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The Traveller World Guide | Best Travel Tips and Vacation.

9 Things Hostels Should Stop Sucking At

Travel Blog - Ross French - November 4, 2011

hostel

By: Margyle

hostelOh Hostels – how do I love thee?

Ever stayed at a place and thought ‘I’m going to wake up in a bathtub full of ice with my kidneys missing’? We’ve all been in hostels that have given us the heebie-jeebies upon first contact, cursing ourselves for not heeding the warnings on Hostel World and spending the extra $5 in organ harvest protection. To be honest though, I’ve had some amazing hostel experiences in some of the shadiest places – both in terms of location and amenities – but then there are others that seem good on paper but blow in reality.

Yes, a hostel is not a hotel (even though sometimes the latter is cheaper) but there are some basic things and perks hostels could improve upon to better attract our travel money. Travellers are a fickle bunch and thanks to the internet, our fickleness has an outlet – we know what is awesome, who is screwing us and most importantly, we aren’t afraid to tell the world.

So hostels, if you are listening, here are eight things I think you can improve upon.

1. Services – Whether a place has laundry, kitchen or internet facilities is incredibly random. Particularly if a place is catering to long-stay travellers, these are musts and need to be kept in good working order. There is nothing worse than having something advertised and then arriving to find out it costs extra or is broken.

2. Transportation – Hostels often have the good fortune of being located right in the action, but some are way out of the way and only provide a map as a means of reaching it. Particularly if the hostel lies outside of a city centre, some sort of shuttle (bonus points if it’s free!) from a major drop off spot is essential. If it is in the country, be sure ample parking is available.

pizza3. Useful Freebies – I’d much rather have a dollar or two off my accommodations than some useless perk, but if a discount is off the table, make the freebie something appealing. Free drinks from a bar, half-priced pizza orders, laundry or internet tokens are good starts.

4. Keeping Consumables on Hand – Things like hand soap, salt/pepper and towels should be available for guests use. Yes, they run out and some people may even abuse them, but chances are if a place treats its patrons with respect and offers these nice things at no cost then they will be treated with respect as well. Carting these items from place to place is an enormous hassle when space is at a premium.

5. Payment Options – Cash on arrival is very inconvenient and many travellers are not comfortable carrying that much money on them. Is there anyway to pre-pay for a stay with a credit card and if a stay is cancelled it simply wouldn’t be charged?

6. Incentives – Not really sure what they could offer, but with so many people travelling these days it would be nice to have an incentive program that could be redeemed for other travel related goodness. Groceries + gas = free hostel? Sign me up!

7. Extra Keys – Every guest should have their own key. It is ridiculous to think someone may not be able to get in because the hostel only gave one key to their group and they got separated. Paying an extra key deposit should take care of replacement costs. If it’s a matter of safety, that is taken care of when guests arrive and are told about not having guests; if they choose to violate this, it’s a matter for the police.

party8. Staff – Some staff are overbearing, other are non-existent. While it is understandable many people who work for hostels are travellers themselves who may not consider humble-innkeeper their profession, there needs to be reliable people on hand to greet and assist guests, fix any on-site issues in a timely manner and be a representative of the hostel that makes people recommend it to others.

9. Overall Feel – So many hostels have themes that appear tacked on with little effort or thought given to presentation. Nicely painted walls, murals/pictures and relevant furniture goes a long way to making a place feel different. Make sure doors are secure and air fresheners mask mystery odours. Having a relaxed feeling where all are welcome and conversations can be had is the stuff of hostel greatness.

The extra touches help people feel comfortable – there will always be those who only look for the cheapest accommodation possible, but a place with glowing reviews for hospitality and overall feel will go a lot further towards pride in a place and keeping bookings up.

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20 Comments

  • Neil November 7, 2011 at 4:59 AM

    Payment options – Cash only is wubbish. Being charged an extra fee for paying by card is the cause of my anger with me.

    Reply
    • Hogga November 7, 2011 at 7:12 AM

      Cash only is the WORST!

      Reply
      • Margyle November 7, 2011 at 8:13 PM

        I know! Given how you book online, why can’t you also pre-pay?

        Reply
  • Ayngelina November 9, 2011 at 6:42 AM

    I prefer to pay at the end, I know people could skip out but I am one of those people who arrives in a country and doesn’t always have currency on hand.

    Reply
    • Margyle November 9, 2011 at 9:36 AM

      Hotels do it, why not hostels? So long as you put a credit card down, they can charge you if you don’t pay up at the end. But why not just end it at the credit card payment? Well, I know the reason… cash isn’t traceable and they’d rather you incur the costs associated with withdrawing it than installing and paying the fees on the credit card option. They could just tack on an extra 1% or whatever… I don’t care, especially when cash withdraws incur that kind of cost anyways!

