HostelworldReviews 135

Avoid this company, they steal your money
Avoid this company. They not just only do FALSE ADVERTISEMENT but also STEAL YOUR MONEY. The phone number in the website doesnt work, so its impossible to have a chat with them and if they decided to keep the money they will. I am in the process of suiting them. And also I have contacted 4 different locations of the Burea of consumer protection. Do yourself a favour and stay away. Use booking.com. I never had a problem with them. The Hostel that I stayed in Seaside hawaii its disgusting and old. Bathrooms gross. Terrible.

I regret I ever did the booking with them. Not only property owner said they are overbooked A WEEK after the booking and other arrangements for an area where made, but people from this site wanted to force me cancel my reservation (and didn't have an alternative for the same price) and said I cannot review these crooks. "As only people who stay at the property can review!" They are working with crooks and making these crooks untouchable!
Awful experience!

Absolute worst case scenario: I booked my hostel three weeks before I arrived, received my booking confirmation and reference number, then arrived at 3am to find my booking had NOT been made, the customer service number they provide is not connected and nobody responded to my 20 odd emails demanding urgent assistance (as per their 24/7 customer service guarantee). I had to contact crisis care to put me up in emergency accommodation as everything else in town was booked due to the same event I had travelled there for. Two days later (when I returned home) I found a couple of emails saying "yo what's the problem?" like I hadn't clearly explained it in 20 separate emails. They are now giving me the run around with further insulting responses like "we can see your booking, was there a problem?" I've never ended up in such a helpless situation and it was all because of this company a) not booking my hostel and b) not responding to my customer care enquiry. They did NOTHING. The Salvation Army paid an $80 cab fare to put me up for 2 nights in a motel 2 hours out of town. My weekend was completely ruined. Still no closer to getting in contact without someone at Hostelworld besides generic email responses. Unreal. NEVER again. I've used this overseas and I'm terrified now that this could have happened where I didn't even speak the language or know which local homeless charities existed. Like you should need to. Wow. Mind blown.

It is by far the worst booking platform which neither provides good service to the listed properties, nor to the travelers who count on their reliability. Their commission policy, which charges over 20% of the total amount for the booking is consciously hidden from the end customer. NO ONE who books through HW knows that the so-called "deposit" goes to Hostelworld pocket, not to the property. This is totally misleading the customer's awareness where their money go to. From our experience as hostel owners, we were totally surprised when one of the HW managers Anna Necajeva cancelled more than 11 reservations without our knowledge, based on her personal attitude towards us. Another big disappointment is their software which is completely outdated, there is no app for the properties, the password reset procedure takes over 48 hours, which might ruin anyone's business. Moreover, by default one property account adjust its availability not only at Hostelworld, but also at Hostelbookers, Hostels.com, etc. which might lead to a serious problem when a password reset is required. HW Team Leader - Aislinn Sheehan., was totally disrespectful when we addressed to her our complain for an improper customer behaviour, she neglected our case and her arrogance forced us to cancel our partnerhip with Hostelworld.

Do not using this cheaters Hostelworld, hostelbookers and hostelsdotcom owned by the same company. They have charged 20% of each reservation and masked this service charge like a,, deposit". Maybe because on the first page you can see,, No Fees", Very old software and there many bugs, but terrible customer service. I do not use it again. There are many inovative websites, like locktrip or hotelbonanza with 0% commission and 15-20% less from this fake company!

Hostelworld was fast easy to join and set up an account BUT the 'Flexible Cancellation' service, managing my account, and canceling a res. Within the 72 hour time frame, was not; so my credit card on file was charged. Email contact with Customer Service was not fruitful with us each reasserting our positions and their business model. The software seems intentionally clunky and I was charged for a stay I attempted in good faith to cancel. Additionally, Hostelworld had no info under Account/FAQ's/Privacy & Settings, on how to cancel my account. I had to Live Chat to get their support to close it! As Hostelworldgroup manage Hostelworld, Hostelbookers and Hostels.com, I will not be using any of their 'services'.

This business has terrible policies and basically robbed me of close to $80 for the deposit and never confirmed with the hostel and we had no place to stay when we arrived. They had told me that the booking was confirmed and accepted my deposit. However, when we got to the hostel where we were supposed to be staying for 4 nights the hostel had cancelled the booking since it had never been confirmed with the hostel itself. When I contacted HostelWorld they said that the hostel had tried to send me emails that I NEVER received and could not give me back my deposit. They were not helpful or nice about the situation, not only would they not give me back the almost $80 deposit that was what the business charges it's customers but we had to struggle to find a new place to stay. PLEASE DON"T USE THIS WEBSITE, YOU"LL BE ROBBED.

I booked a "Basic Single Private Shared Bathroom" using hostel world. Total Cost: US$53.72 paid deposit Total Paid: US$12.36 for two nights.

When arrived they were asking 19% more for Taxes. Notice that Hostelworld usually displays final price and have been using many times. So basically they were asking 10USD more. This is a scam because unless you read a fine print you don't know it and hence cannot compare with other websites.

The "Basic Single Private Shared Bathroom" turned out to be a Pod! That means only a bed in a wardrobe - much worse than Japanese Capsule Hostel (no amenities at all).

Hostelworld is also responsible for the misleading ad (no mention to the pod) and also the Tax. (See photos attached)

Notice 53.72$ minus 12.36 deposit = 51.57! According to their arithmetic...
HI STAVROS, YOUR BOOKING IS CONFIRMED
Reference Number: **************

CDMX Hostel Art Gallery
Paseo de la Reforma 169, Colonia Cuauhtemoc, Mexico City, Mexico

Telephone *******100

I booked 2 nights in Vancouver Backpackers House through Booking.Com and 1 night through Hostelworld. Both the times I had to give my Credit card details. 14.40 was taken through Booking.com and 5.50 through Hostelworld upfront. While leaving, the Hostel took the entire fee saying I will get the refund after 15 days from both online booking companies. I called Booking.com and they told me that they don't take any money for reservation and hence they would call the Hostel. They got back to me with 30 minutes to say that they have spoken to the Hostel and I will get my refund within 48 hours... I got my refund with 24 hours actually. Hostel world in turn does not have any Customer care number. You have to email them. They take their own sweet time. Then I was told to deal with the hostel directly. The Hostel guys manipulated the numbers and said I dont get any refund. Stay away from these Hostelworld jokers... They are scammers...