Hostel Toulouse Wilson

The location is a real plus, right in the heart of Toulouse city center, so you can walk everywhere. The staff were generally very nice, supportive, and good with customer service. The building is very old, and the rooms and bathrooms are too. Some room outlets didn’t work, and the lighting was very poor, just an old lamp. In my first room the door wouldn’t close properly unless pushed shut by hand, so we slept one night with it unlocked. The bathrooms could use renovation, and the beds in the four-person rooms could be more comfortable. Hand soap should be available in every bathroom, and body soap would be a nice touch. I stayed first in a three-person room, then a four-person room. The second room’s bathroom had no shower curtain, and the water wasn’t warm enough, so showering was a bit of a challenge. The toilet was very old as well.

The price seemed reasonable, the beds were comfortable, the air conditioning worked, and the shared areas were clean and quiet. There’s a 24-hour front desk, and our room had three lockers and an ensuite bathroom. Most of the staff we met were friendly, though one was particularly unhelpful. The location was good. Still, there seem to be better places to stay in the city at this price, so I wouldn’t recommend it. I stayed one night with two friends in a three-bed dorm. At check-in around 3pm, only two plug sockets worked and the bathroom had no lights or electricity. I told the front desk, and he said he’d look into it. We asked for towels but were told they had none. When we came back late, our entry fobs didn’t work. Staff suggested we’d locked the door from inside, though all three of us had been out, and then unlocked it for us. The lights and sockets still didn’t work. None of the three staff members we told apologized, they just shrugged.

The location and 24-hour reception are the only good points. The hostel is gloomy, creepy, run-down, smelly, dirty, and simply disgusting. It’s hard to understand how a place like this can still operate in a first-world country like France in 2025. The carpets look over 20 years old and are full of dust and stains in every size and color, and they don’t clean them. There’s mold and dirt everywhere. The common area is constantly filthy, with sticky tables, broken chairs, and crumbs and dirt plainly visible on the couch. When it rains, water drips from the ceiling, leaving the parquet warped and crooked. It’s very hot inside because heat from the washing machines gets out of the laundry room. You can’t really relax outside, either, because the patio shown in the pictures isn’t there. I changed rooms, and one had soap while the other didn’t, depending on whether wall dispensers had been installed in the original hotel room. Maintenance and care are zero. If there were more hostels in the city, this one would be forgotten very quickly. Not recommended!

The employees were friendly enough, and if you’re just passing through and need a bed and shower, this is a pretty decent option. It’s close to the train station and bicycle friendly. Still, it’s at the low end for value, and for a bit more you could try the more modern Eklo hostel, which looked much better in the images. It’s what the listing says: a bed and bathroom. The building is a converted hotel, and my hostel bed was one of three in an old single room. I was put on the top of a three-level bunk. It felt cramped, with almost no headroom, and climbing up from the ladder felt really sketchy. The old carpet smelled bad, the bath and shower had no pressure, and the lockers were far too small.