2011-03-20
Hostel Review: The Linen House Hostel
2 commentsOver St. Patrick's day week I returned to Belfast and stayed at the Linen House Hostel located just on the outskirts of the city center. I was a little put off by the bad reviews I had seen on the internet but upon arriving I was pleasantly surprised.
I had ordered a single room and ended up with a room with 2 bunk beds all to myself. I suspect they don't actually have any single rooms but when you only want one bed it doesn't matter how many spare there are in the room with you. The stay cost me £12 a night which wasn't bad at all. In the room, I had a window, sink, rubbish bin and a couple of plug sockets as well as the beds. It was clean and smelt well. The beds were obviously made of cheap materials but they were clean and felt fresh.
There was a shared bathroom on the floor which was always kept clean and the shower was great but strangely not always warm. I hired a towel for the easy price of a pound and it seemed that late checkout was only a pound per hour as well.
The hostel was very well equipped with a kitchen, laundry room and everything else a traveler might need.
There was no curfew at the hostel and in my stay of 4 nights I had no real complaints. The staff were also excellent, especially the American women who did nights. More often than not I was coming in after more than a few drinks and she was more than happy to help me with whatever I needed.
I'm very glad that this place exists and whenever I manage to drag a few of my English friends over the water, that is where we'll all be staying.
You can visit the hostel here: http://www.belfasthostel.com/
I had ordered a single room and ended up with a room with 2 bunk beds all to myself. I suspect they don't actually have any single rooms but when you only want one bed it doesn't matter how many spare there are in the room with you. The stay cost me £12 a night which wasn't bad at all. In the room, I had a window, sink, rubbish bin and a couple of plug sockets as well as the beds. It was clean and smelt well. The beds were obviously made of cheap materials but they were clean and felt fresh.
There was a shared bathroom on the floor which was always kept clean and the shower was great but strangely not always warm. I hired a towel for the easy price of a pound and it seemed that late checkout was only a pound per hour as well.
The hostel was very well equipped with a kitchen, laundry room and everything else a traveler might need.
There was no curfew at the hostel and in my stay of 4 nights I had no real complaints. The staff were also excellent, especially the American women who did nights. More often than not I was coming in after more than a few drinks and she was more than happy to help me with whatever I needed.
I'm very glad that this place exists and whenever I manage to drag a few of my English friends over the water, that is where we'll all be staying.
You can visit the hostel here: http://www.belfasthostel.com/
11 April 2011 at 01:08
Old,run-down,dodgy area,loud party house,desk chap was unprofessional and abusive to guests
April 2011
First of all,our group was put off by the dodgy neighborhood the hostel was in.At night the street it's on is very dark,we gals did not feel safe at all after being out late.Broken glass everywhere,located next to a condemned building,very creepy indeed.Next off,our group realizes the hostel was busy,the lobby was packed with people and extremely noisey,(but the hostel manager,or at least he said he was),was very unprofessional,cursing,swearing where guests could hear it,we will not repeat what he said,but the words started with f@*k,repeatedly,we all know he was busy,but swearing in front of customers in any setting should be strictly forbidden,not professional at all!HE was was very short and gruff with us and to all the guests,just wanted to collect the money and get rid of us.Also his English was very bad,making it almost impossible to understand,heard other guests complaining the same that they could not understand him.Hostel was old,run-down,sheets didn't match,but were somewhat clean,kitchen was disgusting,we sure would not use it,the pans provided,well, we have seen better in a rubbish bin.Disgusting!But,it was cheap,we did not expect much,and that is exactly what we got,not much.We got little to no sleep at all!Party frat house atmosphere.When we went to manager to complain,we found him asleep in the lobby,very professional as well,or he was busy watching movies on his laptop to assist the guests.We will Not return nor recommend it.
15 April 2011 at 07:08
Fair enough. If you have many expectations you will be disappointed. If you're willing to adopt a 'well it's only a tenner a night how bad can it be' kind of attitude you will be pleasantly surprised.