Base St Kilda

The Base building is a brand new, plastic-red edifice in St. Kilda, just outside of Melbourne proper. It's purpose built as a hostel, so the facilities are pretty good: their own bar, a good kitchen, a travel-plans desk, Internet access, and good reception staff. Security is a high priority and you'll need your key card to get anywhere in the building--sometimes needing to use it three or four times just to get to your room from the front door.

It's just down the road from the tram stops and supermarkets of St. Kilda's main strip, so location is a definite plus.

Downsides include a lack of toilets--dorm rooms have ensuites, which is good, but when that one's busy, there seems to be only the choice of a couple stall toilets in the bar area and nothing else. Noise is a problem too, as the building's bar is underneath the dorm rooms and is open every night of the week until late. The sound reverberates up into the rooms, so don't stay here if you're looking for a peaceful night--or a late sleep-in during the morning, as staff uses the intercom system to announce that the 10:00 checkout time is approaching.

The place is clean and has a cool "modern" style, but for being so new it seems to be falling apart quickly including constantly dripping showers and broken faucets in the bathrooms. The social atmosphere is fairly good; the tv area shares with the dining and kitchen area and seems fairly low-key but the bar gets hopping and there's a free sausage sizzle every night at six.

-- Exclusive Hostelz.com Review