The Perfect Hostel: 33 Tips for a Backpacker Oasis

Having broken in my hostel chops around the world, I've identified factors that, combined with creativity, would result in the Perfect Hostel. It is a given, naturally, that any hostel today has no curfew, no lockout, a reception, security and lockers. These are still touted as if they are features when in effect, who wants to stay at some dodgy dump that won't let you in after 10pm. Those days are gone, and fortunately, most hostels now conform to international standards, and in many cases, international or regional associations. Below are my essentials, in no particular order, and they would be appreciated by just about anyone traipsing around the world with a backpack and a budget. Hosteliers and hoteliers, take note!  ​

Staff & People
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It's all about the people.    A friendly patron can quickly make you forget about the other 33 points listed below, with advice, patience and all round enthusiasm for hospitality.  Of course, you could have the Perfect Hostel with an asshole at reception.    Assholes are usually broke foreigners who act as if they are doing you a favour when they buzz you in.   Staff are the condiments, but the meat of the matter are the people you share your dorm with if they're loud, discourteous, obnoxious, snorers, smokers and stealers, even the Perfect Hostel will suck. 

Free Internet
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Given the cost of the Internet, and the fact that many hostels offer it as a free service, it irks me when hostels charge for a basic traveling service, nay necessity!   More so, they tend to charge double what the Internet cafe charges on the corner.   It's taking advantage and it's unnecessary.   You will get more traffic, more recommendations and more happy clients if you have two machines available, with a 15-minute max usage if someone is waiting.   A USB port so that people can download their photos wouldn't hurt either. ​

Hooks in the bathroom
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Amazing how many places think that your towel, clothes and toilet bag belong on a wet floor full of someone else's pubic hair.   Put up some hooks!   And while you at it, plugs in the sink for shaving, and a mirror won't hurt either. ​

Bedside Shelf
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Everyone who travels has to put their alarm clock somewhere, as well as some keys, or a book, some water, or even a wallet.   One hostel had a neat little lockable wooden cabinet by each bed for your essentials.   Otherwise, it's dump everything on the floor and let people trip all over it, and if the guy on the top bunk needs water during the night, as he probably will, be prepared to be woken up with him falling all over you.

Lockers (under bed)
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Lockers are so essential that if you have no place where people can secure their daybags (with cameras, iPods, moneybelts etc), stop calling yourself a hostel immediately.   Lockers come in all shapes and sizes, but they should be roomy enough for a daypack, and close to the bunks.  The best I've seen were on wheels under the bunks, and could fit entire backpacks so that the room was free of clutter and even your clothes were safely locked away. 

Good Website
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Most, if not all travelers are using the Internet to find and research hostels.   Hostels.com, hostelworld.com and others have valuable rating systems and booking facilities, and keep hostels on their toes.  I usually find something interesting and then Google their website to find out more.   A good site almost always means a good hostel.   If it's ugly, slow and scary, it says something about the hostel.   There have been exceptions, but even if your site is simple, make sure the information is current and includes everything a prospective patron needs to know, ie: location, cost, directions, facilities, services. ​

​Directions
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This one is surprisingly simple and rarely down well.   You've just come off a long flight/night bus/delayed train.  You're in a strange, new country, with a strange new currency and language.   The directions to the hostel on the website say "Go to the east side of the station, catch the 41 bus south, walk up Flecheschmefer Road and you'll find us".  Make the directions as easy and simple to follow as possible.   Use signs and landmarks.   What is the colour of the building?   Which direction do I take bus 41?   And who the hell is traveling with a compass to know where south or east is?    Sometimes it is fun to find places, but not when you're tired, confused, and walking around town with all your valuables.

Pillows
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The key to a good night's sleep.  When they wear down, get new ones.   They are not too expensive, and in the price of board is it not too much to expect a pillow that's thicker than a folded towel?  ​

Linen
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Clean linen, including sheets for the blankets or duvet.  If we have sleeping bags, which a lot of us don't, it's great to use them as little as possible.   Also, linen helps with bed bugs!

Mattress
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Every once in a while, mattresses should be checked for bed bugs, dips and humps, smell and wear and tear.   You know, just in case someone wanted to actually sleep.   I've seen bed bud scars, and backs with bunkboard splinters through the mattress.    Use foam if you're cheap.

