Comments on: 12 Expert Tips on Picking a Good Hostel

By: bill hazal

bill hazal — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 11:35:03 +0000

Next week i have to travel for Baltimore, MD for 3 days. I have to book a shared room or one bed for 3 nights. What do you suggest?

By: Stan

Stan — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 21:15:34 +0000

I find that hostels with volunteer staff can be very annoying. A lot of times the staff are not locals and are not as knowledgeable. Also the staff seem like it is just a holiday for them and they stick together with the other staff.

By: NomadicMatt

NomadicMatt — Sun, 17 Nov 2019 18:20:46 +0000

I don’t. I still stay in hostels but mostly private rooms now!

By: Ridley Fitzgerald

Ridley Fitzgerald — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 21:23:26 +0000

Thanks for the tips for booking a hotel. I like how you said that it’s smart to find one that offers breakfast at a later time. I want to travel, but I definitely don’t want to wake up early just for breakfast.

By: Kate C.

Kate C. — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 22:04:22 +0000

My favorite hostel is the HI in Boston. It is purpose built, not many years old, and no push buttons! The lockers are in the room, bring your own padlock or buy one there. There’s also a bike room, but I didn’t check locks or anything. It is an active but not drunken or rowdy scene. Pool table, board games, movie nights and occasional free pizza dinners. The staff is great and they have frequent tours to pubs, tourist sites, various. Best of all is the kitchen. It is huge with a number of “stands” with sink, prep area and stovetop so a half dozen people can cook at once. You can have your own dry food and fridge bin, but they’re not locked. Now that I can afford a hotel, I still stay there when I’m in Boston. Also, it is well-located, with much of Boston proper (Boston’s always proper they say!) in biking or walking distance, including the bus/train station.

By: Christopher

Christopher — Fri, 13 Jul 2018 06:33:40 +0000

I’ve stayed in a few hostels in Benelux, I was such an introvert at one in Bruges that I passed on the walking tour, preferring to do it all myself, but the trip then got very lonely, I fully regretted it when I returned later.

I didn’t check the TripAdvisor reviews for a hostel I checked into in Amsterdam for a night, put my valuables in a locker that charged, came back a few hours later to find that some of my money and my sunglasses had been nicked. I walked straight out and booked myself into a hotel next to the airport immediately. Looked at the reviews for the place once I was in the hotel and saw that there were lots of bad reviews.

By: Davi Moran

Davi Moran — Mon, 02 Jul 2018 14:30:29 +0000

Best way I have found hostels is to ask other travelers. Especially in Latin America, you’ll meet a lot of folks moving from city to city in and out of hostels.

By: Barb

Barb — Sat, 02 Jun 2018 06:13:36 +0000

I’d be a little careful about stuffing your pockets with snacks from the breakfast bar for future money saving enjoyment. Some hostels don’t appreciate you doing that. At one place I was made to return an apple!!! How embarrassing. The old curmudgeon stalked me for the rest of the time I was in the breakfast area to make sure I didn’t try to retrieve it!

By: Martina Grossi

Martina Grossi — Thu, 24 May 2018 04:51:25 +0000

I’d add to check if they have a decent kitchen. Once we arrived to this hostel that had stalactites made of fat (don’t even know if that’s a thing but hey we saw it!) hanging from the fans. Literally I think the kitchen had never been cleaned before. After laughing our bottoms off we concluded this was the perfect spot for Splinter from the Ninja Turtles. I’ve had a range of experiences from just amazing (like this place that cooked all homemade food, even the butter was homemade) to feeling I was staying at a hospital.

By: Angelica

Angelica — Fri, 18 May 2018 13:48:55 +0000

I have had so many awkward hostel stays, so thanks for these tips! A question though, how do you know if a hostel has the push button shower? I have never seen those before…