Southern Laughter Backpackers

I don’t usually write scathing reviews, but our stay at Southern Laughter warrants it. In fact, it’s not scathing, it’s fact. Me and two friends stayed and all had a horrible experiences individually and collectively. Let’s dive in. 1. One member of our group stayed in his own “private” room since he had lots of expensive camera equipment with him he wanted to lock away. Last night at midnight someone opened his LOCKED door with a key, he woke up, the person apologized and left. How someone could get into his room is beyond us. Reception had no explantation either. 2. We stayed for three nights, but one of our group (female) was so uncomfortable with her first night’s stay in the 10-person room that she bought two more nights at another hostel, and still paid for the two nights of an empty bed at Southern Laughter. 3. I had the best experience of us three and still it was poor. Namely, someone stole my six clearly labeled beers in the fridge. Drank them with no remorse it seems! Lastly, the place is filthy, not cleaned well, no chargers basically anywhere, WiFi was non-existent, and the kitchen was in disarray because no one has respect for it. We had much better hostel experiences elsewhere throughout NZ and I would recommend you pay a bit more at other hostels for a better experience.

Our room (room 8) is basic but has everything you need. Heater , towels , space, window. Our room was warm and comfy. Shared bathrooms and toilet were clean. Kitchen and lounge was tidy and very spacious lots of places to sit. Location is amazing !! 5mins walk to anything. Staff were lovely as well. 2 thing is that we could hear everything happening up stairs , walls are a bit thin but lucky we are deep sleepers and then lastly we found some belongings of previous stayers under our bed. Other than those 2 things very happy with our stay.

Don't stay here if you wanna be warm!! The room we stayed in ( room 9 so definitely don't stay in that one ) was missing a heater. As reception closes at 9pm and you are being charged for calls outside of opening hours we had to sleep in a freezing room ( I had 3 layers, 2 duvets and my bf cuddle me and I was still cold!!) And I woke up with a terrible cold... Next day I called to get a heater we got one but I had to ask them 3 times to turn in on for me as we were out on a day trip and she said she talks to the manager. In the end very unfriendly not open to give us any reimbursement or even got any kind of apology just didn't care at all!!! Also it wasn't clean, very uncomfortable and very noisy you could hear every move!! Especially if you are near or under the kitchen!! Staff was also unfriendly. Rooms were awful too! Not enough bathrooms or toilets and sink was just in the hallway so it was really cold!!!!