The Hostelz.com Review
Hotel Discovery, formerly Hotel Bakpak, is the best place to discover Melbourne. It is a hostel (one of Australia's largest) and not a hotel, as the name suggests.
The Location
The hostel is located in the city centre, close to the famous Queen Victoria Market, the State Library, and the City Baths. Aldi Supermarket is in the same street. There are plenty of shops, cafés, and restaurants nearby. The area is quiet at night.
Rooms and Bathrooms
Dorms are in good condition. Mattresses are firm, and you can find mirrors and lockers. The bathroom is hard to find, as you have to cross many doors, depending on the location of your dorm. The corridor is a maze, and there are no stairs but elevators. At the time we were there, one of the two elevators was out of order, and that was really annoying -- it can take ages to leave your room and go outside.
Common Spaces
The hostel has all facilities a hostel can have -- spacious kitchen (clean in the morning), cinema room, new computers for internet, book exchange, pool tables, rooftop, job and travel agency. All rooms are large and spacious. The Birdcage Café caters for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The breakfast is free but very light (two dry toasts with coffee and cereals) but you can add extra eggs and bacon for a small fee. The in-house bar "The Velvet Underground" offers great atmosphere every night with trivia, live bands, karaoke, and pool competitions.
Summary
Overall, this hostel is very convenient -- you can find everything you need. They even have free tours during the week (exploring the city, climbing, going to the beach). The cleaning staff does a great job! Hotel Discovery is the best hostel for a first step in Melbourne!
The Location
The hostel is located in the city centre, close to the famous Queen Victoria Market, the State Library, and the City Baths. Aldi Supermarket is in the same street. There are plenty of shops, cafés, and restaurants nearby. The area is quiet at night.
Rooms and Bathrooms
Dorms are in good condition. Mattresses are firm, and you can find mirrors and lockers. The bathroom is hard to find, as you have to cross many doors, depending on the location of your dorm. The corridor is a maze, and there are no stairs but elevators. At the time we were there, one of the two elevators was out of order, and that was really annoying -- it can take ages to leave your room and go outside.
Common Spaces
The hostel has all facilities a hostel can have -- spacious kitchen (clean in the morning), cinema room, new computers for internet, book exchange, pool tables, rooftop, job and travel agency. All rooms are large and spacious. The Birdcage Café caters for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The breakfast is free but very light (two dry toasts with coffee and cereals) but you can add extra eggs and bacon for a small fee. The in-house bar "The Velvet Underground" offers great atmosphere every night with trivia, live bands, karaoke, and pool competitions.
Summary
Overall, this hostel is very convenient -- you can find everything you need. They even have free tours during the week (exploring the city, climbing, going to the beach). The cleaning staff does a great job! Hotel Discovery is the best hostel for a first step in Melbourne!
— Exclusive Hostelz.com Review
October 2010
Their Description
Hotel Discovery Details
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Hotel Discovery Reviews from the WebHostelz.com Guest Reviews
Not what I expected at all! The website for this 'hotel' is very misleading for a start -- its a cheapo backpackers in reality! The photos on their websites are not an accurate representation of the rooms -- our private twin room was only 1.5m x 2m and had only single bunks, and a small sink (but the hot tap was broken) -- no other furnishings. The only window had graffiti on it. When we arrived the staff informed us that our online credit card booking was in fact just holding our room and we would have to pay on the spot -- this was not mentioned or made clear when booking -- all travelers take note of this! Also they failed to mention before our arrival that the hotel is an ALCOHOL FREE ZONE! As in you cannot have alcohol in your room -- What?! Obviously we had duty free, which we had to hide. The one lift took forever so we often took the stairs, where staff harassed us for being loud -- it was only me and one other person, talking at normal speech level, and we didnt appreciate being threatened with eviction when we were clearly doing nothing wrong. The staff made us feel like we were at some school camp and were naughty children a lot of the time, often asking us for ID when we entered the building (room keys). There is no 'free wi fi' as stated on their website. Its $9 a day. When we went to leave we were accused of owing them money for an extra night. I would never go back there again, not a good experience at all. Think twice before booking! — Anonymous , New Zealand (2011-12-27) Good Hostel, Bad Staff This is a good hostel compared to many others in the Melbourne area. The foyer is quite modern, with a cafe, internet room, job centre, television, lounge area. The prices were reasonable, the bar was decent, the cinema was an added