Ganesha​ Guesthouse — Hotel in Battambang

After my stay here, I’m convinced they delete any negative reviews - after what I’ve heard from people staying here, locals and even the lady working behind the desk said they’ve got lots of complaints recently. It’s not owned by Cambodians, unfortunately it’s owned by a really angry German guy. Like unnecessarily angry. I’ve heard this hostel is going out of business and closing down by several tuk tuk drivers, and even other guests had heard and honestly, I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER. This place needs to be shut down, like yesterday. The way it treats its guests is actually shocking. Firstly, I walked in and said I was here to check in and the woman just pointed and said not till 1pm (we arrived at 12) and said to leave bags. I said my boyfriend is sick can we just chill here she nodded and pointed to the bar stools. I checked in and was told I had an upgrade to a room with air con, also was like cool. We got to our room then went for a walk around town to get my partner some medicine (he had been throwing up since that morning (pro tip, don’t book your buses here. EVERYWHERE in town does it way cheaper than them). When we got back I was laying in bed reading and suddenly i was like wait, I booked a smaller room than this (I travel a lot and always forget what I booked) so I checked my hostel world booking and I was right. A smaller room with my partner so sick was what we would have preferred. So I went down and asked and she said yes I upgraded you, and I said I don’t see how a 8 bed room is an upgrade from a 5 bed and she said oh because it has air con. I would like to reiterate I said ‘I don’t see how it’s an upgrade’ because aircon or not, I don’t see how a 8 bed is better than a 5. We’ve been in Cambodia 3 weeks with only fan rooms and been fine, plus when she told me it was an upgrade she never mentioned it was a bigger room, only about the AC. I said it’s fine and went back upstairs. 5 minutes later she comes up with the owner on the phone. He starts yelling at me and won’t let me speak about how I paid for a cheap room and can’t complain for getting a nicer room and I was like hold up. He was getting really aggressive at this point and said if we don’t leave he will call the police. I was like fine I really don’t feel comfortable staying here anyway and honestly, I’d rather give my money to Cambodian owned businesses. He was calling me a cheap skate backpacker and honestly it’s not about the price - if my partner wasn’t sick maybe it would have been fine but they should have been upfront to start about the bigger room. No one said at check in it was a different bed size room, and I feel it should have so I could have had all the information before agreeing. I’ve stayed in fan rooms all throughout Cambodia and it’s no issue for me. So, there was a guy in our room who said it happened to him too he booked a 5 bed and was told basically they’d mismanaged their bookings (using booking and Hostelworld) and they had too many bookings and so he had to go into a 8 bed AND THEY MADE HIM PAY EXTRA FOR SOMETHING THAT WAS NOT HIS FAULT. Overall, this could have been completely avoided if not for awful mismanagement of only two simple booking systems. Obviously they aren’t capable of making sure they aren’t overbooked. The lady who was working said the hostel had had a lot of complaints at the moment and so the owner was extra touchy and honestly if that’s how he deals I am so not surprised. He deserves his business to be shut drown and thankfully that’s happening. But also, the lady working should be able to deal with things herself if she knows how awful the owner is. She rang him after I said one thing and he accused me of complaining since the morning and first of all, I didn’t even check in till the afternoon.l We went to another hostel and got a private for cheaper. And I know he is going to comment on this review and be aggressive and rude and tell you all I am lying but I know I’m not. The other people in the room know I am not. And he, deep down, knows I am not and that’s why his...

We stayed in the air conditioned dormitory. It was well worth the extra cost to have the AC, and we ended up having the whole dorm to ourselves! The bunk beds, despite being medium thickness, were some of the comfiest mattresses we've slept on for our whole round the world trip. The room was cleaned every morning (not too early) and Stephan was very approachable for anything we needed.

For solo ladies, the bunks don't have a ton of privacy with the single curtain on one side, but after putting up my own towel, I found that blocked the air conditioning, so it wasn't at all a bad thing to have the curtain open to keep the airflow. If you need some privacy, ask Stephan a bottom bunk, as you can hang a towel if/when you need privacy and this will work really well. If you want privacy while sleeping in the heat I suggest travelling with a thin silk sleeping bag liner so you can feel covered.

If you need to leave early do be sure to let the staff know, as the place does get locked up for the night. They are all very accommodating.

The locker is only big enough for valuables, but as I said, we had the whole dorm to ourself so we had nothing to worry about.

Other people have mentioned music from the bar - honestly, I don't know how anyone travels without ear plugs. I wore the silicone ones I use and slept like a baby despite the music.

Stephan kindly let us extend a night quite last minute. We did get some mosquito bites, mostly on the last night because the doors to the dorm are shutters to the outside, so they can get in, and it was too late to mention anything (we didn't get a chance to see Stephan on the way out). I'm not sure if they will provide mosquito nets if you ask, but if you have one of your own or spray it might come in handy. I suppose that's really our only constructive criticism - I normally would say this face to face to someone rather than in a review, but as I mentioned, it mostly became problematic our last night after a night of rain. As you can see we've given 5 stars despite this as by no means would this deter us from staying there again. Definitely a great place to choose for couples and backpackers!

Thanks again for the lovely stay, and we hope to see you guys if we find ourselves back...

Sorry in advance for the long text but this was just the worst experience ever!||||It was a Saturday night, I arrived 5 minutes after midnight and there was already a guy there waiting for 40 minutes. The door was completely locked. We were at the guest house during the day, they saw me leaving for dinner and no one told me there was a closing time. You couldn’t either leave or enter the place.||||We called them but actually I was only able to do that because some friends that walked with me had minutes in their phones, otherwise I would just be there waiting forever since they don’t have Whatsapp. Imagine if I was totally alone and my phone was out of battery or somethings like that.||||They said they would be there in five minutes (which happened), but I was obviously already mad with the situation, waiting in the middle of a dark street of a place i’m not familiar with for someone to open my room. When they arrived (the girl who works at the reception, who’s actually very kind, and the german owner) I was like “hey what the f*ck?” and the guy went completely nuts. I’m aware it’s not the nicest thing to say but I’m pretty sure you can all understand it considering the situation. And the guy is not a local so he obviously know that’s an expression and not an insult. He kicked me out of the place and just kept shouting and insulting me and my friends. ||||They said they waited until midnight and that they checked all the rooms and everyone was inside (both not true) and then left because there was a festival in town and they were not robots who work 24 hours a day. Like, of course, but just hire someone to cover the nights like any other place.||||I packed my stuff and left and he kept following us until the end of the street shouting, threatening the boys who were with me and saying “I hope you end up the night sleeping in the middle of the street while sucking a dick.” I actually slept in a hotel with lower prices and much better conditions in general so please don’t stay here especially if you are a...