Choosing and booking a hostel for the first time can be a super daunting experience. Depending on your destination of travel, there can be anywhere between 0 hostels to hundreds of different options. If you’ve never stayed in a hostel before, it can be tricky to figure out what you should even be looking for in a hostel. As someone who has stayed in more than 200 hostels, I know exactly what to look out for and avoid when booking hostels. This guide will cover everything from which websites to use to book hostels, what to look out for when booking a hostel and how to choose the right hostel for your trip.
Where do I book hostels?
Contrary to depictions of backpackers in pop culture, most of us don’t just rock up to a destination and blindly walk to the nearest hostel and ask for a bed. In 2023, most backpackers will book a hostel before arriving at their destination so they have a confirmed bed to sleep in. There are so many platforms you can use to book hostels, but for this beginner guide, I’ll outline the three most popular.
Hostelworld
Hostelworld is definitely the most well-known and popular way to book a hostel. It is available as a website or an app, and you can make bookings instantly without signing up for an account. Personally, I prefer to use the app and have created a free account, as it means my details are stored, so I don’t have to enter them every time I make a new booking.
On Hostelworld, more than 90% of properties are backpacker’s hostels. The other properties are usually guesthouses, homestays or backpacker-geared hotels. The search function is super user-friendly, and they have a bunch of handy filters so you can filter by price, whether they have a certain amenity and dorm vs private room. Once you click on a hostel, you can see a full description of the type of hostel, prices of the different rooms, pictures of common areas and rooms, amenities and any booking policies. They also have a unique feature where you can see how many other travellers have booked for your dates and which countries they come from.
When you book through Hostelworld, you will need to pay a 15% deposit at the time of booking. The remaining balance is due on arrival at the hostel. One downside of this is that some hostels only take cash, and there is no option to pay the full amount via card through the Hostelworld app. Once you book the hostel, you will receive a booking confirmation email. This email will contain the hostel’s direct contact details, the exact amount you need to pay on arrival and directions on how to get to the hostel. If you create a free account, this information also gets stored under the “trips” tab.
The Hostelworld chat function (their best feature IMO)
One of the biggest benefits of booking through Hostelworld is the chat function, which you get access to once you have created an account and made a booking. There are two main chats: a hostel-specific chat and a destination-specific chat. The hostel chat is everyone staying at the same hostel on the same dates as you, and the destination chat is everyone staying at any hostel in the same city on the same dates as you. You can post in the chat to make plans to meet up with people, ask a question about the destination or hostel or arrange to share a taxi from the airport. This feature is such a game-changer for solo travellers looking to make friends!
Booking.com
Booking is another website with many hostels available and accessible via their website or their app. Creating an account is free and recommended, as they have a loyalty system known as Genius, which gives discounts the more properties you book. This is a feature that is not available in Hostelworld, which can often save you a few dollars here and there. Booking also has a wide range of other property types, such as resorts, hotels, campsites, homestays, guesthouses and apartments. This can be a benefit as you can compare different accommodation types and prices with hostels, but it can also be overwhelming to filter through all the options.
Like Hostelworld, you can filter by price, accommodation type, highest rated or reviews, and certain amenities like whether the hostel has air-conditioning. Once you click a property, you can see detailed reviews, a description of the hostel, pictures, room prices and a full list of amenities. One of the major benefits of using Booking is they sometimes have lower prices compared to Hostelworld due to the Genius Booking Discount. Basically, Booking rewards you with discounted prices the more properties you book through them (you need to sign up for a free account to get this discount).
A word of warning on Booking.com
The main difference between Hostelworld and Booking is that Booking usually has more properties that are under the “Hostel” category than Hostelworld. Sometimes, this is a bonus as you get more choice, but be wary of some properties that are actually more of a guesthouse or homestay, labelling themselves as a “hostel”. I’ve been burnt quite a few times booking hostels on Booking, which weren’t on Hostelworld, only to arrive and be the only backpacker staying there, with the dorm being filled by non-backpackers looking for a cheap place to stay. My recommendation would always be to use both Hostelworld and Booking to research hostels before booking a hostel. Sometimes hostels on Booking will have only a few reviews, whereas on Hostelworld, they have hundreds of reviews.
Booking directly through a hostel
Booking directly through a hostel is usually the most cost-effective way of booking a hostel. You should still use Hostelworld or Booking to research the different hostels, room types and prices. Once you have decided which hostel you would like to book, simply Google search the hostel name. Usually, you’ll find the business on Google, which should include a contact number and/or email. If you can’t find a hostel’s contact information through a Google search, you may be able to find and contact them through social media such as Facebook, Instagram or TikTok. Bigger hostels or hostel chains (such as Mad Monkey Hostels in SE Asia) often also have websites where you can book directly. These websites often offer discounts or free upgrades for booking directly with them.
Most hostels prefer you to book directly with them, as they don’t lose 10-15% of your booking in fees to Hostelworld or another booking site. As an incentive to book directly with the hostel, they will often offer you a slight discount. You also often won’t have to pay a deposit in advance to lock in your booking. The one downside is you won’t be able to instantly confirm your booking, as you have to await a reply from the hostel. Some hostels don’t monitor their emails, social media inboxes, or WhatsApp messages regularly, so by the time they reply, they may be sold out of beds for your dates of travel.
When should I book a hostel?
How far in advance you should book a hostel depends on several factors, such as the location, the season you are booking and how many hostels are available. Booking hostels in advance locks you into being in a certain destination for a certain time frame, which can be a problem if you want to change your plans. On the other hand, though, not booking in advance means you could miss out on a really good social hostel and end up having to stay somewhere where it’s harder to make friends.
