The Hostelz.com Review
We headed to Sleepy Sam's B&B as the Lonely Planet guide absolutely gushed about the place, indicating it to be a 'Must-Stay' in Singapore. However, as we were to find out, they're not always quite right and sometimes have a rose-tinted view of the world.
Sleepy Sams is not hard to find. From the airport, the inexpensive MRT will get you up to Bugis station. From here it's a short walk (say five to ten minutes) to the hostel. The hostel should provide you with directions if you make a reservation over email. It's worth doing, because it's near enough always booked out. We tried to book single rooms three weeks in advance with no luck.
It's location is in the Arab Quarter of Singapore City. A quiet street with just one minor drawback. A rather large mosque. Not the mosque itself, but the call to prayer! This happens at sunrise and you'll hear it as well....! There are a few nice places to eat are around the hostel as well.
The hostel is clean and well maintained. No shoes upstairs please. A clean kitchen is provided and a largish area for watching TV and DVD's. Some DVD's are around to watch free of charge. Internet access is provided for free as well, although they are often busy as there are only two terminals. Sams also gives a free breakfast of cereal or toast with a cup of coffee or tea. Discount drinks are available to guests also.
There are four clean bathrooms and showers on the two floors of the hostel and a good book exchange. The sleeping area is on the first floor, with reception and TV room on the ground floor.
Where the hostel goes wrong is in two issues. The first is privacy. The dorms have no doors. They are open at the top and bottom and the closest one to the entrance provides a corridor to the bathrooms. Anyone staying here will hear everyone walking around. The single rooms aren't actually sealed at roof level, just partitioned off, so we could hear everything anybody was saying, single or dorm. Your only privacy is a long 'sheet' hanging from the ceiling that almost provides some relief. Although the hostel maintains a 'whisper-zone' from ten p.m. to ten a.m., you will hear everything, everyone coming to bed, going to the bathroom, and see people leaving lights on.
The second issue is with air-conditioning. The hostel promises modern, comfortable air conditioning. It's not quite that good. The reception and TV room have fast turning fans, not A/C. Upstairs, there appears to be one A/C unit and again, many fans. The unit is simply not powerful enough for the whole floor. Plus, doors to the bathroom are left wide open to the outside. This is very inefficient for A/C to work. The end result is a dorm that is not particularly cool. Not too good for the hot and sticky Singapore nights. Beds are also allocated, so don't try to change bed or think you can pick your own!
All in all, Sams isn't bad. It's quite nice, in quite a nice area. It can get a little uncomfortable from the heat and has no privacy in dorms. It this doesn't bother you, then go for it!
Sleepy Sams is not hard to find. From the airport, the inexpensive MRT will get you up to Bugis station. From here it's a short walk (say five to ten minutes) to the hostel. The hostel should provide you with directions if you make a reservation over email. It's worth doing, because it's near enough always booked out. We tried to book single rooms three weeks in advance with no luck.
It's location is in the Arab Quarter of Singapore City. A quiet street with just one minor drawback. A rather large mosque. Not the mosque itself, but the call to prayer! This happens at sunrise and you'll hear it as well....! There are a few nice places to eat are around the hostel as well.
The hostel is clean and well maintained. No shoes upstairs please. A clean kitchen is provided and a largish area for watching TV and DVD's. Some DVD's are around to watch free of charge. Internet access is provided for free as well, although they are often busy as there are only two terminals. Sams also gives a free breakfast of cereal or toast with a cup of coffee or tea. Discount drinks are available to guests also.
There are four clean bathrooms and showers on the two floors of the hostel and a good book exchange. The sleeping area is on the first floor, with reception and TV room on the ground floor.
Where the hostel goes wrong is in two issues. The first is privacy. The dorms have no doors. They are open at the top and bottom and the closest one to the entrance provides a corridor to the bathrooms. Anyone staying here will hear everyone walking around. The single rooms aren't actually sealed at roof level, just partitioned off, so we could hear everything anybody was saying, single or dorm. Your only privacy is a long 'sheet' hanging from the ceiling that almost provides some relief. Although the hostel maintains a 'whisper-zone' from ten p.m. to ten a.m., you will hear everything, everyone coming to bed, going to the bathroom, and see people leaving lights on.
The second issue is with air-conditioning. The hostel promises modern, comfortable air conditioning. It's not quite that good. The reception and TV room have fast turning fans, not A/C. Upstairs, there appears to be one A/C unit and again, many fans. The unit is simply not powerful enough for the whole floor. Plus, doors to the bathroom are left wide open to the outside. This is very inefficient for A/C to work. The end result is a dorm that is not particularly cool. Not too good for the hot and sticky Singapore nights. Beds are also allocated, so don't try to change bed or think you can pick your own!