      Reply
      • Hogga November 9, 2011 at 9:37 AM

        You’re so smart Margyle!

        Reply
        • Margyle November 9, 2011 at 6:35 PM

          Oh you…

          Reply
  • Stephanie - The Travel Chica November 9, 2011 at 10:11 AM

    You have really thought this one out. I completely agree about having the basics like hand soap and towels and working internet and kitchen appliances. I like your idea of an incentives program too!

    Reply
    • Margyle November 9, 2011 at 6:31 PM

      Thank you! It’s those extra things that when a place treats you with respect you’re more likely to respect it and not take advantage of the kindness.
      I know if there were an incentive program and certain hostels aligned with it, I’d be more inclined to staying at those ones. Such a program has to exist somewhere, and if it doesn’t… dibs on the copyright? lol

      Reply
  • Nomadic Samuel November 9, 2011 at 1:53 PM

    Believe me, I can relate to this article. It’s SO worth spending the extra ____ to avoid being bunkmates with a geriatric man (who doesn’t speak a word of English) and feels it’s OK to sleep in the nude with no covers.

    Reply
    • Margyle November 9, 2011 at 6:33 PM

      Tell me about it. I once slept underneath (on a bunk bed lol) a teenager who I’m pretty sure was having night terrors. But I’ll save that story for another time.

      Reply
  • DTravelsRound November 9, 2011 at 8:03 PM

    I love hostels that have olive oil, salt, pepper … the basics. Because I know if I have to buy those things, I am not going to haul them to the next place. Well … if I bought them, I would b/c of the whole budget thing.

    Reply
    • Margyle November 10, 2011 at 9:28 AM

      It’s one of those things that once you visit a place with it, and it makes sense, any place without it seems inadequate. I like that every place is different and some have things others do not, but that doesn’t mean I’m not judging the ones that come up short!

      Reply
  • Camels & Chocolate November 11, 2011 at 8:35 AM

    Confession: I haven’t actually stayed in a hostel since I met Scott (six years ago)! When we met, he was 31 and so far past the hostel scene (I was 22 and still very much digging it), and we also learned early on that getting a double room at a mid-range hotel, at least in Europe, was often the same price (or just a few dollars more) as a bed in a hostel. Or we would CouchSurf, which was my preferred method of accommodation until I got more into hotel review-writing for magazines.

    Reply
    • Hogga November 11, 2011 at 9:24 AM

      Did you find you could still meet a lot of people if you weren’t staying in a hostel?

      Reply
  • Margyle November 11, 2011 at 2:13 PM

    It’s funny you talk about couch surfing because I have also partaken and decided it was really not for me… But c’est la vie. On my last trip, we only stayed about half our time in hostels for the same reasons you listed but I found some hotels and B&Bs were so similar in most ways to hostels that the distinction between what makes it one or the other almost a game of semantics.

    Even still, of they want to make themselves stand out and appeal to the wandering vagabonds that frequent them, it wouldn’t hurt to make some improvements!

    Reply
  • Margo November 14, 2011 at 10:57 AM

    many of these could also apply to some hotels.

    Reply
    • Margyle November 14, 2011 at 5:03 PM

      Amen to that!

      Reply
  • TheWorldOrBust November 21, 2011 at 6:46 PM

    Oh Hostels,

    Everyone’s favorite and cursed choice of accommodation. I agree with Neil as most hostels should accept card or even better PayPal, shit, they accepted 10% deposit with your credit card from HostelWorld, why not when you check out?

    Another trick I figured out is that you can find hostels on hostel world, and then see if they have their own website and book through that. Most do and offer a slightly discounted rate (minus the Hostel World $2.00 booking fee).

    I also agree about the toiletries. YOU KNOW people are leaving their shampoo, soap, floss (who flosses?) at hostels, why don’t they just put them all in a bin and let travelers use them instead of throwing them out, taking them home, etc?

    All in all, you can’t really be picky when you’re paying $10-20 a night anywhere so oh well, part of the fun of budget travel I guess!

    Reply
  • Margyle November 21, 2011 at 11:19 PM

    Good ideas!
    … I prefer to think of it not as being picky but as giving tips to the things I frequent to improve upon. Some hostels do already, so the rest should learn from that!

    Reply
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    Ross French grew up outside Toronto, blah blah… he went to the University of Western Ontario for fine arts and like any degree, has since done nothing in that field. More seriously, Ross French is a travel junkie & a tech nerd with a slightly concerning love for beer & wine. he a has a great awareness of life outside the 9-5 and hopes to aspire to be a hammock bum one day.

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