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My Experience Working for Accommodation in Australia: Is It Worth It?

If you want to live and travel around Australia for a few months, or you’ve managed to get a Working Holiday visa, you might be considering working in exchange for accommodation or doing some kind of volunteering that allows you to save money and make your savings last as long as possible in this amazing country.

When I was planning my own trip to Australia, one of the options I considered was working in hostels in exchange for accommodation. I knew these opportunities existed, but it all seemed very abstract to me. How do you actually find them? Is it difficult? What kind of hostels offer this? And is it really worth doing when you have a visa that also allows you to work?

In this post, I’m going to tell you about my different experiences working in exchange for accommodation at several hostels in Australia, answering all the questions I had before experiencing it for myself.

And yes, I’ll also tell you how I managed to live in Sydney on just around $500 a month! Looking back, it seems absolutely crazy to me. Not only was I spending very little, but I was also saving around AUD $1,000 a week.

>> What is a Working Holiday? My Experience in Australia & New Zealand

AUSTRALIA

MY VOLUNTEERING EXPERIENCES IN AUSTRALIA

MY FIRST VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE IN AUSTRALIA

When you’re still far away from your destination, you only have one option for finding opportunities: the internet. You can look at websites offering volunteer opportunities, Facebook groups, social media accounts of companies you’re interested in… And that’s how I found my first volunteer opportunity in Hervey Bay, a small town in Queensland.

At the time, I was living on the Gold Coast, but I wanted to move further north (somewhere warmer, as it was winter) and start a new adventure on my own.

I didn’t have much money, so I started looking for volunteer opportunities on Workaway. One offer caught my attention: doing housekeeping at a hostel in Hervey Bay, a place I knew absolutely nothing about. I paid for a subscription to the platform and sent the owner a message. She didn’t take long to reply, and just a few days later I was there, ready for a fresh start.

It was a small hostel in a quiet beach town, and it very quickly started to feel like home. There were two other volunteers, and the three of us were responsible for cleaning the rooms and common areas. We were supposed to work 2 hours a day, every day of the week — a total of 14 hours in exchange for our accommodation, laundry and use of bicycles to get around.

A few days after I started, I also found a job at a restaurant in the afternoons, where I worked around 20 hours a week (the maximum allowed by my student visa at the time, now it's 24 hours a week). And that’s how I spent the next three months, until it was time to make some new decisions about my visa and my trip.

>> If you also want to go to Australia on a student visa, fill in the form on this page and they’ll get in touch with you for a free consultation. I definitely recommend them!

Hervey Bay, silhouette of dock on sea during sunset in Australia

Hervey Bay Beach Pier

WEBSITES TO FIND VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

Workaway. Annual subscription. You need to sign up to apply for opportunities, but you can browse all the listings without paying anything on their website.
Worldpackers. Similar to Workaway, but it feels more like applying to proper jobs. You can check it out here.
Facebook groups. I’d join groups with names like “work for accommodation Australia,” “backpacker jobs in Sydney,” “Canadians in Sydney”… (I’ve made these names up, but you get the idea).

WORKING AT A HOSTEL RECEPTION IN SYDNEY (and how I lived there on $500 a month)

After deciding that I wanted to extend my stay in Australia, I had a problem: to apply for another visa, I needed to renew my passport. And at that time, the only place I could do that was at the Spanish Embassy in Sydney. So I grabbed my backpack, jumped in the car with a lovely Brazilian girl I had connected with through a Facebook group, and arrived in the big city ready for a new adventure.

I went straight to the hostel where a friend I’d met during my first few days in Australia was working. I had booked just one night, thinking I’d book more once I got there if I liked the place (the reviews weren’t exactly great, so I wasn’t convinced).

Sidney Harbour

Well… I absolutely loved the atmosphere! The next morning, I went down to reception ready to book a few more nights, and I decided to ask if they needed anyone to work for accommodation. Can you believe the manager told me he had actually been waiting for me to ask that question? Yep, just like that, two days later I started working as a receptionist.

The deal here was pretty straightforward: I worked two 8-hour shifts a week at reception, and in exchange I got a bed in a shared room, breakfast every morning and free use of the laundry facilities.

That was quite a few more hours than I would have needed to cover the cost of my accommodation (hostel prices have skyrocketed since), but the type of work made up for it. It was easy, I could work on my own laptop when there were no guests around, and there was always someone around to chat with. The reception desk was basically the social hub of the hostel, so you were never bored.

Other jobs hostels may offer in exchange for accommodation include breakfast staff, housekeepers, common-area cleaners and social media assistants… Each one with its own hours and responsibilities.

