How to Choose a Hostel

If you're considering doing some budget travel, you're probably already planning to stay in hostels at least some of the time. At a fraction of the price of hotels, they can be a budget traveler's best friend. Choosing hostels is easy, but choosing a hostel can be tough, especially if you haven't stayed in hostels much before. In most locations, there's no one right answer about which hostel is best. Like hotels or any other amenities, they vary widely not only in quality, but in the specific characteristics of each hostel and the services that it provides. Your choice should depend on your personal preferences and traveling style.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Research your options. Most budget travel guides have at least a few hostels listed for each possible destination, and they generally recommend one or more as their top picks. There are also several excellent web sites that allow you to search for hostels by location, and while you don't get professional reviews from these services, you do get user ratings and comments. Another benefit of the hostel websites is that they often include some hostels that aren't listed in guide books because they're new or not so well known, although they can be just as good as or better than the popular standards.
2. Compare prices. If one of the hostels you learn about seems like an obvious best choice, then your job of choosing a hostel is done. This doesn't often happen, though, so checking the prices is a good next step. The price will depend on the type of accommodation you want. Dorm prices, which pay for a bed to sleep on in a room that usually has at least four (and sometimes many more) beds in it are almost always the cheapest. A single room is most expensive, and doubles and so on are somewhere in between. When you compare prices between hostels, make sure you're looking at prices for the same type of accommodation.
3. Check out the special features. Some things to consider include whether they have laundry facilities, a kitchen you can use, lockers to secure your bag during the day, a bar or restaurant, a quiet area, a library, internet access, smoking or non-smoking areas, and a location that's relatively near the things you want to see or at least accessible by public transportation.
4. Make sure that you're qualified to stay at the hostel you choose. Some hostels are limited to youth of a certain age only, many don't permit families with children, and a few are limited to members of hosteling organizations (although you can generally join these if you want by paying an extra membership fee).
5. Seriously consider reserving your place ahead. While it can seem fun and spontaneous to leave your plans open so you can arrive in a city when you like and shop for a cool place to stay, keep in mind that hostels can fill up quickly, especially during summer and the holiday season. It's entirely possible that you could have to spend many times your budget to stay in an expensive hotel at the last minute, or if those are also full you could even find yourself with nowhere to go at night. Less serious but still annoying is the prospect of arriving in the dark, when everything is closed, or after you've been lugging your bag all day and not knowing where you are going. Reserving a place for your first night or two in a new location is a good compromise, that allows you to move on when you like and switch hostels later if you aren't satisfied.

Tips & Warnings

• Online hostel review sites often allow you to check availability and make a booking automatically. This can be very convenient, especially if you don't speak the language of the place you will be going.
• Don't just choose the cheapest hostel unless you're sure you're prepared to accept the consequences. While most hostels fall on the fine to great spectrum, a few can be rude, grimy, extremely inconvenient, or even threatening or dangerous. In most cases there will be a variety of choices, and the difference in price can be very small. Make sure that you at least read the reviews and see whether you have other options for a few cents more per night before you commit to the cheapest hostel you can find.