I stayed at the SameSun by myself in a private room. The bed was comfortable, and the room was clean. Bathrooms were cleaned constantly, and I never had a problem with wait times. They have a bar with nightly drink specials, and cheap food - also a nightly $4.95 dinner special. There's a free breakfast and organised activities, trivia nights, open mic nights etc. Only one thing worth mentioning... If you can't lift your luggage, don't stay here as there is a killer set of stairs, and then depending on what floor you're on, only more. Took me 3 goes to get everything up and down!

We were booked into a private room for a few nights and after dragging our bags up all the stairs we found myself and my boyfriend had to share a room with 4 others. Luckily the guy on reception was able to change this and we had a private room. However we paid on arrival and the following day we were told we owed another $70. So I found it was expensive. It was a decent size for a hostel, had a fridge and tv. Very noisy, so if you are wanting a decent night sleep get some earplugs. The plus was the wifi, however most people had issues getting any reception in their rooms. Bathrooms were kept clean. The bed however was not great, I still have the bites on my body from the bed bugs. The pillows and mattress have seen better days, way too many bodily fluids have been added to them. I was glad to see the back of the place. Location is a plus.

Whatever you do, DO NOT STAY IN A 6 BED DORM HERE. It cannot be legal. The room was so cramped, I swear prison cells are more roomy. For $28 a night you'd except more. For $1 more my friend and I switched to a 2 bed dorm at the Cambie (that place wasnt great either but it beat the hell at Same Sun.) The bathrooms were dirty and there was only 1 per floor--about 100 people to a bathroom??? The rooms smelled and the first room we were given had hundreds of horrific bedbug blood stains on the mattress. The only thing redeeming about the place was the free breakfast--but in the end we decided it just wasn't worth it. I think you're better off going to the HI.

The private rooms and dorms are great, well set up, secure and cleaned every day. It's the things that happened outside of the rooms is where the problems exist with this hostel.

We are a couple and have stayed at the Samesun Vancouver on Granville Street for the last 3 weeks with a few week stints before that in 4 bed dorms, private rooms and private rooms with ensuite. The rooms are great, clean and all come with a personal reading lamp, shelf in your bed area, fan and ample power outlets.

Sadly the staff are hit and miss and it seems that the female staff who dont work on the front desk seem to have an elitist attitude here towards men and women. My wife was getting changed and the female cleaning staff demanded to come into the room to clean and would not wait the extra minute or two for her to finish changing. She would not take no for an answer and made my wife change with the door open while she was in the room. A particular female staff member has a regular routine of entering the media room half way through movies and talks really loudly with her friends and other staff and refuses to be quiet even when asked several times.

The front desk staff are amazing, helpful, friendly and a pleasure to interact with. These people and the room cleanliness certainly raises the review score.

We have stopped cooking in the guest kitchen because of the state it is left in by other guests, the constant theft of food from our clearly labeled containers and the smoking room being attached to the kitchen.

We have had food moved from our labeled containers and put in the free food fridge before our clearly marked check out date and we have found our ingredients in other peoples containers less than an hour after purchasing the food.

The clean up area in the kitchen is like a bomb hits it at 6pm every night even though the kitchen is cleaned between 2pm and 4pm. Other guests do not clean up after themselves, put food scraps in the sink, do not clean dishes and rarely put them away if they are cleaned.

With the smoking room attached to the kitchen, there is only 6 seats available for you to eat your meal without a fog of smoke around you. If the wind is blowing, the smoke comes into the kitchen and makes you enter the common area which is well utilized and often crowded with other guests.

The bathrooms are cleaned daily but we are still wondering why they are always so wet. Puddles of water, slippery floors and dirty mirrors are something you get used to.

Pros:
Front desk staff
Free breakfast with bagels or a $2 hot meal
Clean rooms
Room layout and features
Wifi
Common Rooms inc. media room
Onsite bar
Activities

Cons:
Female staff (who are not on the front desk) are rude and disruptive to guests
Smokers room near kitchen
Food thieves
Kitchen cleanliness
Water puddles and bathroom cleanliness