Tinbilly Travellers

Noisy, dirty backpacker factory
Brisbane is probably a lovely city, but this backpackers really soured my experience of it. (Unfortunately I was in Brisbane at a busy time and couldn't get into any other hostel -- believe me, I tried!). The best thing that can be said about it is that it is opposite the transit centre. The bathrooms are en-suite and in the four days I stayed there I don't think it was cleaned once. En-suite dorm bathrooms are a pain in the ass too because you have to go back to your room if you want the loo and if one of your dorm mates is having a shower, you can have a long wait. There is a really stupid key-card system where you have to put your card in a slot to get the lights and air-con to work. Which means if your room-mate leaves whilst you're in the middle of a shower you can be plunged into darkness. The sole communal area is dominated by a massive TV with the volume turned up loud and the volume control broken, so it's not an easy place to meet people. The kitchen is crowded and dirty -- you'd think with the amount you pay to stay here they could afford to have someone come up every couple of hours to wipe the surfaces down. It's also ill-equipped (one tea-towel for the whole hostel) and you have to pay a (refundable) deposit if you want cups, plates which means that people eat out of the pans making it even more difficult to find something to cook in. The mattresses in the dorms are comfortable, but the loud music from the bar downstairs until the early hours doesn't make for a good night's sleep (even when you're two floors above at the back of the building). And you may also be unlucky enough to be woken up by pre-8 a.m. vacuuming of the corridor outside your door. There's no alcohol allowed in the hostel, probably because they want you to spend up in the backpacker bar downstairs. If you're into wet t-shirt competitions, international drinking games, and the like then you'll be well catered for. If you're not you'll still have to put up with the loud speaker announcements direct to your room telling you to come party with us every evening. And then may have put up with pissed up dorm mates staggering in in the early hours making noise and bringing new found friends with them (like I did). And if that's not enough to put you off, you have to pay $34 for the privilege of a four-bed dorm, which is a complete rip-off. Not worth the money by any stretch of the imagination.

Aside of the cockroaches the rooms were cramped. Six beds in a room that should sleep four at max is not ideal. Staff were nice and helpful. The Shower didn't drain away so the shower tray and bathroom filled up with water. Kitchen is a health hazard! The internet charges are very high and the rules of their card system is misleading. The tariff starts off high but decreases after a long time using it. However each time you use card it starts off high so there is no point in using their card if you don't plan to stay on it all day! Also, considering you can get internet for a fraction of the cost just around the corner it is a bit much!.

This place is very over priced for what it actually is. You can get bigger rooms more central if you look a bit closer to central station!

Shocking... Stayed 2 nights... Never agin i went out for a great day came back only to find THE STAFF HAD TAKEN IT UPON THEMSELVES TO MOVE ME ROOMS CAUSE THEY HAD DOUBLE BOOKED!!!!!!!! HAD ACTUALLY PICKED UP MY STUFF AND PACKED IT AND SHUVED IT DOWNSTAIRS IN THE OFFICE OPEN TO ANYONE!!!!! STILL AMAZES ME!

Just another backpacker factory. The dorms are pretty cramped and there seemed to be a lot of people living there long term and subsequently having ten times more stuff in the dorms than those backpackers who are just spending a couple of nights. The dorm I was in was like a very cramped flatshare and I got a bit annoyed at having to wait ages for the bathroom while the 3 long term residents got ready for work in the morning!!!! The bathrooms are too small and badly planned for 8 bed dorms - the owners should look to Gilligans in Cairns for sensible layout ie: keeping sink/loo/shower separate - far more efficient if you're trying to promote the "en-suite" concept as a plus. Staff here were not very friendly, overall the place is OK but lacks character. Bar was alright, nothing special. I'd probably stay somewhere else next time.

The Ac didn't work and with 10 people in the room the temp got up to 32 every night and the management did nothing, no compensation for their inadequacies. Jerks. All they want is your money. the kitchen sucks and the roaches are huge.

It's very average. The toilet in our room was absolutely disgusting. I asked the cleaner if he could actually clean it properly, and it still hasn't been done!! Meals in the bar are cheap, but so is the food. Steak had been done in a deep fat fryer and my dish looked radioactive.

Nice clean place. Only problem was the desk clerk at check-in: he was completely incomptent. It took over an hour and 4 tries to get me checked into a room with an open bed and a working key (and no, there were not any other guests to deal with at the time).

I stayed at Tinbilly's for a good 5-6 months. It is a very new-looking hostel, which is nice for a change if you have been staying in older buildings. It is in the city center, directly opposite the transit center, nice and handy. The bar was good and was about to be renovated, although after 6 months it became pretty dry! I advise people to go for a smaller room, as the 10-13 bed shared dorms were too packed out and messy. Also, go to level 3-4 if you do not want to hear the bar in your dreams. All in all, it's a good hostel with friendly staff, mainly backpackers working for accommodation.

Fabulous!!! They are not racist; they have international people working there and even an indigenous person. It was great, brand new, great staff, great location, and great travel deals. What more can I say?

Deplorable! I heard of a recent racial discrimination incident. It's a shame that the staff and management will accept and treat visitors with more respect and common dignity than they treat local indigenous peoples. Their business will only lose more clientele if they have this outlook. Oh well, it's their loss.

I stayed one night at Tinbilly's in Brisbane. I booked into one of the huge dorm rooms (I didn't want to spend a lot of money). The bar was really loud and I was only there for a good night's sleep. When I explained this to the guy at reception, he bumped me up to a smaller dorm room that was farther away from the bar. This hostel is VERY clean and I would recommend it to anyone travelling through Brisbane!

This was a nice enough hostel, but a bit pricey. It was lousy to have the staff refuse to look after my backpack when I checked out. "There are pay lockers in the Transit Center," I was told. Customer care, anybody??

Awesome, very luxurious for a backpackers - definitely recommend it.