Brackley Beach Hostel

My partner and I lasted about an hour before leaving and booking a sweet Airbnb cottage. The place was an unsafe dump, with bugs, holes in the ceiling, carpets layered with dust, and strange people around. I’ve spent my whole life in hostels and camping, and this was beyond gross and unsafe. Please don’t stay here until they burn it down and rebuild. A woman traveling alone isn’t safe here, and a family would be better off camping in a tent.

The one thing I’d change is the kitchen garbage bin, which could be bigger. Otherwise, this is a decent hostel for the money, the location, and the facilities. I’m here on a work trip and have stayed in much worse places on work and holiday travel, often with poorer facilities. The edges are a little rough, so I’d rate it around three and a half to four stars, though I’m giving it five to counter the unfair one-star reviews. It’s a budget hostel and one of the cheapest places in the province, so don’t expect five-star accommodation. It works well for a family on a budget or groups splitting the cost. Rooms sleep up to six, and the kitchen has what you need to make a decent meal. There’s a large lounge with a big TV, plus a games room with pool and table tennis. It’s near the beach and about 20 minutes from charlottetown. Rooms are clean, with towels and comfortable mattresses. There are plenty of showers with reliably hot water. It’s generally quiet for a hostel unless people are banging doors. Gary (Yaqing) is usually there from 12 to 5 pm, I believe. He’s approachable and helpful if you need him, though experienced hostel guests shouldn’t need their hands held.

There were cockroaches, an odor, broken and creaky bunks, cracks in the walls covered with duct tape, and a kitchen with only two seats. All that for an average price of $200. We were very unhappy with the place, especially the safety issues. Our room had no smoke detector, and the first room didn’t even have a lock. Whatever you do, don’t book here; you’ll regret it. We were a family of seven, including an elderly person and a baby. The bathrooms were horrendous, with several broken compartments, and looked as if they hadn’t been cleaned in years. Our first room had eight bunks. They creaked with the slightest movement and were low enough that the elderly person would often hit their head on the upper bunk. There was no way we could stay two nights, so we persuaded the staff, just one man and a manager, to move us to a better room. We eventually got one with four bunks and a queen bed, but even that was terrible.

After an uncalled-for insult, Gary demanded we leave, leaving us with nowhere to stay that night. Luckily we found a hotel in PEI with vacancies, but it cost us $650 for the room. Don’t bother with this place. Book somewhere better in advance; last-minute alternatives can be almost extortionately priced. We booked through Airbnb for seven people and asked Gary, the owner/manager, beforehand whether our room would have a lock for safety. He confirmed that it would. When we arrived, there was no lock. Confronted about it, he said he hadn’t visited since May of 2022 and wasn’t sure whether the door had a lock. Gary also said the room was for "strange people", which I can only take to mean strangers or random people, so a lock wasn’t necessary. This was after he’d confirmed the information and our Airbnb booking. The building was poor in every respect. The washrooms and shower areas weren’t maintained and had such bad or missing lighting that we could barely see. The bunks and sheets felt dirty, with insects crawling over the floor and hiding in the bunk crevices. The owner/manager said the bugs were fine because of the location, then called us "not truthful people" for raising concerns.