Smart Camden Inn Hostel

Bedbugs!!!

The place itself was dirty, the entrance is hidden and there is basically no space. The people are so rude and snitches. I have never been to a hotel where the people were so unnecessarily strict with some insignificant rules. You can’t eat nor drink in the rooms and the common area stinks really bad. The rooms gave me claustrophobia. The staff basically looks through ur lockers, if u don’t bring a lock, to check if u have any food or drink so they can fine u! The covers of the bed were dirty and so were the bathrooms. The breakfast was not THAT bad but there was so little food!! I read other comments about the presence of bed bugs, i didn’t find them, but BRING YOUR OWN COVERS! I do not recommend

Beds not cleaned well, hygiene issues. Bedbugs bites. Toilet area too small.

Saw stains on the top mattress (Bed 1 in Room B01) but nothing TOO concerning since linen was going on top. The linen seemed clean enough. No signs of bed bugs. The room was musty. There’s an AC unit that didn’t seem to work well. A few small windows that helped circulate air but it was the smoking patio on the other side. Heard people talking all night and some odd water noise. The WC is SMALL and no ventilation. Has lockers that fit my bf’s large hiking backpack. Close to bus stop.

The shower room was extremely small I’ve got a rash that looks like it was caused by bed bugs

The toilet is very small. I didn’t really use it, so I wouldn’t know much.

Unfortunately there were bedbugs in one of the rooms we stayed in.

Staff caused me to have medical problems from that began once they were acting as terrible hosts and then to my shock after leaving me on the streets in a city I’m new to, despite losing my phone (they told me I should have rang them my phone was stolen ?). It took lovely people staying at the place for me to be afforded the luxury of calling for an ambulance after my partial seizure. To top things off I later had to stay in hospital and the same paramedic that treated me has advised I report the assault I had from the lady at reception that happened twice… luckily I had a witness the second time, in case the cameras didn’t catch it. I should’ve accepted the refund when I landed and the first thing I saw before I had to put on my sheets was a bed bug

The room was much smaller than one would expect for a 6-bed room. It would qualify as a 4-bed room maximum. Photos look like the room is bigger than it is. I think, the photos that I saw were even not the ones of the room I stayed in. The space was too tight. Some mornings, there was construction on the floor above, and some nights, you could loudly hear people walking above the ceiling. My arms and legs are full of bedbug bites.

The private bedroom for 2 people was way too small for us. Our sink felt like it was from a doll house and you can barely move around the room comfortably. It’s not worth the price and it’s over priced. We were nervous abt the bedbugs so we did a thorough check; definitely not as clean as other places we’ve stayed.

Bed bug bite. Laundry machine broke. Sink didn't drain well.

Bedbugs!

The bed was crawling with bed bugs. I didn't sleep at all because I was up all night with irritation. Thought it was allergies with something I must have ate or touched so didn't think much of it until I was clearing up the next morning and to my horror saw this bed bugs crawling around on the matteress. Happy to share the video. Glad I only booked for 1night.

Bed bugs

The shared dorms were a bit manky - need a lot of TLC and the bathrooms are tiny. I also unfortunately found a bedbug during the night, too, after days of bites! Would like to point out that this is an issue all over currently, so not isolated to this hostel. I would also like add that I was moved right away and given tokens to clean all of my belongings through the washer and dryer, which I am exceptionally grateful for!

Bed bugs I would say is not a great thing to have in your hostel. Then I would also say that the beds looking like brought from prison is not great either. When we walked in it smelt quite bad and it felt extremely crammed as 9 people were trying to fit in a less than 5 square meter cubicle. We had quite a bad experience with the cleaning staff as well as she shouted at us when coming in to the room. And while all that could be seen as normal in a hostel, what makes me write this review is that the day after staying there we saw how each of us now has bed bug bites all over us. Some parts of hostels like waking up at 2:30am due to a couple walking in drunk I believe and opening all their luggage for no reason or hearing everyone rustling at 6am leaving for their flights, trains and tours, I cannot believe this was our only option. We wanted towels in the morning and there was no staff to ask for these, so we couldn’t even shower. Furthermore the fact we couldn’t get any sort of refund or gift due to our stay being cut short due to unforeseen strikes was quite shocking, as it wouldn’t have made a single difference to them to gift us a breakfast despite giving them notice of us not being able to reach destination by then.

Beds were tiny, stains on pillowcases. Whispers of bed bugs were heard throughout the hostel. Walls are VERY thin, the Contiki tour staying in the rooms above decided it was fun to jump and run around the rooms and corridors making it very noisy when trying to sleep. No proper ventilation within the room even with the window left open over night, constantly smelt like sweat.

I had bedbugs in my bed! They gave me another bed and proposed me to offer a coffee. But they denied they have bedbugs ("never happened before") and I'm sure they left the mattress like this after I checked out. Some other guests complained about this on recent reviews, so... Be careful or avoid this hostel!

Tiny bathroom & toilet (for cosmonauts, apparently), water on the floor (instaling a sliding door would make a huge difference). Bed bug found on the sliding curtain. No towels and toilet paper provided by default. No chairs in the room.

