India House Backpackers Hostel

Worst place. Bed bugs.cockroaches everywhere.nasty.place stunk. Was absolutely FILTHY FILTHY. Wrote the health inspector.

This is long overdue. Hostelworld limits how much you can say. This place should be shut down, until improvements are made. I got a SERIOUS case of bed bugs! It affected my life dramatically. I had to wash my clothes repeatedly, even after I left the facility AND New Orleans. And in doing so, some of my clothes were ruined. I even had to stay at hotels to avoid infecting my friends/family. I will say this, the female staff who I notified was proactive and on my side. There was another employee who I could tell was NOT (at the very least, suspicious). Frankly, the hostel did not do enough to appease me or the situation. I heard they shut the room down soon after. Other problems- the heat was lacking and there was cold air blowing thru the vent. There are no barriers on the top bunk, which is not safe, and doesn't allow you to use the space as efficiently. There is little space in the room with all of the beds. The check in process was laborious. The WIFI was not working in the room. Lastly, the pillow? C'mon! It was like a pancake. Ok. You can question me, but not when I tell you some good aspects about the place. 24 hour service. The village setup is rad. Unique! Keenen was outstanding- cool demeanor, helpful, solid dude. I could easily give this place 1 star for everything, but I am honest and fair.

Booked for 5 nights. Bed bugs 3 of those nights. Slept in my car the last night

I really wanted to love this place, but I struggled to sleep because I didn't feel safe and was so scared there would be bedbugs, as the bedding was clearly very old. I stayed in The Bayou (they name each of the rooms/buildings), and there is a sizeable enough gap between the door frame and the wall that anyone walking past could look in and see the guest (me) sleeping. The walls are also extremely thin, so I could hear my neighbor's conversation into the wee hours of the morning, and could hear the various hanging signs banging against the walls all night as a small storm rolled in. Needless to say, I barely got any sleep. In addition, parking was not great. About 3 cars can fit into the driveway, otherwise it's sketchy street parking. I will say that the ambiance of the place is really cool. Besides the security concerns, I liked The Bayou specifically, as it has a little bitty bayou in front of it with tiny fish in the pond and an alligator mosaic in the accompanying outdoor sitting area. The building itself is literally a 2-room shack and you have to climb up a creaky ramp to get to your room (which I might've been cooler with had I known what I was signing up for, but I didn't). There are awesome murals almost everywhere you look with the signature voodoo, Mardi Gras, and alligator themes that New Orleans is known for. There's a fun, well-decorated common area where lots of philosophical types were passionately engaged in a discussion about morality. There's a pool area, a kitchen, and an outdoor eating area (picnic tables). However, the shared bathroom/shower facilities were pretty sketchy, as they were guarded by a flimsy screen door. There were gender specific bathrooms, but I believe the showers were open to all. The gentleman working the front desk the night of 3/22/21 was super nice and helpful. There was a weird mixup where someone with my same name had booked for the same night, but cancelled upon arrival, which resulted in my room being cancelled. I didn't see the cancellation email until I arrived, but the host was super nice and apologetic for the confusion and he said they still had the room available if I wanted it. I'm a little recklessly brave, and was also exhausted from my long drive, so I stayed the night anyway, although I don't blame the other girl for cancelling (she apparently shared my security concerns). The hostel is conveniently located near the streetcar line, so if you want to explore the French Quarter, it's easily accessible. *For the record, I have stayed in several hostels prior to this experience and know that you get what you pay for. But, this is also the most I've paid for a hostel and I would say that it was the least satisfactory hostel experience I've had to date. This place has a lot of potential, but should really update their security and maintenance to be on par with other hostels.

Friend stayed there, not me so can't give a full review. But the decor is good. They have many amenities for the guests & staff seems nice. But my friend with a injured leg had reservations for a bottom bunk due to her leg & upon arrival was told she had to take a top bunk. Giving 4* due to saying one thing on the phone and upon arrival getting the complete opposite. Idk if I would stay in a hostel because I would be too worried about stuff being stolen or disrespected or someone spilling alcohol on my stuff. Plus the concern of bed bugs is high. But from my walk-thru the place look really chill & nice for college tourists. Wouldn't recommend for families or elderly.

Let me begin with saying that today people have too much focus on the wrong things when posting reviews ..of course one should be honest and informative but clearly people who complain about "shaky beds" in a $20 a night place clearly haven't experienced what true problems are in this world....service cleanliness safety and honesty are the things that should be judged when reviewing a place offering hospitality services... Service here was above and beyond...if a problem was answered with "you can't fight nature" it's probably because it was a friendly way to lighten a situation that was in fact out of their control and when you brought this to their attention was it with a loud and condescending tone? Because if they were rtrying to pacify someone being belligerent that was an excellent response...did you expect them to drop everything and pick the bugs with their own hands? Did you bring this to their attention while in the middle of your stay or after leaving? Based on the observations I've made along with talking to many others they did what they could as quickly and efficiently as possible when it came to their attention...anyone who has experienced bed bugs knows it is no easy task and not cheap either so they weren't being asked to wash a dish...and they had housekeepers in the rooms every single day so they would have seen the condition of your area and perhaps they were made aware you had a less than tidy manner of keeping up your space...this is a place doing a massiv÷ service for travelers who otherwise would have no safe place to afford to sleep it's not the Ritz Carlton...forces of nature happen and to give such a demeaning review because it wasn't at your ideal level of luxury sounds pretentious saying it should be avoided at all costs This brings me to my next point which is possibly the most important which is safety...i came here after a terrifying ordeal where I was held at gunpoint against my will for several days and needless to say I was apprehensive of anyone and everyone and the staff here went above and beyond to show me they provided security at an optimal level...there are many cameras inside and out as well as individual keys assigned in order to keep those who are approved safely inside and others not...the staff makes conversation with everyone and have no slips with ppl just coming in off the streets...anyone whose main issue is a bed that's not laced with Egyptian cotton clearly haven't been in a situation that their safety was jeopardized and in a city like this that can happen to anyone anywhere. Anyone staying in a hostel shouldn't demote the quality of the review based on quiet atmospheres imagine a college dorm and realize that community setting is part of the experience and shouldn't be considered a negative just cuz it's all you could afford...if you want a dark silent place where no one can be heard it costs more than 22 bucks a night...cleanliness is basic and aside from the aging of the buildings the staff keep the premises as clean as a dorm style place can be kept there's no threat of staph infection or mold or anything to be worried about a bit of dust won't kill you and again it's TWENTY TWO DOLLARS A FREAKING NIGHT!!! Which brings me to HONESTY...these ppl provide everything they say they will and more they don't promise absolute silence but they encourage courtesy hours at night while ppl sleep...they say they'll do something they do it and any decent person shouldn't expect someone to jump and play fetch in this type of setting...a hostel provides a certain experience and this one does so with elegance and class....i was treated extremely well and I'm so grateful to the ppl who I came to meet here and I will be promoting them and doing anything I can to help keep this place running it's course for many others in the future...they provided me with just what I needed at an otherwise dark time... I wasn't trying to offend any reviews just trying to give a little perspective to those telling others to boycott a perfectly good establishment much love S.Solomon

There were bed bugs in the room we stayed in, and the staff did not notify us before moving into the room, though they were informed of the bed bugs earlier that day. However, I am giving them two stars because after we confronted the staff that we learned about the bed bugs (after staying a night), they handled the matter well and were helpful in refunding our stay and allowing us to do our laundry in their facilities.