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When I was in Tbilisi (Georgia), during my one week trip, 3 months ago, I found out in some hostels the women only dorm rooms have higher prices than mixed dorm rooms with equal numbers of bed or room size, while there was no men only room!

Is it common in the other countries too to find women only dorm rooms with higher prices than mixed dorm rooms(I do not mean Muslim countries)?

P.S: I didn't write all because I was not able to search for all hostels in a country or a big city rationally! In this situation, common easily means finding such samples in the other countries more than rarely and as an accepted readable or unreadable rule. There were some women only dorm rooms which were smaller with less beds than mixed dorm rooms but there is no reason to give the smaller one to women to get higher charges.

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  • If you already say that there were only "some" hostels doing that, is that really "common"?
    – uncovery
    May 1, 2013 at 1:46
  • I can't say all because I am not able to search for all hostels in a country or big city rationally and it doesn't need any extra explanation as it is obvious! In this situation, common easily means finding such samples in the other country more than rarely.
    – Persian Cat
    May 1, 2013 at 1:52
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    I've never come across this before and I've stayed and worked in lots of hostels, including in Tbilisi. What you do see however is higher prices for smaller dorms and lower prices for larger dorms. If the women-only dorm had fewer beds in it then that would naturally lead to a higher price. Room sizes are dictated by the building you have and it's far more common for women to want to avoid mixed dorms than it is for men though I have had a couple of men specify they only want a single-sex dorm.
    – hippietrail
    May 1, 2013 at 3:21
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    I can imagine there were significantly more mixed dorm rooms than women-only dorm rooms. If the women-only dorm rooms are always fully booked, while the mixed ones are not, I can imagine this choice.
    – Bernhard
    May 1, 2013 at 4:21
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    @AndrewGrimm: There's plenty of females using hostels in Georgia. I'd say close to 50% actually.
    – hippietrail
    May 1, 2013 at 10:34

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Well...this is difficult to answer, because how many is 'common'? However, I've stayed in hostels in Australia, New Zealand, all over Europe, Central and northern Asia, USA/Canada and South America, and I can't recall a time that I've seen them charge EXTRA for female dorms - EXCEPT when there were fewer beds.

Now, it's fairly common to charge more for smaller dorms - fewer snorers, people to steal your stuff or whatever. It's more common to sometimes put an excess on some rooms to make them 'special' and include breakfast with just those rooms.

I've also seen it where single guys weren't allowed to stay in the mixed dorm room - only couples, which I'd say was bordering on discrimination. This was in Philadelphia, US. But it was the same price as the all-male dorm room.

I think, as @hippietrail commented, in most western countries this practise would be considered gender discrimination - charging people extra based on their gender, although I think a good lawyer could argue it's charging for security. However, for whatever the reason, I can confirm that no, it's not common at all, and if I saw a woman being charged extra for this, I'd certainly be arguing discrimination.

However, I've not stayed in many hostels in SE Asia, Africa or the Middle East (although I've been to a few countries in these areas, for whatever reason I stayed in guesthouses or hotels), and perhaps in those cultures it may be different.

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    How is it discrimination? The woman is perfectly entitled to stay in the mixed dorm if she wants. She's not being forced to be charged extra, she just has an option to pay extra if she so desires.
    – starsplusplus
    Feb 7, 2014 at 13:07
  • Sure, if it's available. But say only mens and female dorms are left, and the female ones cost more, then she is being charged more than a guy would staying at the same place.
    – Mark Mayo
    Feb 7, 2014 at 13:11
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    Ah I didn't consider you were comparing to male-only dorms. From my experience they are a lot less common than mixed or female. If it was the case that the female dorm was more expensive then the male equivalent then we are of course talking about discrimination. The OP however was only comparing prices between female and mixed.
    – starsplusplus
    Feb 7, 2014 at 13:14
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Yes. It's obviously natural and logic way to do.

If you have women-only dorms, you risk being not able to take extra backpacker even when you technically have free places (if they happen to be in female dorm and the backpacker is male) so they actually costs you more. You don't want to have a lot of female-only dorms so you want to discourage girls from using them and encourage them to choose mixed dorm instead (because it's cheaper).

Many women don't want to sleep in the same room with the unfamiliar men (for any reason), and it's why the hostels have the female-only dorms anyway.

It's not a discrimination that single-sex rooms are more expensive, because women are allowed to choose mix room if they want. Only because some of them don't want, hostels provide single-sex rooms as the extra service. I haven't ever seen a male-only dorm in a hostel, but it's simply because (generally speaking, in european culture) men wouldn't be interested in paying more only to have the guarantee to have guys only in the room (and probably more mess and more snoring).

Please note that my remark is for, generally speaking, 'Western-culture' countries. There are some countries which object unfamiliar men and women in the same dorm for religious grounds.

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  • The financial aspect you mention might make sense. However I believe no hostel would risk being accused of gender discrimination just to make a few extra bucks.
    – JoErNanO ♦
    Dec 10, 2014 at 14:57
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    @JoErNanO but there's no discrimination. Women pay exactly the same - when they choose the mixed room. And single sex rooms are more expensive because they are more problematic to utilize.
    – Danubian Sailor
    Dec 10, 2014 at 15:09
  • The question is about women paying more to use female-only dorms. This could be interpreted as gender discrimination, as pointed out in the other answers and comments.
    – JoErNanO ♦
    Dec 10, 2014 at 15:16
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    @JoErNanO women are not paying more to use female-only dorms is not discrimination because men can't use it. Lack of men-only dorms could be perceived as discrimination, however it's very unlikely, because people wanting to sleep only in one-sex rooms tend to be only women.
    – Danubian Sailor
    Dec 10, 2014 at 15:22

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