The Avenues Hostel

A weird and useful place to stay
I've been staying here as a wintertime base for skiing for five years now, and I have to say that it suits me just fine. The atmosphere is a little different than your average hostel, with a lot of locals living here full time. I like that. It offers an odd variety of exchange of experience uncommon to hostels. It is also ideally located downtown, right next to a great grocery store. There is almost a familial aspect to the staff here, and once you get to know them, they will do what they can to help you out. There is usually a fire in fireplace, and often dinner is made for everyone at the hostel! Now that's familial! For less than $20 a night, it can't get better than this -- cheers to the Avenues Hostel!

Absolutely awful!
While the pictures display a somewhat clean and pleasant hostel, my stay here was anything but! The place is more of a halfway house than a hostel, as most of the people there seemed to be older, sick druggies or alcoholics. When I called to make a reservation, the man said he put my name down, but upon arrival it was clear they were completely disorganized and didn't take reservations really. The room they gave us was a "semi-private" meaning we had a door directly to the shared bathroom, and it was just me and my travel partner. While this sounded fine, I spent over five hours of my night listening to a sick woman cough her lungs up and puke in the adjacent bathroom. It was absolutely disgusting and I left feeling like I had just contracted TB. Even worse, the first set of sheets they gave us had stains of them, and were taken from a pile on the floor of the office, which was far from clean. This is the worse hostel stay I've ever had -- I barely slept, listened to someone puke for hours, and was surrounded by mentally ill adults who had no better place to stay. Do not stay here!

Stayed here in 2006 -- the staff were friendly enough, however I would say that they didnt go out of their way to help us too much. A lot of the clientelle seemed to be live in residence and some of them were not the friendliest and seemed to have something against strangers.

Friendly and Helpful was the exact oposite of what I thought. I'm basing this on staying in a bunch of other hostels in the U.S. during the same few months. First night, I found out the next morning, a crazy guy got in (they don't ever lock their door and there's not a night worker there the whole time). He hid in the shower all day, my roommate found him and reported him to the staff. They did nothing until eleven that night. I went to bed. He had brass knuckles and punched the staff (two guys) and ran away. The cops got him, but what is that to say about this place? It is in a nice neighborhood and it was clean and big, but everyone there was basically living there because they had no place else to go, which isn't the purpose of a hostel if you ask me. Also, the morning of my checkout, I wanted to leave really early, but the kitchen was locked until seven thirty, so I planned to be there at seven thirty (yes, I could've taken my stuff out the night before, but seven thirty was fine with me). So, I went down, it was locked (do you see something wrong with locking the kitchen to protect the food, but not locking the doors to protect the hostelers?), there was a staff guy in the office, so I decided to check out and get my food after, it was still locked. I asked the guy to unlock it, since it was eight a.m., and I guess I opened a can of worms. All I heard was, "I'm trying to get this office open for the day, I have a lot of work to do, I get here so early in the morning, etc. I said, ok, I'll wait you don't have to be mean and he said "and since you already checked out I shouldn't even let you go in there." Um, ok, somebody's not a morning person. He opened it soon after, and I hit the road faster than I could say Salt Lake City.

A great hostel to stay while you are in Salt lake. The staff were nice and friendly. I got a lot of help. They were ready to help whenever I needed any information. Recommended.

This was my first time here in the summer but it was a layover from driving to Glacier National Park. I've also stayed here during the winter because of its convenient access to the UTA ski bus route. The hostel is located within walking distance of downtown and Temple Square in a safe neighborhood, not that there are any crime-ridden neighborhoods in Utah. It gets warm in Salt Lake and at least this time they put portable fans to cool down the rooms. The only warning to guests is that this hostel allows locals to stay here. These are not criminals, just folks that have had a bit of a setback and I believe the church helps them out. I've never had any problems while I've stayed here on multiple occasions.

Not a very good experience. The management was very rude. The guests were pretty unfriendly. The basic facility would have been fine, but the manager needs some serious training in making the guests feel welcome. Checking in and then finding out that the price doesn't include a single blanket was a shock. No explanation; just a three-ring binder listing extras (including a blanket for $2). I decided that next time I see a "No Refunds for Any Reason" sign, I will look the place over before paying.

