10 Reviews
St Kilda East Backpackers' Hostel
Saint Kilda East|2.1km from Aviary Garden, Caulfield
We booked our stay via bookings.com in September 2019 for three weeks during the start/middle of October. After our booking was processed, we were asked what time we would arrive, we let the owner know we would be there around 8pm. When we arrived, no one was present. There was a number left on the wall for us to ring when we arrived, we rang the number and got no answer. We waited an hour and a half and no one turned up. Both the back and front doors where open, hence how we where able to get into the building. The front door was unable to be closed due to a busted lock. There where no locks on any of the dorm rooms and every single bed was covered in dirty linen which contained faeces and urine, the smell was horrendous. There was piles of dirty washing left around the hostel, it was clear the place had been neglected for some time. There where nitrous oxide canisters covering some of the beds and although I understand it is a hostel and things like this do happen, that combined with faeces stained linen though isn't acceptable.The sprinkler system had gone off in the past and not been replaced and live wires where hanging out of the walls. Bookings.com initially said there was nothing much they could do and the owner was refusing to refund us, when they emailed her about our complaint, she was very quick to respond saying 'we had 'no basis for a refund'. We then contacted the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal who explained we would need to message the owner and give her some time to come to an agreement with her. Unfortunately, making a case through them can take time so we contacted the bank, who agreed (because they where based in the UK) they would do a charge back to our card and our money would be returned to us. When we tried to message the owner to come to an agreement, her exact words where that the property 'has no electrical issues whatsoever, is properly looked after on a daily basis and is totally safe'. The lights didn't turn on properly, the place was nearly pitch black and we had to use our lights on our phone. There was faeces on beds and dirty linen everywhere, I wouldn't exactly call it hygienic and the sprinklers where broke. The toilets didn't have proper locks on and the kitchen was revolting. My advice, stay clear! We won the charge back claim and our money was returned to us via the bank two weeks later!
Excellent
85 Reviews