Accommodation as a backpacker in India

Sleeping in a tent in Jaisalmer

I want to talk about accommodation as unlike most of SE Asia, I have stayed within a greater range of accommodation types (whilst keeping within the reasonable price range of a budget orientated backpacker).
During my two months here I've learned that within the industry, there is a 'grey' zone which largely comprises of the lower-medium price range.  This 'grey' zone is what I consider to be a range in which the WIFI doesn't really work and the specified price is not really reflective in the level of service or facilities.

Lets assume you start at 100 rupees (INR) per night and work your way up in 50 rupee increments - at each increment, keeping a record of the quality of the service, facilities, and overall experience. I think every place falls onto a handful of distinct categories and this is how I interpreted my experiences while travelling in India....

100-250 INR. This is the budget hostel zone. Difficult to find outside of the heavily populated backpacker hot-spots. There may be hidden strings attached (such as a slightly expensive restaurant, a walking tour or even a commission-based activity booking service) which you may be able to avoid if you have a strong will.  There is a higher chance that the majority of your fellow hostel dwellers are Indian which can be a bad thing depending on how socially aware they are.
(In my experience, Indians are notorious for talking loudly on the phone at ungodly hours of the morning with no consideration for other people trying to sleep. This said, those who are highly educated or working in a professional capacity tend not to do this.)
Front-of-house tend to speak good enough English although don't be surprised if most of the people sharing the dorm room don't.
Breakfast is not typically included within this price range however at this price it doesn't come as a surprise, this isn't Vietnam!
There is a chance that bathroom facilities will have taken a hit in the name of space efficiency, especially in urban areas. By this I mean having to sit on the toilet diagonally because your legs don't fit in the front.
You may not have AC in your room or the WIFI might be shit but much like my earlier comment on breakfast, you can't really complain about this kind of stuff at this price. A place to sleep and a bathroom is really all you're getting. There are always exceptions to the rule however, and I was able to find a very nice hostel in Jaisalmer for 100 INR.

With a roof terrace

And a bay window bed.

250-400 INR. This is what I consider the standard hostel price. This is a price range you would encounter in many countries like Malaysia, Thailand (Bangkok), Indonesia (Java),  These can easily be found in nearly every place where tourists can be found. Some of the major Indian hostel chains compete within this bracket and with fierce competition come great deals for buyers. 'GoStops' and 'LaVaca', and 'Mr Moustache' are 3 names I saw brandished around quite often during my hostel scouting.  You will find most of the customers are foreign backpackers although it's still possible to find a decent number of Indians in some locations. Because of the competition, a lot of places within this range either include breakfast or offer it at a nominal cost.  Breakfast is a fixed set (ie not unlimited) and usually consists of toast, chai, scrambled/boiled eggs and some jam.
Front-of-house staff here tend to speak quite good English, to the point where they can even tell jokes from time to time. Service staff don't really speak English although I'm not sure if it's even possible to find service staff who speak conversational level English.

These places will usually have a rooftop terrace common area. It's common to find floor seating arrangements with low tables surrounded by thin mattresses and cushions. It is believed that this type of fit out is the optimum environment for millennials and people who like to smoke hashish.
Dorm rooms may be fitted with individual fans instead of AC, however this seems to be places which fall on the lower end of this grouping.

Mattress seating

450-500 INR. 'Luxury' hostels. There is an upmarket hostel chain called 'Zostel'. AC dorms is all I can say. I believe at this price range, you're likely to run into young middle or upper middle class Indians.


500-1500 INR.  You're leaving the hostel zone and entering the budget private room zone. On the absolute bottom end of this range you may be sharing a bathroom but the majority will have an ensuite. Hotels within this range almost entirely consist of establishments run under the 'OYO' franchise. I don't know if OYO mandates certain standards across all their hotels but I can say for sure that you'll be greeted by reception staff with rudimentary English speaking skills and service staff who know about 2 words of English.  The customers here seem to be pretty much all Indians although there may be the odd couple from white people land staying at these places.
Expect basic facilities with poorly installed/slightly damaged fixtures as a guarantee. Something in the bathroom will be leaking, the doors hinges will be loud as fuck, or the contractors will have cut massive holes in order to get pipes or wiring through, and then failed to cover it up. At the very least the all tiles or cladding will be of a stone pattern containing zero variation and all installed the same direction, making it looks like a Windows 95 desktop background set to 'tile'.

Wow, did they source those real stones from the Ganga river?? Or were they the cheapest
'stone' tile that they could find

There is a chance that as a foreigner, you may not be given a room. All foreigners must complete an entry into a large record book as mandated by the Federal Indian government.
This bracket of accommodation tends to be quite popular with Indians and so I imagine the extra paperwork of admitting a foreigner might just be a hassle when they could just exclusively fill the place up with locals of whom are not required to complete as much paperwork.

The facilities will consist entirely of rooms and a reception. Don't expect to lounge around in these places.

Fields to complete include: Full name, your fathers name, city where your passport was issued, visa expiry date, next destination, previous destination... the list goes on.

1500-3500? INR. Mid range hotels. Every time I stayed at a place within this range, it seemed like I was getting scammed.
Front of house staff will speak a good enough level of English but not to a conversational level. They will also probably be wearing formal attire and the lobby with be quite nicely decorated. The strength  and or availability of WIFI will be inversely correlated with how well dressed the staff are.
The breakfasts here are usually served on a buffet basis and a usually very good although depending on the number of other guests, you will have to come in early as there is a chance everyone else finishes the food before you arrive (and they don't make more). At the low end of this range, you may encounter some absolute jokes of a breakfast given how much you're paying, If I'm paying $20-25+ a night, I'm going to want more than 4 pieces of toast, 2 boiled eggs and a glass of orange juice.

Your chances of stumbling into other backpackers are very low here and what other foreigners you will meet are probably those who had someone from a tourism office book the place for them.  Most of the clientele will be middle aged Indians followed by middle aged Americans who are probably responsible for the tipping practice which can be seen at almost every tourist restaurant I've visited. If you're staying in these kinds of places as a backpacker, then you might be having an identity crisis (or maybe you were convinced by a smooth salesman into buying a tour package of Rajasthan).

These places tend to hire an abnormal amount of staff, non of whom can speak English.

There may be an attempt at creating a common area however they tend to be half-assed attempts or simply due to the clientele, they go unused as people prefer to stay in their rooms.

Expect people to rip you off big time if you mention you're staying at one of these places.