This was our first experience at a hostel, and based on it, it will be our last. We made reservations as far back as Feb. 2005 for a four-night July 2005 stay. The staff were not ready for us. They were overwhelmed by our family of 12 and we were overwhelmed by them. All the bathrooms and the floors of the bedrooms needed to be washed and thoroughly cleaned before using them. Although there were nice residents there, there was a situation of one resident fighting loudly with a staff member in the early morning. There were definitely people staying there with emotional problems. Our reserved rooms were not available. We were told the ceiling had fallen in on one of our rooms so we were placed in another for night. The next day our room became available, not because the ceiling had been fixed but because the renter that was in there was moved to another room. There were no screens on the windows and what windows were there, were very, very dirty. I would not recommend staying here unless you are used to hostels and prepared to adjust to unclean rooms, less than adequate accommodations, an indifferent staff, and an expensive stay for a family. I will say that once we adjusted through the shock of the situation, we made the best of it and were able to enjoy ourselves in spite of the initial upset. There were two residents that were especially helpful and enjoyable, Richard and Christian. Thanks to these guys for making our stay better than it may have been.

This is really a disgusting hostel. I booked my reservation online for a private room and ended up being forced to sleep in the dorm area because they had given my room away. The manager, who smelled like he hadn't taken a shower in a week, told me that the people that take the reservations don't bother to write all of them into the book so that happens all the time. They do not refund your money either for any reason and they have a big sign that tells you so. This place really ended up being a layover spot for social misfits that were all pretty much from that area. I got stuck with a girl that had relationship troubles in Salt Lake and was trying to figure her life out while dating one of the other permanent residents at the hostel. She said that a lot of the people that stay there are working in Salt Lake. She also said that there was a girl living there in the dorm room across from the one we were sleeping in that had head lice that apparently had just left. It was seriously filthy though. They also charge $3 for 30 minutes on the Internet, which was a rip-off. I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone.

My first night here was pretty bad, as the ceiling in my dorm was leaking. I had three cooking pots on the floor to catch the water, and the constant dripping noise kept me awake all night. After I complained and got moved to another dorm, my experience here was much better. The staff are a bit indifferent, but all in all, not too bad. Just not amazing.

God forbid you want to check in after 10:30 p.m. They charge you an extra $10 for that. I don't know if that was regulation or if it was because I woke up the strange individual who checked me in. I didn't care about paying the extra fee at the time because I was on the road for 12 hours and just wanted to sleep. Plus, the linens I got were just a bed covering, a pillow case, and a very thin sheet. I stayed there in early March when it's still pretty cold. The next morning, I felt like I had to get out of Salt Lake City because I was also getting a weird vibe from the place.

Awful place. Avoid it at all costs. This hostel moonlights as overflow housing for the local psychiatric hospital and social services agencies. No kidding! I was forced to share a room with a paranoid schizophrenic who talked to himself all night and scared the $%&# out of me. Staff are rude and indifferent. Heaven forbid you forget to bring your sheets down when you check out. They'll treat you like a felon. Also, there are plenty of shiftless, long-term middle aged males in residence who couldn't be considered "youth" hostelers under any definition. I asked some of these characters where they were from and most were from Salt Lake. They weren't even traveling. This is where they live on disability or unemployment. Don't stay here!

Great hostel. The best hostel I've ever stayed at. It is located in a very nice neighborhood. The staff are friendly and it is clean and they even gave me a down comforter, which is unusual for a hostel. They also have all the information around the town and discounted ski tickets, which saved me more than $10. With that saving alone, my stay in the dorm was almost free. It is also very close to the supermarket. All in all, it is very conveniently located and a very nice place to stay after skiing.

I stayed here for one night and it was terrible! The neighborhood is good but that's about it. When I arrived I was curious about the many "No Refunds For Any Reason" signs. Well, I found out. They overcharge for Internet access. The single shower was in a hall closet about 3 feet by 3 feet, and it served maybe 20 people. The bunkroom was not air-conditioned, so no one could sleep in the heat. But the worst problem was the 40 to 45 flea and bedbug bites I got from the bunk. They lasted for about a week! And I did not sleep for more than half an hour that night! Every other hostel I've been to has been much better. As for Salt Lake City, I can't see any reason to visit at all. It's a very strange, bad-vibe place.

I have been staying at The Avenues since '89 and have never encountered problems or negativity there. I have seen 2 owners come and go and a few strange types staying there, but for a single female skier who likes to spend at least one week there, it's the way to go. Sure, sometimes it's a little funky and the kitchen is debateable (especially some of the fridge contents), but I get a single room and meet lots of people and will a continue to lodge there as long as these knees can ski!