Comfort Level: 5
Amenities: 5
Staff: 5
Location: 4
Fellow Hostelers: 5
Overall: 5
Sir Toby's is a really good hostel for long term stays, but maybe not as good for the short term people. It was clean and well kept, which is pretty amazing for Prague and Czech in general. The location is okay, but walking to town is really a long haul. The trams cost next to nothing though, and at check in they'll tell you which ones to take, point our great restaurants and good places to see. It is a long way from any real "nightlife" which is a downer for a lot of people: there isn't a whole lot to do and see in Prague that you can't do in a day or two, and everything closes around 6. We were happy to sit in the pub downstairs and watch movies and play games with the people there. The guest kitchen is available from 6am to 11pm, and they serve vegetarian food at the bar until 11:30. The breakfast bar is entirely worth the 100 crowns (110 if you don't buy in advance) because you get to make your own scrambled eggs, crepes, and breakfast roll sandwiches, all you can eat. You get a mug for as much tea and coffee as you want, as well as a bowl for yogurt (two kinds, I highly recommend the blueberry/berry flavoured one, it was wonderful) or granola (homemade!) and even cereal. They had all sorts of add-ons for the egg bar, and fruit toppings for the crepes and for munching. All of this is included in the ticket and all you can eat.
The beds were wonderful and soft with huge pillows! They were onsies too, so I felt like a real adult instead of a pretend kid. The room was spacious with 5 beds (though at first they shoved an extra bed in there to make enough room, and I asked to switch from that when one of the people left) and huge windows. There is NO central air, but the heating probably works. We had the windows open pretty much all day and night trying to cool off, but the whole hostel was absolutely hot.
There is only one bathroom per dorm, so 5-8 people have to share one toilet and one shower, which could get hairy, though we never had an issue with ours.
The kitchen is pretty good, with two small refrigerators and two rangetops, sinks and pans, plates, bowls and silverware. They are serious, though, when they say anything without info on it is getting chucked each night. The kitchen is closed and locked after 11pm, but if you need to grab something or put food away you can ask for the key-- there's a time limit on it though, so you can't cook. Wifi is free and on all floors as well, though as always there are pay computers in the front you can use.
Overall I highly recommend this hostel for amenities and cleanliness, but the location is a little far for one day stays or those who love hardcore nightlife.
Showing posts with label Grading Scale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grading Scale. Show all posts
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Review of Salzburg Yoho Hostel:
Location: 5
Staff: 4
Comfort Level: 5
Amenities: 4 1/2
Fellow Hostelers: 5
Overall: 5
This is one of the "Europe's Famous Hostels" group, and for good reason. Clean, well located and with generally decent prices for rooms it suits most every need. I give it a 5 for the showers alone, though if you try to shower early in the morning you'll run into the age old problem of never enough showers. So we shower at night or the afternoon when no one is around. The womens showers were renovated a few weeks before we got there, and let me tell you they are probably the BEST showers we've seen traveling. Ever.
The amenities gets a hit because the guest kitchen is a joke, open from 11am to 5pm and so tiny you can't turn around comfortably it makes a mockery of the word "kitchenette." If you're a hardcore self-feeder and don't want to spend 3-8 euro on breakfast and dinner respectively then you might rethink this one. However, the free wifi is actually free and accessible all hours on all floors. You have to pay for computer time if you don't have a laptop or mobile device, though, so be warned.
Everything, as with most European hostels, costs. Everything. There was even graffiti about that downstairs in the basement/laundry room, which was hilarious. There were years of graffiti on the walls from all corners of the world in many languages (though Australians are the most obnoxious of the ones we found). We added our marks as well, continuing a great tradition. We ought to buy sharpies to graffiti with, though, we busted two ballpoints writing on the wall.
The laundry costs 2 euro for the small washer and 2 euro for the dryer, so we had to halve our respective loads to fit three people's stuff into the wash. But they smells wonderful after the wash :) You put down a 5 euro deposit for linen, which you get back if you check out on time (10 am), and the same for a towel if you need one, though you pay them an nonrefundable .50 cent to use it.
The bar downstairs boasts cheap drinks, but there are so many beer gartens and restaurants around with better deal and drinks, according to what we saw and the input from the hostelers we talked to.
The beds were classic bunks that squeaked and shook with every movement, and the mattresses were original 70's we think, but they just got new mattresses the night before we left, and they're doing more renovations so they might get new beds too. Crap pillows, and the sheets were two heavily starched flat sheets.
The security lockers and door security were really pretty good though, you had to have the keycard to your bed number to open the corresponding locker. The only thing to remember was that the lockers didn't lock on their own and if you don't lock it manually before you leave, your "security" is compromised. We had no issues, nor had we heard of anyone having issues, but it's a good thing to note. Luggage drop is just the open downstairs area where bags can be piled for a morning; we brought a cable lock long enough to fit through all three bag handles and locked it around a bar in the staircase, just to be safe.
I would say that for a long stay, this is a great place but for the kitchen, for a one night stay it would be just about perfect.
Staff: 4
Comfort Level: 5
Amenities: 4 1/2
Fellow Hostelers: 5
Overall: 5
This is one of the "Europe's Famous Hostels" group, and for good reason. Clean, well located and with generally decent prices for rooms it suits most every need. I give it a 5 for the showers alone, though if you try to shower early in the morning you'll run into the age old problem of never enough showers. So we shower at night or the afternoon when no one is around. The womens showers were renovated a few weeks before we got there, and let me tell you they are probably the BEST showers we've seen traveling. Ever.
