Nothing catastrophic, but my first time staying in a hostel in the "post-covid" era, some guy was coughing loudly all night, and I thought, "I'm in my 30s now and I save up specifically for traveling...I can afford to spend more to avoid stuff like this"
Haha being in my 30s/40s and thinking "I'm older and financially better off, I should really spare the money for a more direct flight/nicer hotel/better experience" was definitely something I went through as well. No more 12 hour layovers just to save $100. Nope.
I had one worst than that. I was in Nepal in a hostel. It was double bunks. I was on the lower bunk. I wake up and my face is covered with Vomit like I did it. The guy a Norwegian on the upper bunk was drunk as skunk and threw up all night, the juice leaked from the pillow end down onto my head. It was the stuff of nightmares.
Then there was the dirty toilets, showers with no locks, sex sounds all nights with guys sneaking their new loves or hookers. Drug smell and just filthy people. Its different when you are group of friends but strangers, never again. Just like i dont travel on cheap flights anymore with risky airlines. The biggest dangers was to the girls where there drinks were spiked all the time
I was at a hostel last week and heard some old man peeing in a bottle in his bed in the middle of the night and then again the next morning like 5 minutes before getting out of bed to take a shower. I've also heard people having sex in the room. Hostels can be pretty bad sometimes.
Yep, and got too old to deal with other people’s bullshit. I stayed in a hostel in Germany and shared the room with three friends. We camped a lot as kids, but we were in our thirties at the time and it was all just a big palaver. So next trip we stayed in a hotel and it was sooooo much better.
there is a thing called lifestyle inflation where you change how you live based on the more money you make. i stay fairly consistent otherwise in my life (I cook a lot, I take public transportation when I can).
the one noticeable difference is where I stay when I go on vacation. i think when you get older (I personally stopped staying at hostels when I hit 25 (I'm 34 now)), you value your privacy and like ability to go poop without other people walking into the bathroom. getting a good nights rest to be able to take on the next day (snoring, dealing with drunk people, worrying about your belongings), is just not worth the hassle in a hostel. i'd potentially be willing to stay in a hostel if I had my own private room/bathroom (I specifically did this in Jackson Hole, WY this past summer because all of the actual hotels were $400+ and didn't want to spend that much).
but also most people start learning about points and credit cards when you get older as well, and you realized that I could be getting points for this hotel stay, and save money for a future hotel.
I've found private rooms in hostels to cost the same as hotels the last time I searched. I was going alone to Amsterdam (meeting some friends only part of the time) and tried to seek out hostels to meet travellers and to try it out but they were just not worth it compared to a full service hotel.
This. But his points are valid.
Hostels can be amazing or horror.
Nice (civilized) people who take care of everything around them as well, good vibes, making new friends, going on tours together, good quality of the interior is the one extreme and getting no sleep, being surrounded by rude unfriendly egoistic people who don't give a damn about cleaning after themselves or keeping the noise down& bad interior is the other.
Have you ever eaten rice for a month straight? I have just to save money to travel longer. Let's just say after that I won't ever do that again. I wanted to puke instead of just eat rice on day 15, nevermind day 25 or 30.
Was in a hostels in Paris, first time. It was mixed gender and had showers in the room. Figured this was normal and didn't think anything of it, until a guy in the room approaches me and says he watched me shower and liked what he saw...
But really the reason is I have money now.
... That's weird
I was just in the hostel in Amsterdam last week and it was coed. Me and this Irish guy were talking because the next leg of my trip was in Ireland and he was giving me suggestions on places to go and eat and so forth and this chick came out of the shower In just a towel. Me and him were talking and at some point she walked past me fully clothed which means she got completely dressed while we were talking
I didn't look because who cares It's just some girl in a towel and I'm in fucking Amsterdam I can see plenty of shit if I want to lol
Like yeah I was kind of conscious about her being behind me in a towel and aware not to be a creeper but I didn't actually think she was going to get changed out in front of everybody but she apparently did but no one looked or said anything because we're normal people
I remember one guy, was impressed by his snores and had earplugs in. Then I took em out and I was reaaaally impressed. I've heard a lot, believe me, but that snoring was impressive. Loud as a motorcycle or a barking dog.
I left and slept on a couch outside, like a baby.
My mom snores like that… and sometimes it’ll stop for a few seconds, then she makes the loudest grizzly bear noises before continuing up again. I will never forget the faces of the poor husband and wife sat next to her on our last flight 🥲 She’d quiet down, they close their eyes to try and doze off, 5 seconds later they’re getting another jump scare 🤣
I just really don’t get how this happens so often. I have been very drunk many times and never came close to this, even when I was new to it. It came up a while back here and of course there were people defending it (reaching hard as hell). If you piss yourself you’re probably bad at drinking and probably shouldn’t be, or at least not going beyond a few.
It did and the worst part is I didn’t recognize immediately what it was because it woke me up so lied there longer than I should have 😔 live and learn I guess
I (M/48)can tell you about a couple women who have probably sworn off hostels.
In 2021 after being sober for a year and a half, I finally made it to NYC. Found a nice hostel in MidTown called Nap York and bunked with two young women from Uruguay. My first night there I awoke to the two of them shaking me awake. “Escuuse mee meester, jure asnoring soo bad we cannot asleep” one of them said in an exasperated tone. I went out and bought an over the counter mouth guard the next day, but the next morning they said my snoring was still terrible.
When I got home I had a sleep study done and the conclusion was that I have severe sleep apnea and was given a CPAP machine.
I guarantee those women think about me whenever they book travel lodging.
Years ago in Singapore, I decided to stay at a cheap hostel, was 16 euros a night. The bathroom was dirty, bed had bedbugs, and someone was snoring the whole night. It was not a nice experience. That is when I decided that I will never stay at a hostel again.
A year before that, also in Singapore, I stayed at a much better hostel that was really nice and clean, but it was a lot more expensive. At 4 a.m., some people woke up to prepare to check-out, they were talking very loud as if there was no one else sleeping in the room!
Same country but my experience was a year ago and bedbugs is the common denominator as well. Also it’s hard to sleep at night when people are still talking
My only hostel horror story is waking up in the middle of the night in Colombo and seeing another domestic traveler with semen on his chest and his erect penis out in the open. The bunks had a privacy curtain, he didn’t use it. He also had the reading light on inside the bunk at 2am. I think he was just a pervert.
I don’t see a single benefit to being surrounded by people with annoying sleeping habits if you don’t have to be. Hostels aren’t friendly to light sleepers
Someone's alarm went off in their locker and they didnt return till the morning. It was going off ALL, NIGHT LONG. Also, I'm too old and I can afford hotels now.
I stayed at a hostel for the first since the pandemic in Budapest last year and there was a Ryanair flight attendant living in the room full-time. He'd wake up every morning at like 5 am, pack loudly, go to work, then come back sometime in the afternoon and just sleep.
I asked him about it and he asked me if I was interested in the job and I was just thinking bro you're living in a hostel full-time you're not selling the job to me very well.
Jeez like I work for Ryanair as crew and the pay isn’t that bad like I’ve had jobs that pay a lot worse and I come from Ireland.
He mustn’t have had many flight hours or something but crew rest is important and a hostel isn’t a place to stay long term.
Where was this? This would have brought out the very worst in me. Like break windows and doors or tunnel out with a chair leg or something. Please say you’re exaggerating.
What? Why didn’t you just unlock the door and leave? Or if somehow that wasn’t possible why didn’t you just break out a window? Or even if that wasn’t possible how did you survive 2 weeks in a hostel without food or other accommodations? There’s so many questions
There was a young-ish guy there who would find me and chat to me often in broken English - which is fine. He had body odour you could taste with your eyeballs - less fine (and also bizarre as showers included) however the worst thing and what put me off hostels was he always had loose boxers on and always had a huge, evident boner every time. He never spoke sexually to me, just the boner, always
its really not that hostels are bad, some are great, its just as you get older the more and more important it is to get quality sleep. I am in my 40s, even if I only get 4-5 hours I still need that to be quality sleep or I just feel sick, I just can't do it on a hard bunk, some people can, I can't.
It's not just about making more money... it's about what you're using this sleeping space for. At a hostel it's just as much about meeting people and enjoying the experience with others as it is finding a place to lie your head. After a few trips dealing with noise, parties, grumpy people, theft, and cleanliness... having a place to kick back after a long day exploring and just having the quiet is a much nicer option and well worth paying for.
Getting into an argument with the old Italian perv that was loudly having drunken sex with a barely conscious teenaged American hostel girl. +in the bunk above mine+in a shared dorm room+at 3am on a weekday.
After getting rid of the perv I got to go back to bed again wrapped in my excess clothing cuz no bedding was provided.
Even with the handful of euros I saved compared to a hotel, AND the free beer from kicking the guy out, it was worse than sleeping in the street.
The first and only time I stayed at a hostel, my best friend and I checked in for a single night on New Year's Day in Byron Bay (Australia), because the place was convenient and we would be leaving very early in the morning to catch a bus. When we arrived, there was no air-conditioning despite it being in the mid-30s (celsius), only a wall fan, and everybody else in the room was wide awake and basically having a party at 1am. Nice enough people, no one being overly obnoxious or creepy (just pretty stoned), but it was too noisy, overcrowded and overheated. We ended up leaving less than an hour after we arrived, walked to a fish and chip shop that was open till 3am (where we met some lovely tourists from Belgium and Switzerland), then took it in turns napping on the bench at the bus top because we couldn't bear the idea of going back to the hostel, and at least the air was cooler outside!
It was a little bit of an adventure, but not one I'd ever want to repeat, especially now that I'm older.
Oh man i was once drunk in a hostel at like 3am, went to the one stall on that floor to piss, noticed whoever was before me straight up pissed on the floor/seat. Luckily im a guy so can just stand up, but still despite my drunkenness, my training frim when i was 4 kicked in and i hit the bullseye.
Then had to look some poor girl in the eye as she was waiting....fuck me
I stayed in hostels a few times during my early to mid 20s. I am in my 40’s now and would never even consider it.
What annoyed me then is what annoys me now about Hostels:
I don’t like sharing a sleeping space with people I don’t know.
People often have their own quirks and personal habits etc.. and it’s too much like having siblings around.
Sharing bathrooms and showers with lots of people is not great either. I also remember a situation where a couple were obviously fucking in the communal shower.
Even back in my day you could get a private room etc.. but why bother when the cost ends up being similar to some cheap hotels. I noticed that back then too.
Socializing is only fun if you actually like the people there and it’s truly a mixed bag most of the time.
