Finlay Jack's Backpackers — Hotel in North Island

I've stayed at the majority of every YHA hostel in New Zealand and this one does not fit the YHA spirit and vibe. Firstly why is the female dorm facing this god awful common space that is where people congregate at night and guzzle alcohol until the early hours? I've never been in a female dorm in a YHA where wthe female dorm is right next to noise until now. Also privacy, unless the curtains are closed eveyone can just see into the entire room. Second the door opens itself at night, when i used the bathroom it opened, it also just opened as i closed it and walked away so you have to lock it but obviously not each guest realised this so I woke up several times in the night to the door wide open, sleeping next to that is not safe or calming. Its actually quite alarming I did tell the staff but he just said I need to shut it more vigarously which is all well and good in the day but at night I don't want to have to wake up each time someone comes in the room to slam the door because in the night the idea is to be quiet to not wake people up. Thirdly why oh why do you allow people to check into the rooms at 3:40am. What are you doing? I've never had this rediculousness since I stayed at a Base hostel some years ago. I did not pay this high amount each night to be woken up at crazy o'clock by someone clambering through the door in the night with bags and rucksacks waking me up. Again I repeat how is this place a YHA? Its not even secure. The lockers under the beds are useless because as from my photo the latch doesn't got over the mental bar to enable you to put a lock on them and yes i even sat on it to make the lid fully close and it did not latch. So how pointless is this? On the plus side the beds were very comfortable. I will be passing my comments onto the association because this place is no YHA and should not...

Booked a single bed room. Access from outside. Close to street parking. Shared bathroom with other "private" (single, double, twin?) going through door. One shower, two basins. Good for price paid, bed comfy (enough), TV in room has Netflix (so I was told, did not try), towel supplied. Shared kitchen pretty well equipped (kitchen knives in need of a sharpen!) and spacious sitting area with adjacent TV room. Staff was unable to process new YHA membership other then one year, so had to do it myself online. Disadvantages: no thermal backed curtains, so room temperature dropping significantly. (If you don't want to sleep with running supplies heater). Other than some wall hooks no storage space (not that the room size would allow for any, as your luggage has already to go somewhere) - if travelling with er pack or suitcase, you will have to climb over your luggage, using the path between entrance door and bathroom. A small wall shelf for watch, phone, glasses,... Would have been helpful. There are no hooks in the bathroom to hang your towel or toilet bag while washing yourself, no hooks in the toilet, to hang anything, so only way is either always taking your things back to room. No shelf in shower neither, nor big enough hooks to hang clothing. So everything, other than towel, needs to be piled on the floor... So heaps of room for improvement with some (cheap) little things. Also feli g weird, that you can not lock your room, when you are going to the internal shower/toilet. I guess, the reason is, the internal doors (back to the rooms) are fire doors and have to stay open for that reason... Trust your travel mates or take your valuables into the bathroom (and add them to the pile on the floor ;-) Altogether for the price paid, nice having your own room. Not sure if/how much you would hear neighbours, as I did...

Not that impressed, much to improve. They have really good ratings, but it feels a bit like they don’t care enough to make it really worth it. The beachy surfvibe is really nice, location perfect and nice beanbags/hang-mats to chill in. The kitchen could be better for the stars of this hostel though, not that many things available or organized. The staff is okay, didn’t feel like they really wanted to help me though, it’s the attitude. Didn’t make me feel very welcome and don’t respond to your questions on booking either. People staying in the hostel are very nice! Also, doesn’t feel super clean. There are bugs next to the bed…the bed however is comfortable. You have your own little space with two pillows and roll curtain. I didn’t have wifi in my bed though, throughout the hostel it was great! The shower in the bathroom is very simple, would again expect more because...