Adelaide Hostel

I visited many hostels, but this one was - unfortunately - somewhat unpleasant all in all. The major issue I had was the cold temperature. San Francisco can get cold at night in December, and the room I stayed in was basically open to the outside. The windows did not really close at all and seemed in an urgent need for renovation. There was a heater in the room, but it was cold. I thought it may be broken, but it got really cold at night. Guests are only provided a bedsheet and a very thin blanket (which I am not sure is thoroughly washed between different guests), which may be okay in summer, but definitely not okay in winter. The next morning I asked for more blankets and piled up basically whatever I could find. I caught a cold and missed some time at the event I came for because of it. Some days later the heater worked - starting late at night only - and then the situation became more bearable. Was very happy that night. I again asked staff what about the heater when it remained cold the following night, and was told it works automatically. Please, dear hostel staff, then adjust it to temperatures in a way your guests don't have to freeze, and/or replace the poor windows! Besides that major issue, other things made me uncomfortable. For example, the cleanliness is below standard and I was careful not to touch the walls inside the showers. Bring slippers with you for stepping into the showers! Many things in the hostel seem broken or close to breaking. Signs say there are padlocks (for the convenient storage spaces below the beds) and water sold at the reception, yet the staff told me they ran out of both. Bring your own padlock when you stay here! Also, I was told detergent is included in the price for the washing machine, yet they seem to have also ran out of detergent, so better bring your own as well. Notice that the images posted here seem to be a couple of years old, the hostel does not look like that any more! Wifi was poor, sometimes unusable.

It seems as if there are some visitors, who live there for a longer time. So the atmosphere is different to an hostel where there are more or less only backpackers. I sometimes felt a little bit touched because some ealderly people seemed to live there, who couldn't pay another place to live than a bed in a dormitory. But maybe I got something wrong and this was only my impression. The hostel isn't far from Tenderloin and it was shocking for me, that you can see totally sick and neglected people on the streets, which seem to be close to dying - and nobody cares. But that is not a topic concerning the hostel, it is a problem of the american society.