How long to book hostel in london?? - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

csmithstudnt · 04-18-2008, 11:08 AM

My boyfriend and I will be arriving on May 20th in London for the start of a 3 month working holiday through BUNAC. We're going to stay at a hostel (Palmer's Lodge) for a few nights while we find a more permanent place to rent (hoping for a decently priced flatshare).

My question is - at that time in the season how long should we book the hostel for? I was originally thinking 5. Some people doing the program are booked in for 3, some for a week. I'm just afraid we'll run out of options and the hostel will suddenly become full and we can't rebook! I know, paranoia... but what's the likelihood of this?

I would much rather find a job and THEN a place to live, but I'm applying to places right now so who knows, I could in a stretch have a job when I get there. :/

**travelpunk** · 04-18-2008, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by csmithstudnt

My boyfriend and I will be arriving on May 20th in London for the start of a 3 month working holiday through BUNAC. We're going to stay at a hostel (Palmer's Lodge) for a few nights while we find a more permanent place to rent (hoping for a decently priced flatshare).

My question is - at that time in the season how long should we book the hostel for? I was originally thinking 5. Some people doing the program are booked in for 3, some for a week. I'm just afraid we'll run out of options and the hostel will suddenly become full and we can't rebook! I know, paranoia... but what's the likelihood of this?

I would much rather find a job and THEN a place to live, but I'm applying to places right now so who knows, I could in a stretch have a job when I get there. :/

I've traveled in May and at that time, a few years back, and couldn't get into the 3 Ducks because it was piznacked. Found something down the street, but I got kicked out of the place after a couple of nights because it was full for the upcoming weekend. So we walked until we found another place (a bit grungy I might add) that was available for the next couple of nights.

Also in the month of May, I had hit up hostels in Amsterdam and Barcelona and those places were packed as well. In Barcelona, I had to stay in hotels because hostel after hostel that I had walked into were full.
Luckily, I had budgeted for worst case scenarios so hotels were fine for me.

This was before the huge surge in online hostel bookings that we've seen in the past couple of years.

I can't imagine how much more packed a lot of popular places and cities are these days.

I say that if the extra two days (5 total) won't "break the bank" then do it for peace of mind. Review their cancellation policy in case you find something better out there and need to cancel your remaining days.

Good luck with job hunt

!

**MolsonGirl** · 04-19-2008, 10:10 PM

I think 5 days of booking would be enough... keep a close eye on gumtree.com for places to stay before hand and e-mail perspective places, after 5 days of househunting if you haven't found a place you'll be out of your mind anyways. May is busy though... so overbook and give your leave early enough to get money back.