Southern Laughter Backpackers

The place is an absolute dump passing 'run down' off as 'old school'. The 10 person room I was in had 2 lockers, so good luck fighting for one to lock up your bags. The beds are unassigned, so when I came back one day someone else was using my bed. Room outlets are sparse and very inconveniently placed. The room I was in was pretty gross (food left out) and the kitchen was even worse (dirty dishes were always left out). Zero enforcement of cleanliness standards here. Parking space is extremely competitive. The staff I dealt with were nice. The place is cheap. It is in a good location. Bearable for a couple days if you're trying to save money but would not recommend for a longer stay.

This place was a dump. The blinds fell down when we tried to use them so we had to make our own curtain. The bedding was dirty. The plugs didn’t work for charging anything. I decided not to shower as it was DISGUSTING. The toilet smelt and had a toilet brush and holder full of smelly mouldy water beside it. But the worst part was that you can hear every sound, people loudly having sex in the communal shower and people fighting in the middle of the night in the hallways. Also the kitchen was filthy. You should pay people to stay here.

Honestly this place is not very good, but our experience was not as bad as some others'. We came over new years to go out every night and come home at 3am. While we of course did our best to be quiet we didn't feel too much pressure to keep it down because this place attracts a younger crowd, and the one time the staff had a talk to us it was chill. So if you are coming to Queenstown to party - this place is good. It's pretty grotty though. While we didn't have any serious health concerns (thankfully no bed bugs) their bathrooms didn't seem very clean, the kitchen was disorganised, and the bedding was a bit gross. If you can, I'd definitely recommend booking a queen bed room rather than a twin or a dormitory. We even saw someone with a queen bedroom and an en suite which would be something good to book. Overall, it's fine if you don't mind being unhygienic but if you have an extra $50 a night, I'd stay somewhere else (Nomads hostel seemed a lot nicer at a similar price point.)

The staff are very polite, friendly and welcoming. $40 a night is reasonable but I'd only stay there 2 nights at most as there is not enough storage space, kitchen space and enough bathrooms and showers for it's capacity. Also the place could do with more cleaning and be refurbished. But overall I enjoyed my stay. :)

Everywhere was filthy. Bins overflowing in the kitchen area, dirty tea towels, floors benches were unclean. The dining table top hadn’t been cleaned in ages and was sticky and unhygienic. Maintenance appeared to be non existent with blinds in our room broken so we were visible from the street. Broken window catches and door handles. Our bed smelt of stale sweat and other unmentionables. We slept in our sleeping backs to avoid the dodgy bed linen and pillows. To top it all it was expensive.

The place is not as terrible as some comments suggest, but it’s not good 😅 I am grateful, that there were no bed bugs (as certain comments suggested…). Instead of that we had a slug in the shared shower. The smell of the place is intensely “ripe” I would say 🤢 Smells like a homeless person. The furniture is old, soaked and falling apart. The place is dirty and damp. The walls are thin and you can hear anything your neighbors or people on the balconies talk about… Place is ok as a last minute save, but if you can avoid it, do so 😅

Worst hostel in the world. Don’t stay here ever. I’ve booked for 5 nights,only stayed 2. Management refused to refund the booking money, even after showing them bed bugs bites on my arm, hand and leg. After two weeks I still have marks on my body. Worst experience ever.

Horrible experience, kitchen was a mess, finding rooms was difficult, poor parking space. It was closer to the gondola and city centre which was the only good part of this hostel.