CITY HOUSE HOSTEL NEW ORLEANS

The location is good but the hostel itself is in a strange building. That means that there’s no windows ion the whole hostel. The living room is big and comfy enough. The bathrooms are somewhat clean. The rooms are rudimentary but fine. The staff is nice for the most part. Though I should mention that a woman, who I think is the owner or a manager, is the opposite of nice and polite. To her you will be a source of incomes and no more. On the 01/08/24 I checked out of my room at 11am as I was required to do. But I stayed and waited in the living room of the hostel for a good part of the day, I had a bus at 3:30pm. The living room is big and the hostel wasn’t crowded at all, I was waiting there with my only bag (40 litters so it’s really not big), and I was chatting with a guest. However that woman arrived a 3pm and asked why I was still there, I replied that obviously it was raining and the wind was strong and that I was about to go, just waiting inside for my bus. She said I had to be gone by 2pm already, and that I could stay in the lobby if didn’t want to stay outside, to which I replied that I was about to leave anyway, but that it was the first time in my hostel experience that I couldn’t wait in the living room. She then got really angry and said that I needed to get out of here.

So no you know what’s the mentality is like.

I don’t often give low ratings but I’d like to be honest about my experience and unfortunately, husband and I ended up checking out of this hostel early. A lot of the positive reviews are correct (cleanliness, location etc) But at the end of the day, travellers should be able to go back to a space that is relatively comfortable to sleep at night, and this hostel had such uncomfortable beds, it was next to impossible to get sleep.

Pros
- Location
- Very clean - rooms, common areas, bathrooms

Cons
- Beds - the mattresses were un-sleep-able. I’ve stayed in a lot of hostels and budget hotels in my lifetime and this was one of the most uncomfortable mattresses
- Check in - you cannot arrive anytime before 3pm, even to drop off your bags (which is unlike any hostel I have ever stayed in)
- The downstairs lobby - smelt like urine ????
- The staff - they were all friendly enough, but at times it felt like we (guests) were intruding on a bunch of housemates living together and we were inconveniencing them
- Wifi - did not work

The experience was great in general until the check out day. The crew, the Brazilian lady from the front desk and installations were fantastic. Everyone and everything was great until the morning front desk person behave in an absolute rude and disrespectful way. My negative episode happened Friday morning, the manager or whatever she was, treated us bad, entered to our room without announcing herself, breaking our privacy and screaming that we needed to leave the building. Moments after that, she made an scandal shouting and screaming that she was gonna call the police if we didn't leave the building. We were waiting for our rental car to show up and load our stuff onto a new destination. She kicked us out in the most irrational and disrespectful way possible and giving clearly racial and xenophobic references due to our lack of a versatile use of english, of course considering we were foreigner travelers. Screaming: speak English, here we speak English. This was one of the most disrespectful and embarrassing situations I've ever experienced on my travels. This lady should not be treating people the way she did and of course she shouldn't be involved in taking decisions or even interacting with guests. It's such a pity that such a beautiful experience lived at the hostel gets blown away by a disrespectful and ignorant idiot. It's so sad what a little mind can do with a tiny bit of power. So so sad.Unfortunately, i won't return to this installation ever again.

I stayed here in Nov '23 and had a great stay. The hostel is central, secure, and comfortable in the shared areas. I stayed in a single room which was sizable, and a dorm which was pretty standard for that kind of stay. There are heaps of showers and the bathroom was always clean.

What really stood out for me, however, was the effort of the staff to make everyone feel welcome and entertained. Each night we had the option to play games at 7pm and then head out to visit the local bars at 8pm. The staff were amazing, particularly Meg who was always warm and enthusiastic.

BEWARE OF FRAUDULENTLY HAVING RESERVATIONS CANCELLED! On 25/09/23 I booked 10 nights at this hostel for Mardi Gras week in Feb '24. My one bed in a 10-bed mixed dorm incl taxes came to $480 for all 10 nights ... and I booked my international flight around this reservation. Two months later (on 26/11/23) I received an email from City House saying that my booking had been cancelled due to some damage to the room requiring repairs. I panicked because I absolutely cannot afford to stay in hotels and my flight is not refundable. But then I thought ... wait - it's only November. Why would you not be able to have repairs done by February? So, I rang the manager. She claimed that they couldn't get the repairs done because of the upcoming Christmas holidays ... but TBH it sounded like a run-around to me. Basically - they knew they could get more $$$ for the bed now. I noticed on the hostel website that there were still beds available in a 10-bed dorm exactly like the one I had booked, so I requested that the manager give me one of those beds instead. She said she can't do that but that I was welcome to book it myself online. However, those beds are now $200 a night (YES, in a 10-bed dorm!!!) ... MORE THAN 4 TIMES WHAT I HAD BOOKED THE BED FOR TWO MONTHS AGO. When I brought this to the manager's attention and asked to re-book for the original price she told me she could not honour that price. Nope. If I wanted to re-book I would have to pay $200/night 'because that is the price now'. I was so frustrated and upset I was near tears. Meanwhile, the manager's stance was just kind of a 'tough luck but sorry I can't help you' attitude. Even when I explained that the ONLY reason I had booked this trip was because I had found affordable accommodation and now I am stuck trying to scramble to find something else ... I received NO HELP whatsoever. Do I actually believe that the room needs repair? Nope. Because what on earth would take months to repair? And if it were true that repairs were needed then they would (and should) honour my original price in another room. No ... I 100% believe this is a case of cancelling my reservation in order to re-book the bed at a higher price. The fact that a traveller who booked far in advance is now left high and dry is seemingly 'not their problem'. TO CITY HOUSE NOLA - SHAME ON YOU. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY DISGRACEFUL BEHAVIOUR.