It was our first time staying in a hostel and I had no expectations. We rented the whole house for our family and had 12 guests stay comfortably.
Check in was a little awkward in that every single guest has to register and give ID to the host. You get a quick run down on things with during your check in but I did not see anything written posted in the office or the house to be able to refer to later. This would have been handy at check-out which I’ll address later.
Since it is a hostel there are lots of people around and it kind of feels like summer camp cabins. Since there are so many people wandering around we did have several people wonder into our house thinking it was the office, since it was the first building. There is a faded handwritten sign on the outside of the house but signage could definitely be improved in this area.
The kitchen was pretty well stocked, no baking sheets, mixing sized-bowls, or non-stick pans, so adjust any meal prep plans accordingly. The dishwasher and bath tub were both out of order. The house was clean, beds were ok (bunk beds were squeaky which kept others in the same room awake).
Parking was not easy, it is Santa Cruz (and we were there on a holiday weekend), so plan for this to be a difficult exercise.
The only issue we had was on check-out day. We gathered our things, packed our bags and moved them to the foyer, stripped the linens on the beds and signed our names to the clipboard letting the staff know our linens had been returned, and brought them to the designated area and then went to breakfast before our check out time was up. When we returned from breakfast we were greeted by an open front door, exposing all of belongings, and the cleaners in the house. This was especially disheartening since we had so many random people walk in the house while we were there and had the door open. It put our belongings at risk and made returning to checkout uncomfortable, especially for our kids. When I approached one of staff about this situation she was unapologetic. Apparently when you sign your name to the clip board it triggers the checkout process to begin, which I don’t remember being told and hence why it would be helpful to have check out instructions written.
As an AirBnB host myself, if I entered my property and saw my guest’s luggage prior to the checkout deadline, it would tell me they are not ready to check out and I would not invade their privacy. The staff member I spoke to about this said that they didn’t know we weren’t ready to check out and had no way of telling .. however they have my contact information including phone number, email, and messaging capabilities on the AirBnB platform.. I brought this to the staff’s attention as maybe a coaching opportunity for improvement in communication but the staff member I spoke to was more interested in demonstrating how she was right and I was wrong than learning from the situation. Once I returned to the house to complete my checkout I had three different individuals try to enter the house on validating my concerns.
The ending to our trip was unfortunate as privacy and trust are important aspects and although I had fully intended on returning prior to this issue, I’m not so sure.