All in all, Sams isn't bad. It's quite nice, in quite a nice area. It can get a little uncomfortable from the heat and has no privacy in dorms. It this doesn't bother you, then go for it!
— Exclusive Hostelz.com Review
June 2006
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Hostelz.com Guest Reviews
Avoid it! Sleepy sam's looks correct and the area is nice, but the mattresses have buggers!!! They say they are spraying but it is often postponed and the result is awful; I tried two beds and many other guests complained too! I was happy to leave for another place, sleepysam's is definitely a disgrace. — John , French (2011-07-23) Not Friendly! I was visiting Singapore for work and had just finished a long day. A woman suggested I try Sleepy Sam's which was close by to where I was working. I walked into the hotel and the woman started asking me lots of questions. I then politely asked her why she needed to know ? She immediately got an attitude. I looked at her and said in a calm voice, "It's been a long day. Can you please try to be friendly?" She continued to be rude, so I left and never checked in. Hopefully in the future the staff at Sam's will make an effort to be more friendly. If anyone asks me for a recommendation of a good place to stay, I would definitely not say Sleepy Sam's! — Michele , USA (2010-01-19) Very Poor We had a very bad experience with this hostel. In actual fact, we are prepared to lodge a case against them. The scenario as follows. My friend Dewi made a reservation through the internet with the hostel. Upon checking in, the "rude" receptionist, Pia, refused to let her check in whereas we were able to produce the email with the confirmation. Her only excuse is that "no payment made, no reservation." Another suspicious area is that the Pia refused to let me go near the counter with Dewi. She insisted that I stay away while she try to convince Dewi that there's no room available. When I confronted her on the issue, she put the following word in my face. "You are not the one staying here. This is not your business." My blood was fuming at this moment of time and I demand to speak to the boss or manager of the place. And Pia refused. Looking at the hopeless situation, I informed Pia that I will be making a case report and left the hostel. Luckily, we found a cosy backpacker nearby with plenty of vacancies for only S$18 per night, with breakfast included. As a singaporean, I am angry and disappointed at this standard of service. While we boost of our country as one of the leaders in term of living and services, this is the kind that will shame us. — Roman , Singapore (2009-12-15) Marvelous! The dorms hold a lot of people, maybe about sixteen? However it really doesn't feel like it, with the sheets partitioning everyone, you really feel like you're in your own room. Location is brilliant, on a quiet street just outside of Little India. Lots of market stalls and great places to eat. 7/11 across the pedestrianised road. Staff are very helpful, we wanted to book another night but they were overbooked. Kevin suggested other hostels around based on cleanliness and how well they're run. The atmosphere is very laid back -- free internet, yummy cookies, and a very relaxing seating area outside to sit and drink your Tiger and eat your noodles. To be honest, the best hostel I've stayed at. — Gav , England (2008-06-13) Terrible. Very bad service. I come often to singapore for business as I am a sales representative from a Pharma Co. in Indonesia. I have stayed in a lot of hotels & backpackers as well, but The Sleepy Sam's Bed & Breakfast takes the cap. First of all upon reaching, The reception is very unfriendly, she was uncouthly dressed, no help whatsoever, she is coarse, nasty, almost hostile that due to a guest arrival, she has to work. Inside its as if walking into a horror movie, Bags cluttered all over the floor, just 1 terminal (for computer) working, no free towels available (as stipulated in their ads, inclusive of free towels), Leaking toilets, walls not full to the ceiling. The breakfast no such big deal. The rates in respect to other backpackers in S'pore is expensive. AND the location what they drum up in their ads is not as true as it sounds. It takes approx 10mins, not 3mins walk to MRT & 20 mins not 10 mins to little India. For such a tiring hot walk, any other hostel is well comparable as most are located very near to MRT, bus stands. — Reimsz santos , Indonesia (2008-02-10) Looks good on the outside but reception unfriendly. We wanted to find out more about the room rates from the counter girl, but her response is not friendly at all. — YP , JAPANESE (2008-01-18) Terrible service and unreliable bookings I have been a female backpacker for years, and have never been into a hostel as irresponsible as this. I reserved this hostel with deposits paid days before my arrival. In the confirmation I specified that transport would delay, and estimated to arrive at 9 p.m. I arrived at 10 p.m. and there was already no bed for me. The receptionist at first claimed that she did not received my confirmation. When I showed her my reservation and confirmation, she suddenly claimed that I came late. No bed was available anymore. After all the fuss, it was already 11 p.m., so I asked if she would help me on finding any nearby hostel that may provide shelter for the night. She threw me a guidebook and said "Find by yourself!" Outraged! I am really fed with the attitude of this hostel. I understand this hostel located in Bugis, an interesting area. But all area in Singapore are well connected by the MRT transport system. In one of the safest cities in the world, location is definitely not a concern. — Holly , Hong Kong (2007-08-22) Extremely bad service I managed to get a