In general, I usually book hostels two days in advance of arriving at a destination. The main exception to this is the first destination I fly into on a backpacking trip, which I usually book just after my flight as I know exactly what date I am confirmed to arrive there. I also only book one destination at a time in advance. So if I’m in Bangkok and I’m heading north, I’ll book my accommodation for Chiang Mai, but I won’t book accommodation for other places like Pai or Chaing Rai until I’ve arrived in Chiang Mai and decided how long I want to stay there.
The other rule I have with hostels is I only ever book two nights, even if I think I may stay longer in a destination. This means that if a hostel is not that great or I don’t really like the city, I’m only locked into two nights there. After two nights, I can either leave the city or move to a better hostel. Generally, after one night in a hostel, you’ll know whether you want to extend your stay and stay longer there or whether you want to leave after two nights.
Things to consider when booking a hostel in advance
- Are you travelling to a destination around a festival or other popular event? If so, I would probably try to book a little in advance to avoid missing out.
- Are you travelling in peak season? If you’re not travelling in the peak season for your destination, you can usually get away with booking hostels more last minute.
- Are you travelling alone, or do you have friends at the destination? If I’m alone and don’t know anybody at the destination, I usually try to book the most social hostel in advance so I know I’ll meet people. If I’m travelling with a friend or planning to meet up with people, I’m usually not too fussed about staying in a less social hostel as I’m not dependent on my hostel for making friends.
- How many good hostels are there in the destination? If there is only one hostel that you really want to stay in, you may want to book in advance. If there are 10+ pretty good hostels, the chances of all the hostels booking out for your dates are lower.
- Does the hostel have free cancellation? Many hostels offer free cancellation until a certain date, giving you a certain amount of flexibility. Other hostels, even if they don’t permit cancellations, will allow date changes if you contact them directly (asking very nicely) and give them a day or so notice.
How to choose a hostel
Staying at the right hostel for you can be the difference between making heaps of friends and loving a destination or having a bad time and a negative attitude towards a place. There are so many different types of hostels catered towards different types of backpackers. If you haven’t already, check out my guide to the different types of hostels and what kind of travellers they are perfect for here. Now that you are familiar with the different types of hostels let’s talk about choosing the right one for you.
Before you even start looking at a hostel, there are three important subjective things to consider: the destination you are travelling to, what kind of things you plan on doing there, and what type of hostel suits your travel style. For example, you may be going to Hanoi, wanting to visit museums and make lots of day trips, and your travel style is flashpacker hostels; staying in a budget party hostel right on Beer Street probably won’t be your vibe. Or, say you’re heading to Koh Tao and relaxing on the beach and party; staying at a quieter diver’s hostel may not give you the best experience.
Everyone travels to different destinations differently. Just because everyone parties in this one beach town doesn’t mean you have to do this or that you have to stay at a party hostel. Consider what kind of experience you want to have in that place and try to pick a hostel that matches this vibe.
Checklist of things to consider when choosing a hostel
- Price for the destination. Is it much more expensive than other hostels in this city? Why is this? Am I willing to pay more for this hostel?
- Location. Is it centrally located around places you may want to go? Does location matter in the destination? (e.g. it is a tiny tropical island where everything is within walking distance).
- Type of hostel. Does it look like a party hostel? Is it more tailored towards digital nomads? Read the description and a few reviews for clues.
- Social vibe. This is the #1 thing I look for as a solo traveller! Do they have events? Do recent reviews mention how easy it is to make friends?
- Room Amenities. Do the beds have curtains? Is there A/C or heating in the rooms?
- Hostel Amenities. Is there a potentially noisy bar on site? Does it have a swimming pool? Is breakfast included?
- Cancellation policy. Can the hostel be cancelled for free if your travel plans change? What is the free cancellation window?
- House Rules. This is a specific section on Hostelworld that tells you the property rules. What is the latest check-in time? Important if you have a late flight! Is there any age limit, curfew or other rules that don’t suit your travel style?
The importance of reviews when booking a hostel
Reviews for hostels can be a fickle, fickle beast. Sometimes, a hostel will have amazing reviews on Booking.com and not many reviews on Hostelworld. Or the reviews on Hostelworld are an even split of either 10-star reviews or 1-star reviews. Maybe somebody you met travelling recommended you a hostel, but when you looked it up, the photos of the rooms looked like a prison cell, and the reviews were terrible. It can make choosing a hostel trickier than it needs to be.
With reviews, one of the most important things to consider is who the person leaving the review is. It could be someone’s first stay in a hostel, and they were a bit overwhelmed by the shared bathroom amenities and left a bad review. It could be a review from a young guy partying through Southeast Asia who didn’t notice the stained bed sheets because he barely slept there. Everyone has different opinions on what makes a hostel good or bad. One of the best features of Hostelworld is it shows you more information about the person leaving the review. You can see their age range, sex, and what country they’re from.
The most important thing to consider with reviews is to take them with a grain of salt. Try to look at the overall rating and picture of the hostel painted by reviews before deciding.
What can you do to improve the accuracy of reviews?
Leave more reviews! People are more likely to write reviews when a hostel experience has been either fantastic or really terrible, so the reviews often don’t reflect the middle ground of people who had an alright stay with positives and negatives. That is why it is so important to review the hostels you stay in, to indicate to future travellers what things were good and bad about your stay. Even if you don’t have any major problems with the hostel or things they did well, leaving a review makes a difference. For example, I don’t mind a cold shower, but I always mention in my review if a hostel doesn’t have hot showers, as that is a dealbreaker for many people. Leaving reviews also helps the hostel staff improve things based on the feedback they receive in these reviews.
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