Kate B.
Yelp
Yup, I like this place.
So I decided to go on a very last minute trip to everywhere. During this trip, I changed my plans to go from the south to California, first stop being San Diego... right during Comic Con week. This was two weeks before the Con, and everything was booked. I started calling around to try and get on a waiting list, when I phoned up HI-PL and spoke to James, who had a brand new cancellation, and was able to give me a room for the rest of my time that week (I was able to get a different downtown hostel for the beginning of the week). He was an absolute king about it, super helpful on the phone, very cool guy.
And he was also very cool when I got there, and decided to cancel the rest of my reservation because there was a brand new opening/cancelation at the downtown hostel, which was next to the Con, and since I had gotten an in, it was easier to stay there. If I wasn't being lazy, or not living at the convention center that weekend, I would have stuck with HI.
Although, after I got a tour of HI-PL, it became extremely hard to cancel the rest of the reservation- this place was fantastic, and made my other hostel look.... shabby.
Everything is super crazy clean. Their common room has great plush couches and chairs, the rooms are spacious and the beds... good lord, they were amazing to sleep on. The kitchen/eating area is very inviting and nice, breakfast in the morning was fantastic. They have a nice porch with couches where you can chill out. There's also a patio that seemed very homey. Bathrooms were a very nice set up, not co-ed, which was a nice change. James and the few other staff people I met were really hands on and helpful.
Now, with anything, there were a few downsides, but they were in no way deal breakers.
This is a very quiet hostel. It was a nice reprieve from the party style hostel I had just stayed in, but this place was almost too quiet. I felt like anything I did would be too loud. It is in a residential area, so there's that. This place doesn't seem like it attracts the party crowd, there was a good mix of ages here, and most of them were early to bed types. I had a few good conversations with some people in the common room, one of which didn't end until about 1am. It was there that I saw the sign that said "please turn the tv and lights off at midnight". Midnight? I don't think it's a rule that they really enforce, but I thought it was weird.
Also, I'm not sure about the alcohol rule as stated by the guy under me. No one mentioned it, but there was definitely no one drinking either. Didn't bother me much as I don't really drink.
Anyway, bottom line: stay here if you want a place to relax, not party. It is a treat, in a great neighborhood (I walked around, seems like a nice place to live), with nice staff and amazing beds/breakfast.