Staying in dorms and meeting other travellers is one of the best experiences. You can make great friends, have unique experiences and feel like you’re part of a community. But the other side of living in shared spaces is that there is an etiquette to staying in hostels. Most experienced backpackers know and respect this (after having experienced a-holes in hostels previously). If you’re new to hostels, you may need some tips and advice around hostel etiquette. The basic umbrella rule is to think of others and be as considerate as possible (particularly around sleeping). But let me tell you some unwritten rules for staying in hostel dorms.
Setting Alarms at a Hostel
Sometimes you have to wake up early for a sunrise hike. Or maybe you’re just an early riser who wants to make the most of the day. Setting an alarm is totally fine. But don’t be someone who sets multiple alarms at 5-minute intervals because you struggle to get out of bed. Also take my advice, don’t snooze your alarm in a hostel. As soon as you hear it ringing, make sure you turn it off for the consideration of your dorm mates.
Another thing to be wary of is switching off your alarm if you happen to wake up earlier than your alarm. I’ve had to switch off other people’s alarms because they were ringing for 5 minutes as that person wasn’t even in the room. It’s easy to forget to do, particularly first thing in the morning when you’re still half asleep. But imagine everyone else in the dorm, being woken up by your alarm and then listening to your alarm go off for more than 5 minutes… not fun at all.
Make sure you pack your bags early
If you plan on checking out of the hostel before 9 am, pack 90% of your bag the night before. Your roommates will thank you as they don’t have to listen to you zipping and unzipping your bag. Or grunting with exertion as you try to shove everything in (because it never fits the same as the first time you pack it). Also, take my advice, packing the night in a hostel before makes it easier on you because you won’t have to get up earlier and frantically pack 10 mins before check-out time.
Making Noise in a Dorm
In my opinion, between 9 am-9 pm, a reasonable amount of noise in the dorm room is acceptable. That said, if one of your dorm mates is jetlagged and having a 3 pm nap, I would still try to be as quiet as possible just out of consideration. But most people would say making noise during the day is fair game.
Between 9 pm-9 am, you should be as quiet as possible. Most hostels (or the good ones, at least) have common areas for socialising or calling your friends back home, so there is no need to do any of these things in the dorm where people need to sleep.
Turning on the Lights
If you only take one piece of hostel advice from this post let it be this: if you can use your phone light instead of turning on the room lights.. do it! The worst is having the lights turned on mid-sleep, especially if you’re on a top bunk. Using your phone light to move around the room is a small sacrifice. But I can tell you it means the world to your roommates.
Snoring in a Dorm
Snoring: it’s controversial in the world of dorms and hostels. Most people understand that snoring is something you can’t help. However, if you’re a chronic snorer, you may cop a few death glares in the morning. My tip for hostels: if you can minimise your snoring or prevent it altogether, do try. Whether using a nasal device or sleeping on your back instead of your side. Consider a private room if you are one of those unlucky people whose snoring sounds is incredibly loud. Again, not a hard-and-fast rule and do with this hostel advice as you will. But if your snoring keeps the entire dorm awake, you may not be very popular around the hostel.
Dorm Sex
Another controversial one that people have different opinions on and tolerance levels for! If you’re backpacking, I can guarantee someone will have sex in a dorm you’re sleeping in at least once. I am pretty used to it and tolerant of other people doing this, provided they are doing their best to be quiet. Suppose you treat the dorm as a private hotel room, making heaps of noise and engaging in pillow talk afterwards. In that case, that’s not okay (we can all hear those whispering noises, no matter how quiet you think it is). I can deal with a little bit of noise or commotion (at the volume of a mild snorer). Half of the time, your dorm mates will be none the wiser that anything sexual has occurred in the dorm if you are quiet.
One hostel tip would be to consider is whether the dorm has standard bunk beds or pods. Pod dorms often minimise noise and usually have curtains, so no one wakes up to see your bare bum staring back at them. In my opinion, pod dorms are where it is more acceptable to shag in a dorm. Standard bunk bed dorms that are creaky and don’t have curtains, maybe reconsider. It’s also generally considered more acceptable at party hostels than other hostels, so it would be worth considering the type of hostel you are in. Some hostels have clear “no sex in the dorm” policies where if someone complains, you can be either kicked out or forced to pay for your dorm-mate’s beds for the night you woke them up.
Keeping Tidy
As someone who is notoriously untidy and hates packing their backpack daily, I could get better with this one. Hostels often provide lockers or drawers to place your stuff in… use them! If your bag doesn’t fit or the hostel doesn’t have lockers, try to keep your backpack and clothes in a neat pile somewhere in the room that is out of the way. As a general hostel tip, please don’t place your bag in front of the ladder to the top bunk or anywhere where one of your dorm mates may trip over it. Particularly when they come in at 3 am using only their phone light. I’ve tripped over many a bag in the middle of the night, it really sucks, and often you end up waking people up if you fall.
The Dreaded Plastic Bag
Anybody who has stayed in a few hostels knows the feeling. It’s 5 am, you’re mid-REM cycle, and you hear that terror-inducing rustle. Sam from Manchester is packing his bag. Instead of packing cubes, he separated his clothes using plastic bags. Now he’s trying to pack/unpack and is rustling said plastic bags. Hostel Tip: don’t be Sam from Manchester; use packing cubes or nothing. If you need to have plastic bags in your pack for whatever unknown reason, please desist from touching them while people are sleeping.
At the end of the day, you are staying in shared accommodation
In an ideal world, you’d always have the most considerate dorm mates and be a thoughtful dorm mate yourself. In reality, hostel etiquette or “rules” are always broken. You have to accept that this comes with backpacking and staying in dorms. People will come in drunk and be loud sometimes; other times, you get a loud snorer in the room. Sometimes you may be the person who wakes up before their alarm and leaves their phone alarm ringing while they are showering (I’ve been guilty of this one!). Most backpackers understand if this happens on occasion. You just don’t want to be that person in the dorm that everyone hates because you always come in drunk and turn the lights on every night.
We all have stories of nightmare dorm mates who throw up in their beds. Or who woke up screaming from a nightmare and scared everyone in the dorm. If it’s your first time staying in dorms or backpacking, I wouldn’t stress too much about hostel etiquette and specific tips. Really the key takeaway would be: Don’t be a d*ck and always consider the other people you’re cohabitating with in the hostel.
Are you looking for tips on how to have a good night sleep in a hostel? Check out my guide here.
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