Hostelling International Reviews 1,137

I've had the most wonderful experiences with Hostelling International. I'm very pleased an organization like this exists and gives opportunities to people to travel on a budget with reasonable standards of accommodation.

Booked a 3 night stay and was having a very positive experience- the views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz can’t be beat. Even my 4 roommates were nice. The downside was on the last day here a group with young kids 10-12 years of age checked in. They took over the upstairs living area and were left unsupervised. They were being extremely loud and no one said anything. I myself asked them to be a little quieter but it didn’t help. I didn’t realize they allowed kids this young.

I have been a customer of HIUSA.org NYC for 22 years. They sent me an email giving a 25% discount if I used their HIUSA.org NYC for a bed that was $90 Memorial day weekend. However when I used their save25 promo the rate of the bed went up to$90 instead of the $45/50 price without their save25 discount. They scammed me. I emailed, sent a letter snail mail. filed with the NYC BBB and emailed them back on emails they sent to me recently for more phoney discounts.

Both days I had to take a cold shower because there was not hot water.

One hostel tour was cancelled with no notice on the Saturday before Memorial day.

I/you cannot dispute a hotel charge on your Chase credit card as it will go through no mattter; this is the same rule for any hotel/hostel bed price. So HIUSA.org knew exactly what they were doing.

Response to HiHostels - It is simply not good enough to say sorry you feel that way . . fix the website. It is disfunctional.

HiHostels website has been working badly - if at all - in the UK for about a year: - in reality, since 2018. Many member sites do work but are hosted differently. There seems to be no way to contact the team that is based in the UK. The contacts button on the page foot (along with other selections) simply does not work. You can get a bit further in MS Edge, than Firefox, but in reality many options don't launch . . . and then the page stops responding and may stall the browser. This is unacceptable.

The failure to fix the problems over the past few years brings the raison d'etre of an International Federation into real doubt, especially when some countries never participated fully and after some have dropped out. Close-coupling to TwitFace and Instabook is not help is nothing works as it should. It is a major disservice to the principle of youth hostels advocated almost 100 years ago by Richard Shirrman . . what a shame.

The site works badly, it take's minutes to load, suddenly the amount to pay had doubled, payment was refused and then you'll have to start all over again. I hope you can fix this.

I can't enter with my ESN account!!!!!!!!!!

While your site has many pics, there is NO mention as to WHICH private room I'm looking at...your pics SHOULD BE LABELED!!!!!!

Your facilities MUST do a MUCH better job at the following, please:
1. Answer the phones during daytime, regular business hours, please.
2. Answer voicemails in a timely fashion, please.
3. Answer emails in a timely fashion, please.
4. Empty out your voicemail boxes frequently, please.
5. PLEASE MAKE IT EASIER TO CANCEL WHEN WE NEED IT, PLEASEEEE!! It is so very difficult to do so and at this point we are not even sure if, in fact, it has indeed been CANCELLED with more than two days advance notice!! Hope they confirm with us BEFORE the card is charged. It's after 9am local time and still nothing. Been reaching out in multiple ways. My ADVICE TO THOSE SEEKING TO BOOK AN ADVANCE STAY IS: DO NOT BOOK IN ADVANCE UNLESS YOU ARE EXTRA CERTAIN of your plan to stay. Cancelling has been NEARLY impossible. Unable to reach anyone AT ALL. It's actually disappointing.

Tried to pay with Google pay twice and received error messages both times.

I'm older and not exceedingly great with computers. But your website/reservations screens were very easy to understand and navigate. Thank you for making it easy for me. Carol Ann

So far, so good. Their no-show policy said they will charge my card for one night if i don't show up, or if i cancel less than 18hrs before my checkin time. They only charged me a $20 deposit to book 3 days!

Lovely service that allowed me to find safe and affordable accommodations while travelling.

Very easy booking system with smooth process and not a lot to fill up. Donation to offset carbon emission is a great idea! Very pleased.

I am life member and prefer only HI Hotels where ever available. At some places living is good but at some inconvenient. Locations are good. Some years ago the rates were tolerable but now they are rising making way for other options.

Easy to book, lovely and clean hostel, wonderful example of everyone sharing responsibility for a good environment.

Very easy to book, nice user experience

Very easy and fast, always enjoyed staying at HI hostels. very friendly staff and nice and affordable facilities. Thank you

I do not understand. I am a member of HI and when I booked online my 2 nights in Nakatsugawa YH (Japan), I am billed as "non adherent".
In your online process, there is no reference to the notion "member" / "non member" why?

Will this be settled at check-in with presentation of my membership card? Thank you in advance for your reply