The Hostelz.com Review
The Old Swan Barracks could be one of the best hostels that ever existed, but it isn't. It falls short on too many counts, but it certainly has a lot going for it too.
The Location
The location is great. The hostel is within easy walking distance to the city centre and has lots of local amenities nearby like the train station, library, nightlife, and supermarkets. The hostel itself is also very easy to find -- it is unmissable, in fact. The unique architecture of this former army barracks is a huge plus point and the neighbourhood is quiet and safe. Parking is also available.
Rooms and Bathrooms
There are a variety of rooms available ranging from private rooms to larger dorms. The dorm rooms have secure door locks and in-room lockers along with bunk beds, a desk, and a fan to keep you cool. Unfortunately, more than a fan is needed, but there is no air conditioning around and this is even more of a disadvantage if you find yourself on a bottom bunk. You are given fresh bedding to take to your room on arrival, but it can be a problem to know which bed is yours as they are not made up and sometimes former guests have not gotten rid of their stuff. The rooms are also cleaned every five days so there are basic cleanliness standards.
The bathrooms are satisfactory. The showers are warm and regular and have space to change as well as hooks and shelves for your clothes and soap dishes for your toiletries.
Common Spaces
There are common rooms galore. Downstairs you will find an absolutely massive bar area complete with a large dining area, desktop computers, a lounge for watching a large cable TV, small book exchange, many pool tables, another even bigger TV on the wall, tourist information leaflets, and a large kitchen and pantry area for self-catering. The hostel runs themed nights such as pizza night and pool comps. There is also an outdoor seating area out the back for catching some rays. Also downstairs you will find a designated TV/movie room with DVDs available from reception. More desktop computers can also be found near the reception (you can also buy cold drinks and snacks here). Out the front there is even more outside sitting.
Moving upstairs, there are more desktop computers with internet again; all cost money to connect. Wi-Fi is available throughout the building too. At the top of the building there is another large TV/movie room as well as another kitchen and further TV room with tables and chairs. The hostel also provides a free breakfast, but it comes with conditions. Firstly, if you want the cereal you have to provide your own milk. Secondly, if you want to use the jams or sugar and hot drink powders then you will have to turn a blind eye to the occasional fly that lands in them.
It seems that one of the undoings of this hostel is the type of guests it attracts. Some are there for the medium- to long-term, so this can be a problem -- especially if you are not a fan of drugs and awaken on your first morning there to find three people doing hard drugs on the desk right next to your bed and then have to deal with them tripping. We asked and were allowed to move rooms, because it was evident it was not safe to stay in the room with the revelers. The hostel only temporarily evicted one of these people because he was behind in his rent, ignoring his drug use in the toilets and his falling flat on his face in the lounge area. The staff were aware of his drug use and apparently informed the police. Strangely enough, he was allowed back in only two days later, complete with a full arm cast after his exploits. The other drug users never had to leave at all.
The hostel is social, but it also has an edge. Being quite a smoky hostel is the least of its problems. If you arrive on a Friday night then you can naturally not expect a warm quiet welcome -- especially as the bar is open to the general public. Having a doorman does not do much to make one feel secure. Another annoyance, depending on your feelings, is the omnipresence of cockroaches -- running in the hallway, in the kitchen upstairs under your feet as you eat, and also on the walls and in the bathrooms. The hostel is not overrun with these critters, but they do call it home. The hostel does make a good fist of it by putting the necessary deterrents in the dorms every six weeks so you know you can sleep safe. That is, if you don't mind lizards.
A final annoyance is the pettiness of the hostel rules. You can understand them, but they do seem to punish some guests. You have to pay a substantial amount for the key deposit, then another sizable amount for the cutlery deposit, and the same substantial amount for a DVD rental. Don't even think about using any of this money either to book an airport shuttle. You will have to get more to pay for this. So you end up with a lot of cash coming back at the end. The hostel takes a big cut and doesn't offer any discounts for more than one person when booking the airport shuttle. You also have to give your key in for pots and pans to cook, so self-catering can be even more a chore than usual.
Summary
This hostel falls short on too many counts, but it certainly has a lot going for it. The decision is yours.
The Location
The location is great. The hostel is within easy walking distance to the city centre and has lots of local amenities nearby like the train station, library, nightlife, and supermarkets. The hostel itself is also very easy to find -- it is unmissable, in fact. The unique architecture of this former army barracks is a huge plus point and the neighbourhood is quiet and safe. Parking is also available.
