Argyle Backpackers

“A decent stay”

Just a 15-20 minute walk to the busy Old town of Edinburgh. Not much for shops nearby. Lovely meadow pathway across the road though. Close to the University. The hostel rooms and bathrooms were fairly sparse, but clean. The one shower was a bit broken but there are many bathrooms to choose from so … more

Just a 15-20 minute walk to the busy Old town of Edinburgh. Not much for shops nearby. Lovely meadow pathway across the road though. Close to the University. The hostel rooms and bathrooms were fairly sparse, but clean. The one shower was a bit broken but there are many bathrooms to choose from so not a big deal. Towels were 2£ extra. Sunroom and garden was quite lovely for a morning tea. Kitchen’s were a bit beat up by sitting water on the butcher block countertops so probably wouldn’t want to cook much there.

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“From OK to bad to worse. Never again.”

I’ve been going to this hostel a couple of years and have stayed half a dozen times. I’ve always ignored the lack of hoovering and the slightly moldy posters holding signs up in the bathrooms. The overall atmosphere and usually friendly staff made up for that. My recent stay found me looking unsucc… more

I’ve been going to this hostel a couple of years and have stayed half a dozen times. I’ve always ignored the lack of hoovering and the slightly moldy posters holding signs up in the bathrooms. The overall atmosphere and usually friendly staff made up for that. My recent stay found me looking unsuccessfully for mugs to make tea in. I got past that. I got past the bed in one of the twins that made the most awful creaking sound as you moved. You get what you pay for I told myself. But, this is when it went downhill, I was getting dressed in the twin room when a man with a key tried to come into the room. I said I’m still in here. He said sorry I had a key. Then someone knocks on the door and starts to open it. I said I’m dressing and I have 11 until I have to leave. Then I spoke to reception as I had a bunk booked for 3 more nights. I go into the room and someone is using a reed diffuser with a eucalyptus smell that was very strong. And I asked for a bottom bunk bed but they were both taken. The staff were apologetic and said I could have a room in a mixed dorm. I always book female dorms and wouldn’t feel comfortable in a mixed one so I said no. Lots of thinking and searching was being done and they couldn’t find me anything. To cut a long story short I encountered the owner who was very rude, bordering on abusive and he says if I didn’t want what they had to offer I should leave. I said I had nowhere to go and he said I decide who stays here. He wanted to throw a 68 year old woman onto the street. The young man on reception tried to make excuses for him saying he’d been called to deal with a difficult customer. 1. That was not my problem and 2. I told him there are no circumstances where you should excuse a man bullying and threatening a woman. Anyway, strangely enough they found me a double room. I’d been told earlier there were no rooms that matched my request. What they meant was they weren’t going to give me a room that they could have got triple or more for the price I paid. So I took the room with a window that wouldn’t shut tight and wallpaper peeling off the wall but I will never ever go back.

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