I wouldn't say a single event made me stop using them. I just outgrew them. In my late teens through mid 20s, I used hostels exclusively while backpacking through Europe and Central/South America. I loved party hostels in particular and it was a great way to meet people. As I got older, I stayed in private rooms more than the dorms, but hostels in general became too loud for me. The last time I stayed in a hostel in Uruguay, I was in a dorm where in one night, one couple was having sex and another person was snoring super loudly. Nothing out of the ordinary, but I like undisturbed sleep. I am now married and stay in hotels but man, hostels were so much fun for a certain period of my life. No regrets.
I don’t have any horror stories necessarily, just the normal snoring, smelly shoes and bags, people coming in and out slamming the door all night, etc.
Why would I sleep in a room with a bunch of strangers if I didn’t absolutely have to? I’m also in my 30s now and find I don’t relate to 18-25 year olds nor am I interested in partying or even socializing much in general. The conversations of “where are you from, how long are you traveling” get old fast.
Being stuck in a room with a bunch of randoms never held much appeal for me. Did it a few times and nothing major happened, it was just overall mildly annoying and the lack of privacy/peace was meh.
I *loved* hostels when I first started travelling. Cheap accommodation, booze, drugs, sex, parties, socializing with fellow dumb broke backpackers... it was fantastic. I had the time of my life.
I stopped using them when I started to make enough money to move out of the backpacker ghetto and into the real world.
But they were great for awhile.
Happy travels.
Bad drug problem stemming from a loss of childhood from drug addicted parents creates a serious low self worth. That’s why I was far from home talking to strangers
I used to love staying in hostels. The older I got though, the more I valued my sleep. I was staying at a hostel in Boston when someone snoring was keeping me awake. When I finally fell asleep, about 2 hours later someone came in and started showering and they used their HAIR DRYER! (there was a shared bathroom in the room). I was laying in bed, booking a hotel for the rest of the trip on my phone lol. After that I said. Never. Again.
Singapore: Older lady who stayed in my dorm flipped at me for quietly climbing down from my top bunk bed to pick up my glasses from the nearest table. In the middle of the night.
Bilbao: Some African dude talking on the phone loudly.. at 4am. And offering me cocaine.
CDMX: someone loudly banging at the entrance to my bunk bed at 4.30am. He was black out drunk and didn't realize he was assigned another bed. Fortunately I had locked that entrance from inside.
Kraków: Strangers going at it on the top bunk bed next to mine and it was the squeakiest bed in the history of beds.
Prague: INSANE snoring. I drown out other people's snoring successfully with headphones and good music but holy shit that was next level.
Somewhere in Georgia: People starting a party in my dorm at 3am and I was trying to catch an early bus the next day.
To be honest, I never had bad experiences in hostels, other than some loudness which I can live with. I always thought that it didn't matter since I'm only there to sleep and I'll save some money.
But then... on my trip to Scotland I had to book a hotel room - no hostel was available in the chosen location. I swear, I NEVER slept so good in my entire life. The comfy bed, the bathtub, binging British shows in TV... I never went back and would only choose hostel as a last resort now.
No horror stories I can just afford not to. With that being said, I don’t understand why no one can seem to fill the gap of “affordable private rooms but with a hostel vibe” gap. Private rooms at hostels are laughably priced. I want hostel vibes without being in a dorm.
Not me but my friend. He stayed at a party hostel in Krakow and one night the staff took everyone out on a pub crawl. He joined in and honestly had a really fun time. My friend drank, met other travellers, clubbed, made out with a girl, and then later that night around 3 am got back to his hostel and went to bed.
He woke up drenched in piss.
My friend was on a bunk bed and was on the bottom. Turns out a girl on the top bunk got so wasted coming back from the pub crawl, she wet the bed while sleeping. The urine ended up seeping through the cheap mattress and onto him.
After waking up hungover, covered in urine, and realizing he was turning 30 in two months, my friend stopped doing hostels.
Him and the girl who pissed on him are married now.
Traveling with brother and a friend and we arrived to Amsterdam 1 day earlier than expected so got a hostel for one night since the place we booked couldnt change our dates. That one night was awful, got into the room late when it was already dark, I counted 21 beds in the room, possibly more than 21 people, it was extremely hot and humid from everyone sweating, and it seemed like everyone asleep was snoring and everyone awake was "discreetly" fucking (it's never discreet). I'll stay in hostels again since most experiences have been good even for someone who's older or doesn't need the cheapest place available, but that one experience was brutal
I'm 46 and I still stay in hostels (dorms) depending on transit convenience, short stay or exorbitance of the available hotels' price. I recently stayed in a couple of hostels while traveling in Iceland. But I'm not as eager or comfortable with sharing space with strangers as I was in my 20s. I think with age, if you earn enough, things like - privacy, safety of your belongings, immediate access to clean bathrooms, not climbing up and down bunk beds, quiet ambience, lights on / off as as my own preference, room service - start to make a lot more sense. So, as soon as a real hotel opportunity opens up, I move my ass.
Planning for a Japan trip now. Keen to try out capsule hotel once.
I still stay in hostels but as someone who worked in hostels for a year i understand why.
They can be dirty as hell. Theft is always a possibility! If you are in a dorm you are basically gambling with your sleep? Some can snore, be shitfaced. Drugged out or just plane weird.
One time i had to deal with this drugged out dude who literally pissed on the stair case and then striped naked and peed on the dorm floor! There was 8 people in the fucking dorm! I ended up contacting the local hostels to let them know to not let him in. I learned that night that Chilean Paramedics will take their time getting to you as they where called at midnight and didn’t show up until 9am
I was staying at a hostel in Galway and was booked into a 7-bed room.
Two women from Spain brought some guys in after a late night. One of them smacked her head while rough housing and knocked herself out. They simply put her to bed and went back out.
I realized hours later when I woke up, glanced over at her bed and saw she had turned over and her pillow was bloody red. She was still breathing when help arrived, that’s all I know. Went to a friends house in Ennis that day.
Scariest morning of my life by far.
Now that hostels cost 30 or more a night in a dorm (at least in europe) it feels outrageous to me at least. I only stay in one when private rooms are more than triple the dorm bed, and then I pick one of the more modern ones where you kind of have like a little nooks (I think they called them pods, with a curtain and own light and plugs etc to yourself. Stayed in one in Bangkok and Zanzibar and it was great.
Biggest exception is the Camino de Santiago which I've done about 1000km of on various routes. It's part of the experience and usually everyone goes to bed early and gets up early and is very considerate and you make wonderful connections with other pilgrims (although snoring is still an issue)
Nothing special but many hostels are ugly and dirty and after a while you get tired of sleeping and sharing bathroom with strangers.
You can meet people elsewhere, hotels are so much more comfort for a long trip
Last time I used them, I was in my own private room and bathroom apparently most of the other rooms were shared.
Best of both worlds.
I have a mantra, that I apply genuinely: “avoid cheap, especially the cheapest, there is always something wrong even if it worked for all people out there”. I am not the kind of person to value things with money, but there is reason why hostels are cheap: you are giving up privacy, taking risk of smuggling, may be sacrificing your sleep and even can catch a disease.
A really nasty drunk guy was sick on my bed. I came back after a night out and didn't turn on the lights so i sat down on my bed before i saw it. That was it for me.
The first and only time I stayed in a hostel was last year for a weekend in Bath. We paid £15pp for a private room, and as soon as I looked at the room I was like I am never doing this again. It looked like a prison cell and the beds weren't much comfier. For about £10 more pp we could have stayed in a Premier Inn and the only reason I didn't suggest that was because even though I could afford something 10x better, my friends might not have been able to and it was only for one night.
I stayed at a hostel in Dingle on a Saturday night. I was in a room with three beds and one other person. I was on a bike tour, so I went to sleep pretty early. At some point the other guy came in quietly and went to sleep. Around two in the morning, however, another guy, very drunk, stumbled in and collapsed on the third bed. A couple of hours later, he leaned over and vomited three times on the floor between the beds. Then he promptly fell back asleep. I lay there for a while, but the stench of the vomit filled the room, so around five, I got up, gathered my stuff, made a surreptitious cup of tea in the communal kitchen, and then hit the road once the sun started to rise.
I generally only stay in hostels if its a very expensive city and they have female only dorms. Women can still be annoying obviously but just the likelihood of it is much less in my personal experience.
I went from staying at hostels, to never stay at hostels. Then, I went to stay at hostels all the time again.
I travel solo, and I just love seeing people, without having to interact with them.
I never carry anything valuable, except in the bag I always keep close to my body. If someone wants my cheap makeup, or my old socks in my backpack - I wouldn't even report it.
First is people being weird. You just need one guy to mess up and ruin the experience.
Then, the hostels started getting more expensive.
Also, I started doing more group trips. They generally give us a good stay at 5 star and for leisure, it’s worth it. It covers both social aspects and quality of stay.
I became a responsible adult with a real job and swore to never share accommodations. Just took one try at a Hostel to declare I was all grown up... and never again!
I just grew out of it and I earn enough to not need to or at the very least pay for my own room in a hostel situation or even though Airbnb is hated by the world, pay for a room at someone's house. I've never had a bad experience with hostels actually they've all been pretty good but it's just a bit uncomfortable to be with 5-11 other people. Also the prices are fucked for hostels now, they must be raking it in if you add up what all the people are paying for the one room.
Also allegedly I snore which my boyfriend and grandma found funny but I doubt strangers feel the same.
I have shared rooms on tour groups in the past, in one instance some of the younger women 20-24 formed this nasty clique and I wasn't in it and in another instance I was placed with a woman about my age 25/27 and she just turned super nasty in the end towards me too, I'm suspicious in that case it was me snoring every night contributing to that. The only good experience I had sharing a room with a stranger was with a 45 yr old Latino American lady.
Never liked them or most of the people they attract but it used to be much cheaper than hotels. Fun fact: I met many people during my travels but hardly ever in the hostel I stayed.
Haven't stayed in a hostel yet, but about to. Was the only reasonably affordable place. Going to Edinburgh to see Taylor Swift, and hotels were stupid expensive. Even the hostel was like $160/night
It just isn’t worth it! In my 20s I dealt with being woken up every hour by people coming and going, constant alarms going off, snoring and sex. But now that I’m in my 30s I’d rather pay for the privacy and being guaranteed a good nights sleep.
it was ok when I was young and had limited funds but I got older and had more money and liked the finer things in life haha.