Rooms and Bathrooms
There are a variety of rooms available ranging from private rooms to larger dorms. The dorm rooms have secure door locks and in-room lockers along with bunk beds, a desk, and a fan to keep you cool. Unfortunately, more than a fan is needed, but there is no air conditioning around and this is even more of a disadvantage if you find yourself on a bottom bunk. You are given fresh bedding to take to your room on arrival, but it can be a problem to know which bed is yours as they are not made up and sometimes former guests have not gotten rid of their stuff. The rooms are also cleaned every five days so there are basic cleanliness standards.
The bathrooms are satisfactory. The showers are warm and regular and have space to change as well as hooks and shelves for your clothes and soap dishes for your toiletries.
Common Spaces
There are common rooms galore. Downstairs you will find an absolutely massive bar area complete with a large dining area, desktop computers, a lounge for watching a large cable TV, small book exchange, many pool tables, another even bigger TV on the wall, tourist information leaflets, and a large kitchen and pantry area for self-catering. The hostel runs themed nights such as pizza night and pool comps. There is also an outdoor seating area out the back for catching some rays. Also downstairs you will find a designated TV/movie room with DVDs available from reception. More desktop computers can also be found near the reception (you can also buy cold drinks and snacks here). Out the front there is even more outside sitting.
Moving upstairs, there are more desktop computers with internet again; all cost money to connect. Wi-Fi is available throughout the building too. At the top of the building there is another large TV/movie room as well as another kitchen and further TV room with tables and chairs. The hostel also provides a free breakfast, but it comes with conditions. Firstly, if you want the cereal you have to provide your own milk. Secondly, if you want to use the jams or sugar and hot drink powders then you will have to turn a blind eye to the occasional fly that lands in them.
It seems that one of the undoings of this hostel is the type of guests it attracts. Some are there for the medium- to long-term, so this can be a problem -- especially if you are not a fan of drugs and awaken on your first morning there to find three people doing hard drugs on the desk right next to your bed and then have to deal with them tripping. We asked and were allowed to move rooms, because it was evident it was not safe to stay in the room with the revelers. The hostel only temporarily evicted one of these people because he was behind in his rent, ignoring his drug use in the toilets and his falling flat on his face in the lounge area. The staff were aware of his drug use and apparently informed the police. Strangely enough, he was allowed back in only two days later, complete with a full arm cast after his exploits. The other drug users never had to leave at all.
The hostel is social, but it also has an edge. Being quite a smoky hostel is the least of its problems. If you arrive on a Friday night then you can naturally not expect a warm quiet welcome -- especially as the bar is open to the general public. Having a doorman does not do much to make one feel secure. Another annoyance, depending on your feelings, is the omnipresence of cockroaches -- running in the hallway, in the kitchen upstairs under your feet as you eat, and also on the walls and in the bathrooms. The hostel is not overrun with these critters, but they do call it home. The hostel does make a good fist of it by putting the necessary deterrents in the dorms every six weeks so you know you can sleep safe. That is, if you don't mind lizards.
A final annoyance is the pettiness of the hostel rules. You can understand them, but they do seem to punish some guests. You have to pay a substantial amount for the key deposit, then another sizable amount for the cutlery deposit, and the same substantial amount for a DVD rental. Don't even think about using any of this money either to book an airport shuttle. You will have to get more to pay for this. So you end up with a lot of cash coming back at the end. The hostel takes a big cut and doesn't offer any discounts for more than one person when booking the airport shuttle. You also have to give your key in for pots and pans to cook, so self-catering can be even more a chore than usual.
Summary
This hostel falls short on too many counts, but it certainly has a lot going for it. The decision is yours.
