Leinster House

I stayed at this hostel for two weeks while looking for a house, and it was one of the most distressing accommodation experiences I've had. You aren't allowed to view a room before committing. On arrival, I was put in an improvised extra bed squeezed into the passage between two other beds, directly below a shared sink. On the other side was a night lamp with no shade. People used the sink repeatedly through the night, sometimes between midnight and 5 am. It startled me awake because it felt as if a stranger had suddenly appeared right beside me while I was asleep. Even in a women's room, that was frightening. The sink use lasted several noisy minutes, making sleep nearly impossible, and the curtain was always open. I repeatedly asked people to be considerate at night and pointed out that there were many restrooms and toilets with mirrors outside the bedroom, but the sink next to my bed was still used loudly. The room felt chaotic and badly managed. One tenant monopolized shared space and probably used two wardrobes when the room was rented to only two women. The room was kept in a chaotic, hoarding state, and I felt this tenant was trying to push the third person out to take over more of the surfaces. I experienced biased treatment and couldn't help questioning why some people seemed to get preferential treatment despite behavior that disrupted others. Management's lack of response to harassment and violations of personal space was deeply disappointing. I was told there were no other rooms in the entire LHA hostel chain, so if I complained, I would have to leave for the street. This hostel needs to rethink its room assignments, rules for tenant conduct and nighttime noise. Long-stay guests deserve better, especially women like me who just want a safe, respectful place to sleep at night. I didn't shower or use the kitchen, and I didn't talk to anyone. Almost everyone I saw in this overcrowded pressure cooker of a building was the same. At least two staff bedrooms on the ground floor had no windows.