Cheap hostel in Bangkok versus a $30 hotel, the difference blew my mind

I booked a 400 baht dorm near Khao San Road and a $30 hotel in the same neighborhood for the same 3 nights, mostly to test if the extra cash mattered. The hostel had lockers that barely closed and a fan that sounded like a lawnmower, while the hotel gave me a private balcony and free toast every morning. Has anyone else had a budget place that was so bad it made you swear off hostels forever?

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kevin_wells4618d agoMost Upvoted

Free toast every morning" got me lmao. Like, that's the kind of detail that makes you realize how low you've sunk when you're eating stale crackers from a 7-Eleven to survive the hostel breakfast. A fan that sounds like a lawnmower is brutal man, I once had one that rattled so bad I thought the ceiling was gonna come down on my face. And the locker thing, yeah, I've had one where the lock barely clicked and I just gave up and slept with my passport under my pillow. Honestly, after that trip I told myself I'd rather eat instant noodles for a week than deal with a hostel bunk again. That balcony and toast would've felt like a five-star palace compared to what I dealt with.