JOST Hôtel Bordeaux Centre Gare Saint Jean

I slept quietly in the six-person dorm, and the rooms were clean. The bathrooms need more space for changing, though. The shower areas were soaking wet, and the toilet cubicle was small, so it was hard to find somewhere suitable. We also struggled to find the entrance. The check-in information could give clearer directions, since another guest arriving at the same time and I got turned around. Google Maps didn’t show the best route down into the entrance, which is in a bit of a valley, and it was difficult to navigate at night.

The mattresses at Jost have been the best of the hostels I’ve tried so far. I’m a solo traveler and stayed in the women’s dorm. I’ve been to a number of hostels in France in November and December, and I’d highly recommend this one. The staff are kind and friendly. It’s an easy walk from the train station, with nice restaurants nearby if you want to eat out. There’s also a guest kitchen and a handy grocery store close by. Hosteling is a great way to travel, and Jost gave this weary traveler a nice base for a few days exploring Bordeaux.

UPDATE: The trouble continued. Locker 1 apparently wasn’t working, so that person took my locker. The check-in staff told me to use locker 2. When someone arrived for bed 2, staff literally took all my things out of locker 2 and left them sitting in the room instead of fixing locker 1. Thank goodness nothing was stolen, but I’d done what staff told me and they left my belongings at risk. They didn’t offer another bed either, so I had to awkwardly climb up backwards or have nowhere to sleep. I’ve stayed in plenty of hostels, but this place has serious problems to sort out before I’d consider coming back to Bordeaux. ORIGINAL: I can’t give this a good review. I’ve broken two toes and they’ve had trouble healing. I put that in the booking and explained that climbing a tiny ladder with weight on my toes would be physically impossible. Even so, they assigned me a top bunk without telling me. I arrived in a hurry to get to a very important dinner and found I couldn’t sleep in the bed. I then had to spend the whole dinner worrying whether they could find me a bed in a bigger room. There was a long check-in line, and I didn’t have time to stay and sort it out. They clearly need a second desk person during busy check-in times, maybe Friday nights. They also need to tell people ahead of time if they can’t accommodate someone who needs a bottom bunk for a medical reason, especially if they give those bunks to people who only prefer them. The rooms are nice, though. Google says it’s about a 30-40 minute walk from the center, not my foot 😊, but it’s convenient to the train, which was my priority in this case.

The bathrooms and shower areas were very clean, which was a real plus, though there was black mold in the shower corner of our last room. The room itself was cold because the AC wasn’t working, and the bedding had hair and dirt on it. We moved rooms three times over cleanliness issues and a room description on Expedia that didn’t match what we’d booked, which wasn’t JOST’s fault. Staff were kind and tried hard to sort things out, but they didn’t seem to know the rooms well. One couldn’t adjust the TV or explain the temperature controls, and another later said the room temperature couldn’t be changed. They offered extra duvets, but the second one was covered in hair too, so we didn’t use it. We shouldn’t have needed two duvets to stay warm in a hotel anyway. The first room was dark with all the blinds shut, and its curtain had a huge stain. They offered to move us. In the next room, the TV was crooked and hung right above the bed, which made us worry it might fall while we slept. We’d booked a triple room, but the listing called it a double and a large single. The single bed wasn’t large at all, so reception kindly moved us to a room with a double bed. By then, we’d given up expecting the room to be properly clean, and even that last room had dust in the bed corners. To me, this is a hostel with private rooms. If it had been described that way, I’d have been happy, but it didn’t meet the standards I expect from a hotel. A bit more attention to removing hair from the bedding and dusting would have made a big difference. As a hostel I’d probably give it 4/5, since you expect a few flaws, but as a hotel it fell short. You could get a double or twin room at The Hilton for the same price.