Not So Hostel — Hotel in Charleston

I stayed in a four-person male dorm room (Taylor Room). The hostel has no front desk, and it is not obvious where you can find staff if you need help. However, check-in is extremely flexible: you receive a door code that lets you enter the hostel throughout your stay, so you can check in late at night if necessary. I appreciate that the hostel has two fully functional kitchens you can use to prepare food. While it does not provide breakfast, it does offer coffee, tea, and oatmeal, which I did not use but appreciated.

The dorm room was clean and the bed was comfortable, but a few things disappointed me. First, the room can get stuffy. There is a ceiling fan that is not very powerful. A small standing fan was also in the room, but on my first night I did not turn it on because I did not want to disturb the other guests. On the second night someone turned it on, and it significantly improved the ventilation. Another issue was the lack of a power outlet near the bed. The only outlets were far from the bunks, so the only convenient option was the USB port on the bed light.

There are three bathrooms shared throughout the house. My floor has six dorm rooms, and there is another dorm room near the kitchen, so I was worried that I would have to wait a long time. Although that never happened to me, I did see people waiting. Some of the bathrooms have small shower areas, and it is difficult to turn around without touching the shower curtain. However, given how often these bathrooms are used, I am impressed by how clean they are; the staff must clean them quite often.

This hostel has two locations. One is much closer to downtown, and the one where I stayed is not too far either. Walking to downtown takes no more than 20 minutes. A bus can also take you there, but the schedule is not very convenient. Charleston is generally walkable and safe, so I recommend walking if the weather is fine. Parking downtown can be hectic and may not be worth the headache.

Several restaurants are near the hostel, including one right next door. If you want groceries, I suggest the Walgreens or Target downtown. The neighborhood is peaceful and is mostly filled with Airbnbs and rental houses for visitors.

My stay was mostly positive, but I cannot say I was impressed by this hostel. Perhaps the overwhelmingly rave reviews raised my expectations too high. Still, with standard hotel rooms easily costing more than $200, Notso Hostel remains an attractive option for budget travelers...

Overall very disappointing compared to the many other hostels I've stayed in around and outside of the country. No staff or anyone at all to greet me when I arrived in the afternoon, which felt lonely and unwelcoming. ||I booked two separate nights, and the two separate check-in emails left it unclear as to which bed I was to take on the first night, with no one around to ask. I found a sticky note on my bed frame later the next day scolding me for taking the wrong bed! ||The small amount of cupboard and fridge space was nearly all labeled for staff only, leaving little space for guests to store their food -- again, very unwelcoming. The check-in email mentions oatmeal for breakfast, but there was none anywhere to be seen. No staff person around to make coffee. There was a container of powdered coffee creamer on the counter the first morning and then nothing the second morning. No drawer containing eating utensils -- I only lucked out at each meal by finding a solitary spoon and fork in the dish drainer. Also a dirty plate and fork in the sink that sat there for a whole day. ||Only 3 restrooms for all the guests, and one of them out of TP with no extra rolls anywhere. ||On my second day, after being gone all day and finding the note scolding me for taking the wrong bed, I found also my small hand towel gone from where I'd hung it to dry on my bedframe, a staff person having apparently collected it along with used bedding -- but there was no access to the laundry room for me to retrieve it. I replied to the check-in email, as it advised for relaying a problem, asking that a staff person retrieve the towel for me before my check-out next morning at 9am. Instead of a reply to that, I soon rec'd a cheery and oblivious email thanking me so much for staying there! They eventually replied to the lost-towel email saying they'd ask staff about it, not seeming to notice that I was long gone by then. No followup from them on that -- I'm just out one towel now. ||In addition, the wifi seemed to be slow and therefore not of much use. ||The overall experience was of a penny-pinching establishment providing the barest minimum and showing little concern for guests. ||A friendly and present staff could make a world...

I had a great 4-night stay at the NotSo Hostel's main location on Spring Street in October of 2024. I stayed in the Taylor Dorm, the 4-bed male dorm, by myself the first 2 nights and with one roommate the last 2 nights. Initially I only booked 3 nights. I was able to extend my stay one more night online, with a note that I was already staying there. Conveniently I was able to stay in the same room, same bed, and use the same entry code, without having to check out and back in.|What I liked most was that it was a "normal" hostel. I've stayed at many in the US, England, and Spain. It's a shame so many hostels, especially in the US, are a scam or just somehow a horrible place to stay. The NotSo Hostel was pretty clean overall. My dorm room was a little dusty, but not enough to complain about. It wasn't too crowded when I stayed, so the bathrooms and kitchens were always clean. "Breakfast" was only packs of instant oatmeal, but hey, better than nothing. Always plenty of coffee, with a regular auto drip coffee maker that guests can use.|There was no official common area, and no TV, so guests generally hung out in the kitchens or the small outdoor area in the back. Perhaps I just had good timing, but I met some great people from around the country and world, had some great conversations, and hung out with other guests in Charleston and Folly Beach. The location was good. It felt like a safe neighborhood, and about a half hour walk to the main downtown area of Charleston.|At the time, there was plenty of parking in the back. My only complaint was how difficult it was to spot the hostel driving down the street looking at GPS. It's a white house that looks like all the other houses on a crowded street. A nice big sign or landmark...