9 Ways Hostels Can Up Their Game
This is coming from someone who has lived in and out of hostels for the last seven years.
Hostel are some of the most affordable accomodation options on the market but that doesn’t mean they have to be budget in quality. From the diary of a seasoned traveler, I’m offering up some advice to the hostel owners of the world.
Hooks
A small and simple addition to any room, shower or dorm. They allow travellers to hang bags, towels or clothes up to keep things off the floor and out of the way. Particularly in the bathroom hooks keep everything up off the wet and often gross floor.
Bigger towels
Some of the hostels we’ve stayed in across the last few months have given us bath towels the size of hand towels. While these towels might be useful to an elf or maybe an ant, it doesn’t do a great job of drying a big bloke like me.
I don’t really think I need to explain the benefits of having bigger towels so I’ll leave the topic as is…
Power supply
We need electricity to live! Hostels can make life a whole lot simpler by making sure power outlets are in easy to access places and not half way up the wall next to an air conditioning unit or something ridiculous like that.
Also on this note – make sure a room has more than one power outlet as well. Everyone has a phone, a watch, a tablet and a laptop to charge so more than one outlet is nearly a necessity.
Air, please!
One of the biggest issues with some hostels is that there isn’t enough air flow, heating or cooling.
Some dorms can be are stuffy and dry as a desert while others are putrid and humid as a rainforest so any type of climate control is always a good move.
Small desk fans, reverse cycle air conditioning and even windows (as long as they can be opened) help mitigate a stifling climate.
A welcoming common area
First impressions are everything, and that is particularly pertinent to hostels.
One of the best reasons to choose to stay in a hostel is the communal living experience. In the common areas you get to meet people from all walks of life who’ve decided to travel in similar ways to you. Unfortunately some hostels have terrible and unwelcoming common areas.
A hostel should be a hive of activity and excitement and one of the best ways to endorse that is through vibrant common areas. It’ll makes people want to stay longer and spend more time in a place.
A decent kitchen set up
A benefit of staying in a hostel is the kitchen space but sometimes this space is lacking, dank dirty or overcrowded.
In some cases we’ve had to use an icing spatula to spread jam onto toast, used bowls as cups and had to get territorial over a severe lack of cutlery.
A well stocked and clean kitchen can really add so much to a hostel.
Wifi that actually works
Time and time again we go to publish this blog only to find out that the WiFi in a hostel isn’t working or strong enough to upload a simple blog post.
I’m not asking for 5G super fast Internet but I’m asking for consistent WiFi that doesn’t die when trying to send a smile WhatsApp message.
A laundry
I’m guessing that your mum hasn’t come on your trip with you so I’m guessing that she isn’t going to be the one doing your laundry.
From my experience hostels will either have excellent washing and drying facilities or they’ll have nothing at all.
We all need to wash our clothes at least once a week so if hostels would provide some semi-decent laundry facilities we’d all be grateful.
A smile
This one sadly isn’t always a given.
If I had a dollar for the amount of times that we’ve checked into a hostel and we’ve been greeted by a manager with a cranky scowl I’d have enough money to spend on a better hostel.
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