Found a way to book hostels for half price in Southeast Asia last month

I was planning a trip to Bangkok and seeing hostel prices around $12-15 a night which was more than I wanted. I tried booking directly through the hostel's own website instead of using Hostelworld or Booking.com. It saved me like $5-6 per night because they don't have to pay commission fees. I just messaged them on Facebook first to ask if they had a direct booking discount. The owner told me to book on their site and use the code WALKIN for 10% off too. Have any of you tried this trick or found other ways to cut costs when booking places?

2 comments

2 Comments

holly_price1mo ago

Oh wow that's actually genius with the direct booking code... I always just assumed the walk in rates were the same as online but clearly not. I tried something similar in Vietnam last year, messaged a bunch of hostels on Instagram to haggle for weekly rates and ended up getting a private room for the price of a dorm. Definitely takes more effort but saving five or six bucks a night adds up quick over a month of traveling.

alicec861mo ago

You mentioned "messaged a bunch of hostels on Instagram" - how do you even find the right accounts to message? I tried that once in Thailand and ended up DMing some random fan page that had nothing to do with the actual hostel. Also, did you just send them a straight up "hey what's your best weekly rate" or did you have to dance around it a bit? I feel like some places get annoyed if you try to haggle too hard, especially if English isn't their first language. But yeah, you're totally right about that saving adding up. I do the same thing with truck stop motels when I'm on the road for weeks at a time. Even a few bucks a night makes a real difference when you're looking at a month of travel costs.