THE PLACE Hostel Battambang

DO NOT STAY HERE. This is by far the worst hostel experience I have had in Asia, and I’ve been travelling since June 2025. I booked a 3 night stay and everything seemed fine until I booked a tour on the second day and found out THROUGH OTHER GUESTS, not the staff, that the hostel had bedbugs and was shutting down for fumigation on my third night. What makes this even worse is that I had been sitting in reception that same morning for over 30 minutes and not a single staff member thought to tell me I would need to leave, pack my things, and find somewhere else to stay. The management was absolutely useless. The manager gave an apology that clearly felt forced and only said it because they had to, not because they actually cared. They refunded the final night and acted like that somehow fixed the situation. No compensation, no organisation, and no concern for guests whatsoever. They even contacted our tour driver to rush us back early so we could pack before fumigation started. We agreed to come back at 12pm. When I returned at the agreed time, they had already started fumigating and had thrown ALL of my belongings, dirty laundry, toiletries, clothes, literally my whole life while travelling, into a pile on the floor. While I was visibly upset, the manager’s response was simply, “Well, we’ll have to clean your clothes.” Maybe don’t force guests out because of your own bedbug problem and complete lack of communication. On top of that, the food was awful and overpriced. I would not recommend this hostel to anyone. The way they treated paying guests was disgusting.

Bed bugs!! We found bed bugs in dorm B in multiple beds alive and dead ones. After we left we checked the reviews and saw that this has been a continuous issue since the beginning of the year ! We left straight away and got a refund thankfully however this was so inconvenient and shouldn’t have happened !

1 word. BED BUGS. I guess that’s two. But BED BUGS

This hostel is infested with Bedbugs, I got bitten all over my body, they were in many of the beds. Would not recommend sleeping here

After reading the reviews about the bedbugs, we still gave it a try. Please don't go here until they fixed the bedbug issue. I've been bitten all over my legs!! Horrible that the owner is denying it in the comments on the other reviews :(

Found a bug in my bed the first night, pretty sure it was a bed bug, but only the one and once I got rid of it I didn’t see anymore. Really lovely staff who are happy to help with anything.

I was bitten maybe 30-40 times in straight lines all over my body. I suspect it to be Bed bugs but did not find any… I did see a couple small blood stains on my sheets, a common indicator of bed bugs The girl working at reception tried to convince me it was biting gnats, but my intuition is telling me otherwise… Beyond that they did not offer any assistance… Beware…

I got icthy to the point I went to clinic because there was bedbugs bite me for the bed I stay. I hope you consider to do a deep clean for a hygiene.

Tijdens mijn verblijf ben ik gebeten door een bedbug; ik werd wakker met allemaal kleine, rode, jeukende bultjes en toen ik ging zoeken vond ik het insect. Het hostel reageerde wel geschokt en ik kreeg een ander bed toegewezen maar ik heb nooit iets van compensatie gekregen, wat ik wel netjes had gevonden! Daarnaast vond ik het eten op de rooftop niet aan te raden. Jammer, want verder was er eigenlijk weinig mis met het hostel. Hopelijk pakken ze dit beiden op voor toekomstige gasten

In private room A there was a gap at the top of the ceiling, which would allow bugs in. I was bitten quite badly overnight (to clarify- NOT bed bugs, we checked when we arrived). Would be good to Fill the hole or provide a mosquito net for over the bed.

We had bed bugs in the 5 person dorm. Due to this, we had to change to a 12 person dorm around midnight. The next day, we asked for a refund because we were downgraded and because we did not plan on staying an extra night in a hostel with bed bugs. The staff said they had a no refund policy and started comparing our situation to a guest not getting a refund because they booked a bus on the wrong date, which is clearly something else entirely. We thought this was genuinely strange and then the staff started gaslighting us by saying that it was just ‘normal bugs’ and not bed bugs, which it obviously wasn’t, and then there is also the fact that two staff members admitted there were bed bugs in our dorm a couple of days before we arrived. We sent them an e-mail, to which we haven’t received a response a week and a half later. We also met three girls on Koh Rong who stayed in this hostel three days after us, who had bed bugs in the exact same dorm and bed. Because of this, we decided to write a negative review, to which we received a really strange and unkind response claiming that we use bed bugs as leverage for a free stay. This is of course not the case, we did not even ask for a full refund of the night before, but we wanted a refund for the downgrade and the extra night that we booked there but did not want to stay anymore due to the bed bugs. We paid double because of this, so why would we use this as a strategy😭 We explained that a refund would only be normal and that another hostel on another trip in Thailand offered us compensation for the extra nights because we were leaving and offered free breakfast and lunch and laundry service. Very sad that this hostel is very unkind and hostile to people that have a bad experience in their dorms. When you look at other reviews about bed bugs, they say that it is misleading information or that a competing hostel wrote this review. Simply awful.

