Hostel room rate hikes have pushed the cost of staying in an eight-person dorm to $600 a week, and are pricing working backpackers out of the Queenstown market.

Multi-bed dorms in backpacker hostels were once the cheap go-to for young seasonal workers and visitors.

That doesn’t appear to be the case now.

As demand for accommodation continues to outstrip supply, bed rates are going through the roof, especially in peak winter.

To rent a two-metre-long pod, in an eight-pod room in Jucy Snooze, will set you back $600 a week, or $85.70 a night, nearly double the $45 a pod night rate that was charged when the hostel opened in April, 2018.

English backpacking worker Callum Wilkins says a sudden spike in the bed rate at nearby Nomads Hostel for the July school holidays sent him scrambling for alternative accommodation.

Wilkins had been paying $350 a week for a bed in a 10-bed dorm at the hostel up until last week when the rates shot up to over $500 a week.

That was unsustainable on his bartending wage.

Nomads has a seven-day limit on stays and prices of beds do fluctuate depending on availability, dropping to between $50 and $68 a night in a dorm when space frees up in late July after the school holidays.

Wilkins has since left the backpackers and hired a Jucy van with a mate for a fortnight, “staying all over the place, wherever we can find parking”.

He’s paying about the same for the van as he was at Nomads before the spike, but says it’s working out cheaper because he now has transport to go skiing.

Wilkins is ‘‘very surprised’’ accommodation costs are so high here.

‘‘Other places I’ve stayed around Europe I’ve found accommodation for the equivalent of $35 a night.’’

Most backpacking workers he knows are struggling to find and afford accommodation in town, a point backed up by Queenstown Housing Initiative co-founder Lindsay Waterfield.

‘‘People are buying flights back to the UK or Australia after spending all their savings staying in a hostel for a month … which is exacerbating the worker shortage,’’ Waterfield says.

‘‘$600 a week to stay in a pod with seven other people is unfathomable.

‘‘These businesses are operating at such an exploitative level when they know it’s a critical crisis, our town is in a crisis situation and they still want to rise the prices up.

‘‘I get it, I understand that they are a business, but you know most people staying in a hostel are [temporary] locals, workers, so why not give them a bit of a break and show a bit of compassion for your neighbours?

‘‘If there were houses available, people wouldn’t be choosing to stay [in hostels].’’

Waterfield calls for hostel operators to allocate rooms at cheaper rates for longer-term stays ‘‘at prices people can afford’’.

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