If you’re looking for Barcelona hostel jobs you’re in the right place! Hostels in Barcelona Spain are always on the lookout for staff for all kinds of hostel work, for both full-time employees and part-time volunteers. I’ll help you find work in the best Barcelona hostels, whether you live here and need a job, or if you want a way to travel and work in exchange for accommodation. There are various ways to find hostel jobs in Barcelona, so let’s get started and find the perfect one for you!
What Are the Benefits of Working in a Hostel in Barcelona?
If you’re just thinking about working in a hostel and haven’t made your mind up yet, working in a hostel offers a range of unique benefits, and Barcelona hostels are no different – just with the added bonus that you will be working in the wonderful city of Barcelona!
One of the main benefits of hostel work (especially for volunteers) is that you get free or subsidized accommodation, which makes living in Barcelona much cheaper, especially as rental prices are so expensive.
Hostels are often in central areas of the city so you’ll have easy access to local attractions and be able to get to know Barcelona really well. With guests arriving from all over the world, and an international team, you’ll have lots of opportunities to meet people, make friends and have a great time in Barcelona.
Working in a hostel also provides practical benefits and career development opportunities, and you will gain valuable work experience, learning skills in hospitality, customer service, and event planning, depending on your role. Hostel work often doesn’t need much previous experience as you’ll learn on the job, so it’s a great way to get started in the hospitality industry or find a job relatively easily if you’re willing to give it a go.
Some hostels provide additional benefits such as free meals, discounts on local tours and activities, and access to community projects or sustainability initiatives. Flexible working hours also mean you’ll have plenty of time to explore Barcelona when you’re not at work!
Types of Hostel Jobs Available
There are various kinds of hostel jobs you might do – some larger hostels might have specific roles for each job, or smaller hostels might expect you to muck in and do a bit of everything.
- Receptionist: Welcoming guests, checking them in and showing them where everything is. Dealing with complaints.
- Housekeeping: Cleaning bedrooms, bathrooms and common areas, changing beds
- Event Coordinator: Planning activities like free tours, BBQs or pub crawls, encouraging guests to interact.
- Bartender/Café Worker: Serving drinks and snacks, chatting with guests, cleaning up.
- General Assistant: A mix of jobs, usually desk-based or organisational tasks although it can vary
Volunteering & Work Exchanges at Hostels in Barcelona
For backpackers, budget travellers, and beginner digital nomads, work exchanges are a great way to work and travel as you can extend your travels and save money on accommodation.
Doing a work exchange in Barcelona means that you work in exchange for accommodation and other benefits, giving your time and skills for a few hours a day for a free bed for the night. Then you can explore the city in your spare time and experience everything Barcelona has to offer!
Another major benefit of this kind of volunteering position is being able to spend more time in Barcelona. The longer you spend here, the more you’ll get to know the city and explore beyond the typical tourist spots, becoming friends with your fellow workers, and neighbours and feeling like part of the community.
You’ll also learn a lot about Catalan and Spanish culture, as well as learning lots about the people you work with – who could be from all over the world. This kind of cultural exchange is a really important part of travel and changes how you see the world.
If you’re learning Spanish or Catalan then working in a hostel in Barcelona is a great way to improve your language skills too, as you will be speaking to guests from other parts of Spain as well as colleagues and other staff members and suppliers from Barcelona and Catalonia.
How to Find Volunteer Work in Barcelona Hostels
Some hostels in Barcelona may advertise their job vacancies on their website or social media, or on the noticeboard inside the hostel – and you can do it the old-fashioned way and go and ask someone who already works there. The hostel staff might give you the lowdown on what the job is like too.
That’s great if you are already in Barcelona, but if you prefer to arrange a placement before you go a work exchange website is the easiest and safest way to do that.
Bear in mind that Barcelona hostel jobs over the summer will be in high demand as students and travellers all want to spend time in this wonderful city. You may have more chance of securing work if you come to Barcelona in the shoulder or off-season when students are back at college.
