Hood River Hostel

My wife and I stayed here with our two children, ages 7 and 2. At first, we loved it. It was clean, new and they offered us a very large bunk room to ourselves. For a reasonable charge this was a great affordable option for a family. It also included a nice break fast. However, once we walked into the room it smelled of WEED. What I quickly saw was that the dispensary next door shared ventilation with the room we were staying in. The smell of weed was being pumped right into our room. A great feature for some, but not for little children! I spoke with the owners and they were very nice but only could cover up the smell with fabreeze and candles. They promised that they had dealt with it and we stayed one night and woke to the smell. They agreed to refund the money for the second night so we could stay else where and they have NOT done has this agreed. Very disappointed with their dishonesty. Do not stay here if you have little children.

Terrible customer service. Once we stepped into the property, no one was at the desk..there was clutter everywhere. The attendant came but without a mask. Didn’t wear a mask through our interactions and was very short with me. We went to our room And were there for a few minutes and my daughter had a stomach ache, said she felt like might possibly vomit. So out of respect to other guests and our host I told the attendant Lorena, we couldn’t stay and needed to find a room with its own bathroom. She said she would refund my payment but needed a cleaning fee for having to restanitize the room. I said okay. And rushed out the door to find a suitable hotel for us. Many emails back and forth, days later..still no refund.

Wonderful! Lorena was SO friendly and helpful, we ate an amazing breakfast on the terrace with an awesome view of Mt. Adams. Easy check-in, easy to find. Clean, quiet, comfortable, very low-key, lots of self-service available which we enjoyed! Would definitely stay again. Thank you Lorena!!!

My girlfriend and I had a great time here. The dorms were very clean. Tim was very friendly and helpful. The Continental breakfast was nice and out out with care. Only thing I would recommend is hand drying towels in the bathrooms, and to spruce up the hallways a little.

Good location. The best deal in Hood River. Good for a skier that will sleep 10 hours like a log prior to going back up to Mt. Hood. Very helpful owner. Safe parking. I have stayed in the hostel several times and will probably be back many more.

I came here, frantically, after a failed booking with a camping website. They had vacancy and were able to take me right away. I got the single room with the queen bed. It was perfect. The room was clean and the bed was soooo comfortable. Memory foam, I think. A continental breakfast was provided in the morning. The bathrooms were clean. I would come back here and recommend it to friends on a budget, looking for a place to crash.

Lorana and Tim went above and beyond to be helpful and accommodating. They were also very welcoming and available throughout the stay. The room and accommodations were everything they were advertised to be. The private room was very spacious, and we did not hear any noise from other guests or the surrounding neighborhood. Be aware that, if you want to walk from the downtown area to this hostel, it's going to be at least a mile walk

Rude owner! Very unprofessional. I will never stay here again and urge all to stay away! After no recollection of my reservation and very rude service we were given the dorm with 10 beds as a private room. I was not told if I had more guests stay that I would be charged. Sure enough the creepy old owner snooped around and noticed we had an extra person stay one night of the 2 nights we booked and he angrily demanded $50 per extra person. Which is way overpriced IMO. The breakfast was a joke. The wifi was non existent. There was no one else staying there on a weekend, probably because this guys customer service is appalling. He mentioned he also owns Brians pour house. Stay away from these businesses.

An impromptu last-minute visit to the incredible Columbia River Gorge had me scrambling for accommodations during peak summer season. To my surprise and under astonishment I found Hood River Hostel and was able to make a reservation with less than 24 hours notice! The proprietors Lorena and Tim are friendly, accommodating, outgoing but most importantly they are people pleasers. I was greeted warmly on the phone and in person. They serve breakfast from 7 AM to 9:30 AM Monday through Friday and 8 AM to 10 AM Saturday and Sunday. This is the only meal they serve in the cafeteria however Lorena had the coffee brewing at 6:30 AM. The men's dorm is clean and quiet with a lockableprivate bath room attached. On the rare occasion that it's occupied a short stroll past the lobby and you will find two more restrooms that are unisex, one equipped with a shower. This is a pet free and smoking free facility so please note there is no smoking in The facility or on the grounds. Quiet time is posted so guess can be assured of their undisturbed sleep. The bed was very comfortable the and the linens smelled fresh and clean. This is a new business that they started this summer so they are still working out a few kinks. Be patient with them as they went way out of their way to make me feel comfortable, happy and welcome. What an incredible fine in the Columbia River Gorge for only $54 per night for the shared dormitory. A single private room is $69 during peak season.

