How to Choose an Awesome Hostel?

The hostel is the backpacker’s sanctuary.

Picking a good hostel can be the difference between a nightmarish experience and a wonderful time.

Hostels are more than just accommodation – they are community hubs and it’s often more about the vibe than the beauty.

Having stayed in hundreds of hostels in more than 50 countries, I’ll share what I think is most important for hostels and my process for picking one.

What makes a hostel good?

Hostels are not just places to sleep (although good sleep is imperative) but also community hubs. An amazing hostel ticks all the boxes, of course, but let’s be real – such gems are rare.

Instead, look for good value.

Here is my list of priorities as a solo backpacker.

1. Hostel is clean and linen is changed daily

You’d think that’s the bare minimum and although I agree with you, I have indeed stayed in hostels where cleanliness doesn’t seem to be high on the priority list.

And it sucked. Nothing else really matters if the hostel is filthy.

I am willing to tolerate dirty common bathrooms and cobwebs here and there but if bed linen and blankets are not washed after each guest, then I am out.

How to spot such hostels? For starters, anything way too cheap will likely be compromising on hygiene. Also, you will surely read about the hostel being filthy in its reviews.

2. Central location

It’s such a hassle to spend 30 minutes (or more) commuting just to get to and from your hostel every day. You’re traveling, not going to work!

A good hostel is where the action is.

That’s as much about pubs, bars, and restaurants as attractions, museums, and wet markets. You should be diving into foreign culture the moment you step out of the hostel. A central location is paramount.

Also, what’s the point of staying in budget accommodation if you then have to pay heaps for public transport?

3. Friendly, helpful staff

The humans behind the desk can turn a trip from mediocre to extraordinary.

They can give insider tips about the place and information about transport, help you book tours, and let you in the loop about current events and what not to miss.

It’s also about the unspoken communication. Just having the staff greet you as if they want you to be there versus begrudgingly leaving their phone to the side to check you in without any pleasantries can change your mood for your entire stay.

Call me old fashioned, but hospitality in this sense is very important.

Look for indications that the staff is helpful in the hostel reviews – it’s one of the most common notes that guests leave.

4. No more than 8 beds in a dorm

I have stayed in dorms of up to 36 beds but I don’t recommend anything above 8 as it exponentially increases the risk of, well, complications (snoring, smelly feet, drunk idiots, theft chance, etc.).

4-8 beds in a dorm seems to be the perfect number:

• Not too many to be rowdy or crowded.
• Not too few that the community aspect is gone.

5. Bed price is not more than 50% that of a private room

Hostels are supposed to offer a tradeoff between privacy and price.

You should be paying less than a private room in the same area. Half seems like a reasonable limit for me.

Yes, the community aspect of the hostel is also valuable but it’s not something you should be paying additionally for.

6. Reliable Wifi

Every self-respecting hostel should have strong wifi with multiple routers or signal boosters so it reaches every dorm and the common room.

I understand if the country itself doesn’t have good infrastructure and poor wifi connectivity.

But if you only put 1 router on the ground floor for 6 dorms spread over 3 floors, then of course you will have frustrated guests.

Because everyone nowadays uses the internet almost constantly, backpackers report poor wifi in hostel reviews with admirable determination.

7. A common room

A good hostel has an area where backpackers can meet, talk, play games, and socialize with one another.

You can’t do these things in the dorm. It needs to be a Common Room.

It doesn’t need to be fancy and have a PS4, 25 different board games, a library, a TV, a billiard table, bean bags, etc. but these things definitely help make the area more enticing so more people hang out there and it’s easier to break the ice and start an interaction.

8. Lockers

More often than not dorm room doors do not lock. Understandably so, if you ask me. Even if the door locked, other occupants come and go all the time, so you still wouldn’t leave your valuables unattended on your bed.

This is why lockers are a necessity in any hostel.

Always carry a padlock because you need one for most hostel lockers.

9. Charging sockets next to each bed

With every traveler nowadays having 2-3 pieces of electronic equipment that need charging daily, it’s no longer enough to have 5 sockets per room.

There should be at least 1 charging socket per bed. That is even more important for dorms with bunk beds – it sucks to be on the second floor without access to electricity.

Less important hostel amenities (that still matter)

Just because I don’t think these are very important in a hostel, doesn’t mean you won’t.

On the contrary, I have found that many backpackers find them imperative for a good overall experience.

To each their own.

These are things that I don’t specifically look for in a hostel but I enjoy and appreciate them when they are offered.

Free breakfast

Breakfast is nice. A free breakfast is even nicer.

But oftentimes, hostels offer mediocre breakfasts like plain toast and some overly artificial jam. Meh…

On the other hand, I’ve been to awesome hostels in Southeast Asia where you even have a choice of what to order for breakfast and it was delicious. It’s awesome.

But will I pick a hostel for just that? Nah.

If there is no breakfast included, I can eat what the locals eat. Perhaps my view about it is shaped by Asia where street food is abundant, cheap, and tasty.

Either way, I see free breakfast as a nice surprise, not a requirement.

