Joey's Hostel Rishikesh — Hotel in Uttarakhand

I stayed at Joey's hostel for a couple of nights and had a mixed experience. There were some good things; The location of the hostel is a plus point. It's located close to Laxman jhula (about a km walk) and a few good cafes and eateries. The staff at the reception was friendly and helpful as well. The hostel had also offered complimentary breakfast (perhaps because I stayed there during the long weekend when hostel prices were exorbitantly high everywhere in Rishikesh including this hostel) and there was also a live music event at the rooftop cafe which was quite entertaining. However, I had a few negative experiences which spoiled my overall experience. I had travelled solo and I was allocated a bed in a dorm on third floor where I believe rest of the beds were occupied by staff members/ staff members' friends. The dorm was completely unorganised and the corner of the room opposite my bed was occupied by a ton of luggage (presumably of staff members). While both the bathrooms were clean, they too were filled with towels, clothes, tooth brushes, and other stuff (again presumably of staff members). The dorm room environment was noisy; there were folks talking on phone past mid night, entering dorm and switching on lights quite late at night without any attempt at being discreet. When I woke up the next day, I even saw a couple sharing a bed, something I am not sure is even aligned with the hostel's guidelines. Overall, I didn't like the environment of the dorm room I was allocated. Being a solo traveler, one usually looks for opportunities to connect with fellow travellers and share experiences. This was however completely missing at Joey's hostel partly because I was perhaps the only traveler in this dorm and the environment wasn't quite appropriate (and lacked decency in my view). I have stayed in other hostels before with much more rewarding experiences. Overall, I would rate my experience at Joey's hostel...

Avoid the property at all costs and do not go by the pictures/description/reviews here - they are thoroughly misleading. The property was under renovation and we were not informed of the same. It is a big deal for anyone with dust allergies/sinus/other breathing conditions. There was sawdust, dirt, repair equipment, cement sacks, turpentine smell everywhere. Also, due to repair work, there was constant sound disturbance. Our room was unhygienic and not as spacious as shown in the representative pictures, which seem to have been taken at 0.5x angle. Our bed linen wasn't even fresh, there was some hair and a nail under the comforter. There were no hooks for towels or to dry wet/rainy clothes. The bathroom door mat was horribly unclean. Coffee sachets kept for our consumption had empty and half torn packets. The hotel staff was pretty entitled and shameless about everything and did not care about making things good. The location would have been a plus point but turned out to be absolutely inconvenient given that Laxman Jhula is under repairs and not accessible by foot. Also, we realised the property had not placed any pictures of their building on the site. We realised on reaching that the building is shady, quite small and there are no hangout/chilling spots and one which was in the form of a small balcony was occupied by weed smokers. Cops were also present on the property for a check on the occupants. We had booked our stay from 13-18 July but checked out on 15th July morning and also spent 14th night elsewhere to avoid staying the night there. So we literally just spent 1 night at the property and accessed it for 2 mornings till we found ourselves another accommodation. Go at your own risk. The team has been pretty shameless and not refunded us for the days we were unable to stay at the property (and had to spend money on alternative accommodation) due to their...

This was the most expensive single room in RK I took and by far the worst! I cannot for the life of me understand how this place has such high reviews. You are significantly better in upper Tapovan if you expect basic hygiene.

When I first arrived I was greeted by a friendly all young male staff. The building seems to be well designed with a decent finish. When I first walked into the room it seemed good, and had a remarkable view.

After I put my bags down to settle in I began to see the details. There is no way someone cleans the rooms throughly. I do not think they even change the sheets. There was dust on every surface with clumps of human hair in the corners. The sheets are stained but did not smell of anything thankfully but the blanket had a nice ugly cigarette burn on it staring up at me. This suggests the owner is normalised to this being a pig sty

When I go to the bathroom the hand soap and shower gel dispensers were completely empty giving me a disgusting impression of the previous guests.

At night I popped into the bathroom only to be greeted by a huge cockroach 🪳 on the sink.

Who ever is running the show, pull your socks up, your building has potential but you lack the qualities to take it there. All you need is a good cleaner. What’s wrong with you? How do you justify your prices?

I initially thought the staff were friendly but following this I realised they are just a bunch of kids having fun all the time.

I will never be back!

And to people promoting this place, do you realise what sleeping in unhygienic environments does to your...