nora_chen•10d agoProlific Poster

Pro tip: I tried to save $5 a night on a hostel in Prague and ended up in a 'room' that was a converted broom closet

So I was booking a week in Prague last fall and found two hostels with similar ratings. One was $22 a night for a 6-bed dorm, the other was $17 for a 'private single'. I thought, score, my own space for cheaper! The 'private single' was literally a former janitor's closet, maybe 4 feet wide, with a mattress on a pallet. The door didn't lock from the inside, and the 'window' was a vent to the hallway. The $22 dorm had actual beds, lockers, and free breakfast. The extra $35 total for the whole week got me sleep, security, and food. I moved after one miserable night. Has anyone else fallen for the 'too good to be true' private room trap in Europe?

2 comments

2 Comments

reese_patel10d ago

Budapest had a similar deal, a private for the price of a dorm bed. It was in an attic with a slanted ceiling, and I literally could not sit up in bed. The worst part was the heat, no airflow at all in August. That taught me to look for the words "attic" or "converted" in the listing description, they're huge red flags. I'd rather share a clean dorm with strangers than bake alone in a box.

barnes.shane10d ago

Man, @reese_patel, your story reminds me of my buddy's "private room" in Rome. It was a closet with a mattress on the floor, and the window opened right into the building's trash chute. The smell in that summer heat was something else. He said the only air flow was when someone upstairs dumped their garbage. How do hosts even list these places with a straight face?