Manor House Backpackers - TBG

This place is Scarey. Was greated by overflowing smelly rubbish bins, piles of empty booze bottles, a steep slippery rutted and unuable driveway, The property owners brother greeted me, was friendly enough. House would have been amazing 30 years ago. Is run down and dirty. I am single Mum with 2 sons. We came back after dinner to a croud smoking pot on front balcony. I felt completely unsafe. The room was tidy but smelt really funky and windows, surfaces had sticky filth / not clean for a very long time. I could not stay, manager was defensive, tried to deny pot and then stated pot is legal and they are allowed to do it. This is not NORMAL behaviour, what! I guess this is fine for blokes having a slum weekend, not suitable for females or kids. Feels a lot like a half way drop in place for near homeless.

We had a great stay here. The manager was super friendly and accommodating. Definitely seems in better shape than some other recent reviews claim (I think they just changed management and it seems like they are turning the place around in a major way). Highly recommend!

Awfull place.Vusited with 3 children...not suitable. After paying, I saw more of the poor facilities and general unkemptness.In addition, pot holed steep drive... not able to take car up.No common areas,apart from 2 sofas pushed together.Rubbish piled up outside window.Bedroom spare and depressing. The kitchen appeared reasonable.No heating,apart from a small radiator in the high ceiling edges room.Aroma of weed. The owner eventually fully refunded my money.

My partner and I arrived at the last minute and the man at reception was very nice. He welcomed us straight away and was very helpful. We had a large room for two. The house is very charming and feels like home. It felt more like a large shared apartment than a hostel. Clean linen is available and washing machines are free. The value for money is good.

This hostel is absolutely fine to stay in. I felt welcome the whole time I was here. The price is really cheap and the rooms are not any worse than any other hostel ive stayed in for a higher price. The staff are helpful and this place has a nice easy-going vine to it. The owner is lovely and has a cute little puppy! Kitchen well stocked with spices , seasoning, baking goods. 5/5 would recommend, wish I had time to stay longer.

Do not stay here! You'll thank me later! All of the photos of this place must have been taken a long time ago because what was clearly once an incredible old house is now totally falling apart. Everything in there is dirty and broken. Windows have been smashed in, the beautiful ornate ceiling in the bathroom is falling apart, and the front door keypad doesn't work anymore so you can get locked out if you are out late. Luckily someone hanging out in the common room was able to let me in, but that could have been pretty dicey if he hadn't been there! The rooms don't lock from the inside so it didn't feel the most secure especially when traveling in a group with no men. We had this amazing window with a great view of Dunedin, but the window was absolutely filthy like crusted on with gunk all over it and the carpet looked like it hadn't been vacuumed in weeks. I honestly don't understand why though!? It's so easy to vacuum a floor and wipe a window!? I really don't understand why the place was so dirty, it wouldn't be hard to clean it. There was a sign on the shower room saying it gets cleaned every day from 12-1 but like... if someone's cleaning that bathroom for an hour every day, they suck at cleaning. It was so gross in there. You would absolutely struggle to clean that bathroom every day and have it still look like that, you'd have to try really hard to do a bad job. The staff were pretty friendly and it's in a good location just a 15/20 minute walk from the Octagon, but I'd still never stay there again, I just felt so icky and gross.

My friend and I recently checked-in to this hostel, and after assessing the situation decided to promptly leave without requesting a refund. The hostel’s online images do not reflect its current state. Whilst the hostel worker was kind, and placed us in a dormitory we had to ourselves we felt the hostel was poorly maintained, with stained carpets and a shattered window. There were no other females staying at the property and guests appeared to be older males. Whilst in the bathroom I had a gentlemen try to enter the toilet I was trying to use, despite me advising it was occupied. It should be noted there are at least two toilets on the property and this gentlemen appeared to be familiar with its layout. We genuinely felt unsafe, and would not recommend this place, especially to other female travellers.

Overall the staff are really nice. Tina is lovely. They clean the facilities everyday. However the phots DO NOT reflect how the place actually looks. DO NOT be fooled. The place is quite run down and mostly has long term residents there who aren’t approachable. Unfortunately i think i came at a bad time as there was fights and angry arguments going on out in the hallway keeping everyone awake until the early morning. Police had to come in the morning as i left (not called in by me so was a bit of a shock but also not considering the behaviour exhibited over many nights) Was a bit disappointing not to be offered some or any refund or compensation for what happened. If I was there and was a vulnerable person and/or with children id of felt quite scared. My bed sheets also smelled of urine until I washed them myself. Overall I probably would return but maybe just got unlucky coming at the wrong time as other reviews show it’s a decent place however as of recent, reviews can be shown the place still isn’t being run correctly or is a safe environment. BEWARE. PLEASE. Thanks Edit: as of 3 years ago I still have never heard from the owners. Might be a telling sign. Also recent reviews show the same activity is still occurring with violence/ arguments ongoing. It’s shocking the place is still open, likely due to unknowing tourists and long staying guests known to police clearly for disorderly behaviour keeping the place “afloat” if you can call it that because the place is extremely run down and isn’t what is described or shown in the pictures. Will leave it up to others, proceed at your own risk.