Annabelle McLaren-Thomson
Google
- [ ] The hostel is not what it looks like on the photos online. It’s as if it’s not been cleaned or tidied up since it opened. It’s chaotic and super dirty. Broken stuff everywhere, dirt and hairs in the bathrooms and toilets, old mouldy or rancid food in the fridges, food out on the tables for who knows how long. People have seen rats running around the place. I don’t understand how she still has a licence.
- [ ] The place is chaotic and dirty. I saw the owner “cleaning” the bathroom by spreading half a bottle of bleach in the shower and pouring it into the toilet. Nothing was wiped or scrubbed. And that in a room without windows, connected to the sleeping room, so all the poisonous fumes stay inside.
- [ ] The first room i went to was upstairs, with at least 10 beds in it, it stank, was super dusty and had stains on the mattresses. Because there are no cupboards or shelves to put things, everyone has no other option but to spread their things across the floor. The shower is outside on the corridor and shared with the other rooms, so over 20 people sharing one shower room. One of the people staying in the room told me she had bought the bin because there was none.
- [ ] The lockers in the room are very small, the size of maybe 3 -4 books.
- [ ] When i confronted the owner about the state of the room, she denied responsibility and made an excuse about how the cleaner didn’t do his job. When i confronted her about the rooms not being what they look like in the website, she got rude and aggressive and tried to order me around. When i went to get water from the tap she accused me of “stealing water”. I then said i would record her to which she responded by threatening me to call the police.
- [ ] At check-in she said she would refund the money if i didn’t like the room, but when i then wanted to cancel, it turned out that the refund would take up to 10 working days because i had booked through a 3rd party
- [ ] When i started raising my voice and talked about how dirty everything is and that its basically a fraud, she got uncomfortable and changed her approach: she offered that i can stay for free, but without eating any food. When she saw me writing a review of the hostel in Google, she demanded that i don’t post the review and offered me to stay for free and that i can eat, too.
- [ ] I saw here complaining to guests about them being untidy and touching their stuff without asking and roughly pushing it around with her shoes
- [ ] I heard from people staying here, that she overcharges and i heard her threatening to kick people out
- [ ] When people critique her she threatens to throw them out. But there is no place to go for anyone because there is a huge housing crisis and other hostels are full or cost much more. She is exploiting the people here and assumes no responsibility for their wellbeing. She makes breakfast in the morning, pours bleach down the toilet, and makes a lot of money.
- [ ] The people stay because they have other option, because everything is so expensive around here, and that is then exploited by the woman and her sister, who are the people who run it.
