Venice Beach Hostel

Myself and my girlfriend had the terrible misfortune of staying at the Venice Hostel on Pacific Avenue in Venice, California. We drove up and immediately found absolutely zero parking so we had to park a block away in an in/out lot for $50. A bad start that was about to get worse cuz there is a buzzer-activated entrance that MUST have someone on duty inside to press. We waited 45 minutes outside in a very, very sketchy section of Venice with our bags until the mgr. Yoshi (who barely speaks English) let us in. Now we were informed that even though we had a credit of $169.00 for a changed reservation we paid earlier, we would have to pay an additional $171.50 and wait for a refund within 10 days. The place looked absolutely dark and impossibly dirty from entrance to exit. The stairs had breaks in the planks and the room was: HORRIBLY DIRTY, ROACHES WERE SEEN AS WELL AS A BEDBUG (We used a beach sheet to sleep on), HOLES IN THE WALL, MUSIC UNTIL 2am, USED SHEETS W/STAINS, LYING MANAGER WHO BARELY SPEAKS ENGLISH, BROKEN STAIRS, NO SECURITY, NO ELEVATOR, USED CLOTHES ON FLOOR IN RIDICULOUSLY DIRTY COMMON EATING AND VISITING AREA, POOL TABLE WITH HUGE TEARS IN THE TABLETOP, NO TV, NO MICROWAVE, NO COFFEE, FURNITURE WAS TERRIBLE, MATTRESS 30 YEARS OLD CONSERVATIVELY, BOTH TOWEL WERE WELL WORN AND VERY SMALL, NO PHONE, KITCHEN HELP CLEANING AND COOKING WITH NO HAIRNET AND THONGS, and absolutely no HELP from mgmnt. is what the ultimately $171. 50 PER NIGHT AFTER REFUND I WAS CHARGED buys you for one night at the less than deplorable Venice Hostel. To say this place rivals a Tijuana type of hostel, motel or bnb gives it too much credit as they are an established hostel that relies on false advertising, very dated pictures and completely fake and terribly deceptive reviews to lure people in then charge at will to hostel goers with no choice but to pay. I got no receipt upon leaving so was only appraised of this dumps double charging from my bank statement. Trying to reason with the manager is impossible due to his lack of the ability to speak or comprehend English, and his obvious self-interest in keeping our money! DO NOT GO HERE AND IF OVERCHARGED HIDDEN FEES NOT DIVULGED BY VENICE HOSTEL CONTACT Yelp, the BBB, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews and your local health department.

pros - the location is a dream, you are right there at the beach but just far away enough to not be disturbed by the noise on the pier. - Amazing sunsets! 5/5 for earth - staff is very friendly cons - a bit rundown - not super clean, sheets made me itch, suspected bed bugs, not sure - not much of a vibe inside the hostel - expensive (35 dollars/night)

Nothing like the images on their website! FILTHY! NOISY! FOUND BED BUGS! Had to leave and find a different place to stay. TERRIBLE!