Lausanne Youth Hostel Jeunotel

The rooms were basic, with simple beds and no frills. The shared shower and toilet for our hallway of four rooms, each with five beds, were incredibly dirty and looked like a scene from a SAW movie. Everything seemed old, scratched and banged up. The cold tap barely worked, leaving either a blisteringly hot shower or hardly any water pressure. Breakfast was extremely basic, with not even a boiled egg. The dining room smelled awful, and cutlery and dishes were dirty, with salt or soap still on them. There were crumbs on the sitting cushions, rings from glasses on the tables, and a cushion had been turned upside down.

BE CAREFUL. I paid through Agoda for a private single room at Lausanne Youth Hostel Jeunotel, but they gave me a bed in a shared dorm when I arrived. Swiss Youth Hostel head office later confirmed in writing that the booking Agoda received through Expedia was for a dorm bed, not the private room Agoda had shown and charged me for. There was a clear mismatch between the listing and what the property received. The on-site staff wouldn’t take responsibility and weren’t helpful. Agoda let the case drag on for over months, then marked it “resolved” in the app without explaining anything. I had to escalate through my bank and only got a partial refund. Afterward, I tried to leave an Agoda app review, but it kept showing an error saying my stay had “already been reviewed,” even though I hadn’t submitted one. This left me with serious concerns about transparency, accountability and the handling of customer feedback. I strongly advise travellers to be cautious when booking this hostel, especially through Agoda.

The staff were quite helpful, though I overheard quite a few disrespectful comments about people in the common reception area, which felt snitchy and behind their backs. In the shared bedroom, there were two bunk beds, and one needs replacing because it was super noisy. The bathroom for the room was filthy, as the attached pictures show. There were no lockers and no Wi-Fi access inside the bedroom. I do NOT recommend booking a shared bedroom unless they fix at least the bathroom.

The free transport ticket was great, but the top-floor room was frankly unstayable. It had virtually no windows that could be opened, so there was no ventilation. The room heated up during the day and held onto that heat. When I came back tired at 11 o'clock, it was still a ruthless 31℃, and the only option seemed to be sleeping with the door open all night. Given the price range, I probably shouldn’t complain much, but it was honestly too hot to stay in.