Eten van de rooftop was niet heel goed. Vaak koud of aangebrand. Cocktails waar je er wel 10 van kunt drinken en nog steeds geen alcohol proeft, zit er waarschijnlijk ook niet in hoewel het wel op de menu kaart staat. Verschillende klachten gehoord (in tijdsbestek van 17-24 aug 2025) over bedbugs in de 5dorm room, waar niks aan wordt gedaan..

We had bedbugs in this hostel. It was already late, so we couldn’t move to another hostel and therefore were moved to a 12-person dorm. The next day, we asked for a refund for being downgraded since we paid for a 5-person dorm and we were leaving a night earlier due to the situation. The staff refused a refund because they have a ‘no refund policy’ and gaslit us by saying they were ‘normal bugs’ which they definitely weren’t. People we met on Koh Rong had bed bugs in the same dorm 3 days later.

Good things: Very nice rooftop bar Nice friendly staff Did a good tour Bad things The 5 bed room is atrocious. Beds are a sponge mattress with no sheet, and there is just a thin sheet blanket Pretty certain my bed had bedbugs as I’ve come out in terrible bites all over my body .

Negative: - We stayed in the private room, and it definitely had bed bugs. - they advertise event nights such as ‘games night’. I usually book hostels with these type of events as they are helpful to socialise with others. But they don’t actually host a games night, there are boring games on a shelf (like every day) at the bar - but no one even come up to say it’s games night etc. very misleading. Positive: - private room had tv, spacious room, balcony, ok AC and private shower. - location

I highly encourage seeking other options in Battambang. There was a bed bug crawling on me and talk that there had been bed bugs previous to my arrival. I wanted a refund, which I was denied, but did move to another hotel close by.

Where shall I start.. Just stay away here! First of all they are still suffering from bed bugs. I read the reviews and they said it's fixed. But I checked my bed and I found a bed bug. I got room change but to fan room. In the room there is a piece of metal against the wall with holes in it. Behind they can not clean! It's dirty. Failed by design. Check-in times on booking are misleading. It's just after 2pm and not 8-14h. Security is closing the doors after 2am, which means you are locked up or locked out. They refer to the rules, but it's a joke. What in case of emergencies? Showers have no soap. Entire building can be cleaner for sure. Personal asking how you are is fake. They just want to sell tours to you. They already start asking when you are even out of sight. I ordered a Caesar salad for 3$. I got a bunch of white bread with lettuce and tomato and tons of mayonnaise and ketchup. How difficult can it be? Running a hostel and earning money on tourists is something else than ripping them off with bad quality. Update on comments: I have stayed in so many better hostels for the same price range. It's just what energy and you put in it. Staff in kitchen is walking around with long tired faces. Staff in reception want to sneak out in the night. The rooms are just to humid, the matress is just a cheap foam that doesn't breath. This is causing poblems. Half measures on pest control as well. And please don't hide yourself behind the poor families. Take a look at Onederz for example, local staff, top quality for a low price. You mentioned that you still have a 8.5 on booking. Well, if you 'bribe' guests with FREE drinks for a review then you buy the rating. You take advantage of the backpackers budget and misuse their politeness (since they are not going to show bad reviews). You buy off their criticism.

This place has a significant bed bug problem! On two occasions I was told to avoid it because they found bed bugs but I decided to give it a shot anyway. Lo and behold, there's bugs in my bed. Staff was helpful and apologetic and gave me a full refund, but I can't recommend this place until they fix the bed bugs. A shame really, because everything else seems really nice.