Lucky D's Hostel San Diego — Hotel in San Diego

This hostel, and hostels in general, leaves little to be desired. Lucky D's is old, tired and worn down. It needs help and some refurbishing. And the staff are all young kids, 20 somethings, who are not really qualified nor competent enough to manage and maintain the hostel as it should be.

Yes, it is a hostel but there should still be a high standard. I stayed in a private room with a tv. The tv did not work. I asked one of the staff about how to get it to broadcast programs. All she said was you neef a remote, which she got for me. I then asked how do I access the stations? Was there an antenna, a connection or was it through wifi, and all she said was "use the remote". Pretty useless.

The other problem with hostels are those who use them, and how they are are used. Many are young travellers who do not exercise enough common courtesy. Many common areas are left unclean, soiled and rather unsanitary, like leaving their dump in the toilet unflushed and not bothering to do something about it.

Somehow the flushing mechanism became undone but they did not do anything to take care of it. All they needed to do was remove the tank cover and manually engage it to flush. Then they should have either notified the staff to fix it or fix it themselves, which was very simple to do by connecting two rods together as I had.

And then the kitchen is rather unclean, even when they have staff assigned to maintain it. Counters are dirty covered with food of some kind. People leave dishes and utensils in the sink and pots and pans on the stove. But I will say the kitchen is better organized than other hostels I have been to.

I also had my food moved around in the refrigerator where someone even put a label on it identifying it as theirs on more than one instance.

The physical condition is in need of some upgrades and renovations. My window would only stay fully open. It would drop down fully closed otherwise. It would not stay partially open. The door showed evidence of a forced entry where the trim affixed to the jamb was cracked and not replaced.

This hostel has no lounge area for quests to relax in. You are pretty much stuck staying in your room or in the kitchen which has only stools.

The stove did not work as it was designed to probably do to a lack of care. The burners did not go right on. The ignition was malfunctioning where I had to twist and turn the knob every which way before it finally went on.

And they misrepresented things in their advertisement and marketing. There is pretty much no free breakfast or food of any kind. Just once in the week did they have frozen waffles. My tv did not work. And there were no organized events that were offerred nor enlisted like tours or passes to museums.

Nor were they accomodating. I asked if I could get a private room on a lower floor, not the top floor. I was told that all the private rooms were on the top floor. I am not so sure how true this is. Can not imagine that any lodging facility would design such a layout. And I have got to believe the room right below mine would be identical to my room. But this is my opinion as I did not go inspecting rooms.

The only positive thing I can say is they have a good location, and it was not as beat up and old as other hostels I have stayed in. And the bed was a double bed, not a bunkbed. The room was spacious with a dresser and night table.

Sadly, Lucky D's and others thus far have not given me good impressions of hostels. If you are a bohemian and carefree then these things probably do not matter, even the bowel movement sitting in the toilet.

My recommendation is to keep your stay short, to use a hostel for a short layover. You pay for what you get for, and you will pay less than a full fledged hotel. But you will get less. Most importantly, though, is you will have a roof over your head. Much more I can't say. It is a shot in the dark, although if their business plan and model is well executed then you should, and that is "should".

I feel a hostel is a viable lodging model but so far I've been quite...

First time staying in a hostel. I wanted to be close to the MCRD without paying an arm and a leg. I decided it was worth a shot since I didn't need the frills of being in a hotel. It was just myself traveling for a short period.

The halls were vibrant and funky. Lots of pictures, murals, etc. that adorn the walls on every floor. I wish I had more time to explore it all! My private room was cute and homey. Bonus points for having purple sheets in my room. I did not get the chance to use any of the common areas.

Some notes: -They asked for a $20 deposit. I gave them my credit card, but they said it had to be cash. If I would have known ahead of time, I would have been more prepared. We did get it worked out and got that money back upon checkout. At least I know for next time. -The building is on the older side. Not a huge deal, but my door kept getting stuck. Also, the floors creaked any time someone walked by my room. It freaked me out since I was traveling solo. I could hear the bathroom/shower doors, but that part didn't bother me. If you're a light sleeper, it is worth noting that the location is downtown. You will hear noises such as garbage trucks, squad cars, and the occasional cheers from an outdoor bar patio. I found out afterwards that they do offer earplugs. -I had many pillows in my room, but they were flat. If you are the type of sleeper that needs a fluffy pillow, you should probably make sure you have one with you. -My room did not have a closet, but did have a spot for hanging things. Not a big deal for me, as I don't unpack, but just a note for others. -They do not have rooms on the ground level. Not a problem for me, but again, just a note for others.

Other than that, here's what I liked: -Wifi worked well. -The bed and blankets were really comfy. -I had a/c in my room plus a ceiling fan. -Entry door is secured 24/7 and there is someone at the Reception Desk 24/7 as well. -Room doors had a typical hotel door knob with an extra deadbolt. -If anyone else was in the hostel at the same time, they were quiet and respectful. The hostel has an 11pm quiet time. -I did not have any issues with having to wait for bathrooms or showers. They had 2 of each on every floor. -The shower room was spacious enough to keep my clean clothes away from the shower. -They have signs everywhere offering discounts to the zoo and other places. If I had more time, I would have asked about it. -They did have some canned drinks on the reception floor for purchase.

Tldr - I had a decent experience on my first time in a hostel. I would recommend it for anyone who wants to...

I'm not sure why this hostel has such good reviews. I booked it because it had 4.5/5 stars, so I'm posting here to clarify the reality of staying here for anyone else who actually thinks this is a 4.5/5 star hostel. As someone who has stayed at numerous hostels all across Europe and Asia, as well as several in the US (which tend to be lower quality to price ratio, and I understand that), this is absolutely not a 4.5/5 establishment. |To start with the positives, it is in the walkable area, and while the street the hostel is on isn't the nicest, it's very close to other parts of Downtown. The people seem to be alright and there is a kitchen and washing machine available, as per the description, though I didn't stay long enough to use these amenities. |With the negatives, first off, this hostel is dark, dingy, and rather dirty. I booked a private room and there was a hole in the door where someone from the hallway could easily look in and see inside. I had to plug this with paper towels from the bathroom, but I could still hear most of what was going on outside, so I never really felt like I was in a private space. Additionally, the place is quite run down and in dire need of an update. I know that the hostels in the US are generally lower quality, but this place is by far the worst I ever been to. There was hair/crumbs (?) underneath my blankets on the bed, stuff was left in the fridge from the last person who lived in the room, the floor of the closet was lopsided and covered in stains/burn marks (?), the list goes on. The smell of the place is not great either, and while it appears that they clean the common areas, I'm not sure how well they do it. I truly don't have the highest standards for cleanliness, and I did not feel comfortable with the standard of cleanliness this hostel thought was acceptable. |DESPITE ALL THIS, I still thought I could probably stay for a place to sleep and just spend most of my day outside somewhere else. When I got back my first night, I settled in to do some work and realized that the internet was practically non-existent. I wasn't able to connect to even my email and I needed to be able to stream videos for studying. At this point, I decided to bite the financial bullet and book a room elsewhere. The place I ended up at was for some reason 3.5/5 stars but is was a far more comfortable stay, albeit at a higher price. ||TL;DR - Would highly recommend staying elsewhere if you want some privacy and clean spaces and decent internet for doing work/relaxing. This is the cheapest option in downtown San Diego...