I stayed at the hostel as a solo female traveler in December 2017. If you are a solo female traveler, I do not recommend this property. I feel I was taken advantage of sexually by a staff member at the hostel, and placed in a situation where I was unable to give consent to anything which happened that evening. (One definition of consent as I believe it relates in this situation: “If a person is mentally or physically incapacitated or impaired so that they cannot understand the fact, nature, or extent of the sexual situation, there is no consent. This includes impairment or incapacitation due to alcohol or drug consumption. This also includes being asleep or unconscious.”) When I was there, I went downstairs to the bar in the hostel to have a couple of beers. I ordered two beers and then the staff member bought me another one.The staff member served me another beer and at some point sat with me on the couch and kissed me. I remember nothing after this. I woke up in the morning in my room with my door unlocked and only my underwear on, feeling groggy, although not hungover. I reviewed photos I took on my phone and saw that I had been served at least five beers. Because I recalled nothing other than the staff member who was serving me sit next to me and kiss me, I emailed him and he...I stayed at the hostel as a solo female traveler in December 2017. If you are a solo female traveler, I do not recommend this property. I feel I was taken advantage of sexually by a staff member at the hostel, and placed in a situation where I was unable to give consent to anything which happened that evening. (One definition of consent as I believe it relates in this situation: “If a person is mentally or physically incapacitated or impaired so that they cannot understand the fact, nature, or extent of the sexual situation, there is no consent. This includes impairment or incapacitation due to alcohol or drug consumption. This also includes being asleep or unconscious.”)

When I was there, I went downstairs to the bar in the hostel to have a couple of beers. I ordered two beers and then the staff member bought me another one.The staff member served me another beer and at some point sat with me on the couch and kissed me. I remember nothing after this. I woke up in the morning in my room with my door unlocked and only my underwear on, feeling groggy, although not hungover.

I reviewed photos I took on my phone and saw that I had been served at least five beers. Because I recalled nothing other than the staff member who was serving me sit next to me and kiss me, I emailed him and he told me we got drunk and “slept together.” I clarified that to mean actually sleeping instead of sex, but I don’t know what really happened because I was blacked out (at the least) and anything could have happened. I was not in the right mind (or any mind) to give consent to anything which may have happened that night. I was not forced to drink beers, but I was in a place where I thought I could drink and let down my guard a little bit because I was a paying guest at the property and in America, employee physical fraternization with customers is generally frowned upon. I feel that was not the situation at this property.

I emailed the hostel to alert the owner about what happened and my definition/the definition of what I believed took place and never received a response directly. However, I wrote about my experience on my personal blog, and he did comment on that (I did not publish his comment) where he stated that I was “not innocent” in what happened because he had watched the CCTV footage of the night and that both he and the staff member acknowledged my extreme intoxication. Yet, the staff member purchased a third (and continued to serve me well beyond that).

As a business owner, I feel if he knew I was as intoxicated enough to question what was wrong with me, the correct action would have been to protect his customer. I feel that did not happen. Instead, the staff member continued to serve me alcohol, even though he acknowledged to the owner I was “very very drunk” after only two beers (he purchased at least the third beer, if not more, although I will never know for sure because I do not remember).

He shouldered all responsibility to myself, stating that I simply got “hammered.” To be clear, what actually happened is sexual assault -- as I was drunk (or drugged, who really knows) and was cognitively impaired due to the influence of one or both substances and was not able to consent, despite what any footage shows of engagement.

I also pointed out that after I published my experience on my site, other women came forward naming the hostel and the specific employee and reporting similar behavior, although their outcome did not end like mine did. It was not acknowledged in his response to me.

Finally, I also reported my experience to Hostelworld who spoke with the owner. They removed my initial review reporting what happened and stated they would not be taking further action because of their long-standing relationship with the business.

If you are a woman, I recommend staying somewhere else in Bruges, and book through a different engine than Hostelworld. While they assured me female safety was a very big concern for them, my opinion is their actions regarding this situation do not echo that.More