How To Choose a Hostel

Hostels are the budget traveler’s best friend. While hostels will never reach the comfort or luxury level of a hotel, they can often come very close. Budget accommodations do not have to be terribly unpleasant, you just have to know what to look for when booking hostels. Stick to known sites such as hostelbookers.com, hostels.com, hostelworld.com, etc and keep a few things in mind:

• Read the reviews. Legitimate hostel booking sites will have user reviews. These review can really save you from some unpleasant experiences. Guests can rate hostels and leave brutally honest comments, so make sure you don’t end up booking a place that every reviewer has hated.
• Make sure linens are included. Some hostels will charge you extra for towels and even sheets. Nothing is more unpleasant than arriving at your bed, weary from travel, and discovering you have no sheets.
• Search out free breakfasts. Good hostels offer some sort of breakfast every morning. It is usually pretty limited, something like bread and weak coffee, but when you are working with limited funds, free bread in the morning can help you cut costs.
• Check for free internet. Internet cafes may not seem expensive at first, but when you check your email a few times a day, those costs can really add up. Try to find a hostel that offers free wi-fi or, at the very least, computers with internet access. The internet will probably be almost unbearably slow and the computers will look like they should come with Frogger and Oregon Trail, but it is better than nothing.
• Look at a map. You don’t want to book a hostel that is a 40 minute bus ride outside of the city. You will be depending on buses, trains, and walking to get where you need to be, so try to get a hostel that is near the area you plan to spend the most time in.
• Read up on security. We would all like to believe fellow budget travelers would not bother us or our things, but that is not always the case. See if the hostel offers a locker for each guest to store valuables such as passports for when you leave the room. This is especially important if you book a shared room. Also, make sure the hostel has security to ensure only registered guests will be allowed within the building.

?-Rease Kirchner–Travelated Staff Writer