Bounce Melbourne — Hotel in Melbourne

Contrary to the raving 5 stars review which doesn't address the elephant in the room, I offer my critics as a World Traveller who have been living all around Asia and have actively been rating hostels and hotels. I find past overrated reviews to be appalling & the reason why hostel like these will never improve their standard.

Sure, the staff here are certainly well mannered. However overall, I find Selina Hostel to be of incredibly poor value for AUD50+ per night to the extent that it leaves a bad impression of Australia's hotel standards. Despite being the most expensive hostel in Melbourne, it done not even have the basic provision. It feels like there is no proper hotel manager overlooking housekeeping, maintenance & improvement of guest experience. Yet is run by bunch of nice inexperienced/unguided young people on 'Working Holiday Visa'. The accommodation standards is lower than entire Asia (First world countries like Singapore & Developing countries like Thailand & Vietnam)

Hence, I strongly recommend to pay more to stay with an Airbnb Host or a private hotel room instead. BUT if you're looking for a hostel with daily social activity among western crowds, they are nailing it!

⚠️ WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE BOOKING Access to kitchen and lounge is closed from 11pm. This was not disclose on Agoda otherwise I would not have booked. You will barely have anywhere else to sit to do your work, study or socialise except a couple of sofa on each level near the lift. Dope photos of chill area surrounded by red bricks wall is their ‘Underground Bar’ NOT a hostel lounge!

🤩 Highlights ➊ Location It's right in the town beside train station. Surrounded by supermarkets and restaurants. ➋ Private Enclosed Work Booth Perfect for Digital Nomads who needs to be on video call. ➌ Kitchen You get to cook your meals in this country with ultra expensive food cost (AUD$20+ per decent meal). However, do not expect the kitchen and its utensils to be clean. Fridge are over stuffed.

🙇🏻‍♀️ Downside ➊ Kitchen & Lounge Closes At 11pm We do not appreciate being chased out of the kitchen-lounge area while your staff uses it to cook their own meal & take own sweet time to clean the place. Closing it for 2-4 hours max per day is acceptable. ➋ Low Quality Bathroom Some shower room doesn't have shampoo/shower gel. Not all basin area has handwash. Extremely inconsistent with obvious lack of maintenance. ➌ NO Bath Towels Provided ➍ NO Air Condition (Only ceiling fan) They utilise the opened window for keeping the bedroom cool at the expense of outdoor noise (morning trucks & restaurant crowds). ➎ Uncomfortable Bed & Storage Aside from the flat pillow and uncomfortable mattress, there is this annoying lock cabinet near your lower legs. It takes up 1/3 of the bed's horizontal space. Every night, it's not uncommon for your legs to accidentally hit it while sleeping. When knocked, the cabinet door will automatically lift open upwards since it has no locks and simply too low in a high ceiling room. So you have to wake up in the middle of the night just to close it. Light switch for lamp is too hidden. Your single drawer is at the bottom of the lower bunk bed which has NO flat base. Your bunk mate's item can easily fall through into those drawers. Terrible design! 🫤 ❻ LOUD Door Slam The doors produces a thunderous sound when closed and you can hear all its echo throughout the hall.

📨 FEEDBACK These are the basic standards of any hostel in the world: • Lounge MUST be open to your guest 24/7. All lights can be dimmed, fans can be turned off when not in used as courtesy by every guest. There are people who need to work non office hours, study or mingle with others outside of their dorm rooms. • Be more upfront with labelling your photos on Agoda & noting its access time restriction. • Everything else mentioned under 'Downside'— it’s critical cause they are the BASIC stuff.

🎧 Noise Level: Mid-High 👯‍♀️ Majority Crowd: Western 🧼 Cleanliness: Acceptable 🤵🏻‍♀️ Hospitality: Excellent 🏨 Architect (International Benchmark): Poor...

Bounce is in a great location, central to pretty much every thing and is just steps away from the entrance of Flinders Street Station. You can pretty much walk to anywhere from the hostel and there is an abundance of food choices right out side the door.

Staff are very friendly on arrival and a lot of seating scattered around the hostel so plenty of opportunities to chat to other travellers.

All felt very safe and secure, 24/7 reception and they’ll give you a key card for the different floors, room and bathroom. Just try and not to loose the key card.

Bathrooms were good, plenty of showers and sinks to use and not busy, I did find tho that the showers were on the colder side in the morning. Also they don’t provide any shampoo / conditioner, body wash or towels for free which can be a bummer.

Beds were great, nice curtains that block the light when the room light is on, pretty much squeak free and plenty of extra space around the room to move and put your things. They have a light and world wide power point in the bed, also a massive storage box too that can be locked. You choose your bed when you get there so unless you’re early, you’ll probably be stuck with the top bunk. There’s not much ventilation in the rooms, in the colder nights it was fine but I don’t think I would like to sleep there in the summer.

Plenty of room in the kitchen and lots of places to sit and eat, like a dining room there’s books and games and a good place to chill. Even has some sound free booths if you need to make a call.

All around a very good experience, plenty of good people staying here, and the location...

In general this Hostel and Rooms are clean and have a nice interior. The private rooms (standard) have really small bathrooms. The sink is so small that it’s almost impossible to wash your face without getting the rest of your body wet as well. Also I am not that tall(1,72m) but my knees almost touched the wall while sitting on the toilet. I would recommend to install some more shelves in the room and especially in the bathroom. There is almost no space to put your personal belongings somewhere. The rooms to Flinders Street are really noisy especially because of the construction work in front of it but besides that the noise comes of course with the location of this hostel itself. In my opinion the prices Selina requests per night are too high for what you get in the end.

The tram station is right in front of the hostel and a lot of attractions, cafés and supermarkets are in walking distance. Which is really handy.

What I really like about this hostel are the activities they offer. I‘ve joined Franzis Yoga class and Luke’s speedmating which really helped to get to know new people! Also the Wifi was working really well.

Overall I would recommend this hostel if you don’t mind noisy location/ sleeping with ear plugs and would like to be close to the city center and easily want to...