Oops Design Hostel

I cancelled my May 23-24, 2026 booking on March 16 after my plans changed. Then on May 15, I spotted a $196 CAD charge on my card, with no receipt, email, or warning. Oops! Hostel said the charge was a deposit equal to one night because I’d cancelled outside its cancellation window. Apparently that window is 127 days, even though I hadn’t booked 127 days ahead. That’s absurd. I contacted the team thinking it was a mistake, but neither Oops! Hostel nor Hostelworld tried to resolve it or give a reasonable explanation. Be very careful and read the fine print. Policies like this feel designed to catch guests by surprise and squeeze out every dollar. I absolutely wouldn’t recommend booking here.

I only stayed one night in a four-bed women’s dorm and barely used the common areas. My roommates didn’t arrive until midnight, so it felt like I had the room mostly to myself, and I wouldn’t have minded if they’d come in earlier. Lots of groups were meeting in the lobby. The walls are thin, so I could hear next door, but it didn’t bother me much. The air conditioning wasn’t doing much in the afternoon, though the room cooled down at night. There’s also a funky little restaurant.

It was really uncomfortable finding small holes all over the walls and ceiling in the attached bathroom of my women-only room. Some had toilet paper stuffed in them, perhaps by other guests, so I plugged the rest too. I kept wondering why there were so many, and as a woman traveling alone my first thought was hidden cameras. It didn’t feel safe. I also felt misled about the kitchen. I choose places with a working kitchen, but there’s no proper guest kitchen for cooking, and each day I was told I couldn’t use the kitchen or even the dining area to prepare or eat food I’d bought at the nearby market. If you need kitchen access for health reasons or simply want it, this place isn’t a good fit. It was clean, close to public transport and a grocery store, but those were the only positives. Staff were pretty rude at check-in. My flight was late, and after traveling all day and feeling exhausted, I was scolded and told to be quiet even though I wasn’t making noise. This was by far my strangest hostel stay, and I travel often. I don’t recommend it.

Before my stay, I saw several online reviews with photos reporting bed bugs. That raised serious hygiene and safety concerns for me, and I no longer feel comfortable staying there. I contacted the hostel to discuss it and ask for a refund, but they refused. Their reply seemed like a standard copy-and-paste message saying bed bugs can occasionally appear when there are lots of guests. I don’t find that acceptable. Many hotels have high occupancy without attracting multiple reviews about the same issue, including photos. Since they wouldn’t offer a reasonable solution, I submitted a report through SignalConso for the appropriate authorities to review. Based on this and how they handled my concerns, I wouldn’t recommend the hotel.