Echo Beach Hostel — Hotel in Ko Pha Ngan

I think that this is the perfect hostel for a certain type of backpacker, as you can see by the many positive reviews (although worth noting there is a financial incentive when you are there to review!). Our impression was if you are in Koh Pha-ngan to party, smoke some weed, make new friends this would be a great place to stay. Unfortunately those were not our aims and we would not recommend this hostel to people not looking for this!

We stayed in a private room which was very spacious, had a good amount of storage and very functional A/C. The common area downstairs is quite nice, sociable and the beach front access is a unique perk. We ate breakfast at the hostel most days and it was very good, cheap compared to many breakfast/brunch places on the island.

Our room had several problems that made our stay less enjoyable. Many originated from a single source - large cracks in the door to the balcony and around the windows (see photos) that meant little separation from outside. We had to keep our AC on a lot because all cold air immediately left the room, and the noise from the street woke us up many times. I was also bitten more by mosquitos than usual, maybe because of easier access from outside. There were also much smaller details the hostel could fix, they might seem particular but we have stayed in many hostels of the same price point that have got them right. The sockets are halfway up the walls, making it difficult to charge phones/use them at all (which sparked considerable whenever something was plugged in) and the lighting feels like you’re on a construction site. We had a bizarre satin-like sheet on the bed that slipped off the mattress multiple times a day and blankets that were considerably too small for the beds they were meant for.

Our room was also somewhat disturbed by the common area, where loud thumping music plays all day. Our room, the corridors and all public spaces smelled like weed for the evenings and a lot of the day, which to us was a shame especially staying in a private room.

The service at reception was sometimes good, but largely not great. Staff complained about each other to us, argued, ignored us to continue their own conversations with each other. We have both worked in customer service and understand the demands of the job but it did not feel particularly welcoming. We had an issue where we booked a taxi to leave through reception for our departure and it didn’t show - maybe not their fault but not a good end to our stay.

We are very confused about the positive reviews about the bathrooms. Again, we have stayed at hostels our entire trip and these were by far the least clean. Often covered in pee with a strong scent of sick after about 8pm. The showers were very hot and had good water pressure but the toilets were very gross.

Overall, I can see how this would be a great hostel if you are solo travelling and into a good party (not a casual boogie, but the main purpose of the common room was to get high). Unfortunately that is not what we were looking for and I do not think the hostel manages to...

This place genuinely is a dungeon. Hostel is dirty and smells, also poorly managed. Toilets were disgusting (ours was broken), showers and toilet area was smothered in grime, huge lack of toilet paper, and the pungent smell followed you around the hostel. Felt dirtier after I showered. ||||From the get go staff were unprofessional, showed us to our rooms where we dropped our bags and unpacked, only to return to the room an hour later to find other people in our room and our things moved and packed up into another room without our knowledge. Complete invasion of privacy, we then had staff marching up to our room afterwards to say we owed them more money! When I expressed how uncomfortable I was with all my belongings being packed up and moved without any consultation, the staff member proceeded to say ‘it’s okay, we do this all the time’, and no apology was made. ||||Hard to differentiate members of staff from the customers due to their unprofessional nature, unhelpfulness, and failure to provide any guidance. Smoking while making drinks and carrying food. Did not inform us of the water machine, breakfast provided (during full moon season) or tea and coffee station as advertised. ||||Outside area was okay, however the demographic was primarily older men and people taking copious amounts of drugs - not just the ones legal in Thailand. There were older men - not residents of the hostel, hanging out in the social space bothering younger people and asking them to do chores for them. Very authoritative and intimidating upon the younger girls like ourselves. Although not entirely the hostels fault, they did not care to police the issue at any length and allowed it on their premises.||||One man in the echo beach social space, ordered me around, then told me he was barred from the hostel for attempting to fight the owner as he was owed a large sum of money. Proceeded to bother my friend and I, ask for our numbers, sell drugs, yet it still did not bother the hostel that he was on their premises. ||||The vibe of the hostel was totally off, it is dark and dominated by cliques of what appeared to be long-term stayers. This proved to be very unwelcoming as they thought they above the other residents.. whether they even were residents? It felt as if I was invading someone’s home rather than being a paying guest. ||Leading to my next point of the lack of security in this hostel, it was clear that anyone could enter and stay in this hostel unwarranted. ‘24/7’ security is completely false. ||||This hostel is by the far the worst I have experienced. I would not bother staying here especially if you’re a solo traveller or a girl. Unless you want to be constantly harassed by old men and cliques, I feel bad that the stray dogs who stay here for shelter have to...

You could not pay me enough money to stay another night here ever again. This hostel had me wondering if somehow we hadn’t made it to Koh Phangan and had instead died on the way and gone to hell. My partner and I booked one of the little huts outside at the beach for 5 nights. The hut itself was as described, there was no air con just a fan which i didn’t realise when booking but that’s not the fault of the hostel.

Starting off positive, the social area is fine. There is a pool table, sofas, big tables and a decent bar. The beach social area is also not bad. The mattress and pillows (in the hut) are surprisingly comfortable. There is also a decent selection of reasonably priced food However, questionable hygiene considering the overall poor hygiene quality of this hostel.

Bathrooms The bathrooms have a prison-like feel to them. They are disgusting (unisex bathrooms in a hostel are never a good idea). On my first night, I noticed the shower had vomit stains all over the floor, the toilets had pee all over the walls and seat and the sinks had snot in them as well as snot on the mirror. The bathrooms also have a repulsive smell of sick and poop. This did not get better over the 5 regretful nights we stayed here. As if all of that wasn’t bad enough, you’re not allowed to wear any type of shoes in the bathroom, this includes sandals and flip flops. I’m aware that this is common in Thailand to avoid getting sand everywhere which is understandable, but, walking barefoot into a shower with vomit stains on the floor wasn’t pleasant.

Bugs Spiders, flies, ants, mosquitos, etc everywhere. All in the sofa, at the social area, all over the bathroom, in the showers, in the toilets, in my room, in the dorms according to others staying here. Some even said there were bedbugs in one of the dormitories. In the huts, there’s little gaps in the door and windows making it very easy for bugs to crawl in. Trying to sleep and feeling something crawling on your skin is not very relaxing. Especially when it is near enough impossible to sleep in this environment anyway. There was also a wasp on our ceiling.

Music This hostel plays loud music every night until at least 1am. I honestly cannot express how loud this music is. By midnight, everyone had already gone. So why the need to play music until 1am? Also, i’m not one to be fussy when it comes to music, but this music was the type that made me want to rip my head off so I wouldn’t have to listen to it anymore. They also play music constantly during the day. The music played during the day isn’t bad most of the time, depending on how loud they play it when people are still trying to sleep off the music that kept them up the...