Shower Pressure
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"How was Vienna?" 
"Oh, the shower was amazing!" 
That's how much an impact showers have on dirty budget travelers.    A good shower means getting clean and feeling good.   If I want to stand under a broken cold water tap, I will stand under a cold water tap.   Just don't call it a shower. ​

Mirrors
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In the bathroom, in the dorms.   We go out, we want to see what we look like.

​Reading Lamp
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​Cheap IKEA lamps so that the person in bunk 12 can read if the person in bunk 7 is sleeping.   One hostel had lamps built into the headboards.    If you get back late and everyone's sleeping, you also need to see where your stuff is, how to open your locker, find that bottle of water.  Lamps at least allow everyone in a dorm to operate independently; this "I must sleep we all must sleep" nonsense is unnecessary.

Plugs
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We're traveling with digital cameras, iPods, cellphones, laptops, video cameras.   And there is, maybe, one plug in the room.   Each room should have a charging station, or better yet, each bed should have its own plug to charge while you sleep (the other plug can be used for a reading lamp or pluglight).  It is not an option having a charged battery or being afraid to leave it downstairs next to the toaster where you just know someone is going to steal. ​

Clean
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This is a given.   Just because we're budget travelers doesn't mean we want to sleep, eat and clean ourselves in your shitty house, where the garbage is overflowing, ashtrays are in the sinks and the toilets have last year's skid marks.

Pool, Foozball, Games
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​A hostel is largely a social hub.   The main difference between hostel and hotel is the "s", which stands for "social."  Social games make people meet and talk and that's where the fun is.  In a hotel, the only people you meet are other losers like yourselves in the bar.    Here, you can play ping pong with a professor or find yourself playing Uno with two gay couples and a pair of monks.   And if you do have a pool or ping pong table, try keep it in shape.  We don't mind putting a deposit down to ensure that nobody wrecks the equipment.

Bar
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Non-essential, but fun in a hostel.  Again, it's a social place to meet interesting people and make new friends from around the world.   Do it over liquor.  It doesn't have to be cheap, but it should be cheaper than bars in the town.   You can make a lot of money at the same time too.

2-Ply Toilet Paper
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Such a small difference, but oh so preferable to wiping with recycled half-ply tissue paper.   We don't have our own bathrooms, but at least give us the luxury of pretending we do.   Also, have back-up rolls always available in the loos, and keep a tab on how low they get.   A toilet without paper is a sad toilet.

Towels
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Nobody likes going anywhere with a wet towel in their backpack.   And the hostel, hopefully, are doing linen laundry anyway.   Even a tea towel is better than using my beach towel

Book Exchange
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Crucial to anyone who travels is having something to read.   A few long flights, bus or train journeys can see you knock back a book every couple of days.   Book exchanges are not uncommon, they just don't have much thought.   Typically it is two books for one, or one for one plus a couple dollars.  Some guys in Bolivia had the right idea.   As readers, they could make judgment calls on the quality of books.  The first shelf were airline reads.  The second better.  The third best.   One for one to me is fair, providing the books are of equal quality, according to the hostel.   People reading good books can swap for good books, or maybe two craps for one goodie.   Be creative, build a library, save our boredom!

Nightclub shuttle / promotions
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Why this doesn't happen more is beyond me.  You have a hostel with dozens of interesting, dare I say attractive travelers looking to rip it.   Any bar or club in the city would give you special deals, VIP access, maybe 2-1 drinks, for bringing in a bunch of foreigners.  It adds spice to the club, plus we travel with dollars and euros!   Who wants to go out in a city to line-up for four hours and be treated like shit.   Cut some deals with your favourite clubs and bars, and make a win-win for everyone.   Shuttles also encourage just about everyone to go out. Make it easy and people will party!

