10 People Tell Their Craziest Hostel Stories And It’ll Make You Think Twice About Where To Stay Next Time You Travel
"Some of my best stories have come from working at a hostel. Admittedly love the mayhem because I can always laugh about it later."
Found on Ask Reddit
1.
At my university they basically ran a hostel in the summer months – all the dorms that housed the kids fall/winter/spring were empty so to make money they had “Hotel [UNIVERSITY NAME]”.
We charged like 25 bucks for a room for a night.
The fucked up thing I remember was two dudes fucking on the pool table in the common area. I don’t even think they were drunk, or it was late at night. I guess they had a bet going on the game? I don’t know, all I know is someone came to the front and said, “Yeah, there are two dudes doing something inappropriate in the recreational area on the second floor, you should go up there.”
So I did, not expecting to see one bent over the table getting railed by his buddy.
I don’t think you should have to tell someone not to do that.
2.
I’ve worked at a hostel for a couple of months. Love the work because there’s never a boring day. Sometimes wish it would be a bit drabber at times though.
One of the reasons why the neighbours hate us is that two guests decided to climb up onto the back roof and go at it doggy style. Sure it was midnight, but they were literally in plain view of everyone. Also had plenty of people get it on in the kitchen. Let me assure you that turning on the kettle to mask the noise doesn’t work.
Pro tip for anyone getting hammered in a foreign place: Make sure you know which side of the street people drive on. Had too many people hit by taxis (it’s always a taxi) because they’re a Brit that looked right. On my first night shift I got to deal with the police bringing a guest back in their van. He’d been hit by a taxi and smashed the windshield. He ragdolled since he was drunk and came out unscathed, but had his passport taken by police which lead to a world of trouble.
Some of my best stories have come from working at a hostel. Admittedly love the mayhem because I can always laugh about it later.
3.
Well, the janitor at the hostel I worked at was caught spying on (I think even videotaping?) women in the communal shower. The women caught him and understandably exploded. As the front desk clerk I had to quietly and politely process their refund as my boss tried to talk them down from their hysteria.
One night towards the end of my night shift I smelled something awful coming from the dorm areas. A guest came out and told me that a Japanese woman in a long nightgown was walking around the halls dribbling diarrhea on the floor. I went to investigate and sure enough, there was the shit all over the floor, leading to a bathroom where the woman had locked herself in. I had no access to cleaning supplies so all I could think to do was throw towels over the diarrhea to try to cover the smell and apologize to the guests until the day crew arrived.
There was another night shift in which a woman ran into the lobby screaming that a man was waving a gun outside and insisting that I call the police. I called 911 but between then and the time the cops showed up the woman’s friends told me she was drunk and didn’t know what she was talking about.
I also had a whole group of guys who were quasi-homeless who would come hang out with me on the night shift till I ran the overnight report at something like 2 or 3am after which the new day started. That meant that I could check them in to a bunk super early for the next night, in effect giving them two nights for the price of one.
There were mostly great times in the hostel, of course. One night a somewhat drunk, handsome Irish man came in late and was chit chatting with me, then abruptly said something like, “You’re a good man. I can tell. Take care of yourself.” And then he handed me twenty dollars. (He said it with more sincerity and Irish charm than I just relayed.) It was a random moment that I’m sure was inspired by his tipsiness more than any goodness I possess, but all these years later I remember it as a very human, warming moment that meant a lot to me. In spite of the occasional craziness hostels can be great for that kind of thing.
4.
i worked front desk for about 9 years and I’ll always remember this:
Couple checks in via expedia for a 1 night stay.
next day get a call from housekeeping that the room is trashed.
go up and check it out.
room is trashed beyond normal trashed.
the bed sheets and carpet have blood on them,
there is hair strewn about the room,
the ties that hold the drapes back had been removed and placed around the posts of the bed,
and there was a large black suitcase left in the room.
i open the suitcase.
inside the suitcase is a:
blindfold,
hand cuffs,
whips,
ball gag,
a very large black double sided dildo,
5 or so dvds of transvestite porn,
strait razors,
and an industrial staple gun.
We contacted expedia to put a block on those guests from checking back into any of our properties. Our maintenance staff got a pretty sweet staple gun.
5.
Just got back from Hong Kong recently and was staying at an actually really nice hostel in Kowloon. After the first few nights I noticed that there was a really steady stream of men going in and out of the elevators to a few of the different floors that had pink lights down the halls. But Hong Kong is a busy place with lots of random businesses in buildings, I figured, nothing too strange about that. Until I was riding up one day and peaked my head around the corner of the elevator after one guy got off. I saw a row of doors all with some kind of writing on them and a few with pictures of women… immediately went up stairs and did some research. And that is how I learned about the one room apartment sex industry in Hong Kong. Turns out my hostel was on the top floor of a 9 story building filled with little apartments each containing a sex worker who just hangs out and waits for a client to knock on their door and get some action.
Can only imagine the trouble people have gotten into while staying there.
6.
A little late to the party, and might get buried, but I absolutely love telling this story and I seldom get the opportunity to do so. Obligatory I’m not a hostel worker, just stayed at my fair share of places. Buckle up, it’s story time, and it’s a bit of a wild ride.