bonus, but the reception staff -- now, they were probably the rudest, most insolent, wretched customer service assistants I have ever come across. One girl had her earphones in listening to music and was oblivious to anybody or anything around her. So failing to get her attention I went to the guy next to her, but he was so engrossed with whatever he was looking at on his computer screen (no doubt some social networking site) that he couldn't even be bothered to look up and make eye contact with me. Disgusting. I've worked in customer service all my life and I have never once had the misfortune to deal with such imbeciles as these! Other than that, a good hostel -- well worth the visit! — Bob , British (2010-12-22) Seemed ok to me. Was a bit worried when I read previous comments. However, my stay there was perfectly fine. Although the rooms were a little bit small, that is what you get in any other hostel. Staff were generally friendly. Only complaint I had was that the room had a bit of a leak from the ceiling. Other than that, my stay here was ok. — Alwin , Malaysia (2010-08-20) Great Place and Clean!!!! Reading some of the reviews i was cautious and found the place very exciting. The cafe offers a very scrumptious breakfast but it does get very busy during breakfast time. The rooms were clean and the bathrooms were much better than some of the places i have stayed. The internet cafe was modern and the bar was pumping good sounds on the weekend. The Roof top was busy during my stay. Please speed up the lifts. Stay here and experience a wonderful warm and friendly place. — Johan , Germany (2010-05-01) WORD OF WARNING: Don't stay here! Not too sure where to start but the kitchen is filthy with hardly and cutlery, utensils, and pans to use. Only one bathroom on each floor, you may get lucky and get a room near to the bathroom, but if not it is a walk away. There are two lifts in the whole building, with only 1 working. Unfortunately you can't even use the stairs as the key card does not let you enter your floor from the stair case. Not many signs up around the hostel to show you which way to find rooms, toilets, kitchen. During our stay we experience two guys coming into our room during the night and sleeping on what they thought were spare beds, while we were sleeping. We only realised when security came in at 3am to check everyones id and removed them. We were not only worried about the safety of our belongings (as lockers are not provided on each floor or even in rooms, they are only provided on the ground floor, for a large amount of money! Not very handy if your staying on one of the top floors) but of the safety of ourselves. The staff were not even apologetic, we even asked to move rooms and they said that we had to bring all our luggage downstairs and check back in at 2pm again! The only good think I can think of is that there is free breakfast and the cafe staff were nice. By far the worst hostel we have stayed in during our trip in OZ, we have now checked out and checked into a new hostel. We would rather no one else go through the same experience we have gone through! — Stephanie & Kimberly , England (2010-02-26) Not too clean The free breakfast was ok, the bathrooms and showers were clean, the the hostel is in an conveniently located area. And as it is the biggest hostel in Melbourne, there's plenty of ads of other travelers willing to share a rented car or travel together. The hostel seems quite secure (keycards everywhere). But the dorms were hot, smelly, and unventilated in Feb. 2009. That was awful. The hostel is a labyrinth of narrow corridors. There are two lifts, but they are about the slowest lifts in the world. You can spend eternity waiting for one. Why not take the stairs? Cause you just can't reach upper floors with stairs (only the closed emergency ones). Some people living in the hostel were obviously not travelers, but some bums/tramps/hobos. There was a man about sixty years old in the same dorm. He never left the hostel area and he had about the dirtiest feet I've ever seen. Not to mention the overall stench. — Marek , Poland (2009-08-28) Nice place to stay I stayed there from january to march this year. Hotel Discovery is the largest hostel in Australia. They can accommodate five hundred people in house. I was there in summer, most of the guest were behaving so badly. Firstly,They were stealing plates, cutleries, glasses. So how can you maintain the hostel's kitchen perfectly? Secondly, "bedbugs" -- guests are bringing them from other places with them. I came across with a guest where the bugs are crawling around his backpack. Who to be blamed? Thirdly, About the toilets, guys, ask yourself why the toilets are dirty. Its because of some other travelers who dont give a damn about cleanliness, they smash the toilets so that others have to suffer. Dont tell me, the hostel need to employ housekeepers for twenty-four/seven. Lastly, remember guys, its a hostel, not a hotel. — fighter!!! , australian (2009-08-19) Total rubbish from the very beginning staff were rude. there was no free pick up from the airport like state on their website. and they didn't want to refund us the money until i caused a stink. Room was tiny and sheets didn't look clean. We had to fight to get