This hostel is the BEST!
Great location for nightlife. Right by Balboa Park. Lots of activities planned and great people.
The beach is a ride of trolley away.
I've worked there back in 2005, as a receptionist, with my boyfriend. Stayed 6 months!
If you go, say hello to Take, the best japanese employee in the house!
LOVED the experience, and I dream of going back... and stay forever! :-)
Would probably live here! Ideal location - right in the heart of downtown and 2 minutes to trolley and buses to get everywhere else. Super friendly and helpful staff. Organised events so we were able to meet lots of people. Stayed in a double room with a bunk bed, fridge(soo enjoyed), t.v and a mirror and a chair! Bathrooms were clean - spesh compared to some of the other hostels have stayed at. Lots of stairs!! but what can you do. Breakfast were good - Bagels nom nom! Stayed at HI hostel a little bit later and just wanted to go back to the usa hostel. what else ummm living room area and computers plus free wifi. Orgainsed trip to t.j- didnt do this but people seemed to enjoy it. If your looking to travel while meeting cool people and having a blast this go here!!
We like it when we're called the best! We work hard to provide good customer service, so it's rewarding when someone says they noticed. Thank you for that!
I was in a room facing the street and no one slept until 2am when the bars closed! Unbelievably loud, even with ear plugs!
Otherwise, hostel is decent - bathrooms need a good scrub, friendly people, helpful staff, well located.
PS - the Tijuana trip is for serious alcoholics only - you see the seediest, most touristy places there - I've have better Mexican food and margaritas in Easter Europe! Definitely do not recommend.
We wish we could do something about the street noise, but that's the tradeoff of being in the heart of the entertainment district sometimes. We installed 'privacy pods' this year to help guests have a bit more privacy in the dorms with screening from ambient noise and light. if you stay with us again and find it too noisy, please feel free to come ask for a room change or free ear plugs. As for Tijuana - it is a drinking trip! Next time you want good Mexican you can find it right here in San Diego - try Fred's on 5th Avenue. Tuesdays is $2 margaritas and tacos. And our new favorite is Funky Garcias on G - also withd $2 tacos on Tuesdays!
So we stayed here 4 nights. I knew it was going to be a party hostel, from everything I read online. My boyfriend and I, although we like to go out and stuff, are not the most outgoing people in this kind of situation.
Anyways, so we arrived there late (around 9pm) on Friday night. We had booked a private double bed and I was annoyed to find out that when we arrived, we pretty much got the worst room (because it was the last one available) : right in front of the staircaise and the satelitte TV was completely broken... they gave us 10$ off...I think we should have asked for more, since we having satelite TV in the room description obviously drove the price up, and we were staying there 4 nights, but whatever.
So my first recommendation is if you care about getting a good room, don't get there too late.
Now, when we arrived, the place was already in full swing. People were hanging out in the lobby and staircase drinking. People were nice and welcoming though and actually helped us carry out luggage up :) ! If you are into partying and meeting people, yes, its absolutely great for that.
Our room was nice, although we had to keep the curtains closed because you could see into another room across the courtyard thing.
Oh, another thing, they have free WiFi which we used a lot, but it was not functionning properly. You had to keep connecting and disconnecting to actually get a connection... so a bit tricky.
The bathrooms are shared, coed. Never had a problem waiting for anything, and they we're pretty clean.
The place did have all the organized activities that they promised : we were there on the Tijuana night, which we kind of wanted to go to, but we were way too tired because we went surfing that morning (exhausting). They also had the organized dinners, and parties.
Another thing I would like to "warn" about though is that the 11 o'clock "quiet" rule is not really respected. We had people SCREAMING and playing music LOUD until like 2 in the morning. And we later found out this was actually a staff party.... So I was pretty annoyed about that because I am a REALLY light sleeper. However, I put my earplugs in and was able to fall asleep anyways.
