The Hostel

I stayed for two nights at The Hostel in Haymarket. Overall, it was a nice experience. The only downside was the stairs, which made it a bit challenging to carry my large luggage. However, the staff were very helpful — especially Reina, who was incredibly friendly, welcoming, and always smiling. She kindly offered to help me, which I really appreciated. The kitchen was quite small and couldn't comfortably fit more than two people at a time, which made it a bit crowded, especially when several guests were there. On the other hand, the common areas were spacious and pleasant. There were plenty of tables and chairs, and even an outdoor area for smoking.

An ideal choice for solo travelers, the receptionists were super friendly and happy to help with anything. A warning for everyone: the rooms have 18 beds, there is a chance that there will be 17 other people staying with us, and it’s very likely that at least one of them will smell bad and make the entire room stink with their body odor. Unfortunately, we had such an experience and the smell was really very intense and unpleasant, almost unbearable - God forbid if there are more such people there.

Overall really nice, I recommend it. Very nice staff and the rooms are pretty good. Beds are hard and pretty crammed in, but the rooms are bright and airy, and clean as well. Showers weren't bad. Tiny kitchen but not bad.

This hostel is not named for simplicity - in fact it is named after the 2005 horror movie quite fittingly because this is the worst hostel I have ever stayed in, in my life. It’s damp mouldy, sheets stained, bathrooms vile - however the staff are so lovely and it’s not their fault. Quite frankly whoever owns this hovel has not maintained or replaced anything in a long time. It was more unhygienic to use the showers than not shower at all and so I please spend a little bit extra rather than slumming it in these conditions. Even if you are looking purely just for a place to spend the night this place is not suitable and I felt dirty just being in there. I don’t even write google reviews so you can imagine how grossed out I was to write this

The hostel is 15-walking minutes from downtown. Lidl within 10 min. The staff is friendly and attentive. There is a kitchen where you can cook. The property is generally clean. Cons: The room was too small for this number of beds, not enough space whatsoever. There was no hot water and the some of the showers dif not work properly. Wifi is average to low.

Location is ideal just facing the main road. Supermarkets are just outside. You can take the bus or tram directly to the city centre. You can either do a walk either which just takes 15-20 mins. Staff was friendly and the facilities were there. Worth the price.

Disappointed Stay – Poor Bed Condition & Staff Attitude (19 June 2025) I stayed at The Hostel in Edinburgh on 19th June 2025 with three friends. The bed I was given was very loose and made constant noise throughout the night, making it difficult to sleep. I requested a bed change, but the staff refused without offering any assistance. What was more frustrating was their attitude and tone—it came across as dismissive and unprofessional. This was not the experience we expected, and I wouldn’t recommend staying here based on the lack of basic hospitality and care.

Yesterday I was stayed there, Cheap price, Good location, Friendly Staff, it was clean looks nice. While my key doesn't work at 2am, Just phone them they helped me and fixed my key. it's deserve morethan 5stars. Thank you.

DO NOT BOOK this place. They canceled with no reason given, 2 weeks before our stay. This was our honeymoon trip; we booked months in advance. Then we get an email that says our booking was canceled due to an "issue with bedding", and to top it off, the stay was during a national holiday, so there were no other affordable options in the area. We stayed in Glasgow instead because of this. I cannot express how angry I am that they can do this to people. I wish nothing but bad luck to this joke of an establishment. Again, DO NOT BOOK HERE. I personally think their "internal issue with beds" was just raising the price and rebooking, which should be illegal.

Nice and clean place. They offer a continental breakfast (cereal and toast) for £2. Instant coffee and tea are free. The only reason I give it 3 stars is because the common areas (communal room and kitchen) are closed from 11pm-8am. I thought that was the point of having an extra kitchen. We had tours early in the morning so we were never able to make our own breakfast or coffee. After coming home after a night at the pub, the hallway was crowded bc there was nowhere else to sit and we couldn't have a late night munchie snack because there was nowhere to make one. At £40 a night, that's reasonable during fringe festival, but it is still below my expectations.

Upon first entering this hostel my initial reaction was along the lines of great location and oh my goodness the staff is friendly! By the end of the day I was thinking to myself "eh, three out of five stars ain't half bad." By the end of the third day I simply was exasperated by this hostel. What are the key elements you look for in a hostel? Usually they are cleanliness, friendliness, amenities, kitchen, and Wi-Fi. Yes? I shall be rating them on such. First of all, they do keep this hostel very tidy. I must commend them on that fact as many hostels do fail in that regards. However, it appears to be at a dire cost to the rest of the hostel. Their staff was very friendly and incredibly helpful. The first woman we met was probably the best part about this hostel! The rest of the staff was friendly enough but she truly blew them out of the water. The amenities were not the best. They had a sign that offered laundry services but we were told that they did not have them. All of the outlets for our room were located in one spot all right next to a single bunk. There were 16 beds cramped into a room that should only have accommodated between 8-12 comfortably. The showers were either freezing cold or Satan's hellfire. The common rooms were small and crowded. The kitchen was so small that it basically did not exist. We started just picking up snacks at the local grocer because there simply wasn't room to cook. This sadly drained our pockets pretty quickly. I did, however, appreciate there being a separate coffee and tea station on the opposite end of the stove. This helped a bit with the cramped nature of the kitchen but only by a small amount. For a hostel with three separate Wi-Fi access points the Wi-Fi was absolutely terrible. I couldn't connect in my bedroom and in the common rooms it was spotty and almost unusable due to such heavy traffic. Now, there are some positives. As I said before, the place is tidy and in an excellent location. If you are just stopping in for a night or simply don't care about any of my complainants feel free to give it a shot! Oh! We also misplaced our stuff a few times and nobody stole it. That was nice of them.

BED BUGS! Onsite staff didn't seem too bothered about them though. They refunded my reservation, then sent me out into the night suggesting a sister property that was more expensive with worse location (for me). They were uninterested in offering any further help, such as the manager's contact details, comping transport or a new lodging. I honestly felt as if they were laughing at me.

Great people, rooms are nice with full amenities. Good recommendations from the front desk.

Awesome place! Awesome staff!! Really nice and helpful! I really recommend it! If you want to stay to an authentic place, you should think about this one! Really nice people from around the world : travellers , students, etc! Not a show off place! I so much enjoyed my stay! Thanks