Tips on booking hostel

I had book most of my hostel stay through Hostelbookers.com and Hostelworld.com, and I highly recommend booking through them.

Hostelbookers had been my 1st choice because:

1. They don't charge booking fee or service charge.
2. If you manage to find the same hostel with cheaper price, Hostelbookers will refund double the difference (they still do at the time this post was written). This statement assures that you are getting the cheapest deal!

A good hostel will make your stay enjoyable, fun and a good night rest. As you are sharing the rooms with others, hostel with good ratings will normally have good hostelmates. 

My rule of thumb when booking a hostel:

1. Good rating. Any hostel with 80% and above rating (with at least 50 reviews) will be good. And of course, the cheaper, the better :)
2. Read the reviews. It tells a lot about what you want to know.
3. Internet is available and it's free. You won't want to pay for expensive hourly WIFI charges. If they have public PC free for surfing, it will be a plus for those without laptop or WIFI enabled phone.
4. Lockers in dorm. 
5. 24-hour reception is a plus, because sometimes you might arrive late or early in the morning.
6. Location is strategically near most of the attractions that I want to visit. I would explain more in the post to come about using Google Map.
7. If you are going during the hot season, you would want your room to have air-cond.
   If you are going during the cold season, you would want hot showers.
8. Linen included. I don't want to pay extra for linen, and the hostel will charge you rental fee for linen if it is not included (I had not met anyone who brings their own linen in their backpack)