Kilkenny Tourist Hostel

This hostel is great. The staff are lovely, especially the Australian lady with red hair! The room was surprisingly large with lots of space for luggage, plenty of hooks for jackets etc, and very clean & tidy. No curtains or power plugs for each bed, but there were enough plugs elsewhere in the room so not a big issue. No lockers in the room either, but I just locked my bags with padlocks each day and felt perfectly comfortable. One issue is that the doors don't lock automatically (you have to physically turn the lock once inside, and use your key to lock it when leaving) which means that the room is open for all if you forget to lock it. We forgot to lock our door one night and a man came inside and helped himself to an empty bed to sleep! Nothing worse happened, but it could have, so make sure you lock the door. Another positive is that the hostel is in a great location - on the busy main street near supermarkets, shops and cafes. Great spot!

As a fellow hotelier, it is rare that I would write a bad review for another property, but my experience warrants one. WARNING: Ensure your booking of confirmed before going. I had all 20 beds reserved, transport arranged, dinner, etc. My friend called to charge the card details on file as I wasn’t attending and was told “we cancelled your booking and sold the beds”. Neither of us received an apology or an explanation as to why the manager did this. And when questioned, she was extremely patronizing and unapologetic for not even having the decency to call and double check with us before cancelling our booking. Needless to say, with this short notice, everything had to be cancelled for the group trip as nowhere else had availability