On Top Backpackers — Hotel in South Island

These are some exchange of communications between me and On Top Backpackers:

On Top Backpackers

Hello Guest,

We did not receive the key card upon departure. This has incurred a $5 card replacement fee charged to the card provided. If you can return the key card, please do so and we will happily refund.

We hope you enjoyed your stay in Dunedin and all the best for your future travels

On Top Hostel

A. Mine

Hi,

I put the keycard on the grey box and put my pillow case in the chair on the morning of yesterday *Satuday) as I decided not to stay in your place for another night .

Please send me an email so I can send photos and a video of me putting the card in the grey box and the pillow case in the chair.

I was unable to sleep on my first night as my roommates and the people outside were very noisy up until unholy hours .

I decided not to complain as it was a waste of my time and energy. Also, the key card was not properly working on all doors. Even my roommates had the same problem. The women's restroom were flooded when I arrived, and no one cleaned them the next day.

So please send me an email for me to send proof that I left the keycard and pillowcase as instructed.

I actually want a refund, but as I have mentioned that it is a waste of time and energy to complain, especially since there's no one at the reception when I decided to leave. Thank you.

B. On Top Backpackers

Good morning,

Would be helpful to notify staff if you decide not to stay for the entirety of your stay to avoid confusion such as this as you are still accounted for on the system :) definitely worth the energy letting us know then instead of now, it is important for management to be aware of any disturbances - if we do not know, we of course cannot do anything about it. We did not receive any noise complaints from anyone this weekend. We give you an urgent contact number to call any time after hours in case of unfortunate disrespectful guests of which we can encounter from time to time in Backpackers especially on the weekends! Our night watch lives onsite 24/7 and can take care of this for you so you can get a restful sleep.

Reception is not 24 hours. The hours are stated upon your welcome note. You have from 10am - 10pm to approach staff within On Top or again call us anytime :)

If you can please just advise me of the time of your chosen departure yesterday so I can check our CCTV camera to confirm check out process completed and then will immediately refund your $5 back to card provided.

Please bring any issues to the attention of management whilst at the property in future so we can help make your stay the best, most comfortable one whilst here. We cannot do anything once you have departed. Our intention is to provide a great stay not a miserable one, however we do not know it is miserable if you just leave without communication.

Cheers :)

B. Mine

Thank you for your reply. I know where you're coming from, and I hope you understand that not all people want confrontation and / or arguments.

I had a very tough few weeks before staying at On Top, so complaining was the last thing on my mind.

Kindly check the time stamp at 7:14 am. yesterday, as that is the time I took the video of me dropping the keycard in the grey box.

I would appreciate it if you could refund the $5.

C. On Top

Appreciate the understanding. Being a Hostel, as you can imagine within shared facilities there are always issues that are constant and unavoidable. Our staff work tireless, 12 hour shifts daily to maintain cleanliness and deal with these encounters so when we get told of a negative experience afterwards it is very disheartening. We truly welcome the feedback so we can fix any complaints immediately, otherwise all the hard work just goes to waste.

I hope you have a better coming week; I was able to refund you $25 to acknowledge your unfortunate experience here at On Top. I hope this validates the effort of expressing your concerns and shows management are willing to do what we can to turn an unpleasant time into a...

Poor security and appalling attitude from the owner.

I came back to my room at lunch to find all the key card room doors propped open with garbage cans and no one in attendance. I was told it’s the hostel’s policy to wedge these fire doors open because the cleaners don’t have enough key cards. I asked what secured my belongings during the day and was told that it shouldn’t be a problem as other people already had their own things. I said that’s not on, and closed the door when they’d finished vacuuming.

I understand you take a small security risk in shared accommodation, but it’s usually amongst the people in your room and not the whole building. There are no lockers for your belongings. This is not appropriate.

The owner came up to talk to me and was immediately rude. He told me that propping the doors during the day is their policy, and that if I worked hard and saved one day I too might own my own hostel and could run it the way I liked. He scornfully told me that it wouldn’t be an issue if I was out during the day like the other guests (meaning everything would still be unsecured, I just wouldn’t have noticed).

They also demand writing your credit card number with expiration date on a slip of paper before checking in. This is despite paying with an eftpos machine anyway. In my 6 years of living and travelling in New Zealand, I have never been asked to do this. Hopefully they treat that slip with more respect than their guests and their belongings, but who knows.

Nice enough building, good location, poor security and terrible customer service from the owner.

Reply to owner:

I appreciate you confirming for three hours a day, every day, all guest belongings are unsecured for everyone staying at your hostel.

Twice you came into the room while I was there, once to speak to me and close a window and once to count beds since you lost track of who was sleeping where. If you came into the room at night while I was in bed, I was unaware.

Snarky comments about how a guest chooses to spend their time, oblivious to their schedule, really goes quite a long way to describe the type of customer service a person can expect if they end up interacting with you.

It is clear that you will not accept or consider any feedback that isn’t praise. Dunedin itself was great between the galleries, wildlife, museums, university and fringe festival. It was unfortunate to have the visit soured by a bad attitude that ignores legitimate concerns and instead chooses to belittle guests.

Summary: average building, good location, terrible security and some of the worst customer service I’ve ever experienced. All one star reviews mention the same person. Stay here if you’re alright with your items being available for easy theft each day, and fingers crossed you don’t have to deal...

Nice enough, kitchen was on the smaller side, dorm rooms were a nice size, outside area was also a nice touch but would have been nicer if there were more table benches rather than just one which seemed to have the same people sitting there all day for the duration of my 2 night stay. In the summer this hotels is unbelievably hot and not just in the rooms. The Kitchen was unbearable so I went out to eat, the bathrooms were ridiculouly hot and to make it worse all the showers had a roof on them which if you're tall was bad but they also kept the heat in the showersthemselves meaning you were even hotter. First thing in the morning the rooms were okay but there are no blinds for the very top windows so all the morning light floods the room as soon as the sun comes up. The bunk beds were a little wobbly but what made them ridiculous is that they have no ladders and are too tall to jump onto. I'm 5ft 10" and I couldn't get onto the top bunk. Felt sorry for anyone who's short and gets landed with a top bunk! The $20 deposit was a bit wierd, especially as they expected to get the key back in one piece when it had already been almost snapped in half when they initially gave it to me! If you were planning on leaving early reception doesn't open until 7.30am so if you leave beforehand A. there's nowhere to leave your key and B. you won't get the deposit back as you can only get it back in person

In response to the owners reply. Not ridiculous about the ladders actually. The “ladders” as you are apparently calling them are again the wall so pretty useless you idiots. Also I can see other people have commented multiple times about the ladders too, funny that!

Also you overcharged me when I arrived despite paying through hostelworld and having already paid a deposit for the room although when I brought it up this was refunded though took some serious convincing and involved me being told to go into the office and go through all the emails from Hostelworld. Sure. Why not.

When I checked in it would have been nice to have been told about early check outs as no information was offered and there was nothing anywhere to indicate this would be available.

We did open the windows actually. Still ridiculously hot. I see you didn’t mention about there being no blinds for said windows!

All in all I would not stay here again given the attitude from staff during my staff and their continued hostility upon reading my...