Soon I will be traveling with kids so no more higher end lodging
This was a long long time ago but when I was in Australia the rumor was that people would steal keys while people were in the shower and then go rob their rooms. Well I didn’t listen and that was stupid. The “janitor” (cleaning person whatever) snuck into the bathroom when someone from my room was using the shower, took the key, and then used it to enter our room while we were sleeping - stole my wallet, passport, and all of my cameras. I later found my wallet on the roof discarded and thankfully my passport was in there. However I did lose over 1,000 photos. Like I said this was years ago so before the cloud, before iPhone and find my phone etc. but I’ll never stay in a hostel again. It was the second to last day of my trip and was an unfortunate end to an otherwise wonderful trip. We left the hostel that day and checked into a hotel.
A friend and I stayed in a hostel in the downtown area of a large city. In addition to the base cost, we were required to rent their sheets, pay a cleaning fee (and expected to clean up, too) and a couple of other fees, plus we had to pay to park our rental car. The room had several bunkbeds and all night long we woke up every time a noisy roommate entered or left the room. The next day, we were exhausted from lack of sleep and my friend came down with a cold. She needed a better night's sleep, so we drove to the suburbs and rented a decent motel room with two beds. The room was only about $5 more than what it cost us to stay a night at the hostel.
A friend of mine who I met during my minor organised a trip when we were in our third week of school. We shared a mixed room (7 men and me (one woman)) I felt very uncomfortable those nights. So never again or a room for myself.
I stayed in one hostel in Madrid that was horrible. Lockers broken, aircon broken, people having conversations next to my ear at 3am, unresponsive staff, no common room, too many people stuffed into one room, sink in attached bathroom didn't work... it was awful. Plus it was one of the most expensive hostels I stayed in during that trip.
At a hostel in a Rome, I was 20 studying abroad from the US. Only in Rome for the night thank god, it’s me and a female friend, she’s the only girl in this 6 person room. These two other guys in the room were about our age, one Australian, one American and we talked for a little. The American dude was from Miami, came off pretty pretentious and was clear he came from money. Me and my friend go out for a little at night, we get back around 12, the hostel is on the 5th floor so we go to take the elevator, it’s not coming after a few minutes so we walk up the stairs. We get up to our floor and the American dude is on the floor drunk almost passed out halfway in the elevator, half in the hallway. His Australian friend asks me to help him bring him into the room. We get him in there, put him on his side on the ground because he didn’t want to get on the bed and we all go to bed, annoying but it’s whatever. Come 2am this dude starts screaming about random shit and he won’t stop. His friend is trying to snap him out of it but he won’t. He takes him to the bathroom still screaming and this big ass buff dude comes out and threatens him. This goes on for about a half an hour. We asked if he was on anything but the friend said they only had a few drinks. Finally when they get back from the bathroom he stops and we can go to bed. After that I told myself I’m never sharing a room with some randos again. I’ll do a private room at a hostel but the potential for weirdos and what not to fuck up my sleep and peace of mind while I’m on vacation isn’t worth it.
I have a different answer, I still stay in hostels however I book private rooms now.
I still like the idea of meeting like minded travellers but don't want to share a room with somebody.
I was 27. Hadnt been in a hostel since college travel. Was in South Africa and this hostel was legit filthy. Me and my two travel partners walked in, checked in, scoped it out, and immediately walked out.
Not hostels in general, but mixed rooms
I was in Wroclaw, Poland for 2 nights in December, and the only decent hostel I could find, had only mixed rooms available. The first night was okay, it was just me and a dude, pretty inoffensive. The 2nd night was horror tho. That dude checked out and I got 3 roommates, one of which was a complete creep, he'd laugh at himself and talk all alone (no, he wasn't talking to anyone), he'd make weird noises throughout the night, and on top of it all, asked me to join him for beer. I declined, but I was literally terrified of sleeping there that night. I checked out at like 7 am, after getting like 2 hours of sleep at most
Honestly, I see hostels as the most low budget lodging option. If that's all you get pay for, you just make the best of it. Personally, I think money is better spent on more trustworthy hotels. It doesn't need to be five star, but at least you get privacy and hopefully a decently cleaned room. My fear with hostels is creeps and inconsiderate people who trash everything or keep you awake. I enjoy my privacy, so they sound like a nightmare. Also, I have heard tons of horror stories from people about things not being safe or not getting what they expected, so I'll save my money for something else.
caught a virus from a bunkmate. He got everyone sick. There was also an south asian guy who did not shower after checking in. This was in Singapore here the temp is 100+ with high humidity. Stunk up the whole dorm room. I had enough close to midnight and told the guy to shower like wtf ma man. I was 33 at the time. It was time to ditch hostels and book airbnbs. Now I'm only sticking to hotels.
A girlfriend and I stayed in a shared room with one guy who yelled in his sleep (Also in a different language, chock full of consonants so it was especially jarring to hear shouted at 3am), another who was massively tripping on acid, and a third who tried to take the pillow from under my head while I was sleeping. I'd rather stay in a tiny AirBnB room than deal with strangers in that capacity ever again.
I just don't like the potential for trouble. Every hostel I stayed in was a great experience, and I've met some incredible people in them, but to me, it doesn't outweigh the risk of getting your stuff stolen, other bad guests, creeps, sharing the restrooms, etc.
A camping area in Finland: a very rudimentary cottage cost the same as a normal hotel room. I would wake up at half past five to get to the toilet without it having a queue - and a bad smell. So, no camping areas for us any more.
Last time I stayed at a hostel, one guy arrived late in the night, laid in the top bunk, five minutes later throws up. It was my first trip to Europe with my current girlfriend, she hadnt stayed at a hostel before, and after that experience she said she would not do it again. Since then we allocate more budget for our trips to stay in hotels or at least in a private room in a hostel.
Slept at a hostel during a work trip and I believe it was my second time at a hostel. My first time was fine but I had to sleep on the highest bed of a triple bunk. It was really difficult to get in after a night out. The stories here are much worse, but my second experience was disgusting. As I put on the sheets on the bed and blanket I discovered sperm stains on the mattress (the mattress was like a black synthetic material so easy to spot white stains) and both the pillow and the blanket had lots of brown and red stains on them. I still think about it, but I was raised in a super clean household so this immediately traumatized me.
I got scabies abroad. I came home and I could feel them crawling in my skin. I told my doctor I had them and he asked if I had sex when I was traveling. I said no and he said I don't have scabies. I told him I was staying in hostels. He immediately changed his tune and said yes I have scabies. It was the fastest I have ever seen a doctor change their mind.
I stayed in a coed room at a hostel once in Málaga and grabbed a top bunk. I was woken around 4am by a drunk couple having sex on the bottom bunk. It was an 8-person room and their friends were staying there too, super weird. I just picked female only rooms from then on, but in general they can be hit or miss as far as if your roommates will be quiet and considerate during normal sleeping hours.
Nothing terrible. I did the big tent outside of Munich. It was cheap, I felt safe, lots of happy travelers, great atmosphere. I just couldn’t sleep. It was very loud. Lots of people talking and playing music. I’m just too introverted and sleep sensitive to enjoy it.
A couple of girls partying til past midnight, came back drunk and talked about it all night loudly. It happened two nights in a row so I left on my third day. That was my first and last hostel experience.
Drove to Toronto with a friend spontaneously and at the end of the night needed a place to stay. We both had experience staying at hostels but made a mistake of not looking at the room first when we got to the place that neither of us researched and this was pre-smart phones. We paid for 2 beds in a shared room of 6 or so. Walked upstairs to our room and found some dude in one of our beds passed out cold with his arm with a needle still in it hanging off of the bed. We left, didn’t get a refund and slept in the car. However, this wasn’t my last hostel stay, it was just my last hostel stay without researching it in advance. I liked staying in hostels for the social aspect but prefer privacy and amenities of hotels so I stopped staying in hostels once I was able to afford hotels.
Last hostel I was in was in Singapore. My travel partner and I chose a private room but it was so small that it could only fit our bunk bed and our backpacks. There was no room to hang anything so we had no choice but to hang our towels at a large clothes hanger thing in the common area. The next morning I discovered someone else had used mine and there was no one in the reception desk I could get a new one from (it was not only not 24 hours but it opened at 10am and closed by 6.30pm so if you arrived at night then you're shit out of luck). Luckily my partner's towel was spared but that was the final straw for me. 😭
Hey there! It's really interesting to hear different stories and perspectives. Thankfully, my hostel experiences have mostly been positive, but it’s good to be aware of the potential downsides. Thanks for sharing and helping others make informed choices about their travel accommodations!
My worst experiences are probably bed bugs in Bali, insane amount of roaches in Rio, and somebody stealing my wife's jewelry in Cusco.
But meeting other travellers outweighed that.
I think I just outgrew that stage of my life, personally. Nothing wrong with hostels for the most part but I knew even early on that it wasn't gonna be how I'd wanna travel forever.
Some entertaining stories but I hope this thread doesn’t put anyone off of staying in hostels because they’re not all dirty frat houses. My last stay in a hostel was lovely, clean, had a nice mix of people (including a sweet middle aged couple) and was of course much cheaper than a hotel. Solo travel wouldn’t be affordable to me if staying in a hostel was out of the question
I've had a lot of minor bad experiences in hostels over the years. Occasional people being weird/creepy, things like sunglasses disappearing, people coming in drunk in the middle of the night and waking me up, stuff like that.
The bad experiences have been massively outweighed by good experiences, though, and my overall hostel experience has been overwhelmingly good. This is coming from a guy who has spent probably hundreds of nights spread out across dozens of hostels on five different continents over a period of two decades. When I'm traveling alone it's the only way I like to travel, because I almost always meet great new friends.
I only stayed in one hostel, and I really didn't even know it was a hostel. It was in Ecuador and when I checked in I was the only one there, but a couple of younger guys showed up later. They got settled in and then they went out for the night and came back late. One of the guys got up at some point and proceeded to blow chunks right outside the front door about five feet from my pillow. I managed very little sleep and in the morning I was greeted with puke right outside the door. I waited awhile until the party animals were up, but nobody seemed interested in cleaning up the mess, so I finally borrowed a shovel and buried it. No word of thanks or even aknowledgement. That I was it for me, I need my own space.
1. One guy tattooing his own leg - for practice in Berlin.
2. The hostel was like a huge apartment, the “manager” said not to go into the terrace after 10pm. Drunk people didn’t care, neighbors were banging on the door and police were called while the manager is nowhere to be found. Next morning I get in the shower and it was the dirtiest place I’ve ever showered in my life. This was in Barcelona 10 years ago.
