We booked a twin room at Sleepzone through hostels, and due to availability were allocated one with a shared bathroom. So we were pleasantly surprised on arrival to get a room in a terraced house across the road, with it's own spacious bathroom (Shower only, mind!) and a shiny new shared kitchen and sitting room.
The room itself was bright and pretty clean with lots of drawers and a wardrobe. One minor complaint would be the squeaky bed frames (you could wake yourself up by just turning over in the night!), but on the second night we put the matresses on the floor and got a quieter nights sleep.
Someone else has already mentioned the shower/appliances fuse issue in these houses, so I won't go into it here - bizarre!
We were at the front of the house, and the road outside got pretty noisy from traffic during the day, but as we were only in Galway for two days we weren't in the room much. The location is 5 minutes walk from the centre of Galway, so is very convenient.
Bit of advice for car drivers, do not park in the multi storey car park directly up the street from the hostel, it costs about 25 euro per day! There is a cheap outdoor car park at the bottom of the street (past the traffic lights) which cost 3.50 euro for the day, and free overnight. As long as you get down before 8.30 in the morning to put on a new ticket, it works out far cheaper. Thanks to the staff on hostel reception for this, as we wouldn't have found it!
Hostel iteslf has free internet access, and a useful luggage store room and lockers in case your room isn't ready yet. We didn't go to breakfast, but looked pretty basic stuff (toast, juice) - but hey, what would you expect in a hostel?
Staff were great and always helpful and available. We would definitely use this hostel again, it would be fantastic if you could get a party of 6 people in the same house!
One last thing, Sleepzone have a hostel in Connemara (west of Galway) with a shuttle bus between the two sights. If you can, go to Connemara, it's beautiful...

My name is Joan Borst and for the past 8 years I have taught 12 University students each year while we live in Western Ireland for 2 weeks. During the past 5 years the Sleepzone in Galway has been our home.

As with any sleeping establishment for travelers, sometimes individuals or groups abuse the inexpensive accomodations at the hostel because it is "cheap". Unfortunately, this ruins a quiet night sleep for everyone. The Sleepzone staff and mangement are vigilant and responsive to disruptive and boorish behavior. They offer good security for entering the hostel after hours and enough staff to be respnsive to disruptions.

There are many reasons why I choose to stay at the Sleepzone in Galway; cleanliness, comfort, convenience, and professional treatment.

The hostel is clean and comfortable despite the many people pushing in and out of the doors on a regular basis. To maintain this quality is no small task, yet the windows and floors in the common kitchen sparkle. The walls look newly painted. The beds and bedding are comfortable. The rooms are en-suite, with additional bathroom facilities down the hall. There is also a small laundry area available.

The hostel is located in a convenient location. It is out of the hustle and bustle of the main city center but is only a short walk to eveything! There is no reason to look for an Internet cafe becuase there is a computer room for guests to stay connected to friends and family without leaving the hostel. This service is part of the cost of the bed.

Perhaps the main reason I stay at the Sleepzone is the friendly management and staff. They are knowledgeable, long-suffering and remarkable at multi-tasking. The front desk staff is able to help with money exchange, reservations, check-in and checkout, and directions - often all at the same time! The management extends genuine support and true hospitality.

I plan to bring my group here again and believe it is the best value for the money in Galway.

I stayed here with a group of Motorcyclists for a one night trip to Galway.

As bikers, we were very impressed with the underground parking facility (see picture), which was accessed by a secure swipe card provided by the hostel. Although you still need to lock your bike as the garage is accessed by other users of the building, we felt very confident that the bikes were safe - and they were. If you are coming on motorcycle, be sure to book the parking with the hostel in advance.

I'd have to say that overall my group were very impressed with this hostel, some of them never having stayed in a hostel before.

The staff were friendly, polite and helpful.

We had a single, a twin and an 8-bed dorm. The single and twin were excellent, clean, spacious - more like a basic hotel than a hostel. The 8-bed dorm was a bit cramped for 8 guys and their gear - but perfectly adequate.

A great plus was the free basic breakfast of toast, tea, coffee and orange juice. If we had planned a bit better, a packet of bacon would have resulted in some very nice bacon butties at little cost!

The only negative I experienced was the noise of people returning late at night and getting-up early. This woke me a couple of times. But in hostels, you can generally expect this. So if you are a light sleeper, I would suggest ear-plugs. Personally I like sleeping with my MP3 player on which helped overcome this.

Sleepzone issues RULES for group bookings. No drinking, smoking or making noise etc. We were happy to see this as it gave us confidence that bad behaviour from guests would not be tolerated. Breaking the rules means losing a security deposit. I would suggest that if your group is unable to abide by these rules, then don't stay here as you may lose a significant amount of money. Having read other reviews, some groups have suffered this loss.

I stayed three nights at Sleepzone Galway with my partner-- we booked a twin room, because it said online that they were the ones with en suites. The double and twin rooms are actually in some houses across the road from the main sleepzone building, and you only share a kitchen with two other rooms. It was all very clean (no hair in the showers), and the houses with the double/twin rooms also have their own washers/dryers, which was an added bonus for two of us with very dirty clothes. :)

The only bad thing was that you're not allowed to use kitchen appliances when someone is having a shower, because you risk blowing a fuse-- this is a bit annoying, if you are half-way through cooking breakfast, and someone wants a shower.