Job Discussion Forums

[wasted_ace19]

I'm arriving in HCMC on the 13th March, to teach EFL. Clearly, I will eventually be searching for a permanent place to stay...but what should I do for the first week or so?

Like most new arrivals, I will be on a reasonably strict budget; so I pretty much want rock-bottom price. In september, I visited with two friends and we managed to get a room for three for just US$3 each a night, and it was fine. However, this time I'm alone initially so don't expect to find somewhere so cheap.

Are there any hostels with dorms that might offer such a low price?

Despite my obvious preferance for cheap rates, I do need to be somewhere which allows me reasonably easy access to various language schools, so I can apply for jobs as quickly as possible (no point saving a dollar or two a night if it means it takes me an extra day or two to find a job!).

[jb0072009]

Well you have your hostels which I do not know what they charge. District 1 is good to stay in as it is central location. On the streets off Bui Vien there are many good hotels with rooms from $10-$30 per night. It is within walking distance of the Ben Thanh bus station where you can catch buses to other places for interviews plus it has cheap good food

[Tanker]

[blateson]

Prices have indeed gone up, Tanker. Every few months when I see this accomodation question posed either here or on other websites, I can't help but wonder if the respondants even know that these very mediocre guesthouses and mini-hotels costed $4 to $5 a night from 2005 ~ early 2008? Or if they knew that their rates went up with the explosion of inflation, as an excuse, but did not at all decrease back down when inflation also went down? In any event Vietnam really lacks a selection of appropriately priced housing.

[wasted_ace19]

thanks for the advice- i will indeed look into staying in district 1 first.

i have to say though, based on my own meagre experience, some of it seems a tad pessimistic. "$10-30 a night" is clearly too much for someone genuinely "on a budget" (always a rather ambigous phrase!), and during september I was paying just $3 a night along with two friends for a perfectly good room in Pham Ngu Lao. (i.e. total $9 a night).

You may have misunderstood- I'm basically looking for rock-bottom accomodation; not a 'hotel'. However, unlike every other major city I've ever looked up, both Hostelworld.com and hostelbookers.com show up zero "dorm beds" for HCMC (definate gap in the market there for any business-minded people)...but on a smaller site I managed to find one place offering a dorm bed for $6 a night, which I will probably end up going for.

Or, I will try to find two others and go back to the place I stayed in before. $3 a night per person is insane value; it even had an ensuite bathroom and tv (obviously both were poor quality, but hey.)

Like I say, I'm stunned there isn't a "HCMC Backpackers" type establishment screaming from the rooftops on Hostelworld.com...in Hanoi there are two such places offering cheap beds and sociability, as it were`
. In fact, these sorts of places can end up charging quite "high" rates for such limited facilities simply because they allow travellers to meet eachother. I paid twice the amount for a dorm bed in Hanoi than my room in HCMC.

Thanks a lot for the advice- I do appreciate it. And like I say- businessmen, get involved.

[wasted_ace19]

If anyone wants to see for themselves what I mean, go to hostelworld.com and compare the prices available for HCMC and Hanoi. Unbelievable. Under Hanoi there are around eight places advertising dorm beds (or even beds in shared rooms) for under $6 a night- and some of these are as low as $4. HCMC, none at all.

clearly, hostelworld.com isn't the definitive guide...but for many backpackers, it is.

Just as an admitedelly quite far-out aside, then, does anyone know how easy it would be to actually invest in a backpackers business in HCMC?

[corij]

i came across a fellow who had set up a hostel in Beijing just like you imagine doing. he had simply rented an empty complex IN A SLUM(culturally interesting?),bought the beds and various curios ,got into HOSTELWORLD and had been doing it about 1 year and WAS BUSY as hell . i think he thrived on the drama from playing "mein host" but he also was problem solving 24-7 , blocked toilets,lost passports,lost people etc . would you like that ? my guess is that itd be 2 or3 years before he was raking in good money ,he employed a cook *beep* tour guide and he told me it was all cash .

[wasted_ace19]

sounds interesting. I don't have the capital to do this; but anyone out there who does should go for it, like I say.

There simply isn't a "Saigon Backpackers", 20 dorm-bed setup like there is in most major cities worldwide (Hanoi -smaller and less appealing to many backpackers) has at least three of these types of set-up.

The beds alone dont make that much money, but a nice bar area, pool table, laundry sevice, ***TOURS*** ---> lots of potential there.

[jb0072009]

Could be that the Saigon city government does not want any hostels. Getting any kind of business in Vietnam for a foreigner is always difficult. I would bet that many Viet buisnessmen have tried to get permit for hostel and failed. As there are so many hotel rooms in Saigon the city has little reason to accomodate what they would consider low spenders. 8-10 dollars a night for a 2 star room is still pretty cheap, see what you get in Bangkok these days for that price

[MrMrLuckyKhan]

I will only tell you what I know from firsthand experience. I arrived there in the beginning of July 2009, and I was able to find a number of places offering rooms for $5-6. They were all in that backpacker area. I forget the names of the roads (they both intersect at the Wild Buffal; I think that's the name of that place on the corner), but they were mostly on the road near a restaurant called 'CAPPUCCINO.' They were all private rooms and most (if not all) had private bathrooms. The one I stayed at was right across from the Cappuccino restaurant. It was actually a clothing store, but they had a lot of rooms upstairs. I told them I would stay for at least 2 nights if they did it for $4 a night. They agreed. The room was small, but it had a shower with hot water. That whole area has cheap rooms though. Just pop your head in a few places and kindly negotiate with them.

I found that place just by walking down the road and asking for rooms. When I got off the bus (from Phnom Penh) they had all the moto-taxis waiting for people. I asked one to try to help me find a room for about $5 a night, and they all just laughed and said, 'thats impossible, nothing costs less than $10 in this area...' Clearly they just lie to everyone about the prices; remember that.

Good luck!