Old Man Captain HOSTEL — Hotel in Tainan

It’s 1.30am and I’m writing this review, that’s how bad this place is.

When I booked this hostel, I made the mistake of not checking Google reviews. I saw it had 6,809 guests rating it 8.6/10 on Agoda, which seemed great.

I just needed a place near the train station to catch an early train to Taichung. I didn’t expect luxury, just something clean and decent. Unfortunately, this place didn’t even meet basic standards.

Here’s what I experienced (with photos):

I stayed in Room 2, Level 2, right next to the bathroom.

Cons: • No clear signage. I had to ask the tourist information center where the hostel was, and they told me it’s inside the Family Mart. • Dirty, possibly unwashed slippers scattered across the floor. No sense of hygiene. • The room stinks. A strong salty, sweaty smell hits you as soon as you enter. • The bed had bloodstain, the mattress was thin, and they even make you set up your own bed. Never experienced that in any other hostel. • Pillow and blanket were stained, and the blanket cover was torn. Everything felt dusty and unclean. • I got rashes less than an hour after lying on the bed after shower. That says enough about the hygiene level. • Poor soundproofing. Since my room was next to the bathroom, it’s 1.30am I could hear noise from the hair dryer, people slamming shower doors, guest walking along the hallway. • Bathroom is cramped, toilet and shower crammed into a cubicle-sized space.

Pros: • Extremely close to the train station. Just a few steps away, and honestly, that’s the only positive.

⸻

Final thoughts:

I’ve been traveling in Taiwan for 4 days and staying at different hostels. This is the only bad experience I’ve had, but it’s enough to ruin the mood for the day.

Yes, it’s only 450 TWD per night, but basic...

accessibility ||1) less than 1 min walk ||||first impression ||1) hostel entrance is behind the motor bike entrance. ||it was a dark alley before i reach the entrance, and i must say, it looks kinda dodgy. ||2) a lady helped me with the check in. ||she seemed very busy, thus i didnt get much information on where to sightsee in the city. ||||Friendly People ||1) When i went back to the hostel in the evening, a guy in specs ( i believe he is the host) he invited me for dinner at the common area. there were a few other taiwanese from other parts of taiwan there too. ||I came from an environment where people kinda mind their own business, so i was really overwhelmed by their friendliness. hahaha! it's a good thing anyway! because after travelling from kaohsiung - Tainan - Chiayi - taipei, i realised people at the tainan area are definitely much friendlier compared to taipei. this is something i really appreciate. ||there was this hostel guy that helped me google on getting to take the bus route 99/88 to An Ping Tree House and Cigu Salt Mountain ||||Room ||1) there's aircon but i think you can only switch it on after 6.30pm. thus, i would suggest that you either hang out the lounge area or do all your sightseeing in the day time. ||2) Squeaky bed but that's ok with me. i just feel bad for my lower bunk bed mate. ||3) Lockers available. ||4) Toilet - shampoo, body foam and hair...

I stayed for two nights and the first night I had the honor for my bed to be the chosen one by a couple - possibly more - of bed bugs. Given the super-efficient method of closing the reception at 21, I was blessed with finding someone who was cleaning the corridors at 22.30. This guy helped me and gave me the keys for a new room a new bed. I wonder what I would have done if I had not found him there. He was very helpful at least, but the day after, when I reported what happened to the reception guy (saying: "you might want to check out the bed bugs situation in my bed, room 5, bed 11"), his reply was "thank you". Not "I am sorry", not "let us wash your clothes for you". THANK YOU, as if I was doing them a favour. What is written in other reviews is true: the cleanness situation is bad, not desperate but bad, and the price does not justify it, first of all because "cheap" should not mean "dirty" and secondly because I have found seversl cheaper options than this one in Taiwan which were WAY better. The (little) money put into breakfast (slices of bread with very low quality spreads) should be put into keeping the environment more clean, the kitchen too (hairs in the fridge, open garbage big can in the cooking area). I would not...