On Top Backpackers

Dunedin

3 of 15

Address	12 Filleull Street, Corner Moary Place and Filleul St, Dunedin South Island, New Zealand
Price	Price may vary by season - Check Current Prices by Date Here

Location/Contact

Their Description

The Hostelz.com Review

Staying in Dunedin? On Top Backpackers is a good place to stay. Located in the center of town and with new facilities and friendly staff, you won't be disappointed. On Top Backpackers is across the street from the Town Hall on the corner of Filleul Street and Moray Place. Just look for the large white building with lots of large windows and the hostel sign.

On Top Backpackers has good, new, and clean facilities. After checking in, you'll find the dorms and communal areas at the top of the staircase. The hostel is arranged along the open-air walkway up here, with several short side hallways where you'll find the rooms, and a large communal area with a kitchen, dining area, and television. Open-air seating is also available with great city views. In the restaurant/bar downstairs, you'll find internet access as well.

Room options include six- to eight-bed dorms and double, single, and twin rooms. You'll immediately notice the bright windows and cheerful paint in the dorms, which have nice bunk beds and linens. Toilets and showers are located near the dorms. The hostel was thoughtfully designed with additional "night-use" toilets at the end of the short hallways near every room, as well.

Definitely consider staying in the cheery and welcoming On Top Backpackers while visiting Dunedin and the nearby attractions!

— Exclusive Hostelz.com Review
May 2006

Ratings & Comments

2.3 Average from 4 Ratings

This is an open forum, and unlike other hostel guide websites we don't censor out the negative comments.
We can't validate the legitimacy of comments posted on this site—so take what you read here with a grain of salt.

Comment by Paula & Steve, Ireland

June 2008

Could be so much better!
We would love to rate this backpackers five stars. The facilities definitely deserve it. The kitchen is spacious and well equipped with plenty of tables and the TV area is comfy and sits several people. The rooms are clean and warm and the bathroom facilities are excellent. Very secure. Location is also good -- which for Dunedin means not on a hill. The problem with this hostel is the manager. He is particularly unfriendly and unhelpful -- even to staff as we overheard. Items such as the gas hobs being turned off at 11 p.m. with no notice or signs are not mentioned at check in. In fact, the check in process is nothing more than an exchange of money -- no facilities are pointed out and you are left to find your room yourself. The noticeboard doesn't seem to do much except list the many ways your key deposit can be withheld. Overall, the atmosphere is lacking but if you need a clean, decent place to stay this is it.

Comment by AJT, UK

January 2008

Terrible
Worst hostel experience of my life. We booked two nights in a double room at this hostel. On our second morning the manager knocked on our door and told us we had to move to another room and that we had been told this when we booked and when we checked in. We had not been told this at any stage and asked why the other customers couldn't be put in the room that they wanted to move us to (which wasn't as nice). The manager (who lacks any customer service skills altogether) wouldn't give us an explanation, but from what we could tell they had double booked the room and the other customers had paid for ten nights. it was therefore worth it for the manager to turf us out and replace us with the people he would get more money from! The manager then told us that if we didn't move out immediately he would wipe our key cards so that we couldn't get into our room, and he would throw our stuff out of there himself. As I went off to open our door so that he couldn't lock us out, he ran off to reception to wipe our cards before I could open the door (a mature attitude for a business owner)! I went to ask him to let us into our room and he kept refusing until I eventually had to threaten to call the police! It was only then that he let us get back into our room and organised a comparable double room for us at a nearby motel. We are reasonable people and understand that double bookings and mistakes are inevitable, but the manager's handling of the situation was simply unbelievable. If he had just admitted his mistake and helped us find a comparable room in the first place we would have happily gone. But his attitude was to blame us, take no responsibility for his mistakes, and lock us out of our room! The hostel itself is very nice, and new, but it's not going to stay open very long as long as the manager is favouring one guest over another.

Comment by Tess, The Netherlands

March 2007

This was the worst hostel I ever stayed! The people who work there are very rude! I twisted my ankle in the hostel on a regular monday. When I told them I wanted to go to a hospital they laughed in my face several times and they said to me that I was stupid. I was sleeping in a top bunk and when I asked for a bottom bunk, they told me to arrange it myself. I was not able to walk, traveling by my own, and didn't know anybody in the hostel because I just arrived there. At the hospital they told me I broke my foot that day. My trip was over. They never apologised to me! Do not stay there!

Comment by Jorge

February 2007

This hostel is the best i've stayed in NZ. It's absolutely clean, the kitchen is big, clean -- perfect. It's not noisy and the double room is really nice. The shared bathroom is clean and big. The hostel is also really safe and well located. They have only one problem. If you are driving, they don't have park, and if you want to park in the public park beside the hostel, you must pay for that. This problem, anyways, is almost nothing close to the high quality of this hostel.

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