The Village Melbourne

“Ramsay and Zoe are the best!”

Never had a bad night in Alfie’s, shout-out Zoe and Ramsay always on form 🍻

“staff appreciation”

Ive stayed in both north and central little drifter a couple weeks ago and would just like to mention Eoin, Willa and Greg have honestly made my stay. They were excellent, friendly, helpful, and always welcoming. They created a great atmosphere and were happy to help with recommendations or anythin… more

Ive stayed in both north and central little drifter a couple weeks ago and would just like to mention Eoin, Willa and Greg have honestly made my stay. They were excellent, friendly, helpful, and always welcoming. They created a great atmosphere and were happy to help with recommendations or anything I needed.

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“Lots of issues to sort out, but it'll be amazing if they do.”

Drifter does a great impression of a good hostel. Sadly, it’s not one. If you judge by appearances, it’s INCREDIBLY nice — especially after what appears to have been a major renovation and serious design investment. If you stay there though… it ain't so great. Like all Drifters, someone has mad… more

Drifter does a great impression of a good hostel. Sadly, it’s not one. If you judge by appearances, it’s INCREDIBLY nice — especially after what appears to have been a major renovation and serious design investment. If you stay there though… it ain't so great. Like all Drifters, someone has made the choice to automate check-in, which is frankly obnoxious, especially when you have a question or something goes wrong. And on two out of my four Drifter stays, something did. That same automated system unlocks the bedroom doors, and it is SLOW. You tap the unlock button on your phone and then you wait twenty seconds while it decides if it wants to work. It is MADDENING. This is made all the worse and slower by wifi that’s pretty hit or miss. Actually more miss than hit — half the time I couldn’t even load a browser speed test. These nuisances are not trivial. They ruined my stay. Then there’s the lack of laundry. Each floor formerly boasted its own washroom, but rumor has it the owners wanted more bedrooms to make themselves more money — and they didn’t build out a new one in the basement. The closest laundromat is a kilometer away. Serious hard fail. To add insult to injury, the sink drains have raised strainers to block handwashing. Even if you manage to wash a pair of underwear in the shower there is literally NOWHERE to dry it. I have a travel clothesline that attaches to almost anything, and there are no bars, no hooks, no nothing. It’s hard to believe this is unintentional. Additional annoyances: The place is under construction, so it's super noisy. Also, charging devices is incredibly difficult, because power points are stupidly placed. There are a couple high points. It’s a truly chic space with an amazing number of beautifully furnished lounge areas. The location is superb. The people who work there are pretty cool — shout out to Bella, without whom this review would have been a fair bit worse after my hellish night of no a/c in the pod room. Bottom line: I had an absolutely amazing experience at Drifter in Byron Bay, then a horrific one at Little Drifter North Melbourne. This one fell somewhere in the middle.

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