Location
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A hostel with everything mentioned here is great, but not if it's located amongst the crack houses of downtown's worst area, or a bus, tram and taxi away.  The best hostels are within (safe) walking distance of the city's attractions , be it central squares, shopping, strips, bars and restaurants, the beach.   Packers are prepared to walk, but it's got to be reasonable.   As in all real estate:  Location, location, location! ​

Kitchen accessories
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Many hostels offer a kitchen, which is great because you can cook up with a few people and save considerable bucks.   Some of them, however, don't offer anything to cook with, or have one rusty small pot, a banged up pan and a spoon to scrape away any non-stick that might be left.    The best have everything you need (especially pasta strainers, pots, pans, washing up liquid and sponges, sharp knives, cutting boards) and the very best have basic ingredients that don't cost much in bulk, but no traveler wants to buy a big tube of salt and pepper for one meal. ​

Free Storage
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I always feel ripped off having to pay additional fees to leave my backpack at a hostel, especially those in major cities where day or two-day trips are common.   Usually we come back to stay another night, and in any case, it costs nothing to throw a few backpacks in a locked room.

Hammocks
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The best way to spend a slow afternoon with a good book.   At the very least, some deck chairs or garden furniture or someplace when we can lounge in the sun and chill out. ​

​Private Rooms & Dorms
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Nice to have both options available at a budget price, but not essential. Sometimes, privacy becomes an issue, especially with intense short-term intimate friendships  (aka one night stands) being quite common in this environment and lifestyle.   I came up with an idea that each hostel should have a "Love Room", a closet that can be rented out by the hour for late night trysts.   Take out the junk, put in a foam mattress with a red light bulb and start counting the extra dollars!

Laundry (Free?)
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Laundry is offered free in many Eastern European hostels, while in others it costs a fortune.   If sheets and towels are washed in-house, backpackers would salivate at the opportunity to wash their smelly clothes.   Obviously, free and folded laundry is a service in my Perfect Hostel.  

Good breakfast
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Perhaps the greatest scam in the entire hospitality industry is the so-called free breakfast.    Usually this means a bun, some butter, and some jam, which somehow justifies hotels and hostels tacking on a few dollars for this service.   Unless the breakfast has eggs or fruit, I decline this breakfast and see if I can get a few bucks knocked off the price, which I can then use to buy a real breakfast should I actually be awake to need one (which is hardly ever).    Packers go out late and sleep late, so the free breakfast that ends at 9am gets very few takers and is part of the scam.    Good breakfasts should end at least at 11am, which shows a good understanding of the needs of backpacking clientele.  ​

Library of Guidebooks
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A nice little extra to have up-to-date guidebooks available for Packers to read and refer to in the common room.  They could be signed out to avoid theft.

Fans and Heat
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A dark room with 12 people and bad ventilation does not make a peaceful nights sleep.   Ceiling or standing fans are essential in summer, as are heaters in winter.   This is especially needed in places with harsh climates. ​

Tips and Noticeboard
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Get your staff to compile their favorite hangouts, bars, pastimes etc on a slow day.   Create your own guide, because chances are it will be far better than the Lonely Planet.   Your hostel will probably determine whether someone enjoys your city or not, so give us some help.   Tips can include:  places to eat, bad restaurants and scams to look out for, good nights at various clubs, current movies and exhibitions, transport and easy directions, must-sees, weather, even current events (a printout of the daily headlines will interest just about everyone).   Give  us a space to give our own advice to others, such as good places to stay in other countries or regions, things for sale, lifts etc etc.

Construction Sites & Traffic Noise
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OK, I know this is often beyond anyone's control, but I went 2 weeks staying five hostels and everyone of them was in earth-shattering distance to a jack hammer.
Which always, as a rule, crank up at 6am.    Perhaps this is an unwritten rule for all hostels.  Lots of hostels also find themselves on busy streets where traffic is outrageous.   If so, have cheap foam ear-plugs for sale.   The same if you're above an industrial techno club.    The best hostel is on a quiet street where the only noise I hear are the birds, chirping like angels in the trees.

Drop the Youth
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Hostels are no longer only for youth.   They are for budget travelers, of whatever age, and those that enjoy a social aspect to their travels.  The sooner we dispel the "youth" aspect, the sooner hostels will get busier with a whole range of fascinating people looking to meet each other, and drink lots of beer.

Music and DVD's
A hi-fi playing some tunes, even better if travelers can jack in their iPods and play DJ. Without music, where is the vibe? I know some guys think a TV kills a social atmosphere, but a DVD Player and TV is also a great way to relax, spend a night in and save money. Ideally in a seperate room so those who want to party can do so, and those who want to watch a few movies can do so too. Have a couple of classic DVD's (they can be signed out), which doesn't cost much in any blackmarket.