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icycalm
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How to turn hostels into hotels

Sun May 26, 2019 12:31 am

It just occurred to me that there is a way to turn every hostel in the world into essentially a hotel: Sleep during the day. Then you have the whole room to yourself. I've been using hostels since '96, so it's pretty incredible that I only just realized this. I guess it has to do with my currently fucked up sleeping schedule. It's never been so fucked up, and certainly not during my heavy travelling years.

Hostels have many advantages over hotels, above all the lower price and instant social circle, and the main thing that keeps me from always preferring them is the sleeping. I don't mind sleeping with other people in the room, but there's almost always a snorer among them, and I can never fall asleep when there is snoring. I can fall asleep with almost any level of noise, if it's consistent enough, but snoring is such a disgusting sound that even if it's super-low volume, I still can't fall asleep with it.

Recently though Facebook served me some ads for some type of snoring-cancelling earplugs/headbuds, so Imma look into those. Until then, I will keep sleeping during the day, for the most part, because hotels in Stockholm are ridiculously expensive.

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ataraxia
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Re: How to turn hostels into hotels

Sun May 26, 2019 12:45 am

I've tried to do this at hostels I've stayed at, but one of them had an annoying policy of kicking everyone out of the hostel between 12 and 3 or so for mandatory cleaning. But as long as you avoid those and don't mind the sound of the cleaning person if they have to clean while you're trying to sleep in the room, you're golden.

I always travel with a shitty pair of earplugs and an eye mask for sleeping on planes and in hostels, and they're both sufficient for me for cutting out both noise and light. I'm more likely to awaken to people returning to the room late at night or shaking the bunk (for whatever reason...), but your solution fixes both of these problems, as long as the hostel visitors are mostly out of the room during the day.

A bit off-topic, but if you're sleeping primarily during the day while traveling, how do you have sufficient time to do daygame? Or are you mostly doing nightgame, so the schedule works out perfectly?

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icycalm
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Re: How to turn hostels into hotels

Sun May 26, 2019 12:59 am

Yeah, that's why I barely daygamed in my last trip to Stockholm.

It's a night gamer's solution. For daygame it wouldn't work, unless every now and then you stay up for 24 hours so you can daygame too. In my last Stockholm trip I did this twice (and pulled both times, pretty much because I stayed on the street opening all day).

Covfefe
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Re: How to turn hostels into hotels

Sun May 26, 2019 7:37 pm

I like booking private rooms in hostels.

Still get the social experience, but with some privacy, less noise, and cheaper than a hotel. The mid-day cleaners tend to leave your room alone too.

HardKnocks
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Re: How to turn hostels into hotels

Mon May 27, 2019 2:12 am

Covfefe wrote:
Sun May 26, 2019 7:37 pm
I like booking private rooms in hostels.

Still get the social experience, but with some privacy, less noise, and cheaper than a hotel. The mid-day cleaners tend to leave your room alone too.
Any issues pulling non-hostel guests back to your room? I've heard hostels often have varying policies on this and not always transparent (aka one entrance and the guy running the desk decides to cockblock).

There's always the backup of keeping money around for a love hotel/motel/"rest" stay if they exist in the area.

Covfefe
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Re: How to turn hostels into hotels

Mon May 27, 2019 2:52 am

HardKnocks wrote:
Mon May 27, 2019 2:12 am

Any issues pulling non-hostel guests back to your room? I've heard hostels often have varying policies on this and not always transparent (aka one entrance and the guy running the desk decides to cockblock).
It can be a problem, especially if there's only one entrance and that entrance has video cameras. I've only tried when the reception area is in a different building from the sleeping areas (like rural parts of Southeast Asia).

HardKnocks
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Re: How to turn hostels into hotels

Mon May 27, 2019 11:12 am

Covfefe wrote:
Mon May 27, 2019 2:52 am
HardKnocks wrote:
Mon May 27, 2019 2:12 am

Any issues pulling non-hostel guests back to your room? I've heard hostels often have varying policies on this and not always transparent (aka one entrance and the guy running the desk decides to cockblock).
It can be a problem, especially if there's only one entrance and that entrance has video cameras. I've only tried when the reception area is in a different building from the sleeping areas (like rural parts of Southeast Asia).
Ya, it's a debate I've always had. Unless you're doing low season it's often hard to know the layout until you've checked the place out in person.

I like the easy social circle of guesthouses, though now having a bit more money to spend now the often very basic breakfast and austere washroom facilities start to get to me. I mean I travel to try exotic cuisine among other things, not wake up to scrambled eggs and jam.

Also need to avoid getting too insular with other backpackers. Remember staying at one place in Mexico and we all went to dinner and then clubbing together. Hooked up with this local chick that night (went back to her place), and after breakfast the next morning, one of the other guys discreetly asked me what happened as I'd been the subject of gossip among everyone. The other backpacker guys thought it was hilarious though the girls seemed pissed that I'd gone for a local haha!

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