I won the 'filter' track of the NeurIPS'23 Big-ANN Benchmark competition track:

https://big-ann-benchmarks.com/neurips23.html

and am booking conference travel relatively last minute because the results were only just confirmed.

There's a finite amount of travel grant money available to me, and my options are essentially:

• Stay in an actual hotel for the night before and after my presentation, going to only that day of the conference, or at most 2-3 days

• Stay in a hostel for $20/ night to attend the full week and hopefully spend some time exploring New Orleans

The hostel in question:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/pdHF9nx3gUfJ8tjM9

I have never stayed in a hostel (but have stayed in dorms in hotels while skiing, although that's probably an older crowd). I'm a friendly, amiable guy, and like the idea of meeting other people there (potentially others presenting at the conference, which would be an added benefit) but I don't drink or generally party, and I usually go to bed around 10:30, which is possibly unrealistically early for such an environment. My primary concerns are losing sleep and discovering that New Orleans is actually not interesting enough to justify spending a full week there, as people say there's not much to do besides eat, drink, and listen to jazz, which I'm not particularly into.

I will not bet in this, and will resolve it in the airport on my way back from New Orleans, resolving YES if I determine that I would have enjoyed being in a hotel for just the last few days more and that my presentation was not adversely affected by my living situation.

If you have recommendations for things to do to enjoy hostel living or New Orleans, or are going to NeurIPS'23 and would like to connect, please comment!

EDIT: A family friend who went to Tulane and grew up in NOLA reportedly said “Oooooooo” and suggested my parents chip in for a hotel when she saw where the hostel was. This has made me more apprehensive than I was going in, and while I’m not participating in this market, is information I would have traded on if I was.

ON RESOLUTION: This was difficult to resolve. The hostel linked above where I originally made my reservation was charmingly rustic but not well suited to me. The room was probably in the high 70s, the bed was comically squeaky, and the large pyramid of washcloths I had seen in the afternoon was completely gone by the time I was showering at 6am. Talking to people at the conference, I found out many of them were staying at a different, more hotel-core hostel 3 blocks closer to the convention center, and booked it immediately. If I had gotten hosed on the cost of my original reservation, this would probably have had to be resolved to yes, but they were extremely accommodating and gave me a refund. The new hostel I enjoyed greatly.