A kitchen

I don’t cook while backpacking. I am all for eating out, convenience stores, supermarkets, street food, or at a restaurant.

I’m just not this type of traveler.

Although, I do enjoy cups of tea and coffee. The kitchen is also a nice place to meet others, akin to how the water cooler works at offices.

A bar

Some people like meeting others over a drink, others prefer a quieter setting with board games.

The good thing about a hostel bar is that it’s usually not too imposing and attached to the common area, making it more likely for more people to spend time there.

But will I search for a hostel based on whether it has a bar? Not really.

A pool

Another nice-to-have amenity that’s totally not required for a hostel to be considered good when you think about it.

Free towel

This is a major difference between hotels and hostels – in the former, you will always receive a towel whereas in the latter, it’s not guaranteed.

I believe that’s fine.

Anybody who has worked in hospitality will tell you that towels are a hassle and a risk. It takes resources to wash the towels and they do not remain spotless-white for long. Hostels don’t make that much money.

Again, free is always nice, but a backpacker should have their own towel (a quick-dry microfiber one at the least).

Laundry

If it were free, it would be towards the top of the must-have list. But it rarely is.

On the contrary, in my experience, hostel laundry is always more expensive, sometimes twice or thrice, than a laundromat or a local laundry service just around the corner.

I’m fine, thanks.

Late checkout

The standard checkout time in the hosteling industry is 11-12 AM.

The hostel needs time to clean the rooms and tidy the beds!

Even if checkout is at 10 AM, that shouldn’t be a dealbreaker – I take it as a sign they take cleaning more seriously.

I would never expect a checkout time past noon. I’ve never been in such a hostel either.

The bottom line is, an hour more or less doesn’t matter if you’re already awake at 8 AM!

My process for booking the best hostels

One platform stands out when it comes to hostels: Hostelworld.

The rating system and reviews there are simply irreplaceable.

Step 1: Filter by location

I find the hostel list confusing, so I almost immediately click the “Map” and zoom in on the city’s center.

Location is very important to a hostel. Ideally, somewhere in the city center, but up to 20 minutes walk to the central area is alright too.

Step 2: Filter by rating

I then filter the hostels by rating. I am yet to stay in a hostel rated under 7.0 that I can honestly consider awesome.

If this yields too many results, I will increase the minimum rating to 8.0 and even 9.0 for cities with many awesome hostels. Choice paralysis is a dangerous beast.

I look for hostels with at least 50 reviews, although I will recognize a new hostel and appreciate it even without that many.

Step 3: Sort by price

I will sort the remaining hostels by lowest price first. Now the real search can begin.

Step 4: Check what the shortlisted hostels offer

You should now have a list of not too many hostels in front of you, all in a central location, above a certain rating floor, and sorted by price.

You can hardly go wrong even if you just pick the first one now. But there is more to check for if you spend just a little more time.

Click on a hostel to see the size of its dorms, the price per bed, and what other amenities there are.

Skim through the About section of the hostel to learn what kind of hostel it is.

Step 5: Read some reviews

I will sort the reviews by most recent first, then quickly skim through a few to get a feel.

If questionable cleanliness is a recurring theme, I immediately skip to the next hostel. This will most likely not be an issue for hostels rating 8 and above but sometimes there aren’t such and you have to make some compromises. Never compromise cleanliness and health.

If any reviews in the past year mention bed bugs, I will start looking for another hostel. But reviews about mosquitos in equatorial countries, noisy neighbors, snoring mates, and similar “spoiled princess” vibe comments make no difference to me.

Other than that I look for reviews about the helpfulness of the staff, the organized events, and the vibe of the hostel. It’s an acquired skill – sleep in a hostel a few times and you will know what’s important to you.

For example, I avoid party hostels but will pay extra for a hostel that has quiz nights or a free walking tour.

Step 6: Compare prices on other platforms

I use Hostelworld to research but not always to book!

Check Booking.com and Agoda too (directly search for the hostel you’ve picked) – sometimes it’s cheaper there.

However, Hostelworld has one more advantage up its sleeve – a hostel chat!

When you book, you get added to a group chat with all the other travelers staying in the same hostel so you can start making plans immediately!

Solo travel doesn’t have to be lonely travel!

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Another option is to just wing it and arrive at the hostel without a reservation. During low season and/or if the hostel has many dorms, the chance of them having an available bed is high.

Unfortunately, many hostels have stopped offering discounts for booking directly even though they won’t have to pay a commission to the booking platform. Approximately 50% of the hostels I booked directly, asked for the same price as if I had booked online.

Step 7: Leave a review

Hostelworld is so great because of the thousands of reviews by genuine backpackers. Do your part and give an honest review after your stay.

You will be helping others like you make the right choice when it comes to picking the best hostel.

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A good hostel doesn’t have to be a palace. It doesn’t have to have all of the possible features and amenities.

It just needs to be a welcoming and comfortable place for a variety of different travelers. And it just so happens that those two things align pretty well.

A hostel that doesn’t have most of my “requirements” does not understand what a hostel should be. This creates lousy stays and unhappy backpackers.

With the steps above though, you will confidently find the hostel that’s best for you.

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