Hostels are no longer just a dirty, frugal alternative for fancy hotel rooms. Today, hostels are often the best choice of budget accommodation for solo travellers and shoestring travellers alike. Here are my top 15 tips on finding cheap hostel rooms online.

I have been travelling solo for about three years and I have checked in to my fair share of budget hostels. I would always recommend a hostel over a hotel for anyone travelling on a budget, especially if you can find a cheap hostel room somewhere.

However, many people are still in the dark about how to actually find advantageous prices for staying in a hostel. Low cost accommodation is one of the main pillars of budget travel, though. And that’s exactly why I’ve compiled this list of tips to help you find cheap hostels online. Here we go!

1. Use online tools to find cheap hostel rooms

Nowadays, comparing online accommodation and booking tools to each other always pays off. There is no single platform that always has the best prices, so you need to compare a few.

There are dedicated hostel websites, like Hostelworld and HostelBookers.

These two used to be competitors, until HostelBookers became a part of the Hostelworld group. They’re now essentially the same platform in another digital jacket and they have basically the same hostels on offer. That’s why you really only need to check one of both.

Other than that, the king of travel booking also has a great selection of hostels. Booking.com allows you to filter on type of accommodation, so it’s easy to find budget hotels and hostels through this platform as well. Another advantage of Booking is that they also show other types of cheap accommodation.

2. Sort by price

Tools like Hostelworld and Booking allow you to sort the results by price, which can be very useful to find the cheapest options.

Let’s say you’re looking for cheap places to stay in Dublin, Ireland for a couple of days in September.

If you click on ‘Filter’ and then adjust the price slider, you’ll only get results between your two sliders. For example, if you set the slider to the right to 25, the only results you’ll get will be hostels where you can get a bed for under €25 per night.

3. Use filters

Similarly, you can also use other filters. Let’s take the same example of a few days in Dublin.

After selecting ‘Hostels’ under ‘Property type’, you’ll find that there are filters for budget, distance from the city centre, payment methods, facilities and review scores, among others.

In other words: nothing is stopping you from finding cheap hostel rooms or even discounted hotel rooms on Booking and Hostelworld.

I recommend looking at hostels with 24-hour reception, free Wi-Fi and free breakfast. But that’s just me.

4. Check out different dorm room sizes

One of the biggest advantages of hostels over hotels is that you can save money by staying in a dorm room with strangers.

The general rule of thumb is as follows: the bigger the dorm, the cheaper the bed. So, if you’re looking for a cheap hostel room and you don’t have a problem sharing a room with 20 people you’ve never met before, go for it.

If you tend to keep to yourself and want a bit more privacy, most hostels also have 4-bed or 6-bed dorm rooms. This will cost a bit more, but it’ll still be cheaper than a hotel room or a private room in the hostel.

5. Be aware of the different kinds of hostels

Yes, there are different kinds of hostels. Shocker.

Some types of hostels that are often used:

• Cheap hostel / Budget hostel
• Boutique hostel / Design hostel
• Backpacker hostel
• Party hostel
• Traditional youth hostel

The category of hostel you pick will have an influence on the price you pay. For example, backpacker hostels tend to be cheaper than boutique hostels.

I personally like staying in boutique hostels if I have some money left over to splurge. If not, I’ll opt for a backpacker hostel.

Read more about the different types of hostels in this post.

6. Cancellations

Usually, when you book your hostel room online, there will be two options for payment: refundable and non-refundable.

You should read the terms carefully to find out what happens when you cancel your booking. Will you get a full refund? A 50% refund? Or no refund at all?

Make your final decision with this knowledge in the back of your mind.

7. Sign up to email newsletters for cheap hostel rooms

One of the best ways to find budget accommodation is signing up to email newsletters.

After all, an email is much harder to ignore than a simple post on social media.

Here are a few accommodation newsletters you might want to consider subscribing to:

• Booking.com (scroll down the page until you can enter your email)
• Hostelworld (scroll down until you see ‘Newsletter Sign Up’)
• Plushostels (scroll down until you see ‘Subscribe our newsletter’)
• Generator Hostels (scroll down to the footer)
• Hostelgeeks (scroll down to the footer)

8. Keep an eye on last-minute hostel deals

Similarly as with any type of accommodation or flights, you can save quite some money if you go for last-minute deals.

One way to find last-minute hostel deals is to sign up to email newsletters, as mentioned above.

Another way is to regularly check websites that often feature last-minute deals of any kind and filtering through the results.

