EXCLUSIVE I thought I got a great deal when I booked a $7 hostel... then I saw where I'd be sleeping
Fiona Strack, 25, originally from Germany, has been traveling full-time since August 2024.
While backpacking across the globe over the last year, she has become no stranger to booking cheap accommodations in a bid to cut down costs.
When she came across a listing for a hostel in Manila, Philippines, on a popular booking website that was a mere $7 for one night, she was ecstatic over the low price.
It had good reviews and the pictures looked 'okay,' so she went ahead and booked it... but as soon as she walked into the hostel, she immediately regretted her decision to stay there.
It looked more like a dog kennel or a jail cell than a hostel, with harrowing bars on the outside of each bed.
Her sleeping quarters consisted of a small mattress sitting on the floor, a pillow, a thin blanket, and a fan.
It was caged in with walls around it and a metal gate that could be locked from the outside or inside.
The bathroom had a detachable shower head, a faucet to wash your hands, and a toilet with no toilet seat.
'I booked it online via a popular booking website, the reviews and the pictures were okay so I just thought to just go for it,' Fiona explained exclusively to the Daily Mail.
'I walked in and immediately thought, "This feels more like a dog kennel than a hostel." It was cramped, dark, and honestly a bit shocking, but It was fully booked.'
While Fiona said she considered leaving at first, she explained that it was late and she was exhausted from a long day of traveling.
In addition, she knew it would just be for one night so she decided to grin and bare it.
'I absolutely considered leaving and I probably would've if it hadn't been so late at night and I had not been so tired since I just arrived after a long travel day,' she dished.
'[Also] as a low-budget backpacker, it's not really an option to double pay for one night.'
She said she 'tried to make the best of it' and used humor to cope.
She took a video of the unwelcoming accommodations and shared it to Instagram, under her username @fiona.strack, where it quickly went viral.
'When you budget backpacked a little too hard,' she wrote in a text overlay as a clip showed her covering her mouth in shock, before she turned the camera to show off the hostel.
'Still not sure if it was a hostel, a dog shelter, or a prison,' she joked in the caption. 'But hey, $7 a night and I had Wi-Fi, electricity, a fan, and a clean towel.'
Fiona told the Daily Mail that she was 'so tired' that she 'immediately fell asleep.'
But she said she was left tossing and turning most of the night out of fear someone might lock her in her little cubicle.
She added that she did not have a 'restful night' and was extremely happy to leave the next morning as soon as she woke up.
'Knowing someone could easily lock my door with another padlock from the outside, let me wake up after every single noise I heard,' shared the backpacker.
'It wasn't [really] dangerous though, just extremely uncomfortable, loud, very hot (no AC, just a fan) and kind of surreal.
'[Thankfully], I had a linen sleeping bag and noise cancelling headphones what made it bearable.'
In the end, she said she hoped that sharing the incident online will show others the realities of backpacking.
'I posted [the video] to share the chaos of real budget travel,' she explained.
'I never expected this kind of response. I'm overwhelmed (in a good way) and grateful people connected with the rawness of it.'
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