I've stayed in 50+ hostels. Here are the 7 travelers you should never befriend

Three years ago I was staying at a hostel in Lisbon when this guy rolled in at 2am, absolutely hammered, and proceeded to play Wonderwall on his acoustic guitar while sitting on the floor between our bunks. For thirty minutes. While people were trying to sleep.

Nobody said anything because we were all in that awkward hostel space where you're too polite to call someone out but also fantasizing about throwing their guitar off the balcony.

That's when I realized: some travelers you just need to avoid. Not because they're bad people necessarily, but because befriending them will drain your energy, ruin your trip, or leave you broke and exhausted.

After years of bouncing between hostels and budget hotels across Southeast Asia, Europe, and Central America, I've learned to spot these types from a mile away.

1) The chaos coordinator

You know this person. They show up without a plan, without a reservation, without even checking if the museum they want to visit is open on Tuesdays. Everything becomes an emergency that somehow requires your help to solve.

"Hey, do you know where I can find an ATM?" "Can you help me figure out this train ticket?" "My phone died, can I use yours to call the hostel?"

At first you think you're being helpful. Then you realize you've become their personal concierge.

The constant complainer and the person who can't handle their own logistics tend to be the most draining travel companions.

I met someone like this in Bangkok who couldn't figure out how to use the BTS (the metro system that's literally color-coded and has English signs everywhere). She kept asking me to accompany her places "just to make sure she didn't get lost." After the third time, I had to set boundaries.

The chaos coordinator isn't necessarily incompetent. They've just learned that other people will solve their problems if they look helpless enough.

Don't enable it. Your trip isn't a tutorial for someone who refused to do basic research.

2) The Instagram documentarian

Every meal requires fifteen minutes of photography. Every sunset needs to be captured from eight different angles. Walking anywhere takes twice as long because they need content.

I'm not anti-social media. I post photos. But there's a difference between documenting your trip and experiencing your trip through a phone screen.

Instagram models are often considered the worst type of hostel guest because their entire existence revolves around content creation at the expense of actual human interaction.

Last year in Iceland, I made the mistake of joining a group that included one of these people. We spent twenty minutes at each waterfall while she posed. Twenty minutes. Per waterfall. Iceland has a lot of waterfalls.

The real issue isn't the photos. It's that you become a prop in someone else's feed. You're there to hold their phone, take their picture, wait while they find the perfect light.

And god forbid you accidentally walk into their shot.

These people aren't interested in travel. They're interested in the appearance of travel. And you'll spend more time waiting for them than actually experiencing anything.

3) The competitive traveler

They've been to more countries. Stayed in cheaper hostels. Eaten more authentic food. Taken more dangerous transportation. Had more meaningful interactions with locals.

Everything you do, they've done better, cheaper, or more adventically.

"Oh, you're going to Thailand? I spent six months there. You really haven't experienced it unless you've been to this village in the north that has no name and isn't on any map and I'm not even sure really exists but trust me, it changed my life."

This person keeps score. And in their game, you're always losing.

I've watched these people turn casual conversations about travel into bizarre competitions about who's suffered more for their wanderlust. Like poverty tourism is a badge of honor.

They'll one-up every story you tell. If you got food poisoning, they got hospitalized. If you took a twelve-hour bus, they took a sixteen-hour bus that also broke down and they had to spend the night in a village and it was actually beautiful and transformative.

It's exhausting. Travel shouldn't be a competition. And the person treating it like one is someone you don't want to spend time with.

4) The boundary pusher

They met you yesterday and now they're trying to borrow money. Or stay in your hotel room. Or tag along on your carefully planned day trip that you specifically wanted to do alone.

The person who doesn't respect personal space and boundaries ranks among the most annoying types of travelers.

Boundaries are important when traveling. You need time alone. You need to protect your stuff. You need to say no to plans that don't interest you.

The boundary pusher doesn't get this. Or they get it and don't care.

I had someone at a hostel in Prague who I'd known for literally six hours ask if they could borrow 50 euros. When I said no, they acted like I'd personally insulted them. "I thought we were friends."

We weren't friends. We were hostel acquaintances who'd shared one meal and complained about the wifi.

The boundary pusher will try to make you feel guilty for having reasonable limits. Don't fall for it. Your comfort matters more than their convenience.

5) The perpetual party animal

Look, I like going out. When I was doing music journalism in my twenties, I spent plenty of nights at shows and bars. But there's a time and place.

The perpetual party animal has no off switch. They're drunk at breakfast. They're organizing bar crawls every single night. They think anyone who wants to go to bed before 2am is boring.

And worse, they bring the party back to the hostel and expect everyone to be cool with it.

The drunk person who stumbles in at 3am making noise is one of the most frustrating hostel experiences.

I'm all for having fun. But when your idea of travel is just getting wasted in a different location, why are you even traveling?

These people also tend to be incredibly pushy about their lifestyle. If you don't want to party, they take it personally. They'll call you boring, antisocial, not "really experiencing the culture" (as if culture equals alcohol consumption).

The perpetual party animal is fun for exactly one night. After that, they become the person you actively avoid.

6) The food thief

You labeled your food. You put your name on it. You specifically bought that jar of peanut butter because you have dietary restrictions and it's the one vegan option at this hostel in the middle of nowhere.

And they ate it anyway.

The food thief operates on the assumption that communal spaces mean communal property. Your clearly marked groceries become fair game in their mind.

Food thieves are among the most universally disliked types of travelers because they disrespect both property and effort.

I once had someone steal my leftover pad thai from the hostel fridge in Chiang Mai. I'd been looking forward to that all day after a brutal hike. Coming back to find it gone was genuinely enraging.

The worst part? They never apologize. They act like you're being uptight for caring about "just some food."

But it's not just some food. It's your budget, your time, your energy to go shopping again. And it's the principle that they think your stuff is theirs for the taking.

Avoid befriending these people because they'll extend this philosophy to everything. Your phone charger, your toiletries, your trust.

7) The unwanted tour guide

They've been in the city for three days and now they're an expert. They'll tell you where to eat, what to see, which neighborhoods are "authentic" and which are "tourist traps."

They didn't ask if you wanted their advice. They just assumed you needed it.

This person speaks terrible Spanish/Thai/Italian but will confidently explain local culture to you based on a conversation they had with one taxi driver. They'll correct your pronunciation. They'll suggest "better" restaurants than the one you chose.

Everything becomes a teaching moment where they're the teacher and you're the student who clearly doesn't know anything.

I had someone like this in Mexico City who'd been there for a week and kept trying to tell me, someone who'd spent months traveling through Mexico, about "real Mexican food."

It was condescending and exhausting.

The unwanted tour guide means well, usually. They think they're being helpful. But what they're actually doing is centering themselves in your experience and making it about their knowledge rather than your discovery.

Travel works best when you figure things out yourself. When you make your own mistakes and find your own favorite spots. The unwanted tour guide robs you of that.

The bottom line

Here's what I've learned after years of travel: your energy is limited. Your time is precious. And the people you spend that time with will either enhance your trip or drain it.

You're not obligated to befriend everyone you meet. You're not being rude by protecting your boundaries, your stuff, and your peace.

The chaos coordinator, the Instagram documentarian, the competitive traveler, the boundary pusher, the perpetual party animal, the food thief, and the unwanted tour guide all share one thing in common: they make travel about themselves at everyone else's expense.

And you know what? That's their choice. But it doesn't have to be your problem.

Be polite. Be kind. But also be selective about who you let into your travel experience.

Because the right travel companions will make your trip better. The wrong ones will make you wish you'd just stayed home.