confirmed booking (from another hostel booking site) for a friend visiting me from Hong Kong. (deposit was deducted from my card). Since it was a very late booking, I took the additional precaution of sending an email to double confirm my booking. On the night of arrival, I was told that there was no booking under my name, although the receptionist was able to tell me that the name under which the booking was supposedly not made (what a contradiction!). She later excused the hostel's mistake by saying that that since we had arrived later than the time specified in the email (by one hour! -- due to flight delay), she had "given up the room," since there were "a lot of walk in customers" that day. Which is absolute bollocks since it was clear to us that she had given up the room in the morning and was just trying to justify the mistake. Since it was close to midnight, we decided not to pursue the matter and asked if there were any hostels nearby which we could try. What happened next really shocked us. She literally threw a guidebook on the table and said "call yourself." And promptly walked away. Hows that for service attitude? I can understand if there was a blip on the computer system (stuff happens) but I was really upset by the unhelpfulness and rudeness of the staff. I will never recommend this hostel to any of my friends visiting Singapore ever again. And I didn't even stay there! — Rachel , Singapore (2007-08-18) Disappointed I've stayed here twice now. First time I arrived on my birthday and they gave me a free beer, which was nice. I slept for the entire duration of my stay (just over a day), before jumping on an early flight to Australia. I didn't really have time to form an opinion. It was inoffensive enough for me to re-book. Second time I stayed, I notified them that I'd be arriving late and so was supplied with the door code by email, which worked fine. A bed had been arranged for me and I went straight to bed. Then I got up again, unable to sleep because of screaming kids playing in the street outside 'til 2 a.m. There's a few cafes close-by with on-street seating and it seems that parents sit and drink while kids run amok and unattended. Not many folks could sleep that night, hence the crowd of lodgers sat on the pavement outside smoking and having a few drinks 'til the kids finally left. Not the hostel's fault, but definitely a negative point in terms of hostel location. Anyways, back to bed. Then up again. Chap snoring louder than a wounded pig in the bed next to me. Again, not the hostel's fault, but the very close proximity of the tightly packed (although very clean) beds in the dorm made sleep impossible for me and the three others surrounding snoring man. We woke him on several occasions, but every time he returned to sleep and snored again. No sleep in seven hours then. Don't get me wrong, I've been living in dorms for the past fourteen months and it's always a case of making the best of a bad situation when you've got a snorer, but this guy was unbearable. Again, I know this isn't the hostel's fault, but the staff really pissed me off the next morning (this morning, actually), because I told them about the problem and asked if I could move beds. "Don't worry," they said, "he not there tonight." Ok. I asked them if they were certain, because otherwise I'd go and find a cheap hotel, saying that I really didn't mind, but sleep was important to me. I stressed that I understand it's not their fault and that I understood that broaching a subject like that with a guest is a sticky issue for them, but they assured me that he was leaving. I paid for another night and then I went out for the day. I returned at 4 p.m. -- snoring man still snoring. Check-out time was 11 a.m. I didn't get a single wink last night -- neither did the other chaps in this part of the dorm. I've got a very long flight early tomorrow and hoped to spend the afternoon snoozing. I nudged the chap again, told him again that he was snoring, but he doesn't understand and goes back to sleep. And snores. He's got a cold too. Nice. I think he's Malaysian and doesn't speak English, so every time someone wakes him to explain that no one else can sleep, he just looks at them in confusion and goes back to snoring. The staff are now saying that he's booked in for tonight, despite assurances earlier in the day that he was definitely leaving. He's not left bed all day and so can only have made the booking prior to when I asked them if he was staying. Even if he did make another booking that day (which I know he didn't), I've been hanging around all day under the noses of the staff who were very aware of my issue with snoring man, and they could easily have informed me that he was now staying. I made a point of asking them three times if he was staying, and they actually seemed to be pissed off with me repeatedly asking, but I also stressed that I was more than happy to go elsewhere because I needed sleep. So anyways, the point is is that they lied to me to get another night's rent, refused to refund me and then washed their hands of the complaints me and others made. There was a staff changeover at 4 p.m. and so as far as they're concerned, there's no problem. As for general musings on the place -- it's nice and airy, but that doesn't justify the price. s$25 is expensive for a cramped dorm, no matter which way you look at it. The "private" rooms are verging on a scam because there is absolutely no increased privacy over the rest of the dorm, because the thin divider walls are only seven feet high. The notion of there being separate male/female and mixed dorms here is a myth -- it's all one big room and I really can't see how they can justify saying it's anything other than that. There are also mattresses on the