The first night we noticed BEDBUGS! The staff moved us to another room and were very nice about it (gave us free wash) but if you do not want to risk getting bitten all over your body i suggest you choose another hostel. I was unfortunately bitten by them and still suffering the consequences.

When asked, I kept describing the Smart Camden Inn to fellow guests as "odd". There were lots of things about the property that didn't make complete sense to me. More positively, my stay there reminded me of how much I am personally in awe of the central Camden area. Camden is never boring - and Smart Camden Inn is situated impeccably within it. An impressive slew of shops, clubs, cafes and event spaces are all within a 15 minute walk of the hostel. Overall, the staff at the Inn were a little business-like and impersonal - but they were helpful. The Smart Camden Inn allows guests to make use of the Goki app for access to the hostel, but it is optional. The building is newly refurbished, and so it looks and feels fresh in that sense. The newness of the building's interior was a highlight of my experience at the Smart Camden Inn. The Inn is dotted with memorably cute, unique and contemporary artwork. That said, to me the Smart Camden Inn felt like it would be more successful as an affordable set of one-bed studios rather than a hostel. While navigating the building itself, I couldn't help but note that it was tight. The Inn felt confined. The hostel also contained no customer lifts. So the main staircase was etched with the scrape marks of the many suitcases that had been dragged up it over the previous months. There were many general use bathrooms scattered across the Inn's several floors. They were very useful, but they were all on the small side. Moreover, the sinks in them only supplied cold water, which wasn't ideal and quite unusual. The Inn was the first hostel I've ever stayed in where there was no alternative set of showers for guests to use if the ensuite showers included in the individual dorm rooms were occupied. The hostel contained no general use showers. The brilliant shower included in the 9-person dorm room I stayed in was part of a relatively compact combined wash room that included a toilet and a sink. There was no barrier between the shower floor, the toilet and sink basins. So it was possible for water from a guest's shower to overflow and gather around them. Honestly, I didn't think this was appropriate for a hostel. I can only imagine the condition in which these shower / toilet combo washrooms at the Smart Camden Inn, like the one included in my dorm room, will be left in as the months go on. Also, during my stay at the Smart Camden Inn I noticed that there were no standalone plug sockets by each bed. There was only a USB socket to supply electricity to any devices. It's not 2015. Without adapter technology, standard USB sockets are often not compatible with the latest range of post-pandemic phones on the market. So the fact that only USB sockets were available to use at this 'newly-refurbished' hostel was an annoying misfire. During my stay at the Smart Camden Inn a fellow guest complained about the presence of bedbugs. He claimed he had been bitten by several of them. A member of staff was then forced to enter the dorm room and douse the area with anti-pest spray. The disturbance this created was monumental. Yet, staff didn't seem to bothered about that. One or two other reviews about the Smart Camden Inn have mentioned the presence of post-refurbishment spackle left around the bedside fixtures included in some of the dorm rooms. I can confirm that there was still builders' spackle present around the bedside light placed on my designated bed. In contrast to the building's sleek interior, the bunk beds in the room that I was assigned to were worryingly old and worn out. These bunk beds and the presence of builder's spackle both felt like lazy oversights. They made the hostel's entire renovation feel like a rush job. My interest in central Camden is probably the reason I would revisit the Smart Camden Inn again. It's a reasonably priced, satisfactory alternative to the nearby St. Christopher's Inn Camden. But I've been to cheaper hostels that provided a better overall experience. Smart Camden Inn isn't wildly comfortable, and there is much room for improvement.

Beware bedbugs!!! I stayed here twice about a month apart and on my first stay I got a couple of bites I thought might be bedbugs but gave the benefit of the doubt and assumed they were mosquitoes. On the second stay I was covered head to toe in bites and no doubt it was bedbugs 😭😭 the common areas and staff are nice but I hope they will fix this as it was extremely unpleasant being covered in bites on my flight home !!

I had an issue with bed bugs in the second room I was in, this is obviously because of people bringing them not the hostels fault at all. But I have had a bad experience with this in the past but was put at ease by the staff. It would have been nice to be refunded my last day as I was a little close to booking elsewhere but as this is the season for bed bugs didn’t want to risk worse tbh. Overall they handled this very well as once again it was not their fault

BEDBUGS...left me with bad rashes and pain. Even tho the location is nice, its not worth the risk of getting a bed with bedbugs. :(

Do not stay here! Bed bugs and not very clean. The only good thing was there was good security for your things. But would it recommend!

I stayed in a private room with an en-suite bathroom, which was clean and comfortable. I felt safe and the location was decent. I enjoyed my stay overall. However, there were bedbugs!!! I had many bites! You guys should really check your beds and do something about it because I think this hostel has a bedbug problem in general.

My stay at this hostel was overall good. It seems clean and the location is awesome. However during my stay, one of my roommates had bedbugs in her bed and they did not help her much. I also think it is necessary to look more into security and who the hostel is receiving.

AVOID! Bed Bugs and Bites. No refund even though I moved elsewhere.