostel was under old management and things went down hill from there, but the ratings never changed. I’ve also heard of some hostel websites ‘playing’ with their ratings, to improve the sales of certain properties.

4. Hidden fees
Some hostels like to charge for every little thing. Typically you will find a hostel charge you for the use of a towel or a lock, but the worst ones will charge you for your sheets and your internet (which I cover next).

5. Internet
More and more hostels are opening up and offering free WIFI for their patrons, but there are still tons that will charge you for the use of it. Others will word their ads a certain way to make it sound as though they offer you free internet, but a lot of times these connections ARE free, but they’re for usage on their community computers only – and trust me, it’s a pain to find this out too late, and even worse when you realize there are only two public computers available for use in a 200-bed hostel.

6. Check-in/check out times
Most hostels abide by similar check-in and check out time frames like hotels, but there are a few here and there that require ridiculously early check outs and inconveniently early check-ins. On the other side of things, there are a lot that will not let you check-in after basic hours.

7. 24 hours, hours
Some hostels don’t like to man the desk at all hours of the night. If you’re planning on staying out late, it’s important to check and that your hostel has 24-hour access.

8. Daily lockout
On the other side of wacky hours and unmanned desks, a few rare hostels impose a daily lockout, which is for ‘cleaning and other maintenance purposes.’ If you don’t want to be kicked out of your hostel at 10:30 AM, then you may want to find one with better hours.

9. Patrons Vs. bathrooms
If you’re traveling on a tight budget, you’re likely to choose the largest room that holds the most amount of beds, but sometimes you can stay for really cheap in a 18-30 bed dorm, but then find out there’s ONLY ONE BATHROOM. So the moral is, try to figure out if it will be a war for the washroom, like that of David Vs. Goliath, or not.

10. The devil’s in the details
This should be a no-brainer, and sort of a ‘moral of the story’ of this article, but you should always read all of the details for each and every hostel you book. Some hostels want you to do a certain thing when arriving or they want you to email them ahead of time, or even some have strange policies that you might do better knowing ahead of time.

(Photo via therestlessraconteur.blogspot.it)
(This piece was written by Brandon Elijah Scott and originally published by HostelsClub)
10 Comments
Joy link
6/30/2013 04:45:53 pm

I love the picture! Is that Switzerland?

Reply
Brandon Scott link
7/1/2013 05:14:13 am

Yes :)

Reply
Ian
7/1/2013 11:49:43 am

Some of us don't do hostels maybe another article re other accomodation such as couch surfing wimdu air bnb sites and bed and breakfast etc might be interesting

Reply
Brandon Elijah Scott link
1/2/2014 10:24:30 am

:) I think that the BNB sites would make for a great article. Couch surfing is a nice idea as well. Keep your eyes peeled, an article like that just may present itself. Take care.

Reply
Lina link
7/6/2013 12:32:16 pm

This is so true! A great collection of checklist things for starting travelers and hostel stayers. Location and public transport are OH SO IMPORTANT. You don't want to spend your whole trip getting places.

Reply
Brandon Elijah Scott link
1/2/2014 10:25:35 am

I agree! That would be a trip wasted if you had to focus on travel arrangements for every detail of your trip.

Reply
ArtistsQuest link
7/8/2013 12:37:24 am

Great blog! Your pictures are gorgeous, and I love your bucket list! You are on an awesome real life adventure and I hope you fulfill all your quests! =)

Reply
Brandon Elijah Scott link
1/2/2014 10:26:49 am

Thank you very much for your kind words. The bucket list will continue to grow as time progresses. There are just too many things that I want to accomplish. Have you made a bucket list?

Reply
alise link
8/1/2013 12:50:27 am

this is almost too cool to believe. i've never seen anything like this. i'm from the US, we don't have mountains.

Reply
Brandon Elijah Scott link
1/2/2014 10:27:46 am

Where about in the US are you located? There are some parts that have mountains. :)

Reply



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