Whitney Portal Hostel & Hotel — Hotel in Bishop

Sadly I had a very negative experience staying at Whitney Portal Hostel after completing the JMT. There are two chairs by the check-in desk in the main lobby/store area, and I sat in one while a friend was picking out a shirt. (This was after my first night, so I had showered and washed my clothes, and I did not have a hiking backpack with me.) Within 30 seconds of sitting down, a woman came out from the office and told me, "You can't sit there." I explained that I was just waiting for my friend to buy his shirt, in case she thought I was a random person lounging in their lobby. She rudely said, "It doesn't matter- You can't be here." I was so taken aback that I just said okay and got up to leave. My friend told her that he couldn't believe how rude she was to me and she just shrugged, so he put back what he was planning to buy and we left. I have never been treated so poorly at a motel, hotel, or hostel before.

The hostel room itself was mediocre. The metal-frame bunk beds make a lot of noise when people shift in their sleep. The bathroom had no hooks for hanging towels or clothes, and the light switch is on the outside of the bathroom, so the bunk room was flooded with light whenever people used the bathroom during the night. The sink and vanity area are also right in the bunk room, so people either had to turn on the main light or wash their hands in the dark. The $38 price for a bunk bed may be tempting as the cheapest option in town, but no amount of savings is worth having your trip soured by...

As with others in the 1 star I booked a room and then had to cancel because of road work that made it difficult to impossible to get the hostel. The Caltrans twitter said not to count on the road being accessible so I cancelled my reservation to drive a different route. I did not get a refund.||However, my main issue is the woman kept insisting I couldn't get a refund because I booked through booking.com which I did not. I booked through the hostel website. My confirmation email and cancellation email came from reservationcounter.com which is the system you use if you book directly through the hostel. She showed me the screen shot showing booking.com and I showed her my email that was clearly not from booking.com. Then she just did not respond and kept my $190. Also it was a Saturday night on spring break and the Dow had been full for three weeks prior so I am pretty sure they kept my money and then charged someone else for the same room...I cancelled over 24 hours before check in and they had plenty of time to receive the notice.||The Dow Villa is directly next store, is comparable in price and is far more accommodating to last minute changes to traveling which happen to everyone. I have been staying at the Dow for over 15 years for work and personal travel and never had anything but good experiences including with last minute changes. They were full so I thought I would try next store but that was a...

TL;DR:

The current (7/6/14) owners have owned this hostel since this spring so any older reviews of quality of customer service do not reflect the current situation of the hostel.

Given this hostel's quality and location in regards to the John Muir Trail (JMT), Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and Mt. Whitney (tallest mountain in the contiguous 48 states) it is a great place to stay before or after your adventures in the area.

Long Review: I "got" to spend a couple of days at this hostel after my rapid accent attempt on Whitney resulted in my turning back on the second day for mountain sickness safety concerns as the rest of my group pushed on.

I stayed one night in the male dorm and one in the co-ed dorm (when the rest of my group returned from the trail). Both rooms were extremely well maintained and clean. The male dorm had a small fridge, microwave and TV in it while the co-ed was more spartan. When I mentioned getting a couple of pizzas for my crew when they returned one of the owners moved a microwave into the co-ed room so we could reheat the pizza since the crew was getting down after all the restaurants in town closed.

After spending some time chatting with the owners, you can see their passion for the hiker community and drive to make an amazing hostel and store location for outdoor enthusiasts in the area.

I can not encourage you enough to stay here should you be...