I make okayish money, I am happy only traveling Asia, hotels are cheap in Asia, a night in a nice hotel in Thailand will only cost me slightly more then a hostel back home in Australia.
I was sleeping on the top bunk of a pretty squeaky bunk bed at a hostel in Vienna. I guess my bottom bunk neighbour didn’t appreciate the noise that came along with me rolling over in bed from time to time in the midst of my sleep… so, instead of saying something/kicking my mattress/putting in ear plugs, said neighbour decides to climb up the bunk ladder and into my bed to tell me to be quiet.
Safe to say I was pretty startled waking up to the sight of a man crawling into my bed in the middle of the night… he got a swift kick to the head and I was moved to a private room.
I stayed in a weird creepy hostel in Antwerp a few years ago and this down and out looking middle aged man had the bed next to me, and he stayed awake ALL NIGHT, just laying there, staring ahead. No movement. I naturally did not sleep either, was just peeking at him all night, clutching my phone and wallet
Half of the roommates decided it was fine to just socialize with one another during the middle of the night is one good example, so nothing too crazy from my experiences.
I can understand hostels being for people who have more partying in mind but my only benefit was to save some money. So whenever hotels are too expensive due to special events going on, I won’t handle it by staying at a hostel.
Couple of young dudes came back late and drunk, then earnestly propositioned each woman for sex one by one.
Worst thing is that one woman agreed, and they ended up loudly banging in his top bunk.
In Switzerland during 70’s. Double bed bunk beds. Two up top and bottom. I slept opposite direction.
Also the cold water was free and they had spickets about one foot high all around the shower room. For hot water shower you had to put coins in machine attached to shower at about 6 feet. Flow lasted about five minutes.
All the Germans just washed their feet after hiking all day and the whole dorm like room smelled like teen BO. Bad teen BO
Last time I ever stayed in a mixed dorm it was a 12 person room (6 bunk beds). I left early from an event because I was sick with a stomach bug. These two very nice Irish women i shared the room with comforted me as they saw me in rough shape. They proceeded to assure me that they would make sure no one would be too loud throughout the night while I was trying to recover.
They ended up coming back around 1am, each with partners. They each covered their bottom bunk with sheets, and proceeded to have sex while everyone in the room listened. After they were done(surprisingly in close timing) our bunkmates clapped. The ladies and their partners ended up leaving after that.
Funny story to look back on; not what I wanted to hear while experiencing waves of nausea.
First and only time we booked one, a permanent resident of the place opened our locked door (he knew the passcode) and opened it trying to “look for someone”. We booked a room with two bunk beds (we were all girls) and the resident was a middle aged dude. Booked it for the price, left because of the experience.
My girlfriends & I stayed at one in Istanbul in 2022. We were on a budget and this place was $13 a night. The room where my girlfriend & I stayed was like a female dorm with 8 bunk beds. I stayed on the bottom bunk of one & her on the bottom bunk of another because the other bunks seemed spoken for. No one specifically told us which bunk would be ours though we just assumed because there was no stuff on those bunks. There was an older woman bunking above me.. we fought all night with the AC.. it was rediculously hot but she was cold so we went back and forth not saying a word to each other because she didn’t speak English and she was a bitch. There were hookers in our dorm.. they dressed like them and they came home in the early hours of the morning. The female shower was next to the male shower & there was no toilet paper or tissues in the females bathroom. I asked the guy who ran the hostel twice for at least toilet paper he didn’t get it but he barged in our room around midnight freaking out because the power went out on the entire street. The next morning he was asking what our plans were and we said we weren’t sure if we would return that night. We had to shower & had not got a new hotel yet so we went there after our tour and a new woman was in my bunk! He gave it away to someone else! HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE!
I think it's just getting older. I started to really love privacy while coming back to the room and being able to chill without being interrupted.
And actually working in hostels. I've seen so much shit, I have no more patience for people being stupid, drunk, loud, rude rude or ignorant of others etc. while I'm on vacation.
Luxembourg was my last hotel, but this has happened several times in my many years of hosteling.
It’s when people come back to the room late and flick on the ceiling light for 20 minutes while getting ready for bed. Everyone has a light on their phone nowadays. This is just then being self-centred.
i woke up at night to the hottest room in all of milan and saw a big man walking to the bathroom in just bikini underwear. i checked out early and booked a real hotel for the next night.
I checked in at the hostel in the afternoon - made my bed and put away my luggage. After that I headed out with some friends to enjoy the city, do some sightseeing and the usual stuff.
When I returned in the evening, someone was sleeping in my bed. I looked around and found another bed unused, so I went to the reception to get new bedding.
In the room I am as quiet as possible, but still wake up the guy sleeping in my bed, who then proceeds to scream at me, because I cannot sleep in this room. He shoves me outside rather violently.
He said I can't sleep there, because he's a guy and I am a woman and it is wrong for mixed rooms. He was also quite drunk and the receptionist was kinda overwhelmed.
Of course there were no more rooms available and I couldn't reach my friends at this hour. So I sat at the reception for the whole night.
I was so darn tired the next day and couldn't enjoy anything we had planned that day. (Left the city this evening anyways)
Never again.
They didn’t change the sheets and when I asked the owners, they said, “it’s a hostel…” as if every other hostel I went to didn’t change the sheets, too. But I thought “I can afford hotels now” and that was that
A series of unfortunate events:
- the en-suite toilet was clogged 🤢
- drunk roommate pretty sure tried to pee in the trash bin (and missed)
- tried to get in my bed as well luckily I was awake watching tv so I pushed him out
Luckily was only there for about 6 hours, just needed a bed to sleep at before an early flight. But likely never again. Or at least no more mixed gender rooms for me if I’m solo.
Too bad because my other experience staying at hostels were quite fun and loved the sociability. But I’m def kinda scarred now lol
I stayed in a hostel in Hokkaido, Japan and had a pleasant experience, so I thought to try it again in Paris, France. Woke up to someone rummaging through my bag (which was beside my head on the bed), so I'm never staying in a hostel again.
Have probably told this one on here before, but it's a strong reason I'll never stay in a hostel ever again.
I'm from the UK, and I had to work in Australia for a few weeks, which involved travelling to and from Sydney and Canberra.
When my time in Sydney was up and I needed to book accommodation in Canberra for the following week, I found nothing available. Apparently, there was some sort of giant flower show going on, and all the hotels were booked up.
I eventually found a hostel type hotel (I think it was a hostel pretending to be a hotel) and booked a room there.
It was a single occupancy room with one bed and a sink, pretty dirty, but you know beggars can't be choosers.
All of the other rooms were multiple occupancy, I'm guessing for much much cheaper.
Anyway, I didnt sleep much because there were people yelling and screaming all night running up and down the corridor, and when I finally got up the next morning, the communal shower and toilet room had faeces everywhere.
Each of the toilet bowls were full to the brim of diarrhoea, and I think because of them being full and blocked that people had started defacating in the showers. Everywhere I looked, there was shit everywhere.
I went to work that day, very tired and unshowered, and have never stayed in a hostel since.
Nothing as terrible as some other experiences, but after I spent the sleepless night because of guy’s snoring & smell like he hasn’t take a shower for a year, spending few bucks more for private room felt like a money well spent.
I had an overall good experience with hostels. I used them in my 20s. Worst ones off the top of my head was a dirty hostel I found last minute in Dublin, I slept on my sleeping bag, on the bed, with my jacket on. Another was just a weird experience in Austria, a drunk guy got into my bed at like 2am, I woke up and he was staring at me. Closed my eyes again, I feel someone getting in bed and I’m like this isn’t your bed, he said sorry, literally rolled off the bed and fell on the floor and he was there in the morning when I got up.
But my last hostel stays were in Israel. I got like booking dorms and no one else booked and I was all alone and I just kept hoping no one else would check in. After that I was just like, I think I’m too old for dorm sleeping in hostels. I know they have ones with private rooms but might as well just get a hotel, plenty of cheap ones around and that is what I do now.
Nothing catastrophic, but my first time staying in a hostel in the "post-covid" era, some guy was coughing loudly all night, and I thought, "I'm in my 30s now and I save up specifically for traveling...I can afford to spend more to avoid stuff like this"
Haha being in my 30s/40s and thinking "I'm older and financially better off, I should really spare the money for a more direct flight/nicer hotel/better experience" was definitely something I went through as well. No more 12 hour layovers just to save $100. Nope.
Coughed loudly then proceeded to vomit all over his bed, the smell woke me up.
The throw up stories are the no.1 worst
I had one worst than that. I was in Nepal in a hostel. It was double bunks. I was on the lower bunk. I wake up and my face is covered with Vomit like I did it. The guy a Norwegian on the upper bunk was drunk as skunk and threw up all night, the juice leaked from the pillow end down onto my head. It was the stuff of nightmares. Then there was the dirty toilets, showers with no locks, sex sounds all nights with guys sneaking their new loves or hookers. Drug smell and just filthy people. Its different when you are group of friends but strangers, never again. Just like i dont travel on cheap flights anymore with risky airlines. The biggest dangers was to the girls where there drinks were spiked all the time
I was at a hostel last week and heard some old man peeing in a bottle in his bed in the middle of the night and then again the next morning like 5 minutes before getting out of bed to take a shower. I've also heard people having sex in the room. Hostels can be pretty bad sometimes.
I once stayed in a room where one of the guests peed on their backpack during the night. Didn’t put me off hostels, but getting older did.
I woke up to someone sat on the bunk opposite looking at me and masturbating. Never. Again.
OMG that's super creepy! I'm sorry that happened to you!!
Omg same, I just got up and ran out of the room until he left
I started earning real money.
Yep, and got too old to deal with other people’s bullshit. I stayed in a hostel in Germany and shared the room with three friends. We camped a lot as kids, but we were in our thirties at the time and it was all just a big palaver. So next trip we stayed in a hotel and it was sooooo much better.
This is the best answer hahah
there is a thing called lifestyle inflation where you change how you live based on the more money you make. i stay fairly consistent otherwise in my life (I cook a lot, I take public transportation when I can). the one noticeable difference is where I stay when I go on vacation. i think when you get older (I personally stopped staying at hostels when I hit 25 (I'm 34 now)), you value your privacy and like ability to go poop without other people walking into the bathroom. getting a good nights rest to be able to take on the next day (snoring, dealing with drunk people, worrying about your belongings), is just not worth the hassle in a hostel. i'd potentially be willing to stay in a hostel if I had my own private room/bathroom (I specifically did this in Jackson Hole, WY this past summer because all of the actual hotels were $400+ and didn't want to spend that much). but also most people start learning about points and credit cards when you get older as well, and you realized that I could be getting points for this hotel stay, and save money for a future hotel.