the free towels that were meant to come with our room. Bathroom was nice. Staff didn't have a clue about anything and were no help. The free breakfast was barely cooked toast and jam. Nothing else. Absolutely the worst hostel I've ever stayed at. Stay away at all costs. — marijke , australian (2009-04-03) Two words -- bedbugs For meeting people from all over the world this place is good and the bar downstairs is cheap but the hostel itself needs a massive makeover! The kitchen was dirty and not enough cutlery and the showers were mouldy. The rooms were so hot and dirty, we stayed there (in feb 2009) and paid for a week after a few days we were covered in bites and noticed our mattresses were crawling in bedbugs -- it makes me sick just remembering it. the staff were great and gave us free washing to wash all our clothes, and a refund for the week as we were not happy and wanted to leave asap. They told us to leave our big bags and tent in the room so they could bug bomb it and when we went back two days later our tent and a bag had gone! They did refund us $200 for our belongings but this experience ruined melbourne for us and my last month in australia. I made it all the way up the east coast and west without any problems to end up with a million itchy bedbug bites in my last few weeks in australia! All id say is dont stay at hotel discovery -- it took four weeks for the bites to fade and they dont look nice in summer clothes! — lex , british (2009-03-17) Dirty, unorganized, hectic Staff were helpful, but completely unorganized on any subject. But mostly the hostel was dirty! Our room had bed bugs all over our beds. We ended up leaving after two nights covered in bites. I've never had a worse experience. They did however offer to refund our money, but it's been three weeks and still no payment. The kitchen was also a disaster; no clean dishes and scummy refrigerators. overall I would not recommend this hostel. It should be closed by the health authority. — Chris , Canadian (2009-03-06) Too crowded and dirty this hostel has some nice facilities such as a bar, but it is too crowded and you have to wait ages if you want to talk to the receptionists. Stayed in a two-bed room, which was completely covered in dust. and the foreign coins that lay around indicate that they did not clean at all before I moved in. — Ben , Germany (2009-01-18) Would not even stay here again if they would pay me for it. I could write a whole story about what I experienced there. First it was Poorly organized we had to stand 2 times in a row for an hour to get our reservation confirmed and to get 2 hours later our keys to our shared dorm. We walked up It looked like a prison -- it was not a pleasant please to be at all!!! At first I GOT SHOCKED ! so many people in a small space i think almost 16 people in one room!! And thats not all!! we didn't even have a pillow nobody had one!? Also that day it wasn't hot at all even a little bit cold but because the room was so crowded it was so hot that we had trouble getting to sleep. Not only that we even could hear the noise of the bar so loudly so stupid. Well now lets get to the bad part. we where checked in had our keys and had to go to sleep early because the next day we had to get up very early because of our flight back home. AT 2 A CLOCK IN THE MORNING a rude man from the hostel whit a guard came in to the room on went the light and everybody was awake because our passports had to been shown!? they went away and just 15 minutes when we just where a sleep they came back in again it was now 2:40 and they again woke us all up and called my friend name for the booking. Rudely the man said your not checked in get you passport get downstairs!! so so rude not acceptable. we had to get in our pyjamas whit our hair all mixed up from sleeping go to the reception next to the bar so everybody could see we where torn from our beds whit a guard next to us!! SO SO embarrassing. and then after 10 min they tell us THERE STAFF HAD MADE A MISTAKE AND WROTE OUR LAST NAMES WRONG 2 TIMES!!! we could go back to our beds it was now later than 3 O clock in the morning we were awake and at 5 we had to get our flight back home we could not sleep anymore and where totally upset at the hostel treating us they way they did. No excuse nothing!! I never had experienced something like this and think a big hostel like this should have there organization not so messy and should solve there problems at a decent hour!! I would never come back here again it was the worst hostel until now and I would never ever recommend it!! I don't like to write bad reviews but this was just a horrible experience. And I hope none of you would have to get one like me. It was was the ending of my vacation and it was a downer for my stay in melbourne. — Marina , Netherlands (2009-01-18) No way! probably the worst hostel i ever stayed in. dirty, the staff had no idea what they were doing at all. the rooms are awful. they are way to small for the number of beds in it. The showers and toilets there are just disgusting! i think they clean them once a year, maybe. i'm definitely not going to stay there again. — Carina , Germany (2008-11-28) Quite poor services (staff), below average rooms/cleanliness Right, I'm not one from