# What's the least you've spent on a hotel/hostel room? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 17, 2010, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-youve-spent-on-a-hotel-hostel-room/560934 "2010-11-17T00:54:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-youve-spent-on-a-hotel-hostel-room/560934/21 "2010-11-17T14:13:54Z")
$1.50 in 2003 for a cavernous dingy room in Mysore, India above a gambling den. The place was huge, with a couple of rickety pieces of furniture that must have been there since the colonial era. Enormous bugs lurked in the dim corners. The whole place was painted a sickening mint green. Hot water and TV were just a dream. To get out, you had to make your way through a crowd of drunk gamblers. India was my kind of place to travel! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-youve-spent-on-a-hotel-hostel-room/560934/22 "2010-11-17T14:20:43Z")
There used to be a motel in the Pittsburgh area where, for $19.99 you got a room with a water-bed and two cans of beer for one hour. I don’t think the rooms where cleaned between tenants. I “stayed” there several times. ETA: At the time I was 19 years old. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-youve-spent-on-a-hotel-hostel-room/560934/23 "2010-11-17T15:27:29Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > $1.50/person in Lima back about 20 something years ago. It definately was nuthin’ special. I remember the toilet was outside, no door, roof or T.P. and you were perched on a hillside overlooking the town. _You_ were perched on the hillside while enthroned? :eek: I’m not that big a priss but man, you people are hardy! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-youve-spent-on-a-hotel-hostel-room/560934/24 "2010-11-17T15:47:20Z")
Mrs. J. and I once spent $8 for a night at the Motel H in Murdo, South Dakota\*. A no-frills room with lumpy beds, but clean and no bugs. \*Just passing through. There’s not a hell of a lot to do in Murdo. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-youve-spent-on-a-hotel-hostel-room/560934/25 "2010-11-17T15:57:25Z")
In my wandering student days back in the '80s, I payed about $5 a night in shared hostel rooms in various European cites. With a room to myself, I’ve paid as low as £8 (~$12-14) for beds and breakfasts in the UK and £15 once for a little hotel in the midlands. These days, 20 quid seems to be the bottom limit. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-youve-spent-on-a-hotel-hostel-room/560934/26 "2010-11-17T15:59:03Z")
About 4.50 US dollars equivalent, per night, a couple years ago; this was in Southern Laos, on an island in the Mekong river, Koh Khet I think it’s called. We were offered a 3 dollar a night cottage but we decided to splurge and go for the one with a bathroom. Squat toilet, though. While the price was cheap the place was very nice, and I have never before or since met anyone half as hospitable as the lady that runs the place, I was impressed by how she seemed to glow with charm. I wish I could remember her name. I just checked my [girlfriend’s photo page](http://gatitamonito.multiply.com/photos/album/20/Don_Khon_-_Southern_Laos)and the island was actually called Don Kohn. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-youve-spent-on-a-hotel-hostel-room/560934/27 "2010-11-17T16:03:17Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > _You_ were perched on the hillside while enthroned? :eek: It was a great view for me, can’t speak for the town residents. Oh, and I meant Cuzco, not Lima. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-youve-spent-on-a-hotel-hostel-room/560934/28 "2010-11-17T17:13:38Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > _You_ were perched on the hillside while enthroned? :eek: There is a great hotel on China’s Tiger Leaping Gorge that has built in their (modern squat) toilets completely open (save a low ledge for safety) on the cliffside. You shit looking out into some of the most gorgeous scenery you will ever see, with the wind whipping through your hair and the mountains looming above you with the river far, far below you. It’s breathtaking. ---
**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-youve-spent-on-a-hotel-hostel-room/560934/29 "2010-11-17T18:24:12Z")
About $2, meal included; don’t recall the exact conversion rate. It was in Boca del Cielo, a tiny beach village in southern Mexico. The place was just a thatched roof, no walls. They set up some tables and chairs and served dinner, then removed the tables and slung hammocks from the support posts. Chickens roamed freely, picking up any dropped scraps of food off the dirt floor. There was no bus or taxi service. Hitched a ride out in the back of a pickup truck full of shrimp. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-youve-spent-on-a-hotel-hostel-room/560934/30 "2010-11-17T19:23:23Z")
When I first moved to NYC in 1964, I had arrived at the Bus Terminal at 3 am with only $17 in my pocket. I got a room in a Times Square hotel for $1.50 a night. The walls were made of battleship-gray steel and were large enough to accommodate a single bed plus about 18 inches of space. There was a bare 40-watt light bulb on the ceiling, and a broken-off hook on the door. There was a tiny window overlooking 42nd street. There was a tiny communal bathroom at the end of the hall: 1 toilet, 1 sink, and a stall shower. Everything was battleship-gray. I did not sleep at all that night. I got a job the following day, so moved into the more-expensive YMCA . . . $2.50/night. One of my new coworkers lent me $20 till payday. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-youve-spent-on-a-hotel-hostel-room/560934/31 "2010-11-17T19:36:09Z")
$0.00. We haven’t paid for a hotel room in Vegas in years. Outside of Nevada, probably $12 at a flea-bag motel in Wendover, Utah many moons ago. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-youve-spent-on-a-hotel-hostel-room/560934/32 "2010-11-17T22:09:09Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > When I first moved to NYC in 1964, I had arrived at the Bus Terminal at 3 am with only $17 in my pocket. I got a room in a Times Square hotel for $1.50 a night. The walls were made of battleship-gray steel and were large enough to accommodate a single bed plus about 18 inches of space. There was a bare 40-watt light bulb on the ceiling, and a broken-off hook on the door. There was a tiny window overlooking 42nd street. There was a tiny communal bathroom at the end of the hall: 1 toilet, 1 sink, and a stall shower. Everything was battleship-gray. I did not sleep at all that night. > > I got a job the following day, so moved into the more-expensive YMCA . . . $2.50/night. One of my new coworkers lent me $20 till payday. So what you’re saying is that it wasn’t fun to stay at the YMCA? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-youve-spent-on-a-hotel-hostel-room/560934/33 "2010-11-18T13:44:38Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > There is a great hotel on China’s Tiger Leaping Gorge that has built in their (modern squat) toilets completely open (save a low ledge for safety) on the cliffside. You shit looking out into some of the most gorgeous scenery you will ever see, with the wind whipping through your hair and the mountains looming above you with the river far, far below you. It’s breathtaking. My ex girlfriend threw up in those same toilets, looking at that view. (The barn I stayed in upthread was at one end of the gorge - we got lost on our way in as night began to fall.) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-youve-spent-on-a-hotel-hostel-room/560934/34 "2010-11-18T14:27:00Z")
When I was traveling in Central America in the 1970s, I’m fairly sure I must have paid as little as $2 a night for a room in Guatemala at times. Usually I would go for the more deluxe places, though, for $4-6. We used to look down our noses at the rabble who would usually stay in the $2 places. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-youve-spent-on-a-hotel-hostel-room/560934.md?page=1)