To all travelers out there,

I am a backpacker, currently on a break from travelling to get my education finished, and as a way of remembering all the good times, I will be doing the dissertation for my BA in hospitality and tourism management on backpackers and the way you (we) choose accomodation. As I need a starting point for conducting my research, I would be grateful if you all could throw some ideas around as to what you consider most important when deciding where to rest your minds and bodies, and also as to how you find out about this!

Thank you very much, and enjoy your travels!

Hey Rannveig

Interesting research you are doing. Will be happy to help you out with what we think.

We are on a RTW ticket at the moment. We stay in a variety of accommodation from hostels to 5 star. We search on the net first for places that present themselves well and have good words about them on websites, forums and from recommendations we get from people on the road. If we don't have time to do that, when we arrive somewhere unprepared, we look for places that are obviously clean, have services included or nearby like internet or laundry if we need them, as well as for places that have restaurants or supermarkets nearby. Cheery front desk people and owners that has good information to give you about the local area and tours and stuff to do also influence our decision.

Names like hostel, hotel, pousada, hospedaje, resort, alojamiento, are all thrown around so loosely that we never use that as a way of stereotyping what it will be like before we get there. Hostels rule to be able to meet great bunches of people traveling and to get current information about where they have just traveled from and 5 star is obviously great for just pure comfort and indulgence if you've been traveling rough for a while.

Check out this site to get an idea of what we think about the places we have been to. Hope this helps mate.

I've backpacked around SE Asia, Australia & New Zealand, and a couple of Soth American countries now. I tend to look for something that's central - ie with good transport links to mjor sites or in smaller places somewhere where you can walk to / from easily. Secondly it has to be clean! And preferably bug free. I tend to go for mid range and up hostels rather than just the cheapest, as I feel that the added cleanliness or extra facilities are always worth the extra bit of cash. Plus smaller hostels tend to be nicer - a little quieter but still full of friendly people, with approachable staff. I found hostals in the US (YHA usually) quite spartan and unfreindly. I was alone and didn;t meet anyone to hang out with. However in NZ and Aus there were heaps of small friendly hostels, where the owners added little touches like free home made bread for breakfast or a hot tub in the garden. In NZ I also found some good eco friendly hostels. I only used a couple in South America but both were spotlessly clean and well located. One was a little too noisy at night (loud music til 6am!) which defnintely made me hesitatnt to recommend it. We all want a good time but you need a bit of sleep too!