Southern Laughter Backpackers

The staff I dealt with were nice, and the price is cheap. It’s in a good location and could be bearable for a couple of days if you’re trying to save money, but I wouldn’t stay longer. My 10-person room was pretty gross, with food left out, and the kitchen was worse, with dirty dishes always sitting around. There seemed to be no effort to enforce cleanliness. There were only two lockers for the whole room, so good luck getting one to lock up your bags. Beds weren’t assigned, and one day someone else was using mine when I came back. Outlets were sparse and inconveniently placed, and parking was extremely competitive. Calling the place run down an old-school look doesn’t make this absolute dump any better.

I should have read the other reviews before booking this noisy place. The dorm room was a mess, with people’s dirty laundry scattered all over the floor. It was a struggle just to get to the one bathroom shared with two other dorm rooms, the tiny kitchen, and the dining room, which was unhygienic too. There was already a party happening at 3:00 in the afternoon. When I asked about lights out or some kind of quiet time, I was told there really wasn’t one. I came back around 10:00 pm hoping to sleep, but a drunken group was making noise just outside the room, and people inside were playing cards loudly. I gave up, went back to my car, and drove somewhere dark to get some sleep. That was my dreadful experience here. I wouldn’t book this place. You may not get any sleep or rest, and could end up losing your money.

The kitchen was filthy, and the bedding was dirty. When we tried to use the blinds, they fell down, so we had to improvise a curtain. The plugs didn’t work for charging anything. I didn’t even want to shower because it was disgusting. The toilet smelled, and the toilet brush holder had smelly, mouldy water in it. Sound travelled everywhere. We could hear people loudly having sex in the communal shower and people fighting in the hallways in the middle of the night. This place was a dump. They should pay people to stay here.

We came over New Year’s to go out every night and get home at 3am. We tried to be quiet, but didn’t feel much pressure to keep it down because the place attracts a younger crowd. The one time staff spoke to us about it, they were chill. So if you’re in Queenstown to party, this place works. That said, it’s pretty grotty. The bathrooms didn’t look very clean, the kitchen was disorganised, and the bedding was a bit gross. At least we didn’t have serious health concerns, and thankfully no bed bugs. If possible, I’d book a queen room instead of a twin or dormitory. We even saw someone with a queen bedroom and an en suite, which seems like a good option. Our stay wasn’t as bad as some people’s, but the place still isn’t very good. If you don’t mind poor hygiene, it may be fine. Otherwise, for an extra $50 a night I’d stay elsewhere. Nomads hostel looked a lot nicer at a similar price.