So, I’m getting in to Budapest after taking a lovely 8 hour bus ride from Prague. I show up to the place at about 1:30 in the morning. The place I’m staying at is called Grandio, and it’s a party hostel mind you. I’m pretty beat, so I figure fuck it, I’ll grab a beer at the in Hostel Bar, head up to the room to watch a couple episodes of Scrubs, and pass out for the night. About 10 minutes in, this guy from England comes in, and says, “Aye, I’ll give you 3,000 HUF if you leave the room right now. I’m tryin’ to smash this girl.” Universal bro code pretty much says I gotta take on off, so I do and wish the guy luck.
I head downstairs, and the security is pretty much shuffling us all into the common room as it’s getting late, and they didn’t want us waking anyone up. So myself and a solid group of people, head on in and I proceeded to witness one of the most bizarre things I had ever seen.
There’s a group of about 20 people or so in this room, and there are these two guys from the UK in the center. They’re all on all fours, kinda standing like a monkey would, facing each other. They tied two belts together, end to end, making one giant belt, and they had these belts in a figure-eight around the neck. There was a piece of tape right smack in the middle between both of them. It was essentially tug of war, but with your neck. The person who drags the other person across the line wins.
The kicker of this game? You are completely ass naked. So here I am, wandering into this common room late into the night in Budapest. I’ve been here all but 15 minutes, and my first bit of sight-seeing, are two tall ass, lanky ass, white guys from the UK, dicks and balls flying about, playing tug of war with their neck. They called it Lizard Wrestling. When I asked, “Why do you guy’s call it Lizard Wrestling?” Their immediate response was, “Do Lizards wear clothes?” I mean, they weren’t wrong?
We decided to buy quite a few bottles worth of wine, and we’re all sharing. Eventually, they’re all killed off, and one of the Scottish guys comes up to me and says, “Aye mate, how would you like to be part of the first ever international lizard fight? Team USA vs Team Scotland.” Everyone starts chanting “LIZARD FIGHT, LIZARD FIGHT.” I’m pretty reluctant, but after a huge swig of wine, I say fuck it, and strip down into my birthday suit. Needless to say, I’m 3-0 in my career. Soon after, the girls get in on it, and it’s girls vs girls, guys vs guys, girls, vs guys. Quite the bit of entertainment if you ask me.
We stayed up until about 6:30 AM all taking turns fighting, and to this day, it’s probably one of the crazier stories I enjoy telling. We eventual have to part ways, but in our room, which had murals all over the wall, we drew a little lizard with the inscription, “If you didn’t Lizard Wrestle, did you even go to Grandio?”
7.
I’m a bit late for the party but I worked reception for about 17 months and this jerk comes over at 9AM pissed off his tits and starts slurring words and commenting on my chest (I was wearing a tank top, it was like 38C out there, about 100F for you freedom folk).
I kid you not, he proceeds to slide over my reception desk a local equivalent of $7 and ask me to go to the bathroom to have a quicky with him.
I later learned that he propositioned my very pregnant boss earlier as well, but without the money.
I have a whole bunch of stories like this actually.
— aviedhna
8.
The amount of emotional labor some one who works at a hostel has to deal with on a day to day basis dealing with what seems some of the rudest the stupidest people on planet earth simply because they are staying at a Hostel is the strangest/craziest/most inappropriate things I have experienced working at a hostel. Any one who has done a couple of years at one knows. I am surprised that some guests have actually managed to find the hostel let alone board a plane and travel around for a period of time being semi self sufficient.
The amount of shit in places except a toilet bowl is outstanding. Poops in towels, poops in showers, poops on toilet seats, poops in guest kitchen kettles, poops smeared on walls, poops in shoes left in rooms, poops in beds, poops inside bed sheets, poops in bins.
Kettles on cooking hobs to heat water, people passed out in common areas covered in everything and anything that for some people travel with like glitter… fucking glitter everywhere.
People have no shame when they are leaving the next day and want to fuck, shared rooms, breakfast areas at night, communal kitchen bathroom when people are eating at like 8pm, every toilet in general really, the amount of blow jobs I have ruined by accident has guaranteed me a place in hell.
Old german dudes repeatedly brush their teeth in their birthday suits at a communal sink area.
People pissing in communal sinks.
Used condoms in the bar area. Impressive.
Used condoms left on lamps.. It stinks.
The list is endless of the things I have seen or witnessed the aftermath of has pretty much made me un-shockable.
God bless the house keeping team and all they do, those rubber gloved angels.
9.
My god, a question I can actually answer. I work the night shift at a hostel in Wellington, NZ at the moment.
The weirdest thing I’ve encountered is this crazy lady that likes to call around 4am and just breath heavily into the phone. She won’t respond, she won’t talk, but I hear the breathing. If I hang up, she calls back immediately. This happens about once a week.
I only say it’s a lady cause the person who did the night shift before me said that and I don’t know enough to refute it.
— delrio56
10.
I have tons of stories. This one came to mind:
I was working in a Youth Hostel in São Paulo, Brazil and we had a guest from Iran arriving one day before his reservation and we were fully booked.
I got on the phone trying to find him a bed in other hostels while my boss was online on skype, hearing everything. That took us sometime…
He was waiting for us to find him another place when a girl with shorts and sleeveless shirt [edit: another guest] walked by…. He immediately turns to me and ask: “Is the ‘service’ included??”.
It took me a second to understand and my boss wrote on the skype window a huge AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA.
When I read that it hit me and I had to hold my laughter until his taxi arrived.