The amenities gets a hit because the guest kitchen is a joke, open from 11am to 5pm and so tiny you can't turn around comfortably it makes a mockery of the word "kitchenette." If you're a hardcore self-feeder and don't want to spend 3-8 euro on breakfast and dinner respectively then you might rethink this one. However, the free wifi is actually free and accessible all hours on all floors. You have to pay for computer time if you don't have a laptop or mobile device, though, so be warned.
Everything, as with most European hostels, costs. Everything. There was even graffiti about that downstairs in the basement/laundry room, which was hilarious. There were years of graffiti on the walls from all corners of the world in many languages (though Australians are the most obnoxious of the ones we found). We added our marks as well, continuing a great tradition. We ought to buy sharpies to graffiti with, though, we busted two ballpoints writing on the wall.
The laundry costs 2 euro for the small washer and 2 euro for the dryer, so we had to halve our respective loads to fit three people's stuff into the wash. But they smells wonderful after the wash :) You put down a 5 euro deposit for linen, which you get back if you check out on time (10 am), and the same for a towel if you need one, though you pay them an nonrefundable .50 cent to use it.
The bar downstairs boasts cheap drinks, but there are so many beer gartens and restaurants around with better deal and drinks, according to what we saw and the input from the hostelers we talked to.
The beds were classic bunks that squeaked and shook with every movement, and the mattresses were original 70's we think, but they just got new mattresses the night before we left, and they're doing more renovations so they might get new beds too. Crap pillows, and the sheets were two heavily starched flat sheets.
The security lockers and door security were really pretty good though, you had to have the keycard to your bed number to open the corresponding locker. The only thing to remember was that the lockers didn't lock on their own and if you don't lock it manually before you leave, your "security" is compromised. We had no issues, nor had we heard of anyone having issues, but it's a good thing to note. Luggage drop is just the open downstairs area where bags can be piled for a morning; we brought a cable lock long enough to fit through all three bag handles and locked it around a bar in the staircase, just to be safe.
I would say that for a long stay, this is a great place but for the kitchen, for a one night stay it would be just about perfect.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
An explanation of grading scale:
Everything goes on a scale of 1-5, one being worst and unreccomended, five being the best and highly reccomended.
The catagories are as follows:
Amenities: Does it have a kitchen, a recroom, wifi, computers, security lockers, maps, etc.
Staff: Is the staff friendly, dot hey speak in more than one language, can they point out points of interest, are they helpful.
Comfort Level: Things like beds, sheets, and cleanliness of bathrooms and kitchens.
Location: Nearby to the train or bus station, noisy city sounds, nearby to points of interest, easy to find or get to.
Fellow Hostelers: Creepy, nice, smelly, friendly etc. Interactivity such as talking or helping out with directions or such adds to the Fellow score.
Everything goes on a scale of 1-5, one being worst and unreccomended, five being the best and highly reccomended.
The catagories are as follows:
Amenities: Does it have a kitchen, a recroom, wifi, computers, security lockers, maps, etc.
Staff: Is the staff friendly, dot hey speak in more than one language, can they point out points of interest, are they helpful.
Comfort Level: Things like beds, sheets, and cleanliness of bathrooms and kitchens.
Location: Nearby to the train or bus station, noisy city sounds, nearby to points of interest, easy to find or get to.
Fellow Hostelers: Creepy, nice, smelly, friendly etc. Interactivity such as talking or helping out with directions or such adds to the Fellow score.
Hostel Koine', Salerno, Italy, is a strange place. Though it posits "VIETATO FUMARE" (no smoking) the whole place smells of ciggarettes as the cleaning ladies smoke in the bathroom, and the people in the streets below send plumes up to the second floor windows.
No kitchen and the 'rec room' is little more than two computers, some chairs and tables, and a tv across from three little vending machines.
The beds are classic IKEA, hard as a board, but clean. They aren't the usual bunks, which is nice. The lockers are great, but some of the drawers that have locks don't ACTUALLY lock. The women's bathroom has one shower stall with five showerheads, so sharing is going to happen at some point. At first hard to find, the directions will eventually get you to the right place. The staff, mostly, are nice and helpful, but the cleaning staff is live-in and rude. Again, they smoke in the ladies' when it is posted not to, but the other staff at least move to the door to the outside before lighting up.
Overall, I give Koine a 3 of 5.
Amenities: 3
Staff: 3
Comfort Level: 3
Location: 3
Fellow Hostelers: 3
No kitchen and the 'rec room' is little more than two computers, some chairs and tables, and a tv across from three little vending machines.
The beds are classic IKEA, hard as a board, but clean. They aren't the usual bunks, which is nice. The lockers are great, but some of the drawers that have locks don't ACTUALLY lock. The women's bathroom has one shower stall with five showerheads, so sharing is going to happen at some point. At first hard to find, the directions will eventually get you to the right place. The staff, mostly, are nice and helpful, but the cleaning staff is live-in and rude. Again, they smoke in the ladies' when it is posted not to, but the other staff at least move to the door to the outside before lighting up.
Overall, I give Koine a 3 of 5.
Amenities: 3
Staff: 3
Comfort Level: 3
Location: 3
Fellow Hostelers: 3
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