grudges and this isn't a vendetta, but you should not stay at this place, now called Hotel Discovery. I can only imagine that they changed their name because of bad reviews under their old name, Hotel Bakpak. Well they'll have to keep changing their name. The first night I stayed, I was on the fourth floor, which has to be the dingiest place I've stayed so far in Australia. Thankfully the next day some friends were arriving and we had booked in as a group for five nights and we were put on the third floor which was a lot better, but far from perfect. In saying all this my main gripe wouldn't be about the physical aspects of the place (mind you the toilet/shower facilities on the fourth floor were pretty brutal). The general facilities were decent, like the Kitchen and Cinema room. The real problem were the staff. They are the worst hostel staff I have yet encountered. It takes them forever to do anything and they really don't seem to know what they are doing. After my first night there, I had to check out in the morning to check back in again with our group into a new room. I had to check out by 10 a.m., but our room then wasn't ready until almost 3 p.m. ("we don't advertise a check-in time" was the answer to any complaints). Once we did get to check in, after a long queue, which is very common, it took the girl a full twenty minutes to check us in (three of us), even though two of us had checked in the night before and they had all our details. I just thought the whole thing was ridiculous. Then the final straw when I was checking out, I asked if they could store my bags for a couple of hours. "We only store bags for check-in, not check-out, there are lockers around the corner there," which you have to pay for. Oh, and the lifts are the slowest in the world and the smaller one is prone to getting stuck. The alternative of the stairs (to get above second floor) I would have no problem using if they weren't miles from the lifts! I won't be back, ever, and I'll advise all my friends to stay away also. — Annoyed , Ireland (2008-11-09) Dirty I don't think I would stay here again. One of the biggest problems was probably the bedbugs, my boyfriend got about forty bites in one night and had to go buy some cream for it. We asked them to change the mattress twice and they transferred us to another room while they were "changing it." When we moved back into our room there was another guy sleeping in the beds we had previously used who had bites all over as well, so they had obviously not bothered changing the mattress. I think they thought changing the sheets would solve the problem but I'm pretty sure the only thing that would actually work is to burn the mattress. It's just a bit of foam covered in piss stained fabric with about ten tears in it anyway. Most of the sheets have stains on them too, not sure if I want to know what they are. The beds also squeak every time you move, or even blink. I'm sure if you stay you'll hear a lot of squeaking beds complete with moaning too, thanks to the paper thin walls. The fan was coated in two-inch-thick dust and was spinning around at a low speed blowing dust all over everything, we didn't figure out how to turn it off until the last day since the switch for it was broken. Would be good if they gave it a wipe at least every year or so. I can only comment on the girls bathroom but I'm guessing the guys was pretty much the same. I remember when I first got there I really needed to go and inspected the four stalls one by one trying to find the least dirty one. Apparently most of the girls who were staying there when I was didn't know how to pee without getting it all over the seat and floor, or flush after dropping some logs off. I had to lay toilet paper down on the seat every time I went. Also, there is a huge gap in between the door and the wall thing, so anyone could just walk past and check out what you're up to in there whenever they like, so you have to always be listening out for footsteps. The showers don't have mixers but most of the time I just used the hot tap anyway, which was only lukewarm. You have to be in quick to avoid a cold shower it seems [before 9 a.m.]. The floors are always sticky and cold water is constantly dripping down at you from the cracked, moldy ceilings. The water comes up to your ankles so you have to wrap a towel around you and go out into the public area to get the rest of your clothes on without getting them soaked. The kitchen smells like sour milk and there are usually about one or two birds hanging out on the plates and utensils. The sinks are filled with dirty plates and bowls. Cleaning dishes is another simple task a lot of Hotel Discovery customers don't know how to do either. You won't find a clean one anywhere, I suggest bringing your own and keeping them in your room. Most of the staff were actually really friendly, except for this one guy who I'm guessing is a chef there. When my friend asked him a simple question about the food, the chef guy rolled his eyes at him. He needs to chill out. Some general manners, even just one thanks would have been nice. Or maybe a Hi instead of the Yes? So yeah, doubt I'll be staying there again, I'm sure you can find a much nicer place for the price. — Kim , New Zealand (2008-07-27)