Some websites that often have interesting last-minute deals on cheap hostel rooms:

• YHA
• Last Minute
• Expedia (mostly hotels)

Also consider checking individual hostel chain websites and check their prices. Even though they might not be advertised as ‘last-minute’, hostels tend to reduce prices if their rooms aren’t filled. Compare these prices with the hostel prices on dates that are a few months away. If it’s cheaper now, you’ve got a good deal on your hands.

9. Use app discounts to find cheap hostel rooms

Some individual hostels or hostel chains have an app – who doesn’t nowadays? – and offer nifty promotions and discounts in the app.

• Generator (Europe) has GenFriends – just show the bartender that you’ve downloaded the app and you’ll get a discount in the bar
• A&O Hostels (Europe) has a&o Hostels for bookings and reservations
• St. Christopher’s Inn (Europe) has St Christopher’s Inns Hostels for real-time chat, reservations, online check-in and saving points

If the hostel you’re staying at isn’t part of a hostel chain, check to see if they have an app anyway. You might be surprised.

10. Get free accommodation in exchange for work

Many hostels nowadays will allow you to stay in a room for free in exchange for a few hours of work a day. This will allow you to travel longer and cheaper, while also getting to know many people from all over the world. It’s a win-win!

If you’ve already booked your hostel room, ask the clerk at reception if you can work in exchange for free accommodation. If you haven’t booked yet, send the hostel an email to ask if that might be an option.

In most cases, the work will be simple: administration, reception or helping out in the kitchen.

11. Book in advance to get cheap hostel rooms

Much like finding cheap flights, one of the best ways to get budget accommodation is to book in advance.

If you’re not going on a last-minute trip, you should book your hostel as soon as you’ve booked your flights. This is one of the best and easiest ways to find cheap hostel rooms.

Besides: if you book in advance, you’ll still have more options to choose from.

12. Let the hostel book for you

This tip only applies if you’re going on a trip to two or more places outside of the high season.

Once you’ve got a hostel room booked for your first destination, ask the clerk at reception if they can recommend or book a hostel room in your next destination.

Many hostels are part of an international hostel network and can offer small discounts (usually 5-10%) if you book through them. And if not, you might get a free drink out of it.

It’s worth a try, right?

13. Pay attention to extras

If you use online tools like Hostelworld, it might seem tempting to just book the cheapest hostel room available.

However, you could end up regretting that decision.

Much like budget airlines (like Ryanair and Vueling) make most of their money out of paid extras, budget hostels make money by letting their visitors pay for all kinds of additional services.

Linen, sheets, towels, lockers, Wi-Fi, … Anything that is more than just ‘allowing you to sleep there’ could have extra fees.

The key takeaway: read the fine print before booking a hostel room to avoid surprises upon arrival. Additionally, be sure to check out the general consensus in the hostel reviews.

14. Consider other types of budget accommodation

I know this is an article about finding cheap hostel rooms, but hostels aren’t always the best option. You can find cheap rooms elsewhere, if you know where to look.

Some of my favourite options for cheap accommodation:

• Airbnb (get €41 off your first booking through this link!)
• Couchsurfing
• Volunteering (WorkAway, WWOOF, AuPairWorld)
• Overnight transport
• House sitting
• Discount hotels

Read more: Cheap accommodation for solo travel

15. Be aware of check-in and check-out times

Once you’ve found a cheap hostel room, you don’t want to ruin that by being forced to pay extra for early check-in or late check-out.

Again, the best way to avoid this is to know beforehand when you can check in and when you have to leave the hostel. Respect those rules and you should be fine.

In most hostels, you can use the lockers to store your bags and hang out in the common room until your bus, train or whatever arrives. Although you might have to pay a few dollars to use the storage, it’s probably still less than the late check-out fee.

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There. Now you know how to find cheap hostel rooms and you’ll never overpay for accommodation again. You’ve just made the first step to becoming a budget traveller. Congratulations!

Want to know more about cheap solo travel? Read these posts:

• How to find cheap accommodation as a solo traveller
• Planning a solo trip: Solo travel 101
• How to find cheap transport as a solo traveller (including flights!)
• How to find cheap food and drinks as a solo traveller
• The insider’s guide to solo travel on a budget (free ebook!)

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Do you have any tips to find cheap hostel rooms? Let me know in a comment.

Thanks for reading!

-S

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Photo credits:

• Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash
• Photo by Takafumi Yamashita on Unsplash

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