Staying in a hostel dorm for the first time? It’s easier than you think — and most people take to it naturally. The basics come down to one simple idea: a little consideration goes a long way when you’re sharing a space with strangers.
At The Cocoon, we’ve hosted thousands of guests over the years — solo travellers, couples, first-timers, and seasoned backpackers. The tips below are the things that genuinely make a difference to everyone’s experience. Follow these and you’ll fit right in.
Be Quiet After 10pm
This is the golden rule of dorm life. After 10pm, the dorm shifts into quiet mode. People are winding down, reading, or already asleep — and a good night’s rest is exactly what most people came here for.
In practice that means:
- Voices low — whispered conversations in the room are fine. Full-volume chat, laughter in the corridor, or loud phone calls are not.
- No hairdryers after 10pm. They’re surprisingly disruptive in a shared room. If you need to dry your hair, do it before ten.
- Phones on silent — including alarm previews, notification sounds, and video audio.
If you’re a natural night owl sharing with early risers, the effort is appreciated. Early birds — the same courtesy applies at 5am.
Leaving Early? Pack Your Bag the Night Before
If you have an early checkout — anything before 8am — please pack your bag the night before.
Rustling bags, zips, and rucksack shuffling in the dark is one of the most reliably sleep-disrupting things in a dorm. It’s not intentional, but it’s very real. Ten minutes of preparation the night before saves everyone an hour of disturbed sleep.
Leave your essentials (passport, phone, tomorrow’s clothes) on top or somewhere easy to grab. Everything else: packed and ready before you go to sleep.
The Air Con: Keep It Running
We’ve set the air conditioning to run through the night, and we ask that guests keep it on.
The comfortable range is 23–26°C. If you’re cold, nudge it toward 26. If you’re warm, nudge it toward 23. Please don’t switch it off entirely — a hot, stuffy dorm at 3am affects everyone’s sleep, including yours.
If you’re genuinely struggling with the temperature, come and speak to us at reception and we’ll help sort it out.
Don’t Switch Bunks
Your assigned bunk is yours for your stay. Please don’t move to a different bed, even if another one looks empty.
Beds that appear empty may belong to a guest who’s out for the day, checking in later, or storing their belongings. Switching causes confusion and occasionally a rather awkward middle-of-the-night situation. Stick with your assigned bunk and everything runs smoothly.
Keep the Dorm Space Clear
A tidy dorm is a comfortable dorm — for you and everyone sharing it.
- Keep walkways clear — the space between bunks should always be passable. Bags, shoes, and belongings left in the aisle are a trip hazard, especially in the dark.
- Keep bunk ladders clear — don’t hang bags, towels, or clothes on the ladders to the top bunks. Other guests need to use them safely.
- Hang wet clothes outside — there’s a hanging rack provided outside for this. Wet towels and swimwear left inside the dorm raise humidity and make the room feel damp for everyone.
- Keep toiletries in your numbered basket — each bunk has a corresponding basket for toiletries and small personal items. Please use yours to keep things organised and easy to find.
Rinse the Sand Off Before You Come In
Koh Samet’s sand is famously fine and white — and it gets everywhere. Before you come back into the hostel after the beach, please use the hose outside to rinse your feet.
It takes about ten seconds and makes a real difference to the cleanliness of the dorm floor, the common area, and the bedding. Sand tracked through the building is one of those small things that quietly irritates everyone — including you, once it’s in your sheets.
The hose is right outside the entrance. You can’t miss it.
Keep the Common Areas Tidy
The common area works well when everyone treats it as shared space.
- Used cups and bowls — please put them in the green bowl provided. That’s the signal for us that something needs washing. Don’t leave them on tables or counters.
- Food waste — bin it straight away, don’t leave it out.
- Your belongings — feel free to spread out and relax, but be mindful of shared surfaces. Other guests need space too.
How to Use the Coffee Filter Pot
We have a proper filter coffee pot in the common area — here’s how it works:
- Fill the water tank at the back of the machine to the level you want (marked on the side).
