Broome Hostels

Everything was very easy and convenient and the staff were super helpful. Fun place connected to a pub and a party bar The other guests were from all over the world so it's a very interesting environment.

Staying at a YHA is always a calculated risk but with accommodation booked out in Broome months and months in advance (not to mention the outrageous prices charged in the dry season!!), I thought I would give it a go. Quite frankly, I’ve been mind-boggled by the amount of lazy, selfish individuals (generally late teens/20-somethings) who just leave all their dirty cups and dishes and empty food and drink containers all over the place as well as the filthy mess they leave the kitchen in. The free breakfast items are left open and uncapped or uncovered on the benches, with used cutlery covered in spreads dumped there for all the flies from the unclosed sliding kitchen door to feast on. The milk/butter is rarely returned to the fridge. They never wipe down the mess they make but generally leave it for others to do. This occurs on a daily basis. I can’t imagine the state of their homes! The one shining light in all this havoc is manager Shaun who is always so kind, helpful and accommodating. Apart from all that, the very basic rooms are fine, if minamilistic, and the shared bathrooms are cleaned daily (thank goodness!). There is free wifi but this doesn’t work in the rooms, even the private ones. I have to say this experience has been an eye-opener to say the least.

TLDR: seems to be popular with long-stayers. Don’t expect help with issues unless on first-name basis with management, the rooms are “too cheap” for that. The thought behind the poor rating is that had there been no issues during my stay, I would have rated the place as average, and had my issue been dealt with differently I would have given the place a good rating. However, such is not the case. The rooms are as expected from the very low price, it’s just two bunk-beds in a small blue room. I had no issue with this since I tend to not spend much time in the hotel anyway. When I arrived, however, I soon met two girls who informed me that they weren’t staying in my room, in which four girls including me were staying, but they were going to move in soon and were for now just keeping their stuff in the room. I didn’t want to make a fuss, so I didn’t bring it up with management at first. It did however bother me, because this meant that it wasn’t just four people coming and going in the room, sometimes very late, but six. I felt that paying full price for a room with two extra people in there hardly seemed fair, and so I told management. Management’s response was to huff that I hadn’t brought it up sooner, and then go looking for the other girls staying in my room to ask them about it. When they couldn’t find them they informed me that they would look into it and get back to me the next day. I was checking out the next day but that morning they still hadn’t spoken to the other girls (not sure why that had to be done first 🤷‍♀️). I left my bag behind reception to come get later and told them I’d be back at around 5pm. When I got back the person I had spoken to wasn’t there, but the person in reception told me that I would not receive any compensation because: I had already payed, the room was really cheap, and they couldn’t control if the girls did this kind of thing. I didn’t argue, because it was clearly not there decision to change. The fact that I had payed is irrelevant, and for a hotel to not be able to control how their rooms are used is worrying. As for the fact that the rooms are cheap, yes, for a four-bed dorm. I didn’t stay in a four-bed dorm however, but a four-bed dorm also used as a storage unit. I would like to add that the vibe here is very much that everyone stays for a long-time, so the staff and guests are close and seem to be friends. Perhaps the service is better once you get on a first-name basis with management. The pool area is very nice and the toilets are mostly clean. I didn’t use the kitchen so I can’t say anything about that.