YMCA Hostel

Have stayed here on 3 different occasions all for 3 nights and with large group bookings due to coming from an organisation. Every single stay I have had a bad experience in some sort of way. Though it is tolerable. Cons: - Staff/customer service. Staff are friendly depending who you get. But they are so unorganised no matter how many times they change managers. Due to being a large group booking we planned months and months in advance. Yet we arrive and rooms aren’t ready and I have to give them my own planning sheet because they can’t find who’s situated in what room. - BUGS. Had people in my group complain that there were bugs everywhere in their room. Though i’ve seen complaints about bedbugs in some reviews luckily we did not find any but cockroaches yes! We were on the TOP floor and yet cockroaches got to the room. This shows that cleaning needs to turn into deep cleaning. - DONT LOSE YOUR KEY. Due to a large group booking someone was bound to lose their key to one of the dorms. While yes that is our own fault. We were told a previous time we stayed that the lost key charge would cost $115 - which is understandable keeping in mind getting a new key cut + the electronic part to open the door. BUT this time round it became $250. Which is a large exaggeration on how much a replacement would actually cost. - Breakfast also sucks. Grab and coffee + pastry across the road at Gusstops instead. Pros: - Bed is actually quite comfy - Could fall asleep surprisingly easy even with city noise and nearby emergency services. - Downstairs entertainment area (vending machine, pool table, ping pong, tv, etc.) - Snack and drinks are affordable. - Good location for being close to central like Queen St and Viaduct. Notice how I put the cons first. Overall, while the place has good amenities and are somewhat accomodating, I hope I won’t be back but sometimes life gets you and it might not be in the budget for our organisations next event for better accommodation. If you are a traveller/backpacker it is BEARABLE for a couple of nights. Don’t stay any longer. There’s other places for even $10 more that are better.