Bobby's Bunkhouse - Hostel

We'd booked a private room with two single beds online, but were told on arrival there were none left. Another couple had the same problem. The only option was a mixed eight-bed dorm. Since other hostels were fully booked, we had to take it. I asked for a discount because we'd been promised one thing and given another, but the worker said he couldn't offer any. He did give us a friendly tour of the facilities before showing us the room. The bed was fairly comfortable, but the room smelled awful, had rubbish on the floor, looked like it hadn't been cleaned in days, and the sheets looked dirty. The facilities overall weren't very clean. The price was a flat £12 on weekdays and £14 on weekends, whatever type of room you had. It was very close to the city centre, pubs and nightclubs. Security wasn't great: the front door was locked and we got a key, but room doors stayed unlocked all night. There were lockers in the room, but they wouldn't lock, even with the lock I brought. If we'd got the private room we'd booked and paid for, the stay would have been better.

The location was great, and the showers were oddly nice. The rest was rough: cleanliness was mediocre, I saw a mouse and quite a few insects, and the beds were bad even for a hostel. Light from the mirrored window into the hall meant the room never got dark. There was also a guy who'd been staying there for a year, and he was drunk and yelled at my wife while we were there.

The location is ideal for a budget stay, close to the castle and central to other tourist spots. I was travelling alone and had been to Edinburgh once before, so I knew the places I wanted to visit. The staff were nice to me, but I still felt unsafe through the night. I shared with people coming and going at strange hours, while some others were made to leave the room by staff. Smoke from people smoking outside drifted indoors. Honestly, it was one of the dodgiest hostel situations I've had.

Clean, affordable, and friendly staff. It gives you a place to sleep, which is all you need in the end. My only issue was leaving before 5:30 a.m. I told the receptionist and was assured he'd be on duty all night, but when I left he was nowhere to be found, so I lost my key deposit. I thought about keeping the key just to be a pain, but what would that have achieved?