Staying in hostels is an excellent way of saving money on the road, the trouble is, sometimes they dont provide the most comfortable nights rest. There are any number of things that could keep you up at night during your stay in a hostel …
- Loud roommates going to bed later than you
- Roommates who snore
- Creaky beds
- Smelly room
- Outrageous heat
- People rustling plastic bags (a personal hatred of mine)
- The worry of your possessions being tea leafed (thieved)
- Inability to reach friends and family due to lack of plug sockets for charging phones, laptops etc
With all the above in mind and using my personal hostel experiences I have decdied to try and create what I believe to be the ideal hostel bunkbed. The aim of the ultimate bunk would be to to provide the ultimate nights rest within a hostel.
Behold, in all its slightly dodgy photoshopped glory …
**Ideally both bottom and top bunks would have all of the same features. The above depicts only a single sleeping unit, not both bottom and top bunks.
Specific features:
- Personal safe. A safe place to keep your passport and wallet etc. It is not open by a key (eaily lost/stolen), but rather my a combination code. Inside the safe a plug socket also resides so that your handheld electronic can be charged in safety.
- Lockers for your rucksack underneath the bed. This also saves on space in the room.
- An individual fan to combat heat.
- An individual reading light.
- A personal curtain. This affords you a little privacy and allows you to keep your reading light (above) on whilst others are trying to sleep. The curtain would also help block out some of the noise others in the room are making e.g. snoring.
- Solid panels at each end of the bunk with towel rails attached. This will give the bunk a bit more of a sterdy frame. keep out some of the noise in the room and will also provide an obvious place to hang wet towels etc. Solves the problem of having someone elses wet towel overhanging your bunk.
I’ve tried to be as realistic as possible with this bunk, no point me saying that each bunk should come with an xbox, aint gonna happen. I dont think the suggestions i’ve made are too far fetched though.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on my bunk. Anything i’ve missed or should add in?
written by 
written by Amar of 
things may work well for the person on the lower bed, your drawing does not depict features provided to the person on top
TBH I thought it would be quite obvious that I meant for all bunk spaces to be the same. I’ve editing the above text however to confirm this.
If the top and bottom couldnt be the same (for whatever reasons), I guess the hostel could charge different rates.
Haha love the drawings. And I nearly missed the sentence about you saying you can’t just add an Xbox because that was what I was going to suggest. I think if they just regulated temperatures, noise, security and light then any bed would be fine. A personal curtain is so basic yet no-one does it.
I doubt i’ll be off to art school anytime soon. Thanks for your comment though!!
Just for getting changed in the room, a curtain offers that little bit of privacy.
Neil recently posted..An interview with Adam from travelsofadam.com
I love the drawings here! I’ve stayed in some pretty shady hostels in my time. I could definitely make do with a design like this!
@Samuel – A couple of little comforts would make all the difference. I guess you get what you pay for, but if a hostel provides a good service word will spread so i guess its in their best interestts to make the rooms value for money.
And the beds are at least 6ft6 long! I’m 6ft4 and I do not want to sleep in the foetal position haha!
What about a drinks holder. Sometimes I like a cuppa tea before sleep
@Ed – Ah, i like the drink holder idea. Would be muchos good when searching for some water after a night out.
I’m 6ft 2′ so also agree with the length thing. The worst beds are the ones with the wooden frames that go all the way around, so I have to sleep my shins on the frame because the bed is sooo small. Always a bad nights sleep.
I’ve stumbled across this by accident. I’m actually looking to buy bunk beds for a small bunkhouse/hostel that we are building on our fruit farm; so I was interested to read your comments and will certainly bear them in mind! The curtain would be easy to do and would make such a difference. Have also noted the comments re sockets as we haven’t done the electrics yet. If you have any general comments re what you would like to see in a hostel then let me know – we want to make the visitor experience as enjoyable as possible.
@lynn Thanks for taking the time to comment!
General hostel recommendations would be WIFI (free is possible), an affordable laundry service and hot water. Nothing worse than freezing showers.
Yep, hot water was at the top of my list. Wifi also on the list. I hadn’t thought of laundry services but as there will be a washing machine and tumble drier in the premises for our use it won’t be difficult to offer some sort of service. Thanks, all very helpful.
I’ve started a blog about the build http://blackisleberries.wordpress.com/
The fan. Genius. Just give me a bed with a fan built in. I’m a hairy beast and summer time is unpleasant, particularly in dorm rooms with no AC.
I blanked out on the rest.
Fan.
Now.
Now if we can develop the technology, you need to add noise cancelling devices that will cancel out neighbourhood snores in your hostel bed….kinda like a force field where you can be as loud as you want inside your force field bubble and the people outside the force field bubble can’t hear you….i see a flaw that if something horrible was to happen inside this force field bubble, no one would know, but by then the minority report time-prophetising machines will have been invented….
@Brendan – Agreed, the answer may lie here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/22/snore-hotel-rooms-crowne-plaza_n_906757.html?ir=Weird%20News&utm_campaign=social_media&utm_medium=is_awesome&utm_source=socialkaty
Spot. Freaking. On.
Hahah… brilliant! Although, I want a DVD player, a TV, an iPod dock with noise canceling headphones, and a double glazed screen to close so no sound from outside comes in and no sound from inside goes out… Ahem!!
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Very nice indeed. But does the fan oscillate? I like my fans to oscillate.
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@Rich – hell yes it would oscilate (good word!).
@Raghav … so you want a private room? haha, noise cancelling headphones arent a bad shout actually, keep the snoring out.
Hey Neil,
I wanted to chat to you about the possibility of republishing this piece on our site Matador Network.
If you are interested please email me asap, katie@matadornetwork.com and I will follow up with more details.
Kind regards Katie
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Hi Neil
I think the personal safe next to the bunk with plug sockets is a very good idea. There should be atleast two plug sockets in there though. I’ve spent quite a few nights waking up every few hours to charge my cell phone and two sets of batteries which I carry for my camera. I could carry a multi plug but I prefer to pack light so would not want to put in anything which I can avoid.
Ahmer.
@Ahmer – Thanks for the comment. Agreed that the more sockets the better, but I’m glad you like the concept too i.e. charging phones etc whilst knowing their safe. Would put many a’ backpackers mind at ease.
we are developing all the above and more!! Little peice of advice for would be hostel owners; roller blinds come in different lengths for a curtain but find the type that dont have strings as these are a strangulation hazard!!! We are developing a light/fan and safe console with perspex privacy screens for our Dallas range, yes we ship worldwide and have showrooms in UK, Ghana and soon in Montreal and Sydney!! Enjoy your travels and be safe