Hostel Fish — Hotel in Denver

Promoted as "Denver's only High End Hostel", I was surprised when I went through the front door to find it was pretty much just like the hostels I had stayed at in the past. Going into my chosen room (private Queen), I had the same impression. Now, I've not had a lot of experience with hostels in the USA - but I guess they must be really bad if a hostel that is clean (as Hostel Fish was) is considered as 'high end'.

The room was clean and comfortable for sure, but unfortunately I didn't really see anything "high end" about it. Was my overall experience a BAD one? Not at all. Was it GREAT? Sorry, but no.

The only window for this room, was via the bathroom. That may explain why there were a couple of cut-outs in the wall - I'm presuming it was to allow light into the bedroom area.

The bed was quite soft, and to me seemed like the mattress had seen better days. The pillows were interesting. There were some totally soft, some quite firm. I'm not sure if it was simply mix-and-match of pillows in various states of wear, or if it was intentional so people could choose themselves whether they wanted a firm or soft pillow, or a combination. I'll choose to go with the latter.

I was there on a Saturday night, and the noise from the bar below was quite loud. Fortunately I had some ear plugs which helped me sleep. Perhaps if I wasn't so tired after a travel day and a fair chunk of walking, I wouldn't have been impacted so badly and maybe would have gone down to the bar for a beer - but unfortunately I WAS tired.

Ah, the wi-fi...very dodgy, especially when I was first attempting to use it. Frequent disconnects, even after a couple of minutes. I suspect it's due to a limited number of available connections and more people attempting to go online. I certainly appreciate the fact it's there, and the available speed was good. The reliability issue can hopefully be looked at.

The positives - when I was checking in, the young man answered a couple of questions I had in a friendly, polite and knowledgeable manner. I was able to borrow a towel at no charge, but when I got to my room I saw there were towels there already. I returned the unused (borrowed) towel the next morning when I went to check out, and the lady there asked me to put it in the dirty laundry basket anyway. So it's good they are going to clean them regardless of whether they look (or are said to be) clean.

Proximity to downtown and Coor's Field is quite good. I decided to go to a baseball game and the stadium is an easy short walk from Hostel Fish.

After check out, I was able to leave my gear to collect later. That is greatly appreciated, and there was no issue when I came to pick it up on after the baseball game.

Would I stay here again, if I ever came to Denver? Maybe. As written earlier, I didn't have a bad experience, but for what I paid (compared with other nearby options) I didn't quite get what I...

Great location and vibe! So happy I stayed here instead of a corporate hotel. I was fine with the hostel kitchen being next to the bar. I stayed in the singles, and the bathrooms were exquisite!

The only downside I had was that since local Denver or boulder people can’t stay the place was flooded with conservative red state military guys when I was there. 😅

I don’t know why but red state dudes discovered hostels so any foreign guests should be prepared for people with an alternate view of reality who truly believe in Fox News. They were also dissing Colorado constantly and promoting how “safer” Texas and Miami are 🤣. Hopefully the crowd is more enlightened and less conservative when you visit. I had a lot of alternate reality conversations with people obsessed with fake crime statistics about blue states.

Don’t argue with them just smile and nod and check out of the conversation as soon as they start talking about how guns don’t cause violent crime in Texas. You can also usually tell by their haircuts 💇 too. A lot of conservative guys not used to hostel etiquette were there too and demanding weird things from the staff like chiding them for not having free sugar in the kitchen 🙈🙈🙈

Location is close to the train station and 15 minutes walk/ 5 minute ride share to Denver union station from the snowstang / Bustang buses to the major resorts like Arapahoe and Breckenridge. It’s much safer to take the bus as no car rental company besides hertz can guarantee awd/4wd and none offer winter tires required by state law during snowstorms.

There’s a lively beer bar and sports ball scene nearby but it’s better to use a lime scooter to go about 15 minutes ride to Colfax where the real indie culture is in Denver. Also rhino is super interesting and a 10 minute bike or scooter ride away!

Some might find the evenings a bit noisy due to bars but I was fine with AirPods on silent mode! None of the Texas / red state guys I encountered there were interested in art or culture when I was there but there are tips on the board for places like meow wolf. I think there might be a discount for the Denver contemporary art museum with your hostel keycard.

All in all a great experience and the owner chose the setting with so much love! Ophelia’s is downstairs, and I had a great brunch to live music surrounded by Denver people. The only downside is that mostly conservative people interested in beer sports and partying were there when I went so try to go out of your way to fan out into Denver proper as it’s cool!

Hopefully if you visit there will be cool Americans and foreigners. I’m glad conservative Americans discovered travelling and hostels, but you’ll have to do some digging to learn about Denver, its history and art scene if you’re around people who don’t care...

First off, there is nobody at the hostel at night at the desk. Nobody. So IF you have an emergency or need something, nobody is there. This is bad! And rare! I’ve never stayed anywhere where this was the case. If you leave the hostel and try to come back you will be locked out. Such was the case for me, when I left to go to the airport, realized I didn’t have my wallet, went back to look for it and couldn’t get inside for 2 hours. I had to wait in the bitter snow until staff came at 7 am. I tried to wait in the train station but contrary to google, it is not open before 7 am either. Doors are locked. This is our first issue.

I left my wallet by accident at the front desk. When I went to get it nobody was there and my wallet was gone leading me to think it had maybe been stolen. In the morning I asked if they had seen it (once staff eventually shows up.) They said no. I ransacked the bed, pulling off covers to see if I could find it, finding a thoroughly stained bed cover and mattress in the process. Nothing.

I went to the airport with no wallet and no ID. No credit cards, no money. Nothing. After an extensive security check that took hours, they allowed me to board a much more expensive flight, having missed my earlier one.

I called the hostel three times during the day asking if they had seen in. They continued to say no. So, I assumed it had been stolen, logically.

I filed a police report, missed my flight, cancelled and re-ordered all my credit cards and then the hostel had the audacity to call and say “surprise! We found your wallet! We had it in the back the whole time!”

It took me several days for them to ship my wallet back. They asked ME to pay for a return address label and refused to apologize or admit the breakdown in their competency. Also, the manager rudely hung up on me on the phone when I was talking. This is insane. I also asked to speak to the hotel owner, Chad Fish, who refused to message me back or call me back.

I’ve never seen such ineptitude or had a worse hotel/hostel stay in decades of travel. This was totally preventable. They didn’t even bother to look to see if someone had turned in my wallet, or, in this case, if staff had put it somewhere. I asked if they had a special lock box in the back to store lost items so that if this happens again they can look in a specific place. They refused to answer my question.

I have never had more incompetent and rude customer care in my entire life. Just because it’s a hostel does not give free reign for...