Opinions CITY HOUSE HOSTEL NEW ORLEANS New Orleans

Not the nicest hostel I have stayed in. Many of the staff were nice, but the rooms were very cold, mattresses thin, uncomfortable pillows, and they don’t even provide everyone a blanket. They give you a duvet cover without a duvet inside. You’re lucky if you can find an extra duvet in the lobby. I understand it may be difficult to clean 6-bed rooms with so many rotating guests but there were dirty socks and slippers and some trash under my bed. It was a nice touch that upon arrival, even at 1 am, they greet guests by asking if they want a water, soda, or beer. Part of our stay was made much worse by an individual stumbling in inebriated late at night and snoring like a chainsaw, but that’s the risk with any shared-dorm type situation in the French Quarter, I would think. It’s great to have an economical alternative to hotels and airbnb in NOLA, but I’ll choose a different one next time.

Can't beat the price to stay right in the French Quarter. The staff were all friendly, rooms were adequately comfortable for the price and there was free beer. What more could you want?

All of these negative reviews are accurate. However the "Brazilian" and manager mentioned are one and the same. It's an awesome place but I must admit she is definitely not FIT for a managerial position or customer service. Especially not something as personal and private as a hostel. I loved everything there except for the way I was personally mistreated by someone who does not care about anything except herself.

This is a bare-bones hostel. It's decently clean (but the showers can get pretty gross). It's a good place to sleep in the French Quarter for cheap, but don't expect more than that.
There were not enough lockers in our room, and they weren't actual lockers, just bins with a metal loop drilled into them so they weren't very secure. There were also not enough outlets in our room, good luck charging your phone if you have a top bunk. The mattresses were clean but did not have any coverings under the sheets to prevent bed bugs or stains. Lobby reeks of urine.

My main issues were with check in and parking. The hostelworld page makes it seem like they provide parking, which is not true, the garage underneath them is super expensive and the employees were not helpful at all in parking recommendations.

Their page also says there is a check-in from 3-11pm. We arrived around 10pm and there was no check in procedure at all, no matter what time you arrived. They aren't checking IDs, no welcome, no introduction, you just get the pin code in your email. The only employee there said he was off the clock and was drunk in the main room.

I'd say only stay here if you just need a cheap bed, but I don't think I would necessarily recommend it.

NOLA 2024'

ハッピーアワーで、ビールが1本もらえるのと、朝食付なのが良い。毛布がないのにもかかわらず、寝室がとても寒かった。なのであまり良く眠れなかった。Wi-Fiは不安定でよく切れる。

Love the atmosphere here but was very uncomfortable in my room I spoke with multiple staff members about it being too cold in the room I asked for a working space heater for room and after a 4 day stay nobody was able to fix this problem

Clean, perfect location during the Mardi Gras season, and best of all great staff. Ray and Isaac made my stay much much better than I could have ever hoped for. Came to help me fix my codes when it wasn't working and made it a very warm, welcoming environment. Thank you and I'll come again!

DON’T STAY HERE! They have the worst customer service and they’re fake as hell. There is a hostel right across from them on Canal. Go there instead. The general manager is absolutely horrible. There’s only 2 nice people (John and Meg). I’ve never reviewed anything in my life…they’ve forced my hand to warn the public. They purposely set up bunking situations to make WOMEN, especially, uncomfortable as hell.

I want to caution anyone considering staying at this hotel. The manager's attitude towards Latinos was shockingly racist and unacceptable. Furthermore, the hotel staff utterly failed in handling harassment situations within their premises. They displayed a complete lack of initiative in providing solutions and ensuring the safety and well-being of their guests, actually exposing guests to more danger instead. It's disheartening to witness such a total disregard for guest safety and comfort.