floor in the corners, such is their craving to maximise income from the space they've got. The staff I met were cold and seemed to lose their patience quite quickly with guests. The "free" breakfast is nice (but it's not really free when the room costs 8 dollars more than elsewhere in Singapore!) and the cafe and downstairs chill-out areas are airy and cosy, if a bit too cramped. The bathroom is nice, although they could do with more than four showers. The showers and toilets are combined in the same cubicles, so there's often quite a long wait in the morning. There is free internet, but one of the computers was broken on my visit. A couple have spent the entire afternoon -- over four hours so far -- on the internet, and so I'm using an internet cafe round the corner at present. I asked them if they were likely to be finished soon on several occasions, but each time I got a straight "no." Again, me and a few other folks notified the staff that we'd like to use the internet if at all possible and that the couple had been on the two computers all day, but the lady just said to ask them ourselves. We told her we had done on several occasions (all of this in earshot of said couple who were pretending not to hear), but as far as the staff lady was concerned this was not her problem, so in her eyes the problem didn't exist. It's easy to be problem-free by just choosing to ignore problems brought to your attention, eh? This post makes me sound like a proper whiner, but believe me, I understand better then most that hostels are all about compromise and I've never complained about one before. I've been pissed off before with snorers and noise, but I've never complained. The staff at this place really, really rubbed me up the wrong way repeatedly today. I give the place credit where credit's due, but I'm also not afraid to pull my punches when it comes to criticising. — Tim , UK (2007-07-15) Pros -- Good location. yery white, clean sheets and pillow cases. Bathrooms clean. Rooms are clean. Breakfast ok. can't demand with the low rate for accommodation. Air conditioning ok. Most staff are friendly. Cons -- Not safe for a woman to go to the bathroom at night. One has to pass rows of bunk beds where males are sleeping. Bathroom on ground floor leaking. I had no intention to shampoo but had to. I wouldn't know what kind of water was that. No lockers in the room to keep passport, and other valuables when going to bathroom. No dish washing soap in the kitchen. I just rinsed the breakfast bowl, glass, and spoon with water. The bags lying along the way when you go upstairs are an eyesore. They all look like a clutter. The management should do something to make the place orderly. The walls to the rooms did not reach the ceiling. Anyone with bad intentions could just climb over it. No security for females. Only one terminal working. We don't mind paying as long as a computer is readily available for use. The website says towels are available but none at all. Perhaps it should be specified whether these are for private rooms only. Some pictures in their website are not the reality. As a whole, the place is ok for the price one pays. — Elmira , Philippines (2007-05-02) Oh dear. Not a good track record by the looks of things. I, on the other hand couldn't be more happy with Sleepy Sams. The common room is cosy, Jason is a legend, the free breakfast is nice, and the dorms beds were comfy. They switch the air conditioning off in the dorms during the day but if you're still in bed then you should get your lazy arse outside. Maybe they've updated the air-con since the hostelz.com review because I found it very comfortable at night and despite the dorms being fairly large, people were very respectful and I had no problems sleeping. Highly recommended! — Bobby , England (2007-04-01) Great location. That's it. We waited two hours at eight a.m. before we were "allowed" to enter. (Despite their flyer telling they have twenty-four reception). Very unfriendly staff, no "good morning," nothing. Quite expensive, there are better deals around (with your own bathroom).
You also cannot have a look at the room first, first you have to pay. Strange isn't it? — Stefan (2006-06-03) Really not that great -- a bit expensive compared to others in the area, not offering anything truly spectacular over and above. Don't count on the breakfast wowing you either (the name B&B would imply something more than a piece of toast, but that's what you're getting. Look elsewhere first, you will likely find a much better deal. Their location is pretty good though, I will admit that it is a quiet street. Though the amenities are nowhere near as plush as described, and private rooms are priced higher than local hotels (and are nowhere near as private). Free internet access and well appointed washrooms are as promised. — Josh (2006-04-19) Sleepy Sam's love to make themselves out to be something that they are definitely not. The only thing "luxury" about this place is the cost — and you don't get what you pay for. Not only will you pay what must be the highest rate in the city for a dorm bed (25 Singapore dollars when the average is $18 SD) but on top of that they rent towels for $1 and otherwise rip you off. (They charge $5 for a can of beer that costs $3.50 in restaurants and other guesthouses). The dorm is just one big huge room with a wall erected to partially divide it, but they refer to things as if they have several actual dorm rooms and they don't. Their "private rooms" ($65 SD) are just closets that are located at the end of the dorm hall and don't even have real walls that extend to the ceiling, so you hear everything in the dorm and everyone else can hear you. We stayed here two nights before going elsewhere. — Anonymous (2005-02-12)