If you want your application to volunteer in Barcelona to really stand out, check out this guide to getting your dream work exchange job, with tips on how to find the best work exchange opportunities, how to rock your application and what to do once you’ve secured a placement.
Work Exchange Platforms
Work exchange sites like Workaway and Worldpackers allow potential hosts to upload available placements for potential volunteers to apply for, just like a normal job website.
However, these hostel jobs in Barcelona will not usually be for paid work, they are for more casual agreements that could also be seen as cultural exchanges, which means you shouldn’t need a work visa to be able to do it.
That said, you should always check if Spain requires you to have a work visa, even for volunteer work like this. When you arrive in Spain if immigration at the airport asks you why you are coming here, unless you have a paid job lined up and a work visa, it is probably best to say you are here for tourism to avoid any confusion.
Worldpackers in Barcelona
My preferred exchange website is Worldpackers. It is free to join and browse available positions, then you need to become a paying member in order to contact potential hosts and arrange placements.
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There are some amazing Worldpackers placements available for hostel work in Barcelona, and many of the host hostels are top-rated which means you can look forward to a fantastic work and hostel experience:
- Work the night shift at Fabrizzio’s Petit Hostel (one of my personal favourite hostels in Barcelona and a top host on Worldpackers) to check in guests and keep the common areas tidy and quiet. You’ll work for 24 hours a week with 4 full days off and get extra benefits like free breakfast and dinner and free tours. >> READ MORE
- Work as a tour guide, kitchen hand and help with social events at Bed & Bike Hostel. You’ll work for 25 hours a week with 2 days off and get free dinner and free use of the hostel bikes. >> READ MORE
- Work on reception at Fabrizzio’s Terrace Hostel, working for 24 hours a week with 4 days off with free breakfast included >>READ MORE
- Work as a kitchen hand and housekeeper at Casa Camp Nou Hostel, working for 25 hours a week with 2 days off >>READ MORE
- Work in B-Garden Hostel as a receptionist and cleaner, with some night shifts. You’ll work 24 hours a week with 2 days off and free breakfast. >>READ MORE
- Work hard and play hard at this party hostel job at Onefam hostels Barcelona. Promote and host events and work behind the bar. >>>READ MORE
There are lots more hostel jobs in Barcelona on Worldpackers, you can browse the options here to find one which works for you.
Alternatively, if you decide you don’t want to work in a hostel in Barcelona, there are plenty of other volunteer jobs you can do, from social media and web design to cooking in an NGO. You don’t need to work in a hostel, there are other jobs in Barcelona with accommodation provided for free – take a look at all Worldpackers job opportunities in Barcelona here.
Why I Recommend Worldpackers
Worldpackers is unique among work exchange sites because of the level of support they offer to members. They have several safety measures in place including 24/7 support to volunteers and hosts, through a dedicated email address on the website to get in touch, or through their app.
All hosts go through a verification process before they are approved to welcome volunteers and you can read reviews from previous Worldpackers, and even contact them for more information if you like.
Should you need to leave a placement due to the host not honouring your exchange agreement, Worldpackers offer their “WP Safeguard” which means they will help you to find a new placement and cover the cost of a bed in a nearby hostel dorm for between 3-14 nights until they find you an alternative placement.
The number of nights you get for free as part of the WP Safeguard program depends on the level of your membership, with Pack and Pack+ plans getting priority support and more nights.
Earn Money with Worldpackers
Another huge benefit of Worldpackers is the chance to actually earn money while you travel with Worldpackers Programs. Once you have completed some work exchanges on Worldpackers you can get paid to share advice with other travellers and for creating video or blog content about your experiences.
Not only does Worldpackers get you a job with free accommodation in Barcelona but it can pay for the rest of your travels too!
I’ve personally used Worldpackers to volunteer and I love the site and how easy it was to find a placement and get a quick response from hosts compared to previous experiences I’ve had with Workaway. Check out my full review of my Worldpackers experience on Tales of a Backpacker to find out what I got up to.
Barcelona Workaway Jobs
Workaway is the largest and best-known work exchange website, so I also wanted to mention it here even though I prefer Worldpackers.