This place is bananas. I spent two weeks here and here's what happened: This is a converted grade school where the owners just moved out the school stuff and threw beds into the rooms. All the other school stuff is still there, and the rooms don't have any of the basics (like closets) that you'd expect. I watched the woman who owns the hostel chase and scream at a female guest (who had only asked her a question) to the point where the guest locked herself in her room while the owner continued to scream and pound on her door. If you read the other reviews you will see similar behavior. This place only has one shower for the entire hostel. That's one shower for about 30 people. They claim to have security but the front door was never locked, I only saw staff there four or five times during the whole two weeks, and while each room has a key to lock the door any key works in any door. Because it's so cheap the locals like to come here to rent a room and get drunk. Really enjoyed the guys in the room next to me drinking all night and barfing until noon the next day. And despite the photos this place is not clean at all. There is a washing machine but it's got quite a bit of black mold in it. You can see photos in other reviews. Avoid this hostel at all costs.

This place is relatively new. It used to be the Bambino International Learning Center (pre-school). It sits just west of downtown Hood River and shares the building with a pot dispensary. I found them on AirBNB and they also have a website as well. It's a newish building, and it was loosely converted from pre-school to hostel by adding a bunch of twin beds to the layout. There still exist the knee high sinks and other remnants from the pre-school days. It's owned by a photographer, Tim D., who works in Seattle and is town occasionally. The building is owned by, Lorana, who also runs the hostel in Tim's absence. The first thing of note is that it's relatively expensive for a hostel. The nightly rate for a shared dorm room (maybe 10 beds?) is $50 per night before taxes and fees. For comparison, the Columbia River Gorge Hostel, just across the bridge in Bingen, is $22 per night. Also there are no discounts for longer stays here. Private room rates are $100 per night (it's the converted staff room from the old pre-school) While the beds are passable, the pillows are basically just covers. I was reminded of my time using a folded tarp as a pillow while hiking with the hill tribes in Thailand. Bring your own or pillage several from surrounding beds to create one. Also - there isn't any private storage space associated with the beds in the dorm room. Which is basically expected in most hostels as you lock up your belongings while you're out and about during the day. Something to keep in mind if you plan on traveling with luggage. Laundry is $3 per washer and dryer load. There is a small continental breakfast provided each morning with coffee being the centerpiece. Small muffins and cereal round out the mix. The wifi internet here is barely usable. I was getting .05 mbps on the upside which means many requests were timing out and I ended up using my cell phone as a hotspot most of the time. I would see Lorana milling about in the morning but there was rarely anyone at the front desk, and never at night. I was told they lock the doors at 2a as well. Hood River is generally a pretty busy place during the summer however, capacity while I was there was pretty good. It was me and another guy for most of my time there in the dorm room. Demand didn't seem to be that high. There are 2 showers for the entire place. I had originally planned on staying for 10 days. Unfortunately, I had to change my plans halfway through my trip and they have a very strict no refund policy. There's no discount for booking multiple days in a row so I would recommend paying as you go in case your plans may change. I ended up eating the $250 loss. It wasn't a terrible experience but it was fairly disappointing. If you go in with proper expectations I think you might be alright - or just stay at one of the other options in town or across the bridge. They're also looking to actively sell the building, if you have $1.6M and a good use for the space.

If I could leave zero stars I would. Their website clearly says they lock the front doors and provide a code to guests. I asked for the code and was told there are none and the doors are never locked. Seeing as I was alone I was extra worried about staying there and ended up not staying. When trying to email and call to discuss my issues I got no response.

Rude Owner! Very Unprofessional. Zero stars! I am assuming he was the owner, he also said he recently took over Brians pour house... I called and booked a reservation here for a private room for 4 people for 2 nights- 1 king bed and 2 twins- for $99 plus tax a night! I thought this was a great deal and I was really excited to stay there... that all changed when I got there... The owner had no knowledge of my booking and was very unfriendly, as if I was lying! I told him I would stay elsewhere- wish I did! He offered us 4 beds in the dorm which has 10 beds and said it would be a private room. He said it is usually $50 a night per person-which is way overpriced IMO. The 2nd night I had a few more friends stay in the room, he said it was a private room I didn't think he would charge us for additional people- sure enough he very rudely demanded more money for the other guests the next morning. It was not made clear that I would have to pay if more people stayed in the room-and he charged us the full $50 per person. I could have rented an air bnb and had a full house for less $$$ and not had been disrespected and robbed by this awful owner. He has a lot to learn about how to treat customers. Which is probably why we were the only ones in the entire hostel. The continental breakfast was also a joke. Cant believe this place has been open for 4 years! Amateurs. Definitely never going back and will encourage others to not stay there as well.

