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These internet booking systems are not always the best tool,
but for a first night or at a very busy time of year in developed
countries (where budget accommodation is much more limited and
harder to track down) it's well worth using and extremely useful
to take the worry out of arriving somewhere with nothing booked.
(warming, can be a little sluggish on a slow connection).
Within developed countries for example Western Europe, Australia
and the USA (New Zealand & South Africa are both less of a problem),
accommodation and finding it is an entirely different ball game
compared to the second and third world and if on a budget you
will certainly have to make use of hostels at some point.
Hostels vary dramatically from excellent
(NZ and South Africa) to good, bad and just awful. They are
generally at their worst during peak seasons/times when full.
During these times (European/US Summer and most weekends), in
any big city, it is wise to book ahead or at least check availability
on-line with Hostel-World (see right).
 With
accommodation, as in life, you get what you pay for. When a
hotel room in say Dublin center runs at €95 and a hostel bed
goes for €10-20 in the same location you do have to take things
with a pinch of salt: generally sharing a room with others,
dealing with noise and crowded bathrooms. But please remove
any ideas from your head that hostels have to be 20 bunk beds
full of snorers in a small room with lights off at eleven-thirty!
Hostels simply vary too much to generalise.
For the most comfortable, private and best value nights,
book and stay in slightly more expensive rooms (with less beds
and sometimes on-suite). These normally are the least popular
and have the lowest occupancies. In addition, try to time any
visit to a big city, particularly within Western Europe during
mid-week when hostels are half full. Also if it's near the top
of the guide book list it's going to be packed in many cases.
Look out for newly opened hostels and read reviews from others
who have stayed in these places. There are many sites with hostel
reviews, such as Hostel World (just do a search and hostels
are listed with ratings).
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Booking hostels and budget accommodation in advance.
As outlined, in many cases it not only makes sense to book in
advance for a good room, but is total necessarily for peace
of mind. If you do a search on Google for say 'cheap accommodation
in' 'Paris', 'New York' or 'Sydney' you will find thousands
of results mostly from resellers working on commission. There
are two such companies shown here -
Hostel World below, perhaps the most establish and well
know and
Hostel Bookers, above a worthy alternative.
You can view all available budget accommodation in a destination,
view available dates and see customer ratings. Booking is simple
on-line and your room is guaranteed. The sting is you pay a
USD$2 booking charge per transaction, but that's not too bad
if it saves you an international call and guarantees you a room
for your first night or during a busy period. We recommended
Hostel Booker (search box above) since they have no booking
fee. The rates quoted are the same as walk-in rates.
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You can make a booking through either
site or, if you have found this site a useful resource and
want to support its continuation by in helping with hosting/bandwidth
charges, please book through this site on this page.
 Any repeat use is appreciated (bookmark
this page for future use). To be up front, 2% of your accommodation
charge will be gained in a commission rather than going to the
hostel - you incur no extra charge, and it's a big thank you
for using the site.
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This page has two search engine, embedded -
