Lately, I’ve encountered a number of backpackers who believe that a ten bed dorm means they’re the only one sleeping there. Or that their mom will clean up their mess in the hostel’s kitchen. Sometimes I think that before everyone goes away, there should be class on how to properly behave in a hostel. That way you are remembered for being the totally awesome person you are instead of the jerk that woke everybody up at 3am. So before you go hosteling around the world, here are some good hostel etiquette tips to inspire love not hatred from your fellow travelers:
Be Quiet – No one expects you to tip toe around the room during the day, even if someone is taking a nap. There’s an unwritten understanding that during the day, the dorm room is fair game. However, after about 10 or 11pm, keep the noise down. People are trying to sleep. In a large dorm, it’s hard to have perfect silence. People get that. That’s why we all carry ear plugs. If you are in a smaller dorm, your noise is going to be heard much easier and ear plugs don’t always work. It’s not cool being woken up at 2am by drunks or chatty people. If you are going to talk, do it outside. Don’t make us remember you as that jerk who kept us up.
Keep the Lights Off – Expanding on this theme, if it’s past 11 or before sunrise, keep the lights off. No one wants to be woken up the light. Use a flashlight or the glow from your iPod. There are people in the room who might not be able to sleep with the lights on. Please don’t disturb.
Don’t Be Dirty! – Your mother is not here and no one wants some crazy food born illness. I bet you don’t either. Wash your dishes when you are done with them and, by wash, I mean with soap not just running your dishes under mildly warm water. And remember, if there is a still a film on the pan when you are done, it’s not clean.
Pack Up Early – It’s hard to sleep late in hostels. Everyone is packing up and moving out. New people are coming in. The guy above you is snoring like a freight train. Anything that can help us sleep later is always appreciated. So we love it when people pack their bags the night before as to minimize noise in the morning. Bags rustling and zipping can get annoying. I know you can’t fully get rid of it but doing something to trying to keep it down is goodwill that is greatly appreciated by others.
Avoid plastic – Even worse than listening to people pack their bag is listening to people rustle with the plastic bags they carry around. They make a lot of noise. Simply put- just like packing your bag, pack your plastic bags the night before. Because there’s simply no way to muffle that sound.
Keep it private – Don’t have sex in the dorms rooms. I mean seriously. No one wants to hear you faking it. There’s a right way to having sex in a hostel and a wrong way. In the dorm room is the wrong way.
Turn Off the Dance Party – As awesome as rocking out to Lady Gaga’s Poker Face is, some people can’t fall asleep to music. While it is great that you can and it certainly helps block out other noises, keeping it too loud disturbs others. I don’t want to fall asleep to the soundtrack to your life. Plus, why work on going deaf while you sleep? That’s more of a daytime activity. Keep the iPod in but turn the volume down just a bit.
None of this is difficult. You don’t have to stop being you but remember what your kindergarten teacher said- play nice with others. However, it’s amazing how many people forget that rule. Remember you aren’t the only one in the hostel. You are surrounded by people who have different needs. Be conscious of that. All I remember about the people who woke me up was that they were rude. Don’t be that guy (or girl). Let people walk away with good memories of you.
I wish my blackberry had a “print” function so I could leave this on the brazilian woman’s bed who spent 2 hours this morning testing her numerous zippers while everyone tried to sleep. Also, this is more of a girls-only problem but using copious amounts of hairspray in a tiny dorm is grounds for execution.
The bag rustling drives me nuts! And always at two in the morning!
It got done to me this morning too!
I agree with Sarah… this should be printed off and not only given to ‘zipper testers’, but hung in every hostel.
And I would like to see you rock out to lady gaga haha… seeing as how awesome it is.
We all know that whatever you need to find at a specific moment is at the bottom of the bag. The people who forget this always have a million plastic bags above that one thing they need.
I would rather listen to someone snore than the stupid plastic bag rustling.
Agreed!
http://mobilelawyer.blogspot.com/2010/02/hosteldorm-etiquette.html
Coincidence or plagiarism? Hodson’s post was first by five hours. Just enough time to cut, paste, and rewrite.
To your credit albiceleste_10, at least you posted a link so other readers could check it out, instead of making some vague unsubstantiated charge (see below). But, after reading the other post, yeah it does look like coincidence. They both have points on being quiet, keeping the lights off, and not having sex, which all sound like things that would make anyone’s top ten lists about staying in hostels. Many/most of the entries make completely different points and the two posts don’t seem to share any extended common language which would be a dead give away.
That’s how I see it anyways.
Are you accusing me of plagiarism?!!! Seriously? One, this post was written Sunday. I schedule posts in advance so I can have time to proof them and change them. Two, I’ve never read Mobile Lawyer’s blog. Three, most of these tips are common sense things that I’m sure would be on most lists. To say I plagiarized this would say that everyone who has a top ten list of islands that are similar must be copying each other.