The girl at the front desk (blonde) was really nice and very helpful. They answered all the questions we had about what bus to take where, where we should buy our tickets, everything. (however some of the staff we're a little annoying/gross (ie drunk, unhelpful, barefoot) They also have a great map in the hostel that shows ALL the popular attractions and little cards which directions on how to get there by bus!! Great!! Used them all the time.
Oh and the free breakfast : it was nice having something to eat in the morning for free (coffee, pancakes, oatmeal)... but it was reallllly not that good. But whatever, all I need in the morning is coffee and something to eat with it, so that was fine.
So all in all : The good : Mostly helpful staff, and tons of help to figure out what to do/where to go/how to get there, and lots of opportunities to meet people. The bad : room wasn't so great, or breakfast, and a bit too loud at night.
Thanks for your thorough comments about your stay. It's this kind of customer feedback that keeps us on our toes and trying to improve. We had a problem with Direct TV that we have resolved since your stay and we'd hoped the $10 off would make up for the loss of the cable connection.. As for the wifi - thanks for that info - we'd not heard there was a dropping issue and it will be looked into immediately.
Most guests do enjoy making their own pancakes in the morning, but we are always exploring new breakfast items to offer.
Late night noise in the hostel is unacceptable and we apologize for that. This will be discussed with staff - we agree that everyone should be able to get a decent night's sleep.
Happy Travels to you.
This was a great hostel, with very friendly traveller folk staff.
The boyfriend and I booked the cheapest dorm room possible which was right next to the party room, we are both heavy sleepers but if your not I would pay the extra. We also had some interesting roommates (I forgot most people who book cheap rooms ARE on a budget and wont participate in anything to save costs).
Was a bit disappointed there was no milk for my coffee or for oatmeal, and some loos were getting fixed which meant the bathroom was a bit crowded, but otherwise had a great vibe, and I would definately stay there again.
If you are a bit of a lone wolf or like early nights, you are probably better off in a hotel though
I previously stayed in the USA Hostels in both San Fran and LA before booking into San Diego. I was very impressed with the former so this lead to my choice of accommodation in the USA in San Diego. However, in the week that I stayed there I really dont know how it has such a great rep of a hostel.
BAD POINTS: The place is full of staff. Its al very needless as they dont do much at all except crowd the kitchen when you need to cook or hang around the stairs making it impossible to pass by. They could do with shedding at least 5/6 workers..there is seriously more staff than actual guests there!!
The toilets are constantly closed for service at key times during the day, i.e. around mid-morning/afternoon and close to the time you would be getting ready to go out. Makes no sense whatsoever.
The place is very cramped and tight to get around. The laundry room only had 2 working machines and if you are anyway not on the slim side, good luck getting in and out of the place!
The front of the hostel is rather noisy. If you stay in any of them rooms your sleep is going to be patchy at best on a sober night.
GOOD POINTS: The place can be a good party spot. They bring you on decent trips out. The pub crawl is a must tbh. Just wished the staff acted more for the guests than themselves. The lounge room is a must for cheap beers and a good party after coming home from a night out.
The kitchen is fully equipped with everything that you need and the hostel does throw on cheap dinners during the week for $5 which is pretty decent.
Thank you for your candid comments about our property. It's through guest observations that we can continue to improve our service to guests. Please let me address your concerns. We absolutely agree that the laundry area is a tight fit and we have a plan in the works to enlarge the laundry this winter when the season slows down. We have 10 staff for 100 guest beds and in the summers we certainly do need them all! That's how we're able to keep the place clean and the tours you enjoyed running smoothly and regularly. We often get comments on how friendly the staff are, so we're sorry that you did not have that experience. As for the bath cleaning, they are regularly cleaned twice a day and are supposed to be timed to be after the morning rush and before the evening rush, but we will check on that scheduling to make sure it's not interfering with guests' needs. You may have seen staff in the kitchen prepping for the meals that we serve a couple of times a week. We will certainly tell them to make room for those guests who need a bit of prep space also. tWe hope you enjoyed San Diego as a whole.
