diana_kim66•1mo agoProlific Poster

Spent $40 on a hostel with no reviews and it was the best stay of my trip

I was planning a 3 week trip through Vietnam and needed to save cash for the later stops. I found this hostel in Hoi An with zero reviews but the pictures showed clean rooms and free breakfast. Figured for $4 a night it was worth the gamble since I could always find somewhere else if it sucked. Got there and the place was brand new with like 6 other guests total. The owner was a grandma who cooked us dinner every night and showed us all the local spots that weren't in any guidebook. She even let us use her motorbikes for free one day. I learned that sometimes being the first to try a place can save you a ton and get you way better service than the packed hostels. Anyone else had good luck booking places with no reviews yet?

3 comments

3 Comments

murphy.tessa1mo ago

Oh man, I used to totally avoid places with no reviews because I thought it was too risky. I always went for the spots with hundreds of ratings thinking that meant they were proven good. But one time I booked a new guesthouse in Colombia that literally had one review and it ended up being the cleanest place I stayed at the whole trip. The owners were so excited to have guests they went way above and beyond, free fruit every morning, helped me figure out the bus system, even drove me to the ATM once lol. It totally changed my mindset because those established places treat you like a number but the new spots actually care about their first few guests. Now I look for new places on purpose especially if the pictures look decent and the price is right.

adams.uma1mo ago

Same thing happened to me in Vietnam. Booked a tiny homestay with only one review and the family basically adopted me for a week. They cooked me dinner every night and taught me how to make spring rolls. Never going back to those big hotels either.

nguyen.angela1mo ago

The last time I tried a place with barely any reviews I ended up in a hostel where the owner's pet parrot sat on my head while I was eating breakfast. I had to walk around with bird poop on my shirt for an hour before I noticed lol. But honestly the food was incredible and the guy gave me a free tour of the whole city on his motorbike. So yeah I've learned my lesson too, sometimes the sketchy looking places are the ones that actually remember your name and don't just hand you a key card and point at a vending machine.