Why would I plagiarize someone’s article? Don’t insult me with such a charge. I put in far too much time and energy into this website to do something so foolish and obvious. Why would I ruin 2 years of work? If you believe I’m plagiarizing articles, then go read somewhere else. I don’t want people have such a little opinion of me reading my site.
To the contrary albiceleste_10 – mobile lawyer admits that HE got the idea from Matt’s tweet – and stands by Matt’s rep. Plus why the heck would anyone plagiarize a list that’s as common-sensical as this?! Matt’s been putting out good, original content for 2 years, no need to stoop to that level at this stage in the game.
These are all great suggestions Matt. The other thing that can be tough is when someone who is planning on being out late has a top bunk. When they come back, they make all sorts of noise trying to get up the ladder to bed. I think if you’re planning on making it a late, drunk night, try to get a lower bunk.
This is a great list – plus, you could also follow these same rules for any sort of communal living (dorms, camp, etc) as well as being an extended guest at someone’s home. It takes so little to show some manners.
Thanks for reminding us of that!
Already read this off from somewhere. And almost exact content.
See comment from above.
Ha! Great list, a must read for all budget travelers. Some people need to learn that a dorm is for sleeping, not hanging out. Go out and find a bar or club if you want a place to party.
It’s pretty sad when people need to have common courtesy spelled out for them, but isn’t that the way it always is? Thanks for giving me a glimpse of hostel life, Matt. Since I doubt the people who most need to internalize these rules of etiquette ever will, I don’t think I’ll be staying in a hostel dorm any time soon. Private room, maybe. Dorm, no.
And don’t be the nudest guy/girl in the dorm. I can’t even begin to count the number of nudists I’ve encountered. Partial nudity while dressing is normal. Strutting around with your junk dangling in the wind? Just no.
That’s never happened to me. Thank god!
i have encountered this problem and found it so wrong. if it were accidental then whatever but to have three guys standing around the room naked and talking about which girls they want to bang and get drunk is something i dont want to see or hear. still never understood that at all. WTF???
I smiled and nodded in agreement while reading your post. Excellent advice on hostel etiquette. Basically, if hostel travelers would try to be more kind and respectful, it would go a long way.
another thing to add to the list: Don’t bring smelly food to the room!! I remember being in a hostel in Kyoto and this woman would bring food to the room every single night…. you wouldn’t believe how awfully smelly it was
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A great list Matt. Unfair to suggest that this post was plagiarised. It’s expected on travel related websites that there will be some cross over in regards to similar content, especially when the posts are related to etiquette, a how to guide, or a favourites list. However after reading both sites the posts are so different that there’s no way someone could reasonably suggest that the content was in any way copied.
And really, why would you bother publishing plagiarized content on your own site? I’d like to think that in the travel writing community most authors have a bit more pride for their own work and respect for their peers.
Exactly. Plus on Jan 29th, I tweeted “Backpacker whose afraid of the dark has left my dorm. As has her chatty friend. I think there should be a class on backpacker dorm etiquette” I got my idea days ago. Why would I plagiarize someone? I gain nothing by it. Ridiculous claim.
It is surprising how many people are ignorant of these unwritten rules (in fact some hostels do write a few down).
The worst I came across was 2 guys who came in loud (drunk) at 11pm and 15 mins later one of them vomitted down the wall (he was in the top bunk).
The guests in hostels can make it a make or break experience.
Eeeewww…. I hope you weren’t the ‘lucky lad’ sleeping in the bunk underneith… ?
Nice article, you’re right, there are always going to be similar articles because backpacking is huge now, I wrote an article on the same topic a few months ago as well as a few on sex in a hostel. It’s to be expected though, these are the experiences backpackers have on a daily basis so it is only fitting to write about them.
You couldn’t be more spot on with the basics – if everyone followed these it would often make hosteling more enjoyable for the majority.
It’s all common sense I don’t get how people can be so ignorant to the everyone around them. Perhaps we all just grew up with the right morals or they checked theirs at the airport and left them there.
Even though Im a bit of a neat freak at home, I always make my bunk LOOK as gross as possible. I always leave the bed unmade with wadded socks and a towel strewn all over it and….as a final touch, a pair of underwear draped over the pillow. Experience has taught me that these precautions insure that when I come back to my room in the evening no one will have “claimed” my bunk.
oh yes! that is another point. i used to make my bed until i realized that invited everyone of my hostel roommates and their friends to have a full on chat on my bed. After awhile i started to place my towel over my somewhat made bed and didn’t have that problem so much anymore.
I don’t know why but it took me years to figure that one out ha ha!
Some people just go bonkers when they don’t feel responsible for themselves. The worst is people coming in late at night and just dumping their backpacks down in the loudest way possible.
good point Matt, but this is not about how to behave in a hostel, it´s about how we should behave in LIFE, in a hostel, in a friend´s house, a host family´s house, your own house… it´s about having manners, respect for others and being polite.