The hostel crew

This is how I cut my accommodation costs down to zero, including breakfast and laundry. Under normal circumstances, that hostel bed would have cost me at least $150 a week, a basic breakfast from the supermarket around $10, and laundry another $4. And a private room in a shared apartment would have cost around $250 or more per week.

But what else did I do to spend just around $500 a month while living there? The short answer is: I worked a lot and had very little free time, there's no magic trick.

I started two other jobs at the same time: one in the mornings at a café and another in the evenings at a Spanish restaurant. It turned out that at the first one I got lunch included, while at the second I could order two tapas for dinner every day, so on the days I worked I didn’t even have to cook.

>> All the jobs I had during my 2 years in Australia

I lived very close to the city centre and could walk to both jobs, so I didn’t spend any money on transport either. With all that taken care of, the only thing I really spent money on was having fun: eating out, going to the beach, having barbecues, shopping, the occasional trip out of the city… I didn’t even spend much on nights out because the party was happening right at the hostel!

Very convenient.

James Price Point near Broome, Western Australia

James Price Point, an incredible location near Broome

WORKING A FEW HOURS A WEEK WHILE LOOKING FOR A JOB IN BROOME

The last time I worked in exchange for accommodation at a hostel was when I arrived in Broome, after my road trip through central Australia.

Unlike in Sydney, where my goal was to work and save as much money as possible, in Broome I wanted to enjoy myself. I wasn’t in a rush to find a job, and during my first few days at the hostel I found out they were looking for someone to do a few hours of cleaning each week. I offered to help out while they looked for someone, but I made it clear from the beginning that it would only be temporary: either until I found a job or until they found someone else.

I spent around two weeks doing one or two hours of common-area cleaning a day. Here, payment worked differently from my other experiences. For every hour I worked, I earned $25, which was then deducted from my weekly accommodation bill. In other words, it was basically like getting paid by the hour in accommodation credits. Much better than the other places!

It was a great arrangement, and it meant I could enjoy a few extra days of “holiday” without worrying about accommodation costs. Hostels in Broome are pretty pricey during the high season!

Living in a hostel in Broome

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT WORKING IN EXCHANGE FOR ACCOMMODATION

It’s flexible. There are generally no rigid contracts; everything is based on an agreement between the host and the person helping out. This means you can often arrange your working hours, days off, swap shifts with other volunteers… everything can be discussed and adapted.
There’s no pressure. Precisely because it isn’t a regular job, it doesn’t come with the same mental load as “going to work”. As long as you do your part of the deal and are responsible, you can take it easy.
You work in the same place where you live, so you don’t have to worry about commuting or the time it takes. You can wake up five minutes before your shift starts and still make it on time.
It’s a great way to supplement a part-time job. If you’d like to work more hours, offsetting your accommodation costs by doing something like this can be a great option (and much easier than finding a second job).
You meet other travellers with similar interests.

A mural in Byron Bay, one of Australia’s most charming towns

MY NEGATIVE EXPERIENCES WORKING FOR ACCOMMODATION

Working more hours than I should have. During my first experience, there were some weeks when I worked quite a few more hours than we had agreed. It got a little tiring, although I have to say that the hostel owners appreciated my extra help and gave me some extra money in return.
Not having any days off. Even if you only work a few hours a day, I think it’s important to have at least one completely free day to switch off.

Those are really the only negative experiences I had, and they’re situations that can usually be sorted out by talking to your hosts and reaching an agreement.

Remember that you’re helping them too, so it’s an arrangement that should benefit both sides. That’s how it should stay. If you feel like they’re taking advantage of you, or there’s simply a bad atmosphere, the sooner you look for something else, the better.

DO I RECOMMEND WORKING FOR ACCOMMODATION IN AUSTRALIA?

Based on my experience, yes, I definitely recommend working in exchange for accommodation at hostels in Australia. It’s very common, and I’d say it’s probably available at most hostels around the country. So, if it’s something you’re interested in, finding a hostel where you can work shouldn’t be too difficult.

When would I recommend it? If you want to supplement your income without the extra pressure of taking on a second job, or if you’re looking for something relaxed that doesn’t require a high level of English, for example.

It’s not the best option if your main goal is to earn and save as much money as possible, since you’ll usually work more hours than you would actually need to cover the cost of your accommodation.

I hope this post has answered some of your questions!

And what did I do with all the money I saved on accommodation? Spend it on experiences, of course! Here are some of the most incredible ones I’ve had in Australia:

>> Swimming with Whale Sharks & other Wildlife Experiences in Australia that are 100% worth it

Post written by Mar Sart in Australia. Last updated in October 2026.

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