Hostel on 3rd

Downtown is a great location if you have business there, about a 7-minute walk from the conference center and Green Line. It’s much cheaper than nearby places, so you can save money staying here and eating the breakfast pancakes. I got a private room, and everything was barely acceptable, pretty much what I expected for the price. The night worker was cool, but the morning worker was insanely rude when I came to leave my bags on check-in day, saying, “What do you want? I am busy here.” The furniture is incredibly old and likely had fleas or bedbugs. The other guests weren’t the most sophisticated crowd.

The staff were very kind, but I couldn’t stay in the assigned all-female room, Kenya. I had booked two nights and lasted about 20 minutes. The mattress was like an old, mushy foam pad, with a musty mix of urine and body odor. Even with the ceiling fan, a room fan, and the window open, it felt at least 85 degrees with no airflow. The Gaslamp area was also very humid and noisy that Friday night. After lying on the sheet-and-blanket-covered mattress for those 20 minutes, I felt like I needed a shower. Sleeping in my car felt cleaner and cooler, so I left.

When I visit San Diego, this is my hostel of choice. It’s downtown, but away from the middle of the nightlife where some other hostels are. The proprietors and staff are nice and straightforward. You can avoid the surcharge by paying cash. Hostel rooms are shared and usually aren’t very nice, since you get what you pay for. The rooms here are decent and clean.

I left and stayed somewhere else because I felt so uncomfortable, and the thought of going back gave me a panic attack. I chose this place because it was cheap and hadn’t looked closely at the reviews. Some staff seemed poorly trained, slow, and unable to answer questions. A woman in my room was acting paranoid, thought people were following her, and insisted on keeping the curtains closed. The bathrooms were dingy and in poor condition, and the lighting was bad everywhere. There wasn’t anywhere for me to work in the morning. Website rules said I was due a refund for the next day, but staff said they had to ask a manager. The manager was right there, yet I was told I couldn’t speak to him because he was off duty. They told me to email. I did, and never got a reply.