You could always stay in a private room….
Not everyone can afford a private room everyone.
It’s been a few years, but I spent three straight months in European hostels and found almost everyone to be courteous.
In Istanbul last summer i literally wanted to scream bloody murderous profanities at a kid who wrapped every item in his backpack in a plastic bag before pushing the air out of it and patting it a few more times for extra measure before stuffing it loudly into his backpack. Needless to say, he was wearing those plastic clog things that are so hideous and uncomfortable and make the whole hostel smell like feet. Let’s hope he is reading this blog post of yours and taking notes, cuz next time around I’ll do more than sigh loudly.
You should have yelled! I have no problem yelling!
Hostels are not for everyone. Hostels are definitely not for me. Backpacking and couchsurfing are not my thing as well.
Oh my. This posting and thread on cement my conviction that if I don’t have enough dough to pay for my own room… I think I’d rather not go. I stayed in a dorm once and it was absolutely horrible… and I got robbed by a fellow traveler.
I stayed in a dorm hostel last August in Mexico because all the rooms were taken, but I was the only person in the dorm so it was cool. I had no idea people treat each other like this in the dorms on average. I figured my experience had not been the norm.
Guess I better save a bit longer so that I can keep up the private room I’ve become accustomed to.
this needs to be posted in every hostel. especially the not having sex in the rooms part. i never understood how people think it is cool to have sex in a room. i particularly didn’t understand a girl who would willingly go back to an all guy’s dorm and try to have sex with the guy she just met while the room was full of guys sleeping. i was the only one who would say anything and had to yell at people who tried to do it. after the 2nd time i was known as the room yeller (but in a good way). the guys just knew i would take care of it and shut it down.
I think travelers aren’t at home, but away in a new place, so they ignore general rules of courtesy. Similar to why every stinking day nobody loads/unloads the dishwasher in my office. You would load it at home, so why not here?? So frustrating. Many hostelers think, “Oh, I’ll never see these people again, so who cares?” What they don’t get is it does matter, because your a-hole photo might end up on Facebook or on my site. If backpackers want to promote travel, poor etiquette is not going to convince newbies that hostels are legit.
hahaha! oh some of these are so funny!!!
Sex in a dorm. Why? I never got that one. That’s just gross and one of the reasons i am oh so happy to have my own little sleeping bag when I get back to the room.
But the bag rumpling is always out of control! WTF? I mean if you are going to be coming in late at night when everyone else is asleep then why don’t you get your pj’s and toothbrush out and ready before you leave right? Then you can come back, sneak off into the bathroom, get changed and jump right into your bed all nice and quiet instead of waking the whole room up while digging through your bag for your mini sized toothpaste. Drives me freaking nuts. And it’s so easy to avoid the whole bag crumpling situation but people just don’t care.
I don’t know how people don’t feel bad doing things like that and waking others up.
Another one of my personal favorites is the girl who is what i call the “hostel hottie”. You know the kind, wears the kinda slutty clothes and acts like she’s always new in town and needs help or constantly says that she just had some “crazy, awesome, life changing” experience with a local. God forbid you are stuck in the same room with this girl. Constant knocks on the door, random dudes floating in and out at all hours of the night or the best yet, is when they come around and she’s not there and then they ask you where she is. How the hell would I know? I just want to scream – “You are not getting laid tonight while I am in the room – go away!” When I see the hostel hottie I wave of paranoia goes through me, praying she is not in my room.
Crazy, awesome, life changing, and don’t forget how “beautiful” and “amazing” everything seems to be for her too!
At the risk of sounding a bit insensitive, Id have to say that deaf people are the absolute worst roomates. Since they can’t hear…they have no idea how much noise they’re making: noisy rustling around, loud yawning, lip smacking sounds, rifling through thier stuff loudly….Has anyone else experienced this??
Oh the rustling of the plastic bags! I can’t stand them either! Great article and awesome site Matt! Consider yourself bookmarked
You sound like a BLAST to spend time with.
I hear you, being the devils advocate however…
I’d argue that if you are paying less than the price of a McDonald’s Combo for a room, you can’t expect anything. The dude sleeping on the street (only slightly cheaper) doesn’t make demands of traffic or those who pass by.
I think if you go in a hostel, expect to get woken up when people come hom drunk (they are allowed to have fun) and should expect a bunch of things that come with sleeping in a room with 10 strangers from around the world.
Just saying..
I did the mistake once to bring a folder for all my important tickets and so on, with velcro closing.
I think that’s more annoying than plastic bags. Open and close sounds awful.
But I had my own private room, still didn’t want to disturb my neighbours, walls were thin…
I throwed it away later and stick to zippers, I think they sound less.
To young women traveling don’t get super drunk and vomit all over the stairs, the shared bathroom, and the floor of the 6-bed shared dorm room at 3am and have others clean it up. It’s plain disrespectful.