I need to make Hostal reservations for this June, yet I have been puting it off as I have NO idea how to make contact with them? Should I call direct, email? I am worried that if I call direct, my 7 years of Spanish will fail me. I am spending May through mid june in in spain on a study abroad program, yet I still am not sure if I trust my spanish over the phone. I need to make reservations in both Madrid and Barcelona, if I call Barcelona, are they going to expect me to speak in Catalan??? HELP..I have no idea how to go about this

Hi kelar419! Most non-Spanish speaking people prefer to email their reservation requests and they'll reply in the same way. Just keep it simple with your requested dates apart from the rest of the text of your email. Simple like:

Arrive at 5pm on June 5
2 nights
2 persons
double bed (if requested)

If you don't get an email reply within 7 days I would email them again, wait 2 or 3 more days, and then call them. Usually though, most hostels will reply within 3 or 4 days, but rarely within 24-48 hours.

The above goes for Barcelona as it goes for Madrid or Sevilla or Santiago de Compostela. Email them in English, make it simple, or make it simpler on them and write to them in Spanish. I'm sure your 7-years of Spanish will do nicely here.

Good luck! Saludos, MadridMan

People in Barcelona will not expect you to speak Catalan so don't worry. Everyone I met there spoke both Catalan and Castillian and most signs were in both languages but for some odd reason a lot of restaurants only had menus in Catalan so I ended up doing a lot of "I'll take that" and randomly pointing to things. I also wouldn't worry about calling them. They deal with plenty of people who don't even have 7 years of Spanish to fail them so most hostal owners I have encountered are really tolerant about their language being butchered.

When making a reservation always provide as much information possible so that the hostel can tell you if they will be able to accommodate you.

Sometimes I receive reservations by e-mail saying just "Do you have rooms available for May?". And I wonder, "how many?, for how many people?, how many nights?, when are you arriving?".

Here is a template of a "form" you could use to send a request:

NAME:
DATE OF ARRIVAL:
ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL:
(I also ask for the flight number to check if the flight is delayed and therefore they are coming later than expected)
DATE OF DEPARTURE:
NUMBER OF NIGHTS:
NUMBER OF PEOPLE:
COMMENTS:
Here you can state your preferences as to which kind of you you would prefer. E.g. 1 double bed or two twin beds, interior room (ie, without a window to the street)...

If you try to make a reservation in different places at the same time or if you can't come, please, do cancel your reservation. If you don't do it you are making the hostel loose money. That's everyday there are more and more hostels requesting credit card numbers.