Laneway Backpackers — Hotel in North Island

Disgustingly dirty/Everything smelt Bad facilities (and not enough for the amount of rooms there) Bad service and reception Extremely cold room and thin blankets Annoying check-in time couldn't even get in building Great central location

The location is close to the city which is great but its down a sketchy alleyway that is difficult to find off of the street. Upon arrival, I couldn't even get into the building and had to wait for someone to let me in and direct me and was then told I could not check in till after 2pm. At 2pm when I went to check in I was told my room wasn't ready and to come back later I didn't get into the room until around 3pm after being there since 11am. I had only stayed the one night and found it strange that check in was so early (10am) compared to check in time you aren't even allowed in the room for a full 24 hours I was allowed to wait in the common room which was filthy with dirty dishes and empty bottles of beer and wine left on the floor. The rest of the facilities were even worse and it was obvious that it does not get cleaned every day let alone every week. The kitchen had very few cooking materials there weren't even any cups, the sink was clogged and food had been spilled on the floor and not cleaned up. And the women's bathrooms had stains on the floor no hand towels or working dryer. The showers had no room to change while the shower was running, you have to get undressed in the middle of the bathroom and cannot keep your clothing in the shower stall as it will get wet, you have to leave it outside the stall basically on the floor. The elevator had stopped working but my key wouldn't allow me access to the stairs was stuck in the foyer for 30 mins. The room was very cold and dark with no heater and the thin blanket left me shivering all night. There is no natural light in the room so when you turn the lights off even at midday it is pitch black. The walls are extremely thin and you can hear every single sound throughout the nearby rooms and common room. However, the mattress was surprisingly comfortable. I know that this was a cheap budget place to stay but the experience was very bad and made much worse by the late check in and my wait to even get into the room and it didn't feel very safe especially for two young women...

The reception staff here are lovely, my room was ready so i was able to check in a bit early which was so helpful. I was also able to move down to a bottom bunk. The showers are decently hot and clean. The down side to this is there isnt much daylight in the entire place, my room had half a window which unfortunately allowed the next doors tv 25 to be heard in my room and smell when they smoked, this also meant my room smelled of smoke quite a lot, it also meant no fresh air could get in the room. The place is reasonably quiet, although sometimes the flats above continuously lump for a while, unsure why they did this as we never made noise. The kitchen has everything you would need, including actual ovens, and they have a common room and a laundry. You also get a locker for each bed which is really helpful and they provide a towel and flannel for each guest so that was a lovely touch, all in...

WORST HOSTEL OUT OF THE 200 I HAVE TRIED IN MY LIFE. kitchen for 20 rooms with only 1 sink kitchen extremely dirty lack of cooking materials (to remain polite) poor level of English at the reception no smiles at reception reception was clearly trying to get cash instead of credit card and refusing to give you an invoice. Receptionist keeps probably the money for her. permanent residents in several rooms are drunk at 15:00 and are annoying normal travellers. Why do you keep those clients? backpack move out of room before checkout time ... no comment shower no place to take on off clothes. fridge are smelling like hell....