How Booking Works

Booking a bed, from the fee to the day you move in

Booking a room on HostelPalika holds one bed for you at a real hostel while you get there. This page is the whole process: what you pay, who decides what, and every deadline on the way.

How much money comes back if a booking ends early is set out in the refund policy.

What a booking is

  • You pay a booking fee to HostelPalika, not to the hostel, and we ask the hostel to hold one bed of that room type for you.
  • The fee is 7% of one month's rent for that room type. You see the exact amount in rupees before you pay anything.
  • It is not rent, admission fee or deposit. The hostel charges those in the ordinary way when you move in.
  • One booking at a time: finish or cancel the one you have before you start another.

Before you can book

  • The hostel has to be live here, taking bookings, and have a free bed of the room type you want. If it does not, the Book button says so instead of taking your money.
  • You sign in with your own account and it needs an email address: the invoice, the receipt and every step below are emailed to you.
  • You give the eSewa, Khalti or bank account a refund should go to, and accept the refund policy.
  • Someone already living at a hostel cannot book a bed at that same hostel.

Step by step

  • Pick the room type and book. We raise your invoice straight away and email it to you.
  • Pay the fee to our collection QR and send the screenshot. A booking with no screenshot closes after 24 hours, and it owes nothing and holds nothing.
  • We check the screenshot within 24 hours and email you the receipt. If something is wrong with it we say why, and you can send another.
  • The hostel then has 24 hours to confirm or decline. We tell you either way.
  • Once it confirms, one bed is held for you for 7 days, counted in 24-hour blocks from that moment.
  • Move in inside that window. The hostel scans your HostelPalika ID card, the held bed becomes yours, and the booking is finished.

The deadlines

  • Send your screenshot within 24 hours of booking.
  • We answer it within 24 hours.
  • The hostel answers within 24 hours of our check. If it never answers, the booking ends and you get the whole fee back.
  • The bed is held for 7 days from the moment the hostel confirms, and we remind you 24 hours before the hold runs out.
  • If you have not moved in when the hold ends, the booking ends as a no-show and the bed goes back to the hostel.

Changing your mind

  • Cancel from My bookings whenever you like. The screen shows exactly what comes back before you press anything.
  • Cancel before the hostel confirms and the whole fee comes back.
  • After it confirms, what comes back depends on which day of the hold you cancel on. The refund policy lists every step.
  • Refunds go to the account you gave when you booked. We send them by hand and email you the amount and the transaction ID.

If you run a hostel

  • The Book button appears on your listing once bookings are switched on, your listing is live and the account we pay you into is verified. Add it under Bookings → Settings; we check it before any payout.
  • Every request waits for you under Bookings. You have 24 hours from our payment check to confirm or decline, and we remind you before it runs out.
  • Confirming holds one bed of that room type for 7 days. Admit the person the normal way, by scanning their ID card in Register a new resident, and the held bed becomes theirs.
  • Whatever is not refunded is shared: 60% to the hostel, the rest to HostelPalika. We send your share by hand and email a payout advice with the transaction ID.
  • Missing an answer, or cancelling a booking you had confirmed, counts as a missed booking. 3 of them inside 30 days pauses the Book button on your hostel until we turn it back on.
  • Declining a request in time costs you nothing.

The money side

What comes back if a booking ends early, step by step, is on the refund policy.