We stayed for 2 nights last week in POW and felt really dissapointed, air conditioner is not working both nights. There's 22 peoples inside dorm and air con is off, can u imagine how hot it is?
First morning we wait until 9.30am for breakfast and there are no one to prepare breakfast set. Until 10am finally 1 POW staff prepared it. When we checked in, they said their breakfast served 9am.
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Great place, lovely staff, cheap drinks and nice dorms. Definitely the best location to be in downtown Singapore, within a stones throw of all the best night spots and in the shadow of the urban metropolis of Singapore!!
After 2 nights in a hotel in Chinatown, I changed for 2 nights in a backpacker hotel in Little India. After a quick check in and a low price for Singapore, I already have lain my luggages and I was in the heart of little India a fex meters after leaving the hotel.
You can eat there, and the food is good and portions huge! While a raining afternoon I decided to read the whole afternoon in a confortable sofa and it was very quiet. At the end of the afternoon, a bend played good music.
I set up the clean bed sheets the staff gave me, and I slept very well. Beds are confortable. I paid a firt room 70 Sing dollars in a spacy room and 22 Sing Dollars in a dormitory for backpackers, I enjoyed both much more than other very expensive hotels in Singapore.
A perfect animated place to stay a few days in Singapore.
For sure, I will come back!
The hostel is quite OK, the best aspects are the location right right in the middle of the action and the beds which are very comfortable. If I could suggest however that they replace the 4mm thick plastic coverings with something that isn't as noisy when you move. I'm a restless sleeper when it's cold and the air-con was turned on too cold, and I'm sure I kept people awake.
The bathrooms are clean but could do with a bit of a renovation and some more pegs or a shelf to hang / put things on while showering.
They go to great pains to ensure there's not a bedbug infestation and signs everywhere tell you how proficient they are in this regard.
I met some nice people there, the staff is very friendly and helpful. There are lock boxes to store personal effects (bring your own padlock), overall neat and clean. Warning..... Singapore is expensive by standards, I'd imagine this would be great value for money for the location.
My partner and I stayed for four nights in the Adelaide room (double room in the loft). We had read reviews about noise issues but being as far away from the bar as possible in our room we had no issues at all.
The room was huge, complete with large TV, dvd player and a collection of dvds. The bar and restaurant looked good, although we never ate or drank there (50% off the menu prices if you stay here). The location was good, in the midst of everything in Little India. Lots of restaurants and shopping malls near by.
The staff were also great, friendly and full of energy. The place is frequented by lots of beer-drinking westerners so if that's not your thing then maybe give this place a miss (although if you get a private room it is all easily avoidable). The wifi was brilliant too, very fast.
Only extra we would of liked would have been a sink or toilet (or both) in the Adelaide room, it is a stairway away from the private-room bathroom. The other two private rooms are right next to the bathroom so there would be no issues if you stay in either of those.
Although I consult the site frequently, this is the first time I've written a comment on Trip Advisor. I'm doing it because I feel the previous comment on POW Little India site is a classic case of someone paying Backpackers' money, then complaining they don't have a midrange hotel. Therefore, it's extremely unfair on a place which is very good for its type.
Like the previous correspondents, I'm in my 40s and stayed both in the Darwin Room (same as they did) for five nights, plus the dorm for three nights. $70 for a sizeable double room is very cheap for Singapore (prices in Sing. are never going to match those in Thailand and Cambodia). The bedroom was fine and give or take a dodgy light fitting, there was nothing wrong with the bathroom.
Similarly, the breakfast is typical hostel fare, but it's all fresh, rather than plastic and there's plenty of it. For residents, meals are extremely good value, as there is a 50% discount. I had a steak with all the trimmings for $13. To give a hopefully unbiased review, I will include my one negative, which is that unless you're happy with generic lager, the alcohol is extremely expensive, especially for a Backpackers' .
During my time in the dorm, I slept very well, which isn't always the case in dorms. As for the noise, it's being provided by excellent free entertainment. I wouldn't expect everyone to agree with this view, but to anyone kept awake by the music, I'd say go downstairs and listen to it.
Perhaps that is a blase comment, but I think it's is the nub of addressing the complaints here. By this, I mean I think the POW sometimes attracts guests who aren't really Backpackers, but who find that in Singapore they can't afford the type of accommodation they get in neighbouring countries. This is certainly the case for myself. It's unfair to then blame the venue for this. Singapore IS the most expensive country in SE Asia and travellers simply need to accept their money won't go as far here as elsewhere.
Before confirming a booking at POW, guests have to acknowledge they've read the hostel's terms and conditions. The very first of these is a statement that POW is a hostel for genuine backpackers, nothing more, nothing less. If you tick the box to say you've read this, when in fact, you've skimmed past it, then only one person is to blame for any subsequent disappointment and it's not the manager of the hostel or any of his staff.
For anyone who wants a good value HOSTEL with a good vibe and located in an atmospheric district of a fascinating country, POW is, in fact, extremely hard to beat.
Andy Conner (Birmingham, UK)