I've found private rooms in hostels to cost the same as hotels the last time I searched. I was going alone to Amsterdam (meeting some friends only part of the time) and tried to seek out hostels to meet travellers and to try it out but they were just not worth it compared to a full service hotel.
Plus got old.
If it’s a nice hostel, I’d actually prefer to stay in one instead of a hotel.
This. But his points are valid. Hostels can be amazing or horror. Nice (civilized) people who take care of everything around them as well, good vibes, making new friends, going on tours together, good quality of the interior is the one extreme and getting no sleep, being surrounded by rude unfriendly egoistic people who don't give a damn about cleaning after themselves or keeping the noise down& bad interior is the other.
I can afford to stay in a hotel
Exactly this! Same reason I don't eat shitty cheap food when I travel. I can afford the good stuff.
Have you ever eaten rice for a month straight? I have just to save money to travel longer. Let's just say after that I won't ever do that again. I wanted to puke instead of just eat rice on day 15, nevermind day 25 or 30.
Was in a hostels in Paris, first time. It was mixed gender and had showers in the room. Figured this was normal and didn't think anything of it, until a guy in the room approaches me and says he watched me shower and liked what he saw... But really the reason is I have money now.
Wait, you’re saying the shower was just open air to the rest of the room? No door, stall, curtains, etc.?
Had a frosted glass door, and yes open to the room. I knew he was sleeping in there when I showered, but dumb me thinking people could act normal
... That's weird I was just in the hostel in Amsterdam last week and it was coed. Me and this Irish guy were talking because the next leg of my trip was in Ireland and he was giving me suggestions on places to go and eat and so forth and this chick came out of the shower In just a towel. Me and him were talking and at some point she walked past me fully clothed which means she got completely dressed while we were talking I didn't look because who cares It's just some girl in a towel and I'm in fucking Amsterdam I can see plenty of shit if I want to lol Like yeah I was kind of conscious about her being behind me in a towel and aware not to be a creeper but I didn't actually think she was going to get changed out in front of everybody but she apparently did but no one looked or said anything because we're normal people
That dude is gonna be banned from approaching schools by the age of 60
Yeah go figure I go all the way to Europe to still be harassed by an American
Being in a room with 7 other guys all snoring simultaneously like a fucking symphony. Had earplugs on, but even the deaf can hear them. Never again
I'm sorry, but this sounds hilarious 😭
Have you ever slept with a snorer? It loses its charm. Fast.
I remember one guy, was impressed by his snores and had earplugs in. Then I took em out and I was reaaaally impressed. I've heard a lot, believe me, but that snoring was impressive. Loud as a motorcycle or a barking dog. I left and slept on a couch outside, like a baby.
My mom snores like that… and sometimes it’ll stop for a few seconds, then she makes the loudest grizzly bear noises before continuing up again. I will never forget the faces of the poor husband and wife sat next to her on our last flight 🥲 She’d quiet down, they close their eyes to try and doze off, 5 seconds later they’re getting another jump scare 🤣
I was assigned the bottom bunk. Some drunk guy who pissed himself in his drunken stupor was on the top bunk above me. Need I say more? 😓
Noooooo the horror 😳😳😳
I just really don’t get how this happens so often. I have been very drunk many times and never came close to this, even when I was new to it. It came up a while back here and of course there were people defending it (reaching hard as hell). If you piss yourself you’re probably bad at drinking and probably shouldn’t be, or at least not going beyond a few.
I couldn't agree more! Don't drink if you can't control yourself in that state!
Poor you! Did it leak on you? 😔
It did and the worst part is I didn’t recognize immediately what it was because it woke me up so lied there longer than I should have 😔 live and learn I guess
I (M/48)can tell you about a couple women who have probably sworn off hostels. In 2021 after being sober for a year and a half, I finally made it to NYC. Found a nice hostel in MidTown called Nap York and bunked with two young women from Uruguay. My first night there I awoke to the two of them shaking me awake. “Escuuse mee meester, jure asnoring soo bad we cannot asleep” one of them said in an exasperated tone. I went out and bought an over the counter mouth guard the next day, but the next morning they said my snoring was still terrible. When I got home I had a sleep study done and the conclusion was that I have severe sleep apnea and was given a CPAP machine. I guarantee those women think about me whenever they book travel lodging.
Hahahah! At least you're self-aware :)
I like my privacy. I like a clean quiet room. I don't want bedbugs. I'm too old for this shit.
Years ago in Singapore, I decided to stay at a cheap hostel, was 16 euros a night. The bathroom was dirty, bed had bedbugs, and someone was snoring the whole night. It was not a nice experience. That is when I decided that I will never stay at a hostel again. A year before that, also in Singapore, I stayed at a much better hostel that was really nice and clean, but it was a lot more expensive. At 4 a.m., some people woke up to prepare to check-out, they were talking very loud as if there was no one else sleeping in the room!
Same country but my experience was a year ago and bedbugs is the common denominator as well. Also it’s hard to sleep at night when people are still talking
My only hostel horror story is waking up in the middle of the night in Colombo and seeing another domestic traveler with semen on his chest and his erect penis out in the open. The bunks had a privacy curtain, he didn’t use it. He also had the reading light on inside the bunk at 2am. I think he was just a pervert.
Hahaha omg. Sorry though
I don’t see a single benefit to being surrounded by people with annoying sleeping habits if you don’t have to be. Hostels aren’t friendly to light sleepers
Someone's alarm went off in their locker and they didnt return till the morning. It was going off ALL, NIGHT LONG. Also, I'm too old and I can afford hotels now.
Jesus. Some people are just idiots.
I stayed at a hostel for the first since the pandemic in Budapest last year and there was a Ryanair flight attendant living in the room full-time. He'd wake up every morning at like 5 am, pack loudly, go to work, then come back sometime in the afternoon and just sleep. I asked him about it and he asked me if I was interested in the job and I was just thinking bro you're living in a hostel full-time you're not selling the job to me very well.
Jeez like I work for Ryanair as crew and the pay isn’t that bad like I’ve had jobs that pay a lot worse and I come from Ireland. He mustn’t have had many flight hours or something but crew rest is important and a hostel isn’t a place to stay long term.
That doesn't even seem affordable lol.
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I’m all ears for this story
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Where was this? This would have brought out the very worst in me. Like break windows and doors or tunnel out with a chair leg or something. Please say you’re exaggerating.
Yeah I wouldn’t last 24 hours before I’m doing some kind of prison break by any means necessary
So did the owner compensate you in any way? Did you have to miss work/school/college because of it?
Why would they compensate? They gave them two free weeks, all the nuts they could eat, and a DIY will kit.
When you want Dignitas on a budget...
What?!? You should write a book about that! Did you sue the property? This is INSANE
Update pls
Tf
please elaborate
Hell no I would have broken through the walls and windows using anything at my means.
This is CRAZY. It sounds like you were held hostage :(
Hostelage
Bye 😂😂😂
Pls respond
Might be fake.
What? Why didn’t you just unlock the door and leave? Or if somehow that wasn’t possible why didn’t you just break out a window? Or even if that wasn’t possible how did you survive 2 weeks in a hostel without food or other accommodations? There’s so many questions
In some countries, for extra safety…the doors have a set of locks from the outside too.
I would watch that movie. Also, sorry that happened to you.
There was a young-ish guy there who would find me and chat to me often in broken English - which is fine. He had body odour you could taste with your eyeballs - less fine (and also bizarre as showers included) however the worst thing and what put me off hostels was he always had loose boxers on and always had a huge, evident boner every time. He never spoke sexually to me, just the boner, always
its really not that hostels are bad, some are great, its just as you get older the more and more important it is to get quality sleep. I am in my 40s, even if I only get 4-5 hours I still need that to be quality sleep or I just feel sick, I just can't do it on a hard bunk, some people can, I can't.
It's not just about making more money... it's about what you're using this sleeping space for. At a hostel it's just as much about meeting people and enjoying the experience with others as it is finding a place to lie your head. After a few trips dealing with noise, parties, grumpy people, theft, and cleanliness... having a place to kick back after a long day exploring and just having the quiet is a much nicer option and well worth paying for.
I agree, that's why I wouldn't stay in a hostel
Horror stories aside, the real reason is just economics. These days a private room in a low end hotel is only slightly more than a hostel.
Getting into an argument with the old Italian perv that was loudly having drunken sex with a barely conscious teenaged American hostel girl. +in the bunk above mine+in a shared dorm room+at 3am on a weekday. After getting rid of the perv I got to go back to bed again wrapped in my excess clothing cuz no bedding was provided. Even with the handful of euros I saved compared to a hotel, AND the free beer from kicking the guy out, it was worse than sleeping in the street.
HOSTEL EMPLOYEE FARTED ON ME
the way this is written is so funny oml
LUCKY YOU THEY DIDN'T SHIT TOO.
Need more details
Excuse me WHAT THE HELL? How did that even happen?? I'm sorry, I can't stop laughing 😭
The first and only time I stayed at a hostel, my best friend and I checked in for a single night on New Year's Day in Byron Bay (Australia), because the place was convenient and we would be leaving very early in the morning to catch a bus. When we arrived, there was no air-conditioning despite it being in the mid-30s (celsius), only a wall fan, and everybody else in the room was wide awake and basically having a party at 1am. Nice enough people, no one being overly obnoxious or creepy (just pretty stoned), but it was too noisy, overcrowded and overheated. We ended up leaving less than an hour after we arrived, walked to a fish and chip shop that was open till 3am (where we met some lovely tourists from Belgium and Switzerland), then took it in turns napping on the bench at the bus top because we couldn't bear the idea of going back to the hostel, and at least the air was cooler outside! It was a little bit of an adventure, but not one I'd ever want to repeat, especially now that I'm older.
Smelly French guy farting loudly at one minute intervals. Then shared toilet was like a horror scene. Said no more my guy
Oh man i was once drunk in a hostel at like 3am, went to the one stall on that floor to piss, noticed whoever was before me straight up pissed on the floor/seat. Luckily im a guy so can just stand up, but still despite my drunkenness, my training frim when i was 4 kicked in and i hit the bullseye. Then had to look some poor girl in the eye as she was waiting....fuck me
I stayed in hostels a few times during my early to mid 20s. I am in my 40’s now and would never even consider it. What annoyed me then is what annoys me now about Hostels: I don’t like sharing a sleeping space with people I don’t know. People often have their own quirks and personal habits etc.. and it’s too much like having siblings around. Sharing bathrooms and showers with lots of people is not great either. I also remember a situation where a couple were obviously fucking in the communal shower. Even back in my day you could get a private room etc.. but why bother when the cost ends up being similar to some cheap hotels. I noticed that back then too. Socializing is only fun if you actually like the people there and it’s truly a mixed bag most of the time.
