Started doing the same thing about a year ago and never looked back. My old boss thought I was nuts but the wall buckling callbacks pretty much dried up. The trick is getting your power stretch tight first then popping that last bit by hand so the stretch stays even at the baseboard. I still use the power stretcher for the main field though, no way I'm kicking a whole room by hand at my age. On Berber I'd be a little careful since that stuff needs a solid stretch or it'll ripple, but for regular plush and frieze it works great.

The breakfast at that Paris place probably cost you 14 euros too. I get the point you're making but a good hostel locker is not the same thing as a room. You paid for a metal box, not a bed. You got lucky the dorm was quiet and nobody stumbled in at 3am. I've done the cheap hostel thing in a few cities and the odds you sleep great are maybe 50/50. A budget hotel in Paris is a whole other animal, the cheap ones are cheap for a reason. Bedbugs can happen anywhere though, even nice hotels, so that part isn't really about the price.