Me and my partner stayed here for two nights in the autumn of 2011. Plus sides – one of the staff members was friendly. It's relatively cheap. It's in the park. Kitchen seemed well stocked with utensils. Memory foam mattress on double bed. Free internet. It's close to the train station – about 10 minute walk with luggage.
Downs sides.
When I arrived I was told they double booked the double room that we had paid for. So, intead of getting what we booked, me and my partner were given a dorm room that consisted of 2 very small bunk beds. Not ideal, considering we paid for a double room and that we are a couple both in our early 30's and over 4ft tall. Needless to say, we were both disappointed and unhappy. I looked around the dorm room – I checked the drawers which were full of litter... empty drinks bottles, etc. It was superficially tidy, you know, been vacuumed, beds made, etc, but it's needs a good deep clean. Or even just a general one... something other than just changing the bedding and vacuuming.
The next morning I used the shower – not the cleanest. There was mouldy orange slime on the bottom of the shower rack we were meant to stand on, I used my flip flops instead. The shower itself, whilst superficially tidy, was grubby and in dire need of a bleach.
We were told that we could move to the double room in the morning, but had to wait for it to be cleaned. We watched it being cleaned – the cleaning consisted of just vacuuming and changing the covers on the quilt, bed and pillows – nothing else.... no wiping of surfaces, etc. We caught a site of the pillows whilst the pillow covers were off – VERY grim.... yellow and stained. I was creeped out to be honest, my partner still shudders from it now.
By far the worst part of our stay was the noise, there is a pub directly opposite. The pub noise would have been fine, had it of stopped at the time the pub closed – alas, no. They started loud dance music at about 4pm in the afternoon, and it went on until 6am the next day, even after it shut. They seemed to have had a lock in. We did not get a wink of sleep that night. Literally, I probably got about a few minutes of sleep at most and that was only in-between 'sets'. Just when I thought the music had stopped, it came back – it was like torture and this went on all night, just blaring out.
Enough was enough. By 6.30am, we were out of bed, packed, taxi booked and desperate to leave – even though leaving this early meant we would have to wait outside about 3 and a half hours at our destination. As we left we mentioned to the other bloke that runs the place about the noise, he gave a cursory apology but didn't seem to bothered. Guess he had heard this all before. Admittedly, it's not the hostels fault that the pub played music all night, but surely something has to be done about the music going on ALL night. It should of dawned on me when I saw that the hostel sold earplugs, what was likely to happen.
Anyway, given a reasonable choice, I would not stay here again. It is in a good location, and is relatively cheap – this is what attracted us. But, the dodgy level of hygiene and the noise was not worth it. I wouldn't advise against staying, as there are plus sides, and not everyone has the same priorities as we do. I certainly don't mind roughing it, but as someone who likes peace and who believes 'inexpensive' doesn't mean 'unhygienic', it ain't for me.
If you own or manage Harlow International Hostel, register now for free tools to enhance your listing, attract new reviews, and respond to reviewers.
- Manage your listing
