Hostel Generation Europe — Hotel in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean - Sint-Jans-Molenbeek

While the room itself is decent as well as sufficiently clean, a number of factors lead me to give this hostel a one star hostel rating.

The location, while relatively close to the centre, is in an unpleasant location which is unsafe especially during the night - please do take this into account.

As detailed in other reviews, the staff are very unmotivated and seem to have forgotten that they are in the service industry. They prioritise occupying themselves and make you feel like they are doing you a huge favour whenever you do speak with them.

The building inside feels very industrial, and almost prison like in the corridors to the rooms.

While the breakfast options are decent, it closes at 9:30am which clearly is too early, as demonstrated by the influx of people towards the end. Also, the fruit is cut into weird portions which was unappealing.

The way the shower works was frustrating. Not only was it small, put the water lasts about 7 seconds after you push the button. While this is clearly done to help the environment (or save the hostel money) it just meant that I actually ended up using more water and having showers twice as long than usual.

The beds are okay, but the mattress and pillows are so soft that you practically sink. This led me to discover back problems which I never knew existed.

Whenever you want to enter the building you have to scan your key not once, but for both doors no matter the time of day. I imagine this is due to the unsafe area, but again, pretty frustrating and this was evident among the other customers.

The atmosphere within the hostel is just weird and I imagine this is because the staff really set the mood. The common area is unpleasant with stained furniture, and there is no real way to meet other travellers.

I was going to give two stars, but the checkout situation pushed it to one. Upon checkout, we were asked if we had taken the sheets off. While I have no problem with this, there isn't any information regarding this apart from a little notice behind reception. The receptionist said we have to go upstairs and do it, and then put them in a separate room. I have never have had to do this when staying in a private room.

When asked upon checkout it the stay was okay, we emphasised that the stay wasn't great for us. The receptionist was not bothered about any potential feedback.

I apologise for this lengthy review, but this was an extremely frustrating stay and affected our trip, therefore I would like to warn potential travellers when there may be better options closer to the centre.

I would like to emphasise that the people that work here are not representative of the many people we met throughout our stay in Belgium who were welcoming and great🙏🏻

Edit:

Whilst I am appreciative that this review has been responded to and taken account of, I am not appreciative of the comments made that imply that I am not tolerant enough of different cultures, especially me being from one of most multicultural cities in the world. Every city has parts that are less safe, and unfortunately the hostel is located in one of the less safe parts from my...

A really nice hostel, we went for a private room with single beds. It’s was clean, the bathroom was modern and generally great price for the location and facilities. Loved the sustainable focus of the hostel but setting the showers to run for about 5 seconds at a time before you had to press the button again was frustrating and impractical especially when attempting to wash your hair and fumbling for the button with shampoo in your eyes… The facilities were good, a bar and kitchen on site where you could cook yourself or buy an evening meal or snacks. The breakfast was exceptional, lots of variety and coffee machines, they also restocked the food often which was ideal. It does get very busy on a weekend though as expected. The location was great for walking to the city but the local area was a little sketchy and run down. Safe enough but I felt quite uncomfortable at times. The biggest downside was the service at the front desk. For the most part the staff were lovely and helpful but there were a few members of staff who seemed like they were being bothered when we asked questions about check in or the baggage storage system. Not the friendliest but it could have been worse and didn’t spoil the trip. Also on Friday and Saturday night it got pretty noisy in the early hours between 1am and 3am but I guess that’s expected on a weekend.

Nice all round hostel for a good price. Highlights were breakfast, the facilities and the price. Lowlights, the surrounding area and not so ideal customer service...

I had a really bad experience, and sadly so. After checking in a day before, on my arrival to my bed, I found another guest occupying it. When I reported to the reception, the reception said it's not their responsibility to ensure guests don't get confpused. I am sure the guest who occupied my bed did not do so, intentionally. However, the hostel personnel not knowing what they responsibilities are is not on. I asked to please address the issue, and they had an attitude. The utter lack of knowledge of basic hospitality and skills is shameful. The beds could be numbered so that once occupied, the next guest is informed of it. Now, to say 'we in Belgium do not do it' is absorb. This is just common sense. One should do their best to avoid confusion. Even after I checked out, they refused to give me some sort of checkout form to sign or whatever ,they kept me in the system so they could charge me. How can you say you're not responsible for what goes wrong in the establishment, and yet you think you should profit. They also have rather patty rules, like not to enter the kitchen where you keep food before 10:00 am. By 17:00 You are not allowed to seat at the restaurant, I had to either seat in the foyer which is too noisy (if one is in a conference call )as people would be playing games or be in the room which had no window...