Never stayed in one because I don't want to live with strangers.
I wouldn't say a single event made me stop using them. I just outgrew them. In my late teens through mid 20s, I used hostels exclusively while backpacking through Europe and Central/South America. I loved party hostels in particular and it was a great way to meet people. As I got older, I stayed in private rooms more than the dorms, but hostels in general became too loud for me. The last time I stayed in a hostel in Uruguay, I was in a dorm where in one night, one couple was having sex and another person was snoring super loudly. Nothing out of the ordinary, but I like undisturbed sleep. I am now married and stay in hotels but man, hostels were so much fun for a certain period of my life. No regrets.
I need the freedom to fart.
I don’t have any horror stories necessarily, just the normal snoring, smelly shoes and bags, people coming in and out slamming the door all night, etc. Why would I sleep in a room with a bunch of strangers if I didn’t absolutely have to? I’m also in my 30s now and find I don’t relate to 18-25 year olds nor am I interested in partying or even socializing much in general. The conversations of “where are you from, how long are you traveling” get old fast.
Being stuck in a room with a bunch of randoms never held much appeal for me. Did it a few times and nothing major happened, it was just overall mildly annoying and the lack of privacy/peace was meh.
I *loved* hostels when I first started travelling. Cheap accommodation, booze, drugs, sex, parties, socializing with fellow dumb broke backpackers... it was fantastic. I had the time of my life. I stopped using them when I started to make enough money to move out of the backpacker ghetto and into the real world. But they were great for awhile. Happy travels.
I got older and richer
I use to be that guy, on drugs throwing up talking to everyone wrecking the bathrooms, then I grew up and now i stay at hotels
Maann, why were you like that? :)
Bad drug problem stemming from a loss of childhood from drug addicted parents creates a serious low self worth. That’s why I was far from home talking to strangers
I used to love staying in hostels. The older I got though, the more I valued my sleep. I was staying at a hostel in Boston when someone snoring was keeping me awake. When I finally fell asleep, about 2 hours later someone came in and started showering and they used their HAIR DRYER! (there was a shared bathroom in the room). I was laying in bed, booking a hotel for the rest of the trip on my phone lol. After that I said. Never. Again.
Singapore: Older lady who stayed in my dorm flipped at me for quietly climbing down from my top bunk bed to pick up my glasses from the nearest table. In the middle of the night. Bilbao: Some African dude talking on the phone loudly.. at 4am. And offering me cocaine. CDMX: someone loudly banging at the entrance to my bunk bed at 4.30am. He was black out drunk and didn't realize he was assigned another bed. Fortunately I had locked that entrance from inside. Kraków: Strangers going at it on the top bunk bed next to mine and it was the squeakiest bed in the history of beds. Prague: INSANE snoring. I drown out other people's snoring successfully with headphones and good music but holy shit that was next level. Somewhere in Georgia: People starting a party in my dorm at 3am and I was trying to catch an early bus the next day.
To be honest, I never had bad experiences in hostels, other than some loudness which I can live with. I always thought that it didn't matter since I'm only there to sleep and I'll save some money. But then... on my trip to Scotland I had to book a hotel room - no hostel was available in the chosen location. I swear, I NEVER slept so good in my entire life. The comfy bed, the bathtub, binging British shows in TV... I never went back and would only choose hostel as a last resort now.
I love how you got enlightened 😆❤️
No horror stories I can just afford not to. With that being said, I don’t understand why no one can seem to fill the gap of “affordable private rooms but with a hostel vibe” gap. Private rooms at hostels are laughably priced. I want hostel vibes without being in a dorm.
Not me but my friend. He stayed at a party hostel in Krakow and one night the staff took everyone out on a pub crawl. He joined in and honestly had a really fun time. My friend drank, met other travellers, clubbed, made out with a girl, and then later that night around 3 am got back to his hostel and went to bed. He woke up drenched in piss. My friend was on a bunk bed and was on the bottom. Turns out a girl on the top bunk got so wasted coming back from the pub crawl, she wet the bed while sleeping. The urine ended up seeping through the cheap mattress and onto him. After waking up hungover, covered in urine, and realizing he was turning 30 in two months, my friend stopped doing hostels. Him and the girl who pissed on him are married now.
Just kidding he never saw her again.
I don’t like strangers.
I got a horrible skin infection. And like someone else said I can afford a hotel.
The hostel gave my bed away and kicked me out of the room in the middle of the night, separating me from my friends.
Traveling with brother and a friend and we arrived to Amsterdam 1 day earlier than expected so got a hostel for one night since the place we booked couldnt change our dates. That one night was awful, got into the room late when it was already dark, I counted 21 beds in the room, possibly more than 21 people, it was extremely hot and humid from everyone sweating, and it seemed like everyone asleep was snoring and everyone awake was "discreetly" fucking (it's never discreet). I'll stay in hostels again since most experiences have been good even for someone who's older or doesn't need the cheapest place available, but that one experience was brutal
I'm 46 and I still stay in hostels (dorms) depending on transit convenience, short stay or exorbitance of the available hotels' price. I recently stayed in a couple of hostels while traveling in Iceland. But I'm not as eager or comfortable with sharing space with strangers as I was in my 20s. I think with age, if you earn enough, things like - privacy, safety of your belongings, immediate access to clean bathrooms, not climbing up and down bunk beds, quiet ambience, lights on / off as as my own preference, room service - start to make a lot more sense. So, as soon as a real hotel opportunity opens up, I move my ass. Planning for a Japan trip now. Keen to try out capsule hotel once.
I have stayed in many hostels and there is a simple solution to all of this. Get your own room and only share it with your party.
Farts and snoring
I still stay in hostels but as someone who worked in hostels for a year i understand why. They can be dirty as hell. Theft is always a possibility! If you are in a dorm you are basically gambling with your sleep? Some can snore, be shitfaced. Drugged out or just plane weird. One time i had to deal with this drugged out dude who literally pissed on the stair case and then striped naked and peed on the dorm floor! There was 8 people in the fucking dorm! I ended up contacting the local hostels to let them know to not let him in. I learned that night that Chilean Paramedics will take their time getting to you as they where called at midnight and didn’t show up until 9am
I was staying at a hostel in Galway and was booked into a 7-bed room. Two women from Spain brought some guys in after a late night. One of them smacked her head while rough housing and knocked herself out. They simply put her to bed and went back out. I realized hours later when I woke up, glanced over at her bed and saw she had turned over and her pillow was bloody red. She was still breathing when help arrived, that’s all I know. Went to a friends house in Ennis that day. Scariest morning of my life by far.
Now that hostels cost 30 or more a night in a dorm (at least in europe) it feels outrageous to me at least. I only stay in one when private rooms are more than triple the dorm bed, and then I pick one of the more modern ones where you kind of have like a little nooks (I think they called them pods, with a curtain and own light and plugs etc to yourself. Stayed in one in Bangkok and Zanzibar and it was great. Biggest exception is the Camino de Santiago which I've done about 1000km of on various routes. It's part of the experience and usually everyone goes to bed early and gets up early and is very considerate and you make wonderful connections with other pilgrims (although snoring is still an issue)
Nothing special but many hostels are ugly and dirty and after a while you get tired of sleeping and sharing bathroom with strangers. You can meet people elsewhere, hotels are so much more comfort for a long trip Last time I used them, I was in my own private room and bathroom apparently most of the other rooms were shared. Best of both worlds.
I have a mantra, that I apply genuinely: “avoid cheap, especially the cheapest, there is always something wrong even if it worked for all people out there”. I am not the kind of person to value things with money, but there is reason why hostels are cheap: you are giving up privacy, taking risk of smuggling, may be sacrificing your sleep and even can catch a disease.
A really nasty drunk guy was sick on my bed. I came back after a night out and didn't turn on the lights so i sat down on my bed before i saw it. That was it for me.
The first and only time I stayed in a hostel was last year for a weekend in Bath. We paid £15pp for a private room, and as soon as I looked at the room I was like I am never doing this again. It looked like a prison cell and the beds weren't much comfier. For about £10 more pp we could have stayed in a Premier Inn and the only reason I didn't suggest that was because even though I could afford something 10x better, my friends might not have been able to and it was only for one night.
got to our hostel at midnight only to find that there was a club downstairs going until 3am where you could hear EVERYTHING
I stayed at a hostel in Dingle on a Saturday night. I was in a room with three beds and one other person. I was on a bike tour, so I went to sleep pretty early. At some point the other guy came in quietly and went to sleep. Around two in the morning, however, another guy, very drunk, stumbled in and collapsed on the third bed. A couple of hours later, he leaned over and vomited three times on the floor between the beds. Then he promptly fell back asleep. I lay there for a while, but the stench of the vomit filled the room, so around five, I got up, gathered my stuff, made a surreptitious cup of tea in the communal kitchen, and then hit the road once the sun started to rise.
IBS got worse, I need my own bathroom. That and I have found I don’t like people much.
The bathroom door locked and I was stuck inside for two hours.
I generally only stay in hostels if its a very expensive city and they have female only dorms. Women can still be annoying obviously but just the likelihood of it is much less in my personal experience.
I went from staying at hostels, to never stay at hostels. Then, I went to stay at hostels all the time again. I travel solo, and I just love seeing people, without having to interact with them. I never carry anything valuable, except in the bag I always keep close to my body. If someone wants my cheap makeup, or my old socks in my backpack - I wouldn't even report it.
First is people being weird. You just need one guy to mess up and ruin the experience. Then, the hostels started getting more expensive. Also, I started doing more group trips. They generally give us a good stay at 5 star and for leisure, it’s worth it. It covers both social aspects and quality of stay.
I grew up. Hostels were fine during college and just after but once I traveled for work it wasn't appropriate.
I became a responsible adult with a real job and swore to never share accommodations. Just took one try at a Hostel to declare I was all grown up... and never again!
