Balmers Hostel — Hotel in Matten bei Interlaken

WHAT I LIKED big kitchen with free food; nice staff and guests; laundry next door; a couple good restaurants next door; super close to bus station (note: the hostel is a 20min walk from Interlaken Ost train station); close to Coop grocery store; fun daily social events; showers heat up instantly and has great water pressure; they give you a free bus card that can also be used for discounts to some cable cars/cogwheels

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE – There are tons of common rooms but no designated quiet room if you need to do work – They do not wash the duvet inserts after each person. A housekeeper came in while I was in my dorm room and she changed the sheets/pillow cases but just refolded the duvet insert and placed it back on the bed. They give you a duvet cover but it looks like a sheet so everyone in my room, including me, used it as a sheet and used the duvet cover as a blanket. So it's a bit gross that it's not washed after each person – The staff sometimes isn't at the desk for periods of time. I came in to drop off my luggage and no one came. I had to seek out the luggage room myself which was confusing. Also, was not told how to check out and had to figure that out on my own – The bathrooms ran out of toilet paper a lot – They are not good at responding to emails/WhatsApp. I had trouble booking on their website and asked if it was going to be fixed soon (so i could book direct & save). They responded once but never again despite me following up a couple times asking about any updates to a solution

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE STAFF – Designate a quiet space with a closed door so people can do work and take meetings without distraction. Also make sure the wifi can reach to that room. In some parts of the hostel, my wifi would break and my Zoom call would be breaking up – Please wash the duvet inserts after each person. If that is too much, please notify people that there is a duvet insert AND the cover, and to not use the duvet insert without the duvet cover on it – If no one is at the desk, please have a bell or some way to get in contact with a staff member so people are not waiting around. If there already is that, my apologies for missing it – Please have custodians put an extra roll of TP in the bathrooms – I know things might get busy around the hostel, but please make sure to answer any questions/concerns via email, WhatsApp,...

If not for the views and location they would have definately deserved 1 star. The place is more like a high school dorm for US kids who are seeing the freedom for very first time. No privacy and everything be it rooms or washrooms are so small that one can barely stand

The upper bunk bed almost touch the cealing, you can't even climb without hitting it. Washrooms are so small that everything which shouldn't be wet gets wet. Common basins outside the washrooms are worse then public basins and one of the most uncomfortable bed and pillow

I requested for a lower floor room but the receptionist told that everything else is sold, while all the online website there was still availability. Most of the time you would find staff roaming around but no one will be there at reception

Kitchen is huge and it seems everyone is just cooking all the time

Switzerland and especially Interlaken is very beautiful nd given the location of this hostel they have a potential to be one of the greatest if they just leave their greediness of earning every single frank from the smallest place possible.

Give some respect to the comfort of people staying, give a decent space that a normal human being needs

Please mention that you are a party hostel and you don't say no to people slamming doors whole night or making crazy noise till late night

Get the cleanliness and hygiene in place

One more point they don't have lift and rooms are till second floor, so if you have luggage keep that in mind. While i personally didn't face any issue but have a habbit of looking every place from safety prospective, since the reception is unmanned most of time and is in a separate building, barring couple of door, whole hostel is accessible to anyone, so I'm not sure how much safe it is. Technically you can just bring anyone inside and someone with bad intentions can actually walk to room and if not locked inside also.

Also the whole luggage will be spread in dorm nd if you ask for the locker there are charges for that too... Again earning extra frank at every...

Fantastic hostel but BYO Pillow!!

I generally had a great time at Balmers hostel. The social activities were great fun and everyone at the hostel was really nice. The kitchen was massive and well equiped, there was many common areas - couches, TV, tables, luggage storage, hammock room etc. it felt very homely. The amenities were cleaned multiple times a day.

However I did find the sleeping part of my stay very challenging hence the star rating, as sleeping ultimately is what a hostel is for. Many reviews have said, the pillows are horrible. They are not wrong! Unfortunately these have been the worst pillows I’ve had in a hostel. They are very thin, filled with lumpy stuffing. I woke up tired every morning with a sore neck and head which is not ideal when you are doing so many physical activities. If you ask for a second one they will charge you money. I am surprised after it being mentioned in so many reviews that they are yet to update them. I am keen to come back to the hostel so hopefully they get new ones soon!

Another point of improvement would be to remind the staff to knock on the door before coming in. Many times staff have been known to just walk into a room without knocking to either water plants, housekeeping or even shake people awake for checkout. You should just charge a late checkout fee rather than invading such personal space. And please knock!! It’s basic respect.

A couple other things that would make the stay more comfortable: curtains on the beds, quieter fans, consistent hot water in the showers (sometimes it was only cold). Toilet spray because they often smelled bad and are next to rooms.

Other than these easily fixable things, my stay at Balmers was hard to forget, they have the vibe down packed...