— Exclusive Hostelz.com Review
February 2011
Their Description
The Old Swan Barracks Details
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The Old Swan Barracks Reviews on Other WebsitesHostelz.com Guest Reviews
Awful awful awful! The staff need an attitude makeover. — Anonymous , Australia (2012-01-30) I felt more like a prisoner than a guest To start with the positive, the building looks really nice, its location is pretty good and definitely could have a good vibe with the big hall. I had a really good time talking to other prisoners, eeh guests. That's pretty much everything. It started with the unfriendly and not very welcoming staff at reception. some didn't even understand me speaking bad english. Unfortunately I paid for 2 nights in advance. Some more facts I didn't like: provided linen had a lot of hair in it, a couple of holes, and blood sprinkles. they wanted to keep my sleeping bag, so I asked for a sleeping bag deposit, they wouldn't give me one, so I kept it. you had to rent a kitchen pack for 10$, the fridge in the kitchen was so stuffed, I couldn't put my bag in. the provided continental breakfast included coffee, toast, and cornflakes, but it didn't come with milk!! the whole place is covered with signs what you must not do and what might happen if you do it anyway, the worst said you will get evicted, your visa will get taken and you will be removed out of Australia. bathrooms very unhygienic. no air-conditioned rooms, really hot at night, no cool water out of taps -- it's always warm. you must not bring your own alcohol, because there is a bar. otherwise they'll take it and you won't get your key deposit back. internet didn't work -- the machine where you were supposed to buy your login-codes was broken. they clean the rooms with some chemicals once a week to fight bugs. on that day you are not allowed to use your room and you have to pack all your stuff in your lockers, otherwise it gets thrown out. Sorry, but this is for sure the worst hostel I stayed in OZ. — Ben , Germany (2010-01-21) Horrible place I stayed here for seven weeks, simply because I made good friends here. The hostel itself is rubbish. The Scottish manager is nothing short of arrogant. My friend that was staying there made my booking on my behalf. Due to the fact that I was Irish, he had to pay my first nights accommodation. A few weeks later, I asked to move room. Once again the Scottish manager, amazingly asked me where I came from. As if he didn't recognize the accent. I knew there was a space available in the room I requested, but he fiddled away at the computer and said he had to "check" in the office. There I saw him ask one of his staff, clearly asking if I had put any foot wrong. Only because I was friends with the staff member he wouldn't have changed my room. They still managed to mess up the room transfer anyway. The place is too big, not much of an atmosphere. Plus points would be that it has a good location and they do cheap food deals on some days of the week. that's all though. — Paul T , Ireland (2009-08-02) The management is clueless I just came back from a week (05 May to 14 May 2009) at the Old Swan Barracks hotel in Perth. I'm still scratching my head, trying to figure out where the management is coming from. The free breakfast of cereal, toast, and coffee does not come with milk. We had to go buy that. We were told people were stealing the milk when it was free. You also have to leave a ten-dollar deposit to use the eating utensils, and you have to take them back to your room everyday after breakfast. Of course, they don't tell you any of this prior to check-in. The place has threatening signs on the walls within public view, predicting eviction and loss of deposits to people who take bread from the kitchen for purposes of making a sandwich later in the day or for various other petty offenses. One morning there was a sign on our door telling us to vacate the room between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. because they were going to spray with insect killer. The sign said we were not allowed to use the room for any purpose during this time. The sign also gave us explicit instructions on how we were to store our belongings so as not to impede their insect killing operation. After I angrily informed them that we had paid to use the room, they took the sign down and instructed their people to leave us alone. They did not spray. The room across the hall from us had a sign on the door, telling the occupant they were going to clean the room that day. The sign stated that anything left sitting on the floor, at the time of cleaning, would be thrown out. It goes on and on. I made the mistake of paying for a week in advance. If not, we would have moved out. I've stayed in many budget hotels in many parts of the world, over many years. Even with my airline and travel agency background, The Old Swan Barracks attitude was a new experience for me. I was told by a staff member that the reason they displayed such a negative attitude towards their guests was because most of the guests were young, and were known to cause trouble. However, they willingly accepted the young people's money. The young people my wife and I encountered in the hotel were very nice and considerate. When it become time to depart, I was told there was no telephone for me to use to call a taxi to the airport. I had to use a public telephone located up the street, about twenty meters. Keep in mind, this is a hotel with a computerized booking/front desk system, internet access, plus the latest video viewing toys, but no telephone for guests to call a taxi. This could go on and on. What an experience. I don't know the manager's business background, if any. He really belongs in some