Name: HI New Orleans Hostel
Address: 1028 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA
Telephone: (888) 416-0458
Rating: 4.5

A fabulous stay in a...

Liked: The rooms and bathroom were fantastic. The location was great, easy to get around. The breakfast served in the morning was amazing.

Great hostel, shitty guests

Liked: Having travelled across the country and stayed at many hostels, this is the best one in terms of facilities.Spacious, clean and the staff are polite
Disliked: Because this hostel is in New Orleans, it is quite busy and there are some not very decent guests.I had a strange encounter with a foreign guest. I left my room key in my room, so I waited for a roommate to come back and open the door for me so I could retrieve my key. Instead of helping me, the guest stood there in the corridor for a minute watching me before trying to intimidate me and one up me in a strange way to assert dominance, for no good reason. I found the encounter very odd and the lovely receptionist me helped change my room, which I really appreciated.Other weird guests include people smoking in the toilets then coming back to dorms stinking up the place. And another guest threw up late at night in a bag in the room, which was disgusting.Now I know the hostel cannot control who stays but it’s just something I thought worth sharing as bad encounters can ruin your whole stay and your overall perception of the city.Nevertheless, this is the best hostel I stayed in during my time in the US. The staff and facilities are excellent. Maybe I was just unlucky with the people during my stay, but I won’t let that affect my rating, because this place really deserves a full 10*.

Recommend!

Liked: Great hostel, clean and up to date. It’s on Canal at the edge of French Quarter so very walkable!
Disliked: Sign said staff cleaned bathrooms twice a day, but the bathrooms could’ve used a bit more love.

Exceptional

Liked: Great location, comfy beds, friendly staff, free filtered water, lots of bathrooms, nice and clean. Also great music in the lobby. Probably the best hostel I’ve ever stayed at!
Disliked: It can get a bit noisy due to the central location. The hostel offers free earplugs though, so it wasn’t really an issue.

Very good

Exceptional

Liked: This was the best hostel of my life from over 20 years of travelling. The bad head, individual light and shelf and charging station and the curtain for privacy. I would consider it a capsule hotel. Awesome great kitchen, free breakfast in a great room for reading billiards. Laundry room that had an iron so I could iron my dance dresses was a very pleasant surprise.

Poor

Liked: location. basic but ok breakfast.
Disliked: I was treated really bad by one person in the reception. I reported it to managers. they were receptive. I could not sleep well, there were road works a few meters away from the hostel. my room was changed and a giant noisy fan was put a few meters from my room after I reported I scratched my feet on one step. Roomates fixing large luggage at 2 am, roommates attending online meetings at 2 am. I demanded my money back from booking, nowhere to be seen anyone to assist me. Genius 3 is a joke.