Accommodation is one of your biggest daily expenses. Depending on your budget, your preference, and style of travel, you have multiple options. There are hostels, hotels, guesthouses, apartments, resorts, campsites, bungalows, couchsurfing, you name it. Whichever type of accommodation you choose, you’ve got budget options and more pricey options.
You could choose a cheap and nasty hostel for $10 a night, a decent one for $20 a night, or a really nice one for $30 a night. If you’re a couple, a cheap hotel room could be the price of two hostel beds. It really depends on you and what level of comfort and privacy you want. Sometimes a cheap and nasty is all you need, a place to sleep and nothing more. Though sometimes a little more comfort is nice.
Whatever form of accommodation you select, the sooner your book the better. If you book a few weeks in advance you’re going to have the largest range of options, if you book the night before you might only have a handful. It really depends on your style of travel; you could have every single night pre-booked for your two month travel, or you could wing it and book it as you go. It’s important to take into consideration that big cities have a drawing effect on their surrounding regions and every weekend, locals as well as tourists, flow into the city, sometimes resulting in every single hostel in town being full with the cheapest available bed being $150 plus! If you don’t want to risk blowing three days budget on a single night make sure you book in advance, otherwise you face the reality of spending a night on the street (which, take my word, isn’t so fun).
Couchsurfing
One way to cut out your accommodation costs entirely is by Couchsurfing. What is Couchsurfing? It’s a website and a community where members share their couches with people from over the world, in return for you (if able) to do the same. It’s a goodwill thing, helping travellers out with a free bed (because we’ve all been there and know how expensive it can be to travel), enjoying each others company, and getting some local insights into the place you’re visiting. CS has a review system making it easy to weed out unsavoury characters. Many cities around the world have weekly meetups where locals and travellers alike come together to chat and grab a drink. Anyone can host an event, and in most cities there are a lot of things going on within the community. Recently CS introduced a “hangouts” feature which allows members to connect and meet nearby members in real time. If you find yourself between a rock and a hard bench, some cities have emergency hosting groups.
Hostels
Hostels are the cheapest form of paid accommodation and are the standard for budget-minded travellers. Most hostels have mixed or female-only dormitories, male-only dorms exist though are reasonably uncommon. Usual dorm configurations are 4 bed, 6 bed, 8 bed, and 12 bed, though even higher is not unheard of. Some monster sized dorms have over 30 beds! Generally the more beds per dorm, the cheaper the bed. While taking the cost into consideration, there are a number of reasons why people choose different smaller dorms. The smaller the dorm the quieter, more private, and the more likely you’ll make friends with your dorm mates. While larger dorms are louder, less private, more impersonal, and you increase your chances of sharing your room with a snorer. Some dorm have ensuites, while others have communal bathrooms. If you have a large dorm with an ensuite, there might be long queues for the bathroom every morning.
Many hostels have private rooms at similar prices to hotels. There are a large variety of hostels catering to all sorts of different travellers. The mains ones are cheap & nasty, homely & cozy, boutique/luxury, party, traditional, lifestyle, designer/chic, eco, and beach/surf. I always book a hostel for a night or two to see what the place is like, and then extend it for the rest of my stay. I prefer that over being stuck in a hostel for a week with sick, snoring, or unfriendly roommates. Some hostels have daily and nightly activities, which can be a great way to meet people, while others have nothing.
In my opinion the best website for booking hostels is Hostelworld, but before you book anything it always pays to check the hostels own website first to see if they do better prices for direct bookings, as they don’t pay a commission. Likewise, sometimes sites such as booking.com will have the same dorm bed for a better price. It’s also worth taking note that if a specific hostel is sold out on Hostelworld, they might still have beds left on booking.com, and visa-versa.
Hostelling International have thousands of quality hostels the world over, they are the definition of a traditional hostel. In a most countries their hostels are not listed on Hostelworld, the best way to book them is via their website.
Hotels, Guesthouses, Homestays, and more...
It’s not only couples or those with higher budgets who use hotels. In many countries hostels are few and far between, if existent at all. In many cases the only option is a hotel. Just because its a hotel doesn’t mean its expensive. The cheapest hotel I ever stayed in was $3 in Cambodia. In much of Asia cheap hotel rooms can go for as little as $10-15 a night. It can be tiring spending weeks on end in hostels. Splashing out for a hotel every now and then can be a great treat. Of course it doesn’t need to be a hotel. There are many many different types of accommodation which are easily booked online; motels, inns, guesthouses, B&Bs, apartments, homestays, farmstays, bungalows, cabins, cottages, houseboats, mountain huts, and yurts.
The three websites I use are Agoda, Booking, and Airbnb. Booking has the most comprehensive range of accommodation overall, while Agoda has perhaps the best cover in Asia. Their prices are pretty comparable, with often a dollar or two difference in price. Airbnb offers a unique view of the world through privately owned homestays, apartments, and other types of accommodation. The earlier you book the better your choice. With these three you can’t go wrong.
