The Best Way to Book Hostels Around the World

How to Book Hostels Around the World

Hostels are another popular choice of accommodation, especially for budget travellers. Hostels can be found almost anywhere in the world and are usually much cheaper than hotels. Hostels are also a better place to meet other travellers as they usually have a common room where everyone hangs out. Hostels also provide much better advice on destinations and things to do and hostels can be a good place to find people who will join you on adventures. In Australia, for example, you can find postings for people looking to rent apartments together, to rideshare around the country with, partake in activities together and so forth. Even if hotels are in your budget, you might want to stay in a hostel just for the social aspect.

Best Websites for Booking Hostels:

HostelWorld

(www.hostelworld.com)

HostelWorld is the biggest hostel site in the world and therefore has the largest inventory. They have a lot of reviews for most listings and they have a great search interface. 

Hostels.com

(www.hostels.com)

Hostels.com is another popular booking engine for hostels. Although it’s owned by Hostelworld.com, the listings can be different.

HostelsBookers

(www.hostelbookers.com)

This is another popular booking engine owned by Hostelworld.com. Like Hostels.com, the listings and prices can be different so it’s worth checking out. 

HelpX

(www.helpx.net)

If you’re interested in staying for a longer period of time and want to exchange some work for free hostel accommodations, try this site out. It also offers other types of accommodations such as farm stays and guesthouses.

Booking.com

(www.booking.com)

Booking.com is better known as a hotel-booking engine but they also show some hostel listings as well as guesthouses. This can be a good way to generally scan a market for cheap accommodation. For example, I used it in Osaka and found a hotel offering rooms for less than $20. Sure, the rooms were small but at least they were private. You never know what you might find!

PRO TIP: Searching for hostels: HostelWorld has the largest database, so use them to sift through the most comprehensive listings of hostels in a city. Booking a hostel: Hostelbookers typically has the lowest price and does not charge a booking fee. Once you’ve identified the hostel you like, see if they are listed on hostelbookers and book it there. Hostel reviews: Cross-check hostel reviews with TripAdvisor. It tends to have the most current reviews compared to the hostel booking sites. Pay attention to the 3-star reviews, which tend to be an accurate representation of what to expect there. You want to see what people complain about (noise, cleanliness, security, etc.) so you can see if it is something you can accept. Location: Use the listing to locate the hostel on google maps. A common mistake is to book something purely based on reviews/price only to find that its location doesn’t meet your needs. (ex: proximity to your transfer point, food, restaurants, onward travel, etc.). Your nightly savings could be eaten up by transportation costs if you haven’t researched the actual location of the place. (Bonus: If you know how far it is from your arrival point, you’ll have a leg up on unscrupulous taxi drivers who try to misrepresent the hostels location.) Marvin Abisia of www.intrepidmotion.com

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Do you like hostels? Any tips or websites that you like for booking hostels around the world? Share below!