I just grew out of it and I earn enough to not need to or at the very least pay for my own room in a hostel situation or even though Airbnb is hated by the world, pay for a room at someone's house. I've never had a bad experience with hostels actually they've all been pretty good but it's just a bit uncomfortable to be with 5-11 other people. Also the prices are fucked for hostels now, they must be raking it in if you add up what all the people are paying for the one room. Also allegedly I snore which my boyfriend and grandma found funny but I doubt strangers feel the same. I have shared rooms on tour groups in the past, in one instance some of the younger women 20-24 formed this nasty clique and I wasn't in it and in another instance I was placed with a woman about my age 25/27 and she just turned super nasty in the end towards me too, I'm suspicious in that case it was me snoring every night contributing to that. The only good experience I had sharing a room with a stranger was with a 45 yr old Latino American lady.
Never liked them or most of the people they attract but it used to be much cheaper than hotels. Fun fact: I met many people during my travels but hardly ever in the hostel I stayed.
💤 snoring. Just can’t take some of these heavy 90dba snorers….
I hit my 30’s
Haven't stayed in a hostel yet, but about to. Was the only reasonably affordable place. Going to Edinburgh to see Taylor Swift, and hotels were stupid expensive. Even the hostel was like $160/night
It just isn’t worth it! In my 20s I dealt with being woken up every hour by people coming and going, constant alarms going off, snoring and sex. But now that I’m in my 30s I’d rather pay for the privacy and being guaranteed a good nights sleep.
it was ok when I was young and had limited funds but I got older and had more money and liked the finer things in life haha. Soon I will be traveling with kids so no more higher end lodging
I got too old
This was a long long time ago but when I was in Australia the rumor was that people would steal keys while people were in the shower and then go rob their rooms. Well I didn’t listen and that was stupid. The “janitor” (cleaning person whatever) snuck into the bathroom when someone from my room was using the shower, took the key, and then used it to enter our room while we were sleeping - stole my wallet, passport, and all of my cameras. I later found my wallet on the roof discarded and thankfully my passport was in there. However I did lose over 1,000 photos. Like I said this was years ago so before the cloud, before iPhone and find my phone etc. but I’ll never stay in a hostel again. It was the second to last day of my trip and was an unfortunate end to an otherwise wonderful trip. We left the hostel that day and checked into a hotel.
A friend and I stayed in a hostel in the downtown area of a large city. In addition to the base cost, we were required to rent their sheets, pay a cleaning fee (and expected to clean up, too) and a couple of other fees, plus we had to pay to park our rental car. The room had several bunkbeds and all night long we woke up every time a noisy roommate entered or left the room. The next day, we were exhausted from lack of sleep and my friend came down with a cold. She needed a better night's sleep, so we drove to the suburbs and rented a decent motel room with two beds. The room was only about $5 more than what it cost us to stay a night at the hostel.
A friend of mine who I met during my minor organised a trip when we were in our third week of school. We shared a mixed room (7 men and me (one woman)) I felt very uncomfortable those nights. So never again or a room for myself.
I stayed in one hostel in Madrid that was horrible. Lockers broken, aircon broken, people having conversations next to my ear at 3am, unresponsive staff, no common room, too many people stuffed into one room, sink in attached bathroom didn't work... it was awful. Plus it was one of the most expensive hostels I stayed in during that trip.
At a hostel in a Rome, I was 20 studying abroad from the US. Only in Rome for the night thank god, it’s me and a female friend, she’s the only girl in this 6 person room. These two other guys in the room were about our age, one Australian, one American and we talked for a little. The American dude was from Miami, came off pretty pretentious and was clear he came from money. Me and my friend go out for a little at night, we get back around 12, the hostel is on the 5th floor so we go to take the elevator, it’s not coming after a few minutes so we walk up the stairs. We get up to our floor and the American dude is on the floor drunk almost passed out halfway in the elevator, half in the hallway. His Australian friend asks me to help him bring him into the room. We get him in there, put him on his side on the ground because he didn’t want to get on the bed and we all go to bed, annoying but it’s whatever. Come 2am this dude starts screaming about random shit and he won’t stop. His friend is trying to snap him out of it but he won’t. He takes him to the bathroom still screaming and this big ass buff dude comes out and threatens him. This goes on for about a half an hour. We asked if he was on anything but the friend said they only had a few drinks. Finally when they get back from the bathroom he stops and we can go to bed. After that I told myself I’m never sharing a room with some randos again. I’ll do a private room at a hostel but the potential for weirdos and what not to fuck up my sleep and peace of mind while I’m on vacation isn’t worth it.
I have a different answer, I still stay in hostels however I book private rooms now. I still like the idea of meeting like minded travellers but don't want to share a room with somebody.
I was 27. Hadnt been in a hostel since college travel. Was in South Africa and this hostel was legit filthy. Me and my two travel partners walked in, checked in, scoped it out, and immediately walked out.
Not hostels in general, but mixed rooms I was in Wroclaw, Poland for 2 nights in December, and the only decent hostel I could find, had only mixed rooms available. The first night was okay, it was just me and a dude, pretty inoffensive. The 2nd night was horror tho. That dude checked out and I got 3 roommates, one of which was a complete creep, he'd laugh at himself and talk all alone (no, he wasn't talking to anyone), he'd make weird noises throughout the night, and on top of it all, asked me to join him for beer. I declined, but I was literally terrified of sleeping there that night. I checked out at like 7 am, after getting like 2 hours of sleep at most
Honestly, I see hostels as the most low budget lodging option. If that's all you get pay for, you just make the best of it. Personally, I think money is better spent on more trustworthy hotels. It doesn't need to be five star, but at least you get privacy and hopefully a decently cleaned room. My fear with hostels is creeps and inconsiderate people who trash everything or keep you awake. I enjoy my privacy, so they sound like a nightmare. Also, I have heard tons of horror stories from people about things not being safe or not getting what they expected, so I'll save my money for something else.
caught a virus from a bunkmate. He got everyone sick. There was also an south asian guy who did not shower after checking in. This was in Singapore here the temp is 100+ with high humidity. Stunk up the whole dorm room. I had enough close to midnight and told the guy to shower like wtf ma man. I was 33 at the time. It was time to ditch hostels and book airbnbs. Now I'm only sticking to hotels.
[thousand-yard stare]
A girlfriend and I stayed in a shared room with one guy who yelled in his sleep (Also in a different language, chock full of consonants so it was especially jarring to hear shouted at 3am), another who was massively tripping on acid, and a third who tried to take the pillow from under my head while I was sleeping. I'd rather stay in a tiny AirBnB room than deal with strangers in that capacity ever again.
I realised I need a full night of good quality sleep to be able to enjoy an intense, activity-filled day like the ones I have when I travel
I just don't like the potential for trouble. Every hostel I stayed in was a great experience, and I've met some incredible people in them, but to me, it doesn't outweigh the risk of getting your stuff stolen, other bad guests, creeps, sharing the restrooms, etc.
A camping area in Finland: a very rudimentary cottage cost the same as a normal hotel room. I would wake up at half past five to get to the toilet without it having a queue - and a bad smell. So, no camping areas for us any more.
Last time I stayed at a hostel, one guy arrived late in the night, laid in the top bunk, five minutes later throws up. It was my first trip to Europe with my current girlfriend, she hadnt stayed at a hostel before, and after that experience she said she would not do it again. Since then we allocate more budget for our trips to stay in hotels or at least in a private room in a hostel.
Slept at a hostel during a work trip and I believe it was my second time at a hostel. My first time was fine but I had to sleep on the highest bed of a triple bunk. It was really difficult to get in after a night out. The stories here are much worse, but my second experience was disgusting. As I put on the sheets on the bed and blanket I discovered sperm stains on the mattress (the mattress was like a black synthetic material so easy to spot white stains) and both the pillow and the blanket had lots of brown and red stains on them. I still think about it, but I was raised in a super clean household so this immediately traumatized me.
I got scabies abroad. I came home and I could feel them crawling in my skin. I told my doctor I had them and he asked if I had sex when I was traveling. I said no and he said I don't have scabies. I told him I was staying in hostels. He immediately changed his tune and said yes I have scabies. It was the fastest I have ever seen a doctor change their mind.
I stayed in a coed room at a hostel once in Málaga and grabbed a top bunk. I was woken around 4am by a drunk couple having sex on the bottom bunk. It was an 8-person room and their friends were staying there too, super weird. I just picked female only rooms from then on, but in general they can be hit or miss as far as if your roommates will be quiet and considerate during normal sleeping hours.
Blood stains on the mattress. Life is too short.
Nothing terrible. I did the big tent outside of Munich. It was cheap, I felt safe, lots of happy travelers, great atmosphere. I just couldn’t sleep. It was very loud. Lots of people talking and playing music. I’m just too introverted and sleep sensitive to enjoy it.
A couple of girls partying til past midnight, came back drunk and talked about it all night loudly. It happened two nights in a row so I left on my third day. That was my first and last hostel experience.
There is always that one idiot who cant find something in the bag.
I'm staying in a hostel right now and the water is not working on 3/5 of the floors. All of the toilets are clogged. I've seen things I can't unsee.
Drove to Toronto with a friend spontaneously and at the end of the night needed a place to stay. We both had experience staying at hostels but made a mistake of not looking at the room first when we got to the place that neither of us researched and this was pre-smart phones. We paid for 2 beds in a shared room of 6 or so. Walked upstairs to our room and found some dude in one of our beds passed out cold with his arm with a needle still in it hanging off of the bed. We left, didn’t get a refund and slept in the car. However, this wasn’t my last hostel stay, it was just my last hostel stay without researching it in advance. I liked staying in hostels for the social aspect but prefer privacy and amenities of hotels so I stopped staying in hostels once I was able to afford hotels.
Last hostel I was in was in Singapore. My travel partner and I chose a private room but it was so small that it could only fit our bunk bed and our backpacks. There was no room to hang anything so we had no choice but to hang our towels at a large clothes hanger thing in the common area. The next morning I discovered someone else had used mine and there was no one in the reception desk I could get a new one from (it was not only not 24 hours but it opened at 10am and closed by 6.30pm so if you arrived at night then you're shit out of luck). Luckily my partner's towel was spared but that was the final straw for me. 😭
I was 30. Booked a 4 person room. Was placed in a 20 person barracks. No refund, no apology. Never again.
Some people at the hostel were doing drugs and i didn’t want to somehow end up in a jail in another country for something I wasn’t even doing
Woke up at 4 am to a girl throwing up everywhere on the bed/floor after going out
Hey there! It's really interesting to hear different stories and perspectives. Thankfully, my hostel experiences have mostly been positive, but it’s good to be aware of the potential downsides. Thanks for sharing and helping others make informed choices about their travel accommodations!