Workaway has a huge number of volunteer placements available all around the world although I didn’t find any Workaway Barcelona hostel jobs.
It seems that Workaway now requires hosts to pay a wage to any volunteers helping with a business or business activity, so most Barcelona hostels have stopped hosting on Workaway. Most of the available placements on Workaway in Barcelona are for families who need help with childcare or maintenance of their homes instead of businesses like hostels.
In any case, I much prefer volunteering through Worldpackers because I find their support and added extras like the Worldpackers Programs to be better value for money – especially with this discount code.
Paid Hostel Jobs in Barcelona
Unless you are a resident of the EU, getting a job in Barcelona isn’t as easy as just applying for whatever you like. To find paid work in Barcelona you need to be legally able to work, so either with a Spanish work visa or be an EU resident which allows you to work in Europe freely.
Sadly, since Brexit, British people are not eligible to work in Spain unless they have a specific work visa or live in Barcelona and have the correct paperwork to allow work here.
Unemployment in Spain is around 18%, so there may be strong competition for work in Barcelona, but if you’re fluent in English and can speak Spanish (and/or Catalan) then that puts you in a good position to apply for hospitality jobs in Barcelona.
How to Find Hostel Jobs in Barcelona
If you are legally able to work in Barcelona and are looking for paid hostel jobs in Barcelona or anywhere in Spain, there are various ways you can find available positions to work in hostels.
Contact Hostels Directly
Some hostels may advertise job vacancies on their website or social media, so do some research on the best hostels in Barcelona and see if they are hiring staff. Don’t be afraid to go into the hostel and check the noticeboard or speak to one of the members of staff on reception to see if there are any vacancies.
Sant Jordi Hostels Barcelona for example have a dedicated page on their website for jobs at their three hostels in Barcelona, including an application form to complete.
Generator Hostel Barcelona is part of a large chain of hostels, and they advertise current vacancies on their website for everything from chefs to reservations executives and front office staff at all of their locations around the world.
One Fam by Hostel One is a chain with hostels in several cities in Europe and four hostels in Barcelona – Sants, Batllo, Ramblas and Paralelo. They are all highly rated by travellers so should be a great place to work too. They have a contact form to complete on their website (in the bottom menu in the page footer click on Be Part of Team).
I found these websites easily with a quick Google search, but there may well be more. You could work your way through a list of hostels in Barcelona and check each of their hostel websites in turn, which takes longer than browsing job websites but you could find some jobs that aren’t advertised anywhere else.
Barcelona Job Websites
As well as checking with individual hostels, you can try hostel job websites to see if any hostel positions are listed as available.
I tried a website called hosteljobs.net but found that the listings hadn’t been updated for several years so I wouldn’t recommend that!
Hosteleo is a Spanish job website specific to the hospitality industry, so you can find work in hostels, hotels, restaurants, bars and nightclubs. It is in Spanish, so if you’re fluent you’ve already got a head start on anyone who doesn’t speak much Spanish.
Turijobs is another hospitality-specific job board, and while the website has a Spanish and English version, most of the vacancies I saw were written in Spanish.
For general Barcelona job listings, take a look at Indeed, which also lists available positions in any industry.
Jooble also collates listings from several job websites so you can see various positions that are available.
Networking
Use LinkedIn to see if any of your connections know people who may be able to recommend you for any positions. LinkedIn can be a really powerful way to connect with employers in Barcelona, especially if you already have experience in the industry.
There are also various groups on LinkedIn where you can look for work, such as ex-pat groups like Guiri Business Network which covers the whole of Spain or Barcelona Jobs group which is specific to the city.
Facebook can also be a place to find opportunities but do be wary of scams and spam posts. Some groups are supposed to be specifically for finding and advertising jobs in Barcelona (just search for Barcelona Jobs on Facebook) but a lot of the posts seemed a bit dodgy to me!
You might have more luck in groups such as Barcelona Expats and Locals or the American Society of Barcelona which have more general advice about living in Barcelona with some job listings. However, overall I’d recommend LinkedIn over Facebook for finding work in Barcelona and Spain.