- Check the reusable mesh filter is sitting correctly in the basket — it lives in the machine permanently, no need to add anything.
- Add ground coffee to the mesh filter — one heaped tablespoon per cup is a good guide. The coffee is on the shelf above.
- Slide the basket closed and press the On button.
- Wait around 5–8 minutes. The coffee drips through into the jug below.
- Pour and enjoy. The keep-warm plate will hold the temperature, but coffee left for more than 30–40 minutes starts to taste bitter.
When you’re done: tip the used grounds into the bin and leave the machine ready for the next person. If the mesh filter needs a rinse, just ask at reception and we’ll take care of it — we don’t have a public tap in the common area.
Using the Toilet: A Quick Note on Island Plumbing
Thai plumbing on islands like Koh Samet isn’t built to handle toilet paper — and blocked pipes are a genuine problem that affects the whole building.
Here’s the correct approach:
- Use the bidet attachment (the hand-held hose next to the toilet — known as a “bum gun”) to clean yourself after using the toilet.
- Dry yourself with tissue — a small amount is all you need.
- Put the tissue in the bin next to the toilet. Not in the bowl.
This is completely standard practice across Thailand, and you’ll find it in homes, guesthouses, and restaurants throughout the country. Once you’ve tried it, most people prefer it anyway.
If the bin is full, let us know and we’ll sort it. Please don’t flush tissue — it’s a small habit that prevents a very unpleasant problem for everyone.
Use Your Locker
Each guest has access to a locker — please use it for your passport, cards, cash, and anything else you’d rather not lose.
Not because we have a theft problem. We don’t. But hostels attract a high turnover of strangers by design, and leaving valuables loose on your bunk or in an open bag is an unnecessary risk. A locked locker takes the issue off the table entirely.
Keep Food Out of the Dorm
Please don’t bring food into the dorm room — snacks, takeaway, fruit, anything.
In a tropical climate, food smells travel fast and attract insects quickly. What seems like a harmless bag of crisps on the bunk can turn into an ant problem for the whole room by morning. Keep eating to the common area, where it’s easier to clean up and air out.
Use a Torch, Not the Main Light
If you’re coming in late or getting up before the rest of the room, please don’t switch the main light on. Even briefly, it’s enough to wake light sleepers.
Use your phone torch instead — or better still, a small headlamp if you have one. It’s worth keeping it accessible before you go to sleep so you’re not fumbling for it in the dark.
Be Mindful of Shower Timing
We have good showers with strong pressure — one of the things guests consistently mention. But at peak times, a little awareness of others goes a long way.
The busiest windows tend to be early morning before the beach and early evening on the way back. If you can be reasonably efficient during those times, or shift your shower slightly outside the rush, it means no one’s waiting too long. There’s no hard rule here — just common sense.
Keep the Dorm Door Closed
Please keep the dorm door closed when you’re going in and out — don’t leave it propped open.
Koh Samet is a tropical island and insects are part of life here. An open dorm door for five minutes is enough to let mosquitoes in that will then bother your roommates all night. It takes a second to pull it shut behind you and it makes a genuine difference.
One Alarm. Get Up When It Goes Off.
Morning alarms in a shared dorm deserve their own mention.
Set one alarm, at the time you actually need to get up. Not four alarms across forty minutes of snoozing. If you’re a heavy sleeper, set it a little earlier rather than letting it repeat through everyone else’s morning.
Once it goes off — get up, or silence it immediately. A single alarm is something most people sleep through. A recurring snooze cycle at 6am is considerably harder to ignore.
A Word From Us
The Cocoon works because the people who stay here are generally good people who want the same thing: a decent sleep, a clean space, and a calm base to explore from.
None of this is complicated — it’s just the stuff that makes shared living genuinely enjoyable for everyone. We’re here if you need anything, from recommendations and transport help to local tips from May or just a chat over that filter coffee.
Enjoy Koh Samet. It’s a good island.
— Nick & May