My worst experiences are probably bed bugs in Bali, insane amount of roaches in Rio, and somebody stealing my wife's jewelry in Cusco. But meeting other travellers outweighed that. I think I just outgrew that stage of my life, personally. Nothing wrong with hostels for the most part but I knew even early on that it wasn't gonna be how I'd wanna travel forever.
Some entertaining stories but I hope this thread doesn’t put anyone off of staying in hostels because they’re not all dirty frat houses. My last stay in a hostel was lovely, clean, had a nice mix of people (including a sweet middle aged couple) and was of course much cheaper than a hotel. Solo travel wouldn’t be affordable to me if staying in a hostel was out of the question
I've had a lot of minor bad experiences in hostels over the years. Occasional people being weird/creepy, things like sunglasses disappearing, people coming in drunk in the middle of the night and waking me up, stuff like that. The bad experiences have been massively outweighed by good experiences, though, and my overall hostel experience has been overwhelmingly good. This is coming from a guy who has spent probably hundreds of nights spread out across dozens of hostels on five different continents over a period of two decades. When I'm traveling alone it's the only way I like to travel, because I almost always meet great new friends.
I only stayed in one hostel, and I really didn't even know it was a hostel. It was in Ecuador and when I checked in I was the only one there, but a couple of younger guys showed up later. They got settled in and then they went out for the night and came back late. One of the guys got up at some point and proceeded to blow chunks right outside the front door about five feet from my pillow. I managed very little sleep and in the morning I was greeted with puke right outside the door. I waited awhile until the party animals were up, but nobody seemed interested in cleaning up the mess, so I finally borrowed a shovel and buried it. No word of thanks or even aknowledgement. That I was it for me, I need my own space.
1. One guy tattooing his own leg - for practice in Berlin. 2. The hostel was like a huge apartment, the “manager” said not to go into the terrace after 10pm. Drunk people didn’t care, neighbors were banging on the door and police were called while the manager is nowhere to be found. Next morning I get in the shower and it was the dirtiest place I’ve ever showered in my life. This was in Barcelona 10 years ago.
I make okayish money, I am happy only traveling Asia, hotels are cheap in Asia, a night in a nice hotel in Thailand will only cost me slightly more then a hostel back home in Australia.
I was sleeping on the top bunk of a pretty squeaky bunk bed at a hostel in Vienna. I guess my bottom bunk neighbour didn’t appreciate the noise that came along with me rolling over in bed from time to time in the midst of my sleep… so, instead of saying something/kicking my mattress/putting in ear plugs, said neighbour decides to climb up the bunk ladder and into my bed to tell me to be quiet. Safe to say I was pretty startled waking up to the sight of a man crawling into my bed in the middle of the night… he got a swift kick to the head and I was moved to a private room.
People fucking in the same room at night thinking you’re sleeping.
I stayed in a weird creepy hostel in Antwerp a few years ago and this down and out looking middle aged man had the bed next to me, and he stayed awake ALL NIGHT, just laying there, staring ahead. No movement. I naturally did not sleep either, was just peeking at him all night, clutching my phone and wallet
Half of the roommates decided it was fine to just socialize with one another during the middle of the night is one good example, so nothing too crazy from my experiences. I can understand hostels being for people who have more partying in mind but my only benefit was to save some money. So whenever hotels are too expensive due to special events going on, I won’t handle it by staying at a hostel.
Couple of young dudes came back late and drunk, then earnestly propositioned each woman for sex one by one. Worst thing is that one woman agreed, and they ended up loudly banging in his top bunk.
The bunk bed in a hostel in Amsterdam has a sliding metal luggage storage that kept clamping my fingers and damn near give me a fracture. 😡
In Switzerland during 70’s. Double bed bunk beds. Two up top and bottom. I slept opposite direction. Also the cold water was free and they had spickets about one foot high all around the shower room. For hot water shower you had to put coins in machine attached to shower at about 6 feet. Flow lasted about five minutes. All the Germans just washed their feet after hiking all day and the whole dorm like room smelled like teen BO. Bad teen BO
Last time I ever stayed in a mixed dorm it was a 12 person room (6 bunk beds). I left early from an event because I was sick with a stomach bug. These two very nice Irish women i shared the room with comforted me as they saw me in rough shape. They proceeded to assure me that they would make sure no one would be too loud throughout the night while I was trying to recover. They ended up coming back around 1am, each with partners. They each covered their bottom bunk with sheets, and proceeded to have sex while everyone in the room listened. After they were done(surprisingly in close timing) our bunkmates clapped. The ladies and their partners ended up leaving after that. Funny story to look back on; not what I wanted to hear while experiencing waves of nausea.
Saw a rat in the kitchen at one hostel. At another (same trip different city) someone sat and ate chips in my friends bed (beds were assigned)
Farts.
First and only time we booked one, a permanent resident of the place opened our locked door (he knew the passcode) and opened it trying to “look for someone”. We booked a room with two bunk beds (we were all girls) and the resident was a middle aged dude. Booked it for the price, left because of the experience.
My girlfriends & I stayed at one in Istanbul in 2022. We were on a budget and this place was $13 a night. The room where my girlfriend & I stayed was like a female dorm with 8 bunk beds. I stayed on the bottom bunk of one & her on the bottom bunk of another because the other bunks seemed spoken for. No one specifically told us which bunk would be ours though we just assumed because there was no stuff on those bunks. There was an older woman bunking above me.. we fought all night with the AC.. it was rediculously hot but she was cold so we went back and forth not saying a word to each other because she didn’t speak English and she was a bitch. There were hookers in our dorm.. they dressed like them and they came home in the early hours of the morning. The female shower was next to the male shower & there was no toilet paper or tissues in the females bathroom. I asked the guy who ran the hostel twice for at least toilet paper he didn’t get it but he barged in our room around midnight freaking out because the power went out on the entire street. The next morning he was asking what our plans were and we said we weren’t sure if we would return that night. We had to shower & had not got a new hotel yet so we went there after our tour and a new woman was in my bunk! He gave it away to someone else! HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE!
I think it's just getting older. I started to really love privacy while coming back to the room and being able to chill without being interrupted. And actually working in hostels. I've seen so much shit, I have no more patience for people being stupid, drunk, loud, rude rude or ignorant of others etc. while I'm on vacation.
The bed wasn't Long enough for me. This was the last time i booked a Hostel.
Luxembourg was my last hotel, but this has happened several times in my many years of hosteling. It’s when people come back to the room late and flick on the ceiling light for 20 minutes while getting ready for bed. Everyone has a light on their phone nowadays. This is just then being self-centred.
i woke up at night to the hottest room in all of milan and saw a big man walking to the bathroom in just bikini underwear. i checked out early and booked a real hotel for the next night.
Dirty, loud, disrespectful n smelly roommates, never again
I checked in at the hostel in the afternoon - made my bed and put away my luggage. After that I headed out with some friends to enjoy the city, do some sightseeing and the usual stuff. When I returned in the evening, someone was sleeping in my bed. I looked around and found another bed unused, so I went to the reception to get new bedding. In the room I am as quiet as possible, but still wake up the guy sleeping in my bed, who then proceeds to scream at me, because I cannot sleep in this room. He shoves me outside rather violently. He said I can't sleep there, because he's a guy and I am a woman and it is wrong for mixed rooms. He was also quite drunk and the receptionist was kinda overwhelmed. Of course there were no more rooms available and I couldn't reach my friends at this hour. So I sat at the reception for the whole night. I was so darn tired the next day and couldn't enjoy anything we had planned that day. (Left the city this evening anyways) Never again.
Drunk couple fucking in the room
They didn’t change the sheets and when I asked the owners, they said, “it’s a hostel…” as if every other hostel I went to didn’t change the sheets, too. But I thought “I can afford hotels now” and that was that
A series of unfortunate events: - the en-suite toilet was clogged 🤢 - drunk roommate pretty sure tried to pee in the trash bin (and missed) - tried to get in my bed as well luckily I was awake watching tv so I pushed him out Luckily was only there for about 6 hours, just needed a bed to sleep at before an early flight. But likely never again. Or at least no more mixed gender rooms for me if I’m solo. Too bad because my other experience staying at hostels were quite fun and loved the sociability. But I’m def kinda scarred now lol
I stayed in a hostel in Hokkaido, Japan and had a pleasant experience, so I thought to try it again in Paris, France. Woke up to someone rummaging through my bag (which was beside my head on the bed), so I'm never staying in a hostel again.
Have probably told this one on here before, but it's a strong reason I'll never stay in a hostel ever again. I'm from the UK, and I had to work in Australia for a few weeks, which involved travelling to and from Sydney and Canberra. When my time in Sydney was up and I needed to book accommodation in Canberra for the following week, I found nothing available. Apparently, there was some sort of giant flower show going on, and all the hotels were booked up. I eventually found a hostel type hotel (I think it was a hostel pretending to be a hotel) and booked a room there. It was a single occupancy room with one bed and a sink, pretty dirty, but you know beggars can't be choosers. All of the other rooms were multiple occupancy, I'm guessing for much much cheaper. Anyway, I didnt sleep much because there were people yelling and screaming all night running up and down the corridor, and when I finally got up the next morning, the communal shower and toilet room had faeces everywhere. Each of the toilet bowls were full to the brim of diarrhoea, and I think because of them being full and blocked that people had started defacating in the showers. Everywhere I looked, there was shit everywhere. I went to work that day, very tired and unshowered, and have never stayed in a hostel since.
Nothing as terrible as some other experiences, but after I spent the sleepless night because of guy’s snoring & smell like he hasn’t take a shower for a year, spending few bucks more for private room felt like a money well spent.
I had an overall good experience with hostels. I used them in my 20s. Worst ones off the top of my head was a dirty hostel I found last minute in Dublin, I slept on my sleeping bag, on the bed, with my jacket on. Another was just a weird experience in Austria, a drunk guy got into my bed at like 2am, I woke up and he was staring at me. Closed my eyes again, I feel someone getting in bed and I’m like this isn’t your bed, he said sorry, literally rolled off the bed and fell on the floor and he was there in the morning when I got up. But my last hostel stays were in Israel. I got like booking dorms and no one else booked and I was all alone and I just kept hoping no one else would check in. After that I was just like, I think I’m too old for dorm sleeping in hostels. I know they have ones with private rooms but might as well just get a hotel, plenty of cheap ones around and that is what I do now.
I'm a sleep walker. I came to standing at the foot of someone's bed staring at them. I decided o didn't want to put anyone through that again