Hostel Booking Tips

Hostels are a very cost effective way to travel and can range from a couple of dollars a night to the price of a typical hotel room. They are a great place to meet other travelers while on your journey, share itineraries, and find bar hopping/travel buddies. To make the most of your trip, look beyond the price tag per night and try some of these tips for booking hostels.

1. Check Reviews

Hostels come in many shapes and sizes. Some are clean and some have mold constantly growing in the showers. They can be closer to town or out in the boonies. To make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into, check out the customer reviews on a hostel before booking it. The more reviews there are for a hostel, the better of an idea you can have on how the hostel really is.

2. Mixed Rooms vs. Female Rooms

Hostels generally come with an option of mixed gender rooms or female-only rooms. Prices will vary for each room type and number of sleepers the room can hold. If traveling solo as a female, I prefer the female-only rooms as it personally makes me feel safer. When traveling with a group or another buddy I tend to be fine with a mixed-gender room. It really all depends on your preference.

3. Big vs. Small Rooms

Rooms in hostels can hold varying amounts of people from 10+ to 1 or 2. The smaller 1-3 person rooms are usually called private rooms and the person must book the entire room out in order to make it a private room. That means if you’re traveling with a buddy and the private room has 3 beds, you have to book and pay the price for 3 beds/people to have the entire room for you and your buddy. Of course there are pros and cons to each choice. Bigger rooms allow you to meet more people and go out in a big group but offer less privacy. However with private rooms you will not have to worry about having your stuff stolen and can still meet new people in the common areas of the hostel.

4. Location

Do not assume a hostel is always located in the city center or is in a safe area! Some hostels can be miles away from where you would like to be. Hostels can also be located in sketchier parts of town so make sure to do your research on location and safety before booking.

5. Where to Book

I find some hostel booking sites to be especially useful when planning for travel. I typically use www.Hostels.com when booking, as there are a lot of photos and customer reviews to look through.

Other hostel booking sites include:
Hostel Bookers
Hostel World

Budget Tip! If you're booking at the above listed sites, they will sometimes have higher rates than if booking directly off the hostel's official website. Third party sites charge hostels to have them listed on generic hostel booking sites. If you're really trying to make those pennies and dollars stretch, consider using those sites to search for your hostel and then booking it off the hostel's official site.

Happy travels!