How safe are hostels?

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sim sim salabim

ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!?!!? HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE MOVIE HOSTEL.!?!?!? everything in movies is true in every way.

Elizabeth

You don't always get a private room and you can never be sure of your stuff. Generally speaking they're safe, but they're also full of other travelers that are trying to get around as cheaply as possible and if your things are an easy mark, some folks will go for it.

Here is a great system for your backpack overnight if you don't get a private room:

http://www.pacsafe.com/www/index.php?_room=3&_action=detail&id=11

I have purchased many Pac-safe products and they are well-constructed and do what they say they will.

When you are out for the day, most hostels have a room or office where you can keep your bag securely. Call the hostels or email them with your questions, the people that run them are very friendly and helpful.

EDIT: to the person who says that the metal mesh net can be cut, this person obviously knows nothing about the product. While I wouldn't leave the backpack in a semiprivate room all day unattended it's a great system for leaving a pack chained to your bedpost while you sleep or on the luggage rack of the train. It would require someone with a heavy-duty serrated blade and considerable time to get through stainless-steel mesh - not your average opportunity-thief.

Kevin

Safer than Crenshaw. WOO WOO

justiasking

I stayed in a hostel in Paris over the summer and it was pretty good. My friend and I shared the room with two other people; whenever you would get into the hostel you would get the room key from the front desk and leave it there when we left. This ensured that everyone staying in the room was able to unlock it to get back in when they needed to.
I wouldn't recommend leaving valuables in the room, just because you never know for sure what could happen but I definitely left my bags there during the day, I just kept my money, passport, etc. with me.

How they are run vary from hostel to hostel, some may have private rooms, or you may share them with multiple people. Just do some research on them, (you can look at a site like STA travel http://www.statravel.com/cps/rde/xchg/us_division_web_live/hs.xsl/hostels.htm) and choose one that you feel comfortable with. I would for sure stay in one again, many of them offer internet, free breakfast, and other amenities and tend to be MUCH cheaper than a hotel. Also, the staff are generally helpful and they have alot of things like maps, tours, etc to help you plan your trip.

Hope this helps!

dplaya

Very fair question. I've stayed in several hostels across Europe, most of them private rooms. They are really like hotel rooms as they are separate and you lock your own door just like a hotel. You can lock your stuff in your room and leave it just like a hotel....have done it numerous times. I would still keep important possession locked up in your luggage while you are gone just to be safe though. I found that private rooms are usually separate from the shared rooms (different parts of the hostel) and one place in Rome, the private portion felt like an actual hotel and was COMPLETELY separate from the shared portion and MUCH nicer....you had to have a key to even access the private hallway. Make sure to look on a hostel review website such as www.hostelworld.com (there are others too) to see the ratings given by those who have stayed there. I have found staying in private room hostels that are rated well to be a very pleasant experience, plus you meet cool young people like yourself.

jake_n_toby

I've stayed in hostels in Germany, Austria and Italy. I wouldn't leave anything of value in your room, money, ID, electronics. Some large rooms had seperate lockers you could put your stuff in, so bring a combo lock with you. Hostels are on par with hotel rooms now, not like the stories you've heard from the 60's. Some of them were quite nice. One in Munich had incredible breakfasts and the best coffee I've ever had. The one in Salzburg had a private bathroom with shower. The food was disappointing though.

asthmaticzero

I stayed in a number of hostels in Italy a few years ago and while I felt that they were safe, I don't think I'd leave anything valuable when I went out. You never know who has access.

Willeke

It is not a dumb question, but it is one that is difficult to answer.

I would say that a private room in a hostel is as safe as a room in most hotels, safer than in many smaller hotels.

I would not use such a metal net around your pack, as it does scream that you have valuables in it, and with a knife they can still get at all that is in the pack.
It is sensible to bring a pad-lock, often there are cupboards in the rooms that you can lock with a simple padlock, although you can often rent them at the hostels that have that kind of cupboards.

The best to do I have found is leaving your pack closed but not locked out in the open, or behind a padlock in the cupboard, and take the real valuables like your passport, purse and camera with you wherever you go.
In 20+ years of using hostels I have never missed something out of my packs, nor have I heard others in the hostel about missing things.

Do not trust the safety of hotel rooms either, when you go out for the day the cleaner crew comes in, opens all doors and start cleaning at one end of the building. Mostly all guests, and sometimes also others, can walk into each and every room.
Even when the cleaning crew is not as careless, hotel thieves are a common thing, more so in expensive hotels than in the cheaper ones, but no hotel is guarantied free of them.

lumoruk

Stayed in a hostel in Paris also, seemed quite safe but I came in when the other two people in the room were asleep then I left again before they woke up, so can't say for sure if they were murderers!

Honey__Bear

Have you not seen the film!!?? It won't be your backpack that gets locked up in a room..........!!

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