Hippo Lodge Backpackers — Hotel in South Island

To begin this review, I believe that the Hippo Lodge is probably a nice hostel (based on other reviews), however the area we stayed in was disgusting. The person at the front desk, who was a miserable self loathing man, greeted me in a way that suggested I was trespassing. He wasn't friendly. He didn't put us in a hostel with other travellers, he put us in the hostel that all of the people working there stayed. It looked like a frat house. There were 3 rooms, 4 beds in each. 12 people sharing 1 bathroom, which was disgusting. This was not a serviced hostel, it was an apartment where people were living full time and didn't clean up after themselves. There was literally no room to put our back packs, there was crap left everywhere, clothes left on the floor. Worst of all, the noise. We had a very early morning and were kept awake until 4:00 am by all of the house mates partying literally outside of our doors, very loudly. It is the worst stay I have ever had at a hostel, period. ||||That being said, the people who we stayed with were good people. They were kind and hospitable and that fault is none of their own. The issue was that our lifestyles clearly did not match up, and the manager who booked us into those rooms was made well aware of our need to wake up early in the morning. For the manager to put someone in that hostel very well knowing its disgusting state...

This place would be impossible to judge upon a few days stay.|I've stayed here for about 10 days, which helped me appreciate all of it's hidden gems.|Just to name a few, being on the top of a little slope, I had unobstructed views of the mountains in Queenstown, while being a few min walk to downtown.|The Staff are amazing and always present if you need them.|There are 3 different houses on differently leveled platforms, creating semi-buffers between each of them. (I'll try to upload some pics)|The beds are confortable and the rooms are warm. Additionally, I had a direct view once again of the landscape.|Finally, I've felt a sense of community when I needed help, guidance or social interaction.|Overall, if you're in Queenstown for a few days or weeks, than you should definitely comme...

First of all, it was way too expensive compared to what you get and the facilities.|We had to leave two days earlier than expected because we couldn’t stand staying - even without being able to get our money back for the last two days.|The people living there was staying for a longer period of time, therefore it felt like moving into a bunch of strangers house. They had their things stacked up everywhere in the room and in the bathroom - there was no space for us and our bags as newly arrived backpackers.|Secondly, as soon as you entered the property you could smell weed. Some of the residents in this hostel smoked weed in the common areas most of the day and most of the night. We really felt uncomfortable. |When this is said, the view was...