other industry. Other than the above, the hotel is clean, beautiful, and located perfectly. The negative management attitude destroyed what could have been a beautiful experience for us. The place needs a huge injection of hospitality. — PaulK , United States (2009-05-18) Hard to say we were both really looking forward to staying at this hostel and booked via phone two months prior to date of arrival and they took our credit card details. however, upon arrival we were told that they had no booking for us. after a long trip and arriving at 8:30 p.m. we were mega pissed off. the only thing we will say is that after phoning around and finding us alternate accommodation, and paying us the difference in price, that helped a lot. i'm sure this hostel is as brilliant as everyone says it is but we were unlucky to have this happen. — hayley and danny , england (2008-04-08) Not impressed well I have booked in for one night and am ready to leave after ten minutes! there is no atmosphere here and the place is so rundown and s**t! — mark , new zealand (2007-11-23) Unhygienic Never, ever stay there. It is absolutely disgusting and rundown. On arrival the receptionist didn't know what she was doing and actually charged me twice for the room. On site parking during the day is not free as advertised -- it is actually $5 per day. I was lucky to have this fee waived as I insisted to the manager this is what I saw on their website. The room was dirty and had no phone as advertised and luckily we brought our own bed linen as I found a tick on my pillow and the place is infested with bedbugs. I found one on my bed the morning we left and there was a girl staying there who laid in her bed for only twenty minutes and she was attacked by them from head to toe. Apparently more people staying there were also bitten by bed bugs. The toilets and showers were filthy -- there is no way they were cleaned by anyone. There was no soap in any of the toilet soap dispensers. We did not bother eating the free breakfast in the morning with fear that their kitchen would not be clean and full of creepy crawlies like the rest of the place. For $68.80 a night (or double that in my case) I did not expect luxury but I did expect this place to be clean and hygienic, which it clearly was not. This place needs to be shut down and fumigated. I am going to report them to the Health Authority. — Kitty , Australian (2007-11-22) I stayed here for just a night but that was enough. While the recreation area and kitchen are very spacious, the overall hostel is rundown. The room we booked into had two broken beds and the linen was absolutely filthy. Would not recommend this place. — Marie , Ireland (2007-04-25) This hostel was basic. The sheets were clean but that was about it. Carpets were dirty and worn in the room, with bits of paper litter scattered about. The furniture was fit for the skip (that's probably where it came from). I was there in the winter and it was cold with the room having a broken window, and this was in one of the more expensive single rooms. The guy who seemed to be in charge and worked at the front desk had a real attitude problem, and was completely unapproachable and wasn't worth talking to. What's more he seemed to bully the other staff. The atmosphere was ok with a few friendly travelers about in the big recreational room. This was more or less a big hall with table tennis, pool tables, internet, some old gym equipment, eating in it -- it was just too cluttered -- you wouldn't want to use the gym stuff with other folk eating for example. Wouldn't stay here again. — Mark (2006-12-11) Its too big! its like a warehouse, its cold and the breakfast bread was stale, Its close to the museum and art gallery but Its also very noisy and a needs better windows, not bad value but much better places down on aberdeen st. — travelling spectre (2006-06-13) This is a really spacious hostel, with pool tables, table tennis, and a TV/lounge area downstairs. The kitchen is a good size, unless there are lots of people cooking at the same time. There are lots of crockery, but only a few pots/pans, so you have to be quick. The microwave doesn't seem to have been cleaned for a while, but at least it works. The breakfast that's included is bread, which you can toast, with butter and spreads. For a little extra, you can have a TV and fridge in your room, but our TV reception was really bad, and we could only watch one channel, even when we got a different aerial. There are a lot of students there, as there is a college next door, so there's always people to talk to. The toilets/showers were only cleaned a couple of times during the week we were there, but they were never particularly dirty. — LK (2005-08-29) This place was lacking a few things, as it is only just being converted into a hostel. The gym, although advertised, isn't available, and the walls between the rooms are as paper-thin as the ancient, single-pane glass that lets in all the traffic noise. The rooms are clean and secure enough. It's ok for a cheap night or two but at least it's well located. — Ant n Sar (2005-04-01) This is an excellent budget accommodation in Perth. I have not come across one with such spacious common areas for lodgers. There are pool tables, a gym, big sitting area, and TV lounge. Great value for money. Very clean and excellent location, within walking distance to a lot of amenities. — Amelia (2005-03-30) Great place to stay. It's very clean and fresh, the best place in town. — Anonymous (2005-03-07) Its OK here, but lacks a lot of atmosphere, and there were a lot of locals staying here. I'd stay here again if I was working in the area, but there are better places in Aberdeen St. if you're on a holiday. — Tony Pilkers (2004-07-26)