Extremely overpriced!!!!! We had to book rooms for a wedding we were attending and the entire town seemed to be booked up. Basically we ended up paying for our rooms here $150/night per room (the master "suits") the place would have been fine if they charged people for what they actually had to offer. It should have been $50/night. We had cold showers, couldn't use the kitchen without asking(strange for a hostel), they made a big deal about giving us ice, uncomfortable beds, you can hear EVERYTHING, because the room was across from breakfast I woke up to people stirring their coffee and walking. I could hear every toilet flush. The entire vibe of the place was odd. I've stayed in many hostels and was disappointed in this one. We didn't even want to hang out in the building. The woman who makes the breakfast was very nice to everyone and I could tell she was doing her best.

Overall I would use the words unprofessional, untidy, untruthful, and scarce to describe this place. There's nothing residential about the place, and it's a highly non-secure building (open front door 24/7). I'm rating my experience so low because I feel like I was lied to on two occasions. One, the photos on Booking.com are way better than the actual private room I got, there is no "electric kettle, dining area and seating area" as in the description. Literally a bed, a lamp, a small mirror, and that's it for the tiny room! Nothing else. Secondly, I arrived to no one managing the front desk and a note that read the manager was away at a "family emergency" and was accessible via phone if I needed them. (Note: this seems to be a common occurrence after looking at other reviews) I found a pre-arranged key which turned out to be the wrong key, not allowing me to lock my room. I called this "accessible" phone number 4+ times to no answer. An hour later, and after the time the note said the manager would be back, I finally got a call back. When the manager finally showed, she was clearly holding back frustration and anger when trying to find the right key, and she had attitude when I asked her simple questions about where to find towels, if there was a curfew, etc. After all that, I couldn't even go on my laptop to use WiFi cause the signal was too light. Planned to ask for a partial refund due to issues, but surprise surprise management was nowhere to be found in the morning! Overall, extremely unprofessional and unsatisfactory.

Nightmare of the highest degree!! Be prepared to be locked in at night. Alarms will sound if you try to leave. Be prepared for sketchy service, the lady in charge is crazy! The window coverings are on the outside of the building and there was a chair under the window sill. Perfect scenario for a peeping tom! Take a flashlight or you'll end up with shin bruises because there are no lights on in the hallway or parking lot over night. If you can open any drawers to put your stuff away be prepared to find trash and random people's belongings, including expired passports. If you're lucky enough to have a functioning dresser, some rooms have the drawers zip tied shut. Want to use the honor system minibar? Be prepared for charges on your card after you leave because she must pocket the cash and tell her boss that nobody paid. Don't bother to call for an explanation because she'll flip out on you and threaten to sue you! Unprofessional and crazy, not worth any money you might save!! Run as far away as possible from this place!!

Worst experience with a hotel ever! I miscalculated and made a reservation for the day before I was supposed to arrive. I emailed several days in advance to reschedule and received a somewhat confusing response in reply, so I decided to call for clarification. The manager was rude & officious. At first they said they had another room for me, today they say they're full up and unless I can come on the day I made the original reservation (just can't make it work), I'm out of luck. Lose my money too (guess that's a win for them). When I've had to change or reschedule a reservation with other hotels, it's never been a problem as long as you give adequate notice, which I did. These people are weird. Maybe I dodged a bullet by not having to stay there and the $95 loss is a small price to pay.

Very unprofessional, made a reservation, tried to cancel it. Spoke to a representative and the representative refused to cancel the reservation, would have been willing to pay a cancellation fee but, they then hung up on me, and did not answer my return calls. Highly unprofessional, uncooperative, unfriendly.

Is it possible to leave zero stars? This has literally been the worst hospitality experience of my life. The owner is the most unreasonable person I have ever encountered, canceling our room without any communication beside a notification from booking.com at check in. We drove 4 hours to be cancelled on as we were pulling into town. Don't waste your time. Most of the town thinks they are closed anyway. RIP Hood River Hostel.

Worse experience of my life! The manager at the front desk was ruder than rude! We booked through Expedia, plain as day in our reservation we have 2 adults and 2 kids. Appon arrival the desk manager told me absolutely not to my kids coming, he was booked for a wedding or something and had no extra beds for my children. We then asked for a refund as we were not allowed to bring our kids and he wouldn't have it. Said we had to call Expedia to cancel. Canceled through Expedia but hey said it was up to the manager to give us a refund. I went back and he said no way he would not refun my money for a room that we we're not going to be able to stay in with my children. Long story short never did I get my money back and also wasn't allowed to stay in the room I paid for!! Never again would I give that company my business. DO NOT STAY HERE ITS A RIP OFF!!!

The family that runs it is very nice! We stayed one night and they had a continental breakfast that was awesome and were very accommodating for us. Very very clean and friendly.