How I Found My Way to Hostel Volunteering

The first time I thought of volunteering at a hostel was during the last year of my graduation, right before the pandemic hit. I was planning to take a gap year after university and had a couple of things I wanted to try. The pandemic hit, and I couldn’t do any of it.

Life happened, and I went to Switzerland to study hospitality. As I write this, I realize how I had thought of volunteering at a hostel even before considering hospitality as a career option. Anyway, I flew to Switzerland and got busy with hotel school.

During the summer break, I took my dream trip to Italy. Throughout this trip, I stayed at hostels and was reminded of how I too wanted to experience working at a backpacker’s hostel just a couple of months back. Suddenly, I started observing my stays from a hospitality student’s perspective, looking at the operational side of the hostels. Subconsciously, I began to connect many things I had studied at hotel school with my observations. Interestingly, I returned from Italy not just with the most beautiful memories but also a potential topic for my master’s thesis!

Honestly, it was one of the biggest motivations for me to get back to academics after a month of living the the ultimate European summer dream. And yes, I did write my thesis on backpacker hostels in Italy. For my focus group, I got help from people I had met at those hostels, and I thoroughly enjoyed the entire process!

This was my second brief association with hostels. At some point, I did feel I could choose it as my focal career path.

But yet again, life happened, and I did something else. I did my internships in Switzerland, went to Chicago. Throughout this time, I was working in hotels and loved it way more than I had expected. Not a single day did I regret choosing the hotelier life.

That is probably why I was not really happy about the fact that I wouldn’t be working for at least six months due to some visa requirements. After a little reflection (and insights from my mum), I realized I was getting six precious months to do absolutely anything I wanted to. Instantly, I thought about my missed chance of taking the gap year before the pandemic. The first thing I thought of was volunteering at a hostel! It made the part of me happy that was going to miss the hotelier life. It still wasn’t a full-time job and seemed like a nice option to also explore India a bit.

Around January, I sat down to list all the hostels I might like to volunteer at. I noticed there were way more options than the last time I checked. Some chains, some independent. My personal inclination was towards the chains as they felt more reliable and trustworthy. I shortlisted a few places I liked and one afternoon, I sent my application to all. It took from days to weeks to hear back from most of them. I had a few calls and interviews. What made me go ahead with the hostel chain I am currently with was purely one 30-minute call with the founder and owner. (Which in itself is a blog in working)

Oh wait, I still haven’t mentioned where I am! I am volunteering at Madpackers Hostel in Jaipur.

One of my favourite wall arts at the hostel <3

Coming back to the interview,

I had my interview with the founder of Madpackers. There was a bit of back and forth on my application as I had time constraints, and they needed more interns. But like always, it worked out in the end.

This was my story of how I found my way to Hostel Volunteering.

I will soon write more about how it works and what I actually do. So stay tuned!