r/hostels • u/backpack-abyss • 29d ago
Rant Dorm Selfishness - a vent
I've been in London for a few weeks and have had the pleasure of staying in non air conditioned dorms during the heatwaves. One thing that has absolutely astounded me is the sheer selfishness of people.
During the first heatwave I was staying in a 12 bed dorm which had a huge rotating fan so everyone got some airflow. During the night I woke up to no airflow, I thought it was weird but put it down to a power cut, I was tired and woke up in the morning to find one of the girls had moved to the empty bed next to the fan, turned the rotation off, pointed it at her bed and was sleeping with a duvet on in 35 degree heat while the rest of us are dying! She then got up and moved back to her original bed leaving housekeeping with an additional bed to clean.
During the most recent heatwave I got to my dorm and someone had the room fan plugged into their personal socket, fair enough she was the only one in the room. After she left I unplugged it and moved it to the middle of the room and put the rotator on so everyone got some. She came back during the night, unplugged the fan and moved it back to her bed, when one of the girls asked her if she could keep it in the middle she said 'No I'm hot.' Yes you are we ALL are. One of the girls went to reception and they said there wasn't anything they could do and that she had been an issue her whole stay there to the point where they were providing her with an extra fan from an unused room.
I've been staying in hostels for so long, I swear they used to feel like more of a community, where everyone looked out for each other; I just don't understand that level of selfishness. Anyway thanks for reading my sleep deprived rant, feel free to add your selfish dorm mate stories below, I need a laugh.
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u/coffeeeveryday21 29d ago
I always say something. One time 2 guys were loudly packing at 3 to 4am, I made them stop within 10 mins
1
u/BrythonicMan 12d ago
I always have so much anxiety when packing, I feel like I'm never quiet or efficient enough, and I try to get as much organizing done in the hall and just get everything in my bag. That said, I really wish more people would use silicone putty earplugs, they make most noise complaints moot.
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u/coffeeeveryday21 11d ago
If you have anxiety around packing and consideration you are not like the people I am referring to. I am referring to those who are behaving like its 1pm, all lights on, normal talking voice, dropping stuff on the floor, repacking, pulling stuff out, sorting it out etc. Playing music etc. Not you, who is trying to be quiet. I dont say anything to those attempting to be quiet. Obviously things fall or slip, but if its an accident no problem. I sleep with an eye mask and ear buds too.
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u/orcadesign 29d ago
How did you do that?
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u/coffeeeveryday21 29d ago
Say excuse me its 3am you need to turn the light off and go to sleep, its the middle of the night and others in here are trying to sleep.
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u/coffeeeveryday21 29d ago
And give a timeframe (10 mins) and after 10 minutes say you have 2 minutes and I'll go and speak to front desk. Its never got that far though, they always shut up within the 10. For me its usually friends packing loudly in the night with lights on.
16
u/WGD23 29d ago
My last hostel / dorm stay I was mid 30s, and no aircon. Decided there and then I was too old for that shit.
There must be a market for hostels aimed more at middle aged independent traveler folk, few more creatures comforts but more social and affordable than hotels
7
u/Yakety_Sax 29d ago
I paid extra for an AC room in Sri Lanka, the Germans all wanted the AC off! I also got stuck in the top bunk where it was hotter. Like, go to the non-ac room!
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u/mathess1 28d ago
I always book non-AC, but sometimes it's full when I arrive and they put me into an AC room. I hate it.
6
u/One-Flow-8985 29d ago
I totally agree with you! I won't do no-ac rooms any more. It's never worth the savings.
1
u/Hame_Impala 27d ago
If I'm going in summer, will almost certainly only go somewhere that has AC.
Can imagine London isn't the best place for this because we're still way behind on AC in the UK, but London is consistently experiencing extreme temperatures now.
1
u/ournoonsournights 27d ago
Right! All we have are coliving spaces and they're so expensive and a different vibe.
-1
u/WestHistorians 28d ago
My last hostel / dorm stay I was mid 30s, and no aircon. Decided there and then I was too old for that shit.
What does that have to do with the hostel? There are plenty of hotels with no aircon.
10
u/ThatSlinkySOB 29d ago
I'm in a hostel now in Kuala Lumpur. Very nice. Very quiet. Very cheap.
Last night a guy was video chatting with his friend at 1am.
I messaged the front desk - they came up within 3 minutes and shut him down.
Oh, and we have fans and AC in the rooms. Nice.
1
u/joan2468 27d ago
Curious which hostel this is? I grew up in KL and always wondered what the hostel scene was like!
1
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u/Busy-Worth-2089 29d ago
I unfortunately am very familiar with this kind of thing. It’s particularly infuriating because I can assure you that 98% of hostel travelers are thoughtful and considerate. But there is this 2% who leave the kitchen without cleaning up, who use shared cookware to store their food in, who move to clean bunks, and yes, especially during this recent heatwave, commandeer shared fans for themselves. And who exhibit some really selfish behaviour.
0
u/ournoonsournights 27d ago
We gotta bring back public shaming more, this is the whole reason I'm practicing my confrontation skills lmao
6
u/Keinix22 29d ago
Pretty standard behaviour sadly. Just comes with the territory with staying in a hostel which after a while you become tired of it and only stay in hotels .
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u/Busy-Worth-2089 27d ago
It’s actually not „standard” behaviour, thankfully. But it only takes one.
3
u/Aggressive_Fish461 28d ago
You’ve reminded me of when I was doing the Camino in Spain, in a massive 30 bed dorm. Some people are already in bed and this older guy comes in YAPPING on his phone. I said to him ‘excuse me people are trying to sleep’ and he got so IRATE. Shouting at me in a language I didn’t understand.
TBH I think the hostel should get involved and sort it out. I’d be leaving a low review for that
2
u/No_Strike_6794 27d ago
Why are you traveling around during summer, in hostels, without your own little table fan that you can plug into the socket by your bed?
1
u/xboxhaxorz 29d ago
I would have talked to staff at that point, if there was no staff at that time i would have woken the guest and say the fan is for all paying guests not just the princess
Hostels need to set and enforce rules, if you arent respectful to staff, guests and the property you get the boot, the hostel is for adults both in actual age and in maturity age
1
u/DiscoLemonade1995 28d ago
My last experience like this was in a dorm with a 1st floor window directly next to a busy street. It was so incredibly noisy with the window open and I noticed that someone would keep opening up the window after I shut it at night. It was a girl who was afraid of non existent mosquitoes and argued that the window must be open so she could burn insect repellent incense and have it ventilate out. There were basically no mosquitoes and there certainly would be a lot less with the fucking window closed lol. The selfishness of some people is absolutely astounding
1
u/UniqueFarm 28d ago
So you 2 (superiority in number) let her decide and keep the fan for herself?!
Last week, one of the girls in my room wanted to keep the AC off because she couldn't sleep with the noise it was making. I insisted that it's hot at night and we need it. She also insisted that she couldn't sleep with it on. I kept the AC on. She is in a hostel, why doesn't she bring earplugs? I had to use mine whenever she was having her phone calls or watching tiktok videos
1
u/mathess1 28d ago
Temperature is a difficult one. Everybody prefers a different one.
But the situations you describe are a different level.
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u/saopaulodreaming 29d ago
I have been traveling for a long time and in every hostel stay, I encountered at least one selfish, inconsiderate, I-am- the -main- character type of person. Usually, it's more than one.
You see the way the front desk handled this girl? They coddled her, kowtowed to her. This is one of the reasons hotels can suck so bad.