Sharing a room with strangers can be daunting the first time, but it can also be pleasant and fun.
Your roommates often become your travel mates for the few days you spend in a city, so making sure they get a positive impression of you could is key to spend a great time in a hostel. If you want to be a star roommate, follow these simple rules.
Or as we call it, hostel dorm etiquette. Fellow travelers sharing a sleeping space with you will thank you.
Here are our top tips for what to do and not to do in a hostel.
1. Respect Quiet Hours
Having a loud conversation on your phone at 3am is a definite no-no. Same goes if you’re talking to another roommate with no consideration of all the other ones that might be trying to sleep. Banging on the door or slamming it when you come in the room is also unacceptable.
2. Keep The Lights Off At Night
The only reason you should be using your phone at 3am would be to shine its light to help you find your way to your bed. When you first check-in a hostel dorm, inspect it to see if there are other lights than the main one.
Is there a bathroom you could leave the door open to get a glimpse of light? Are there individual lights on the beds? Any smaller lights on the wall?
If you do arrive at a hostel in the middle of the night, it might be a good idea to get ready to go to bed in the public bathrooms, so you can go to bed as soon as you enter the room, making minimal noise for your fellow roommates.
3. Plan Ahead
To avoid turning on the lights during night time, plan ahead! Prepare your pajama and toiletries in advance, this way you won’t have to look for anything if you come back late. Same goes if you have to get up early. Sort out your clothes the night before, you won’t have to reorganize your whole suitcase while everyone is still sleeping!
4. Don’t Bring in Visitors
Dorms are shared with enough people already, bringing your friends or other travelers in can make it way too crowded. It can get worse if you and your crew decide to use a dorm room as a party venue, setting up shop with beers and music and games.
Dorms should only have one purpose, and that’s to get a good night sleep. Hostels have common areas, use them! Also, don’t bring in strangers!
You met someone at a club? First off, doing the deed in a hostel dorm is definitely bad etiquette! And if you don’t truly know someone, how can you trust this person around yours and your roommates’ belongings?
5. Tidy Up
Dorms are usually on the smaller side, so be respectful of other people’s space. Keep your stuff together, around your bed. Do not spread everything out on all the beds! Even if you’re trying to dry your clothes, using each bed as a clothesline will most likely alienate your roommates.
6. Be Social
You might have just come off a 48-hour transit journey, but a simple ‘hello’ will set a friendly dorm atmosphere. Groggy roommates are annoying, and the feeling of bothering someone at every little move one makes is going to set an awkward mood. Not feeling like having a lengthy conversation? At least be courteous. Simple politeness and mutual respect should be applied.
7. Turn Your Electronics Off
Or at least on silent. Having someone’s phone beep every time a text message comes in can be irritating. So is an alarm clock that keeps on ringing, and ringing, and ringing…
8. Use The ‘Shared’ Bathroom Respectfully
Shared accommodation equals shared bathrooms, which means that other people are waiting to use it! If you want to take a 30-minute shower, wait for the afternoon when most travelers are out. Also, try to not leave the bathroom in a horrific state!
What other tips would you give travelers about common courtesy in hostels dorms?