Where are the Best Hostels in Barcelona to Work?
There are a lot of hostels in Barcelona, so hopefully, you’ll be able to find work in at least one of them. But if you have a choice between several hostels (lucky you!) which one should you choose?
First of all, take a look at what work you are expected to do. Is it the night shift? Will you be cleaning rooms and toilets or welcoming guests at the reception?
Then, see what benefits you will get. If it is a paid hostel job, how much will you earn? If it is a volunteer position, how many hours are you expected to work, and what benefits will you get in return? Also, make sure you read the reviews from previous volunteers.
You might also want to check what kind of hostel it is – some have a reputation for being party hostels, while others are more chilled out, so choose one which fits your preferences.
Finally, which hostel is it? If it is clear from the information on the job advertisement which hostel it is, take a look at the reviews on Hostelworld. Chances are, a hostel with good reviews will also be a good place to work.
The top hostels in Barcelona include:
- Barcelona Central Garden (check reviews on Hostelworld here)
- Onefam Hostels Barcelona (several locations)
- Primavera Hostel (check reviews on Hostelworld here)
- Fabrizzio’s Petit (apply on Worldpackers here)
- Yeah Hostel Barcelona (check reviews on Hostelworld here)
What Does it Take to Work in a Hostel?
Before becoming a travel blogger I worked in the hospitality industry for years, including working for Marriott Hotels in their events team, and then while travelling I worked in several hostels doing work exchanges. I had a job as a hostel manager, interviewing and managing a team of hostel volunteers.
For work exchanges, there is usually a minimum period you will be expected to work, so that the hosts don’t spend lots of time training people who just work for a few days and then leave. Many of the volunteer hostel jobs in Barcelona listed on Worldpackers ask for a minimum of four weeks, but you can find some with a minimum of one or two weeks.
For full-time or part-time positions, the hostels may just be looking for more staff to cover busy periods like the summer holidays, or for permanent employees to work in the hostel throughout the year.
If you’ve never worked in a hostel before, you should think carefully if it is the right job for you. Working in a hostel in Barcelona or anywhere in the world can be great fun, but it is still a job – don’t be fooled into thinking it’s all play and no work!
Some hostel work you might be expected to do could include:
- Welcoming guests at reception
- Cleaning bedrooms and changing bedsheets
- Cleaning bathrooms and social areas
- Preparing and serving breakfast for guests
- Working the night shift to welcome late arrivals
- Arranging and hosting hostel social events in the hostel
- Hosting activities outside the hostel like walking tours or pub crawls
Check the job description of each position to see exactly what you are applying for, but be prepared to be flexible.
As for you, to work in a hostel in Barcelona some of the key skills and abilities that hostels look for in staff include:
- Speaking different languages – Spanish and English are usually preferred but other languages will be beneficial for interactions with hostel guests.
- Self-motivation and enthusiasm
- Being friendly, fun and easy-going
- High level of organization
- Responsible, proactive and creative so you can handle any situation you might come across!
- Relevant work experience might not be required, especially for volunteer positions, so you might be able to find Barcelona hostel jobs with no experience needed.
- However, previous experience in the hostel or hospitality industry will be a plus, as well as other work experience like managing a team or working in other countries.
I loved my time working in hostels, although it can get tiring when you’re volunteering as you sleep where you work, and guests will often ask you things when you’re not officially working. But that’s all part of the job, and getting to enjoy the city in your time off will more than make up for it I’m sure!
Other Jobs in Barcelona with Accommodation Provided
If you’re not sure if you want to work in a hostel in Barcelona, there are other work exchange placements and jobs with accommodation in Barcelona that you might prefer. For example, these placements on Worldpackers:
- Work at a Dog Hotel near Alella – An ideal placement for women who speak Spanish, caring for the animals while their owners are on holiday
- Help on a farm 20 minutes from Barcelona by metro – be close to the city and learn about ecological farming as you work
- Work with an NGO supporting their food bank – do good and enjoy a stay in Barcelona at the same time!
Or you can browse all available placements with Worldpackers Barcelona here