Tofino Hostel / Whalers Guesthouse — Hotel in Tofino

I had a very bad experience with the reservation itself : My son was travelling to Canada and I made the reservations for him. Tofino is very expensive and this was expensive but still the most reasonable option. Even for a private room with shared bathroom the price was over 200 CAD. However when I booked, they did not have the same type of private room for the 5 nights so I had to book 3 different rooms which is very inconvenient (for my son and for the hotel). I made the reservation with HI Canada website and saw that there is free cancellation until 48 hours before arrival. It also said that you can cancel by 1 AM and the cancellation is by mail. Two and a half days before arrival, I checked room availability again and saw that now the same room type (private with half bathroom) was available for the 5 nights. So I reserved this room also for the nights with the different reservations. I did not cancel the old reservation right away since it was night and my son was asleep. I waited for the morning to make sure he was OK with the change (which was partly a downgrade). Mistakenly I thought that I can cancel by 1 PM (it made sense to me as 48 hours before arrival) so only in the morning when my son woke and approved the change, I sent the email to cancel the unneeded room, assuming it is within the free cancellation period. However I got a reply from Juliane, saying that since the cancellation was after 1 AM I will be charged for the 2 nights of the room that I cancelled (more than 500 CAD !!!) in addition to the payment for the new reservation. I replied and explained that it was an honest mistake of confusion between 1 AM and PM, and that actually I did not really cancel my stay but only changed the room type that was now available. However Juliane replied that since this is the policy, they are charging, and only if they will sell the cancelled room they will refund. Eventually the room was sold only for 1 night so I was partly refunded, but still I was over charged with more than 250 CAD, above the charge for the room he stayed in, which was expensive. I was very disappointed with this attitude, since I only made an honest mistake and the hotel almost didn't lose any money since we only changed the room type. I suggested paying the difference between room types but it was not approved.

So far for my bad experience. This is what my son said about the hotel and the stay: Location is great - close to everything you need (supermarket, pharmacy, restaurants), in front of the ocean.

Nice facilities - they have clean and equipped kitchen, room with pool table and guitars, but most importantly for me as a surfer: surf room to store board and hang wetsuit for drying. They let you buy a reserved parking spot.

I had the shared bathroom private room (with toilet, without shower). Showers were clean and just in front of the room. The room was well equipped, and felt cozy (as well as the lobby and hostel...

I had a very bad experience with the reservation itself.|My son was travelling to Canada and I made the reservations for him. Tofino is very expensive and this was expensive but still the most reasonable option. Even for a private room with shared bathroom the price was over 200 CAD.|However when I booked, they did not have the same type of private room for the 5 nights so I had to book 3 different rooms which is very inconvenient (for my son and for the hotel).|I made the reservation with HI Canada website and saw that there is free cancellation until 48 hours before arrival. It also said that you can cancel by 1 AM and the cancellation is by mail.|Two and a half days before arrival, I checked room availability again and saw that now the same room type (private with half bathroom) was available for the 5 nights. So I reserved this room also for the nights with the different reservations. I did not cancel the old reservation right away since it was night and my son was asleep. I waited for the morning to make sure he was OK with the change (which was partly a downgrade). Mistakenly I thought that I can cancel by 1 PM (it made sense to me as 48 hours before arrival) so only in the morning when my son woke and approved the change, I sent the email to cancel the unneeded room, assuming it is within the free cancellation period.|However I got a reply from Juliane, saying that since the cancellation was after 1 AM I will be charged for the 2 nights of the room that I cancelled (more than 500 CAD !!!) in addition to the payment for the new reservation.|I replied and explained that it was an honest mistake of confusion between 1 AM and PM, and that actually I did not really cancel my stay but only changed the room type that was now available. However Juliane replied that since this is the policy, they are charging, and only if they will sell the cancelled room they will refund. Eventually the room was sold only for 1 night so I was partly refunded, but still I was over charged with more than 250 CAD, above the charge for the room he stayed in, which was expensive.|I was very disappointed with this attitude, since I only made an honest mistake and the hotel almost didn't lose any money since we only changed the room type. I suggested paying the difference between room types but it was not approved.|So far for my bad experience.|This is what my son said about the hotel and the stay:|Location is great - close to everything you need (supermarket, pharmacy, restaurants), in front of the ocean.|Nice facilities - they have clean and equipped kitchen, room with pool table and guitars, but most importantly for me as a surfer: surf room to store board and hang wetsuit for drying.|They let you buy a reserved parking spot.|I had the shared bathroom private room (with toilet, without shower). Showers were clean and just in front of the room. The room was well equipped, and felt cozy (as well as the lobby and hostel...

This is one of the cheaper options available in Tofino in a town which seems to be expensive all year long. The hostel itself is decent but not my favourite HI in Canada as especially with Covid the common area space is small with just 3 inside tables to eat at. The mens toilets also weren't working so you had to walk downstairs to use those. We stayed in room E which both had the noise of the hallways/stairs and the men's shower was against our wall where the bed is, so we could hear every shower at all times of the day. Parking is also $5 despite the city not charging for parking at this time. But the biggest issues right now are all to do with the Covid measures in place which are not adequate in my opinion. It is mandatory to wear a mask in the hostel which is necessary given the hostel seems to be at full capacity even at the end of October with everyone invading each others space. In the rooms they are not removing duvet covers between each guest (I assume this as they made you strip all your other linen off and put it in a bag) and as the sheet is too small for the bed it means you are touching it with your body constantly. Common Spaces are really the biggest issue as sanitizing is being left to the guest without it being in an obvious spot so tables aren't being sanitized whilst you have guests sitting down to chat with each other without masks and who have never met each other. The kitchen is probably the worst place as they say 3 people at a time, one for each cooking station but the staff themselves were breaking this rule. And the entrance to the patio is through the kitchen so regularly I would have my space invaded as people went in and out of the door as I was trying to cook. Many times 6-8 ppl were in the kitchen at once in the 30 mins I was in there with many just stopping for a chat. Also there is no sanitizer or disinfectant to use in the kitchen at all by guests so it only gets sanitized by the staff during regular cleaning. I would not recommend this hostel to anyone right now if they were concerned about Covid. I work in housekeeping myself and was not happy with the methods and procedures they currently...