Belford Hostel — Hotel in City of Edinburgh

Booked into the Belford Hostel, through a third party booking site for the festival and arrived about 9.30 in the evening. During check in we were asked for ID and provided a local authority photo ID, the receptionist had to ask the “manager” if this was OK. Sad to say it was not, apparently it wasn’t part of “the policy” to accept them. Had to be government approved ID. They certainly need to get their act together and make this a lot more obvious, baring in mind how important it is to them, also, be a lot more specific about what exactly is government approved, especially if booking though an agency. All he could do was go on about “it’s not the policy”, a bit like a cracked record. He was arrogant, rude, condescending, completely intransigent, totally unable to provide any help or guidance, in a nutshell useless. Without proper ID i.e one that fitted his “policy” we would be refused entry. He did seem to be quite proud of this fact as he had done it before. Nice thought if you were a single traveller, kicked out onto the streets at night in a strange city. Did notice he was happy to pocket the money we had paid for the room though… Fortunately, some considerable time ago I had uploaded copies of our passports to an iPad and after much digging around was able to provide this, which seemed to satisfy him. The receptionist was able to complete our check in whilst he scuttled back down to his little office, no doubt fantasising over his dream job as a North Korean customs officer.|It’s a pity that this one individual spoiled our stay, because the hostel it’s self is fine, an old converted church, very nice kitchen and communal area, comfy bed and a reasonable price. OK hot water in our particular bathroom would have been nice and we did sympathise with the staff who were pleasant enough but looked a bit glum, not surprising baring in mind this obnoxious jobsworth of...

A (close) friend and I shared a private room for fringe and were very comfortable! I get why folks complain about the dank and musty smell, but, come on now. You're in a 19th century church, what did you expect? The private room was clean and came with tea and coffee as well as a kettle, and had clean towels for us. It wasn't the most comfortable mattress I've ever slept on, but it wasn't the worst either. Our downstairs room had a view into a courtyard and was perfectly quaint. It was certainly cozy but comfortable for 2 people who like each other. My only real issue was that they need more people working the front desk and I think that £3 a bag (£5 for big bags!) for storage for guests is a bit steep, which was particularly annoying when there was no one to help us get our bags when our car to the train station was arriving. I get that hostels charge you for everything, but it was a bit excessive. The common areas and bathrooms were clean and people were friendly.

We were there for the fringe festival and booked far enough in advance that I don't feel like we got ripped off. I liked the location for our purposes, I think if we were in the city center it would have been too much for our vibe this time of year, but it was still walkable for us. It was a 25-35 min walk to all the venues/the castle/the train station (or a 10-15 min cab ride when we were on our way to and from the train) and it was pretty much all flat, and we had friends in town who couldn't say the same, so I felt pretty fortunate all things considered. I would definitely book again for fringe in the future and will be recommending it to my theater friends who don't mind a...

Quite a negative experience, not a very recommendable place. We arrived on a Friday night quite late because our flight was delayed, when we arrived the guy at the reception didn't want to open the door for us claiming that the reception had already closed, when he attended us he was quite rude, and if we didn't insist (there were quite a few people at the door) he wouldn't let us in. The room was very small and the bathroom is downstairs, you have to take a long walk every time you want to use it, impractical, also aesthetically it was quite old and poorly maintained. On Sunday we were leaving the hostel and while we were collecting our things and finishing getting ready the same guy from reception opened the door of the room without knocking to tell us that we had to check out, there were seven girls in the room, it was super unpleasant and out of place, he almost saw us naked. When we left we were missing a key, they charged us 20 pounds for it, something exaggerated from my point of view. The receptionist was again super rude, he refused to give us a complaint form, according to him that doesn't exist in Edinburgh. He also refused to give us his name to add to the complaint and told us he was the manager when we asked for the contact of a superior, it was a lie. All in all, the hostel is not bad if you are looking for something cheap to sleep in, but I wouldn't go back. The guy at the reception was the worst of all, you can't have such a nasty person in front of the public, so I suggest the hostel to do without him if they don't want to receive more...