In conclusion, I would strongly advise anyone to steer clear of choosing this hotel as their accommodation option

It’s the worst hostel I’ve ever stayed in, the staff has no training on how to deal with clients.
I received a text message saying that they were trying to communicate with me and that my access code was blocked til I called back, I called back and as soon as I said my name the front desk lady started yelling at me saying that I slept in another room with another price.
The day before I went to the front desk to express how uncomfortable I was because a guy was acting weird in my room, they told me it wasn’t possible because there was no free space, I locked my bag in another room where my friends were staying, but came back to sleep in my room.
The argument for kicking me out was that I slept in another room without permission and that I had to pay extra or take my stuff out with no refund.
The worst place EVER! Ew.

????????????Be careful women’s ????????????I wish I could leave 0 stars, this place is disgusting. If you are a woman and you are going to stay here, you have to know if you are exposed to a situation of abuse by another guest and you are going to file a complaint, no one is going to help you, they are going to mistreat you and they are going to throw you out of the place by canceling your reservation with the excuse that you did not pay the difference in price from one room to another because you had to flee in the middle of the night from your room to that of other guests. ????????????

If you’re a woman traveling alone, DO NOT STAY HERE. If you feel threatened by a man, their answer is basically that they do not care. They even kick you out of the hostel if you try to find a way to feel a bit safe (and they did not even refund the money).

Not Latino-friendly.

Absolutely horrible experience.

My au pair stayed here with one of her au pair friends and they had a terrible experience. The room was reasonably nice until a man started walking around in his underwear with an erection, staring at them. They brought the concern to the management and were yelled at, and they were told they weren't welcome to continue their stay. If you take a closer look at the reviews, you can see a pattern - the management is very racist against anyone who does not speak English as a first language. They were so uncomfortable that they used a police escort to collect their luggage. We ended up paying for the au pairs to stay at a different hotel after the management refused to give them a refund.

We booked a hostel by accident. Never stayed in one before but this place was so friendly and clean!! They made our first hostel experience amazing! I dont think we will ever not stay in one now!! If you need anything here, just ask! They will make it happen!!!

The location is good but the hostel itself is in a strange building. That means that there’s no windows ion the whole hostel. The living room is big and comfy enough. The bathrooms are somewhat clean. The rooms are rudimentary but fine. The staff is nice for the most part. Though I should mention that a woman, who I think is the owner or a manager, is the opposite of nice and polite. To her you will be a source of incomes and no more. On the 01/08/24 I checked out of my room at 11am as I was required to do. But I stayed and waited in the living room of the hostel for a good part of the day, I had a bus at 3:30pm. The living room is big and the hostel wasn’t crowded at all, I was waiting there with my only bag (40 litters so it’s really not big), and I was chatting with a guest. However that woman arrived a 3pm and asked why I was still there, I replied that obviously it was raining and the wind was strong and that I was about to go, just waiting inside for my bus. She said I had to be gone by 2pm already, and that I could stay in the lobby if didn’t want to stay outside, to which I replied that I was about to leave anyway, but that it was the first time in my hostel experience that I couldn’t wait in the living room. She then got really angry and said that I needed to get out of here.

So no you know what’s the mentality is like.

I don’t often give low ratings but I’d like to be honest about my experience and unfortunately, husband and I ended up checking out of this hostel early. A lot of the positive reviews are correct (cleanliness, location etc) But at the end of the day, travellers should be able to go back to a space that is relatively comfortable to sleep at night, and this hostel had such uncomfortable beds, it was next to impossible to get sleep.

Pros
- Location
- Very clean - rooms, common areas, bathrooms

Cons
- Beds - the mattresses were un-sleep-able. I’ve stayed in a lot of hostels and budget hotels in my lifetime and this was one of the most uncomfortable mattresses
- Check in - you cannot arrive anytime before 3pm, even to drop off your bags (which is unlike any hostel I have ever stayed in)
- The downstairs lobby - smelt like urine ????
- The staff - they were all friendly enough, but at times it felt like we (guests) were intruding on a bunch of housemates living together and we were inconveniencing them
- Wifi - did not work

The experience was great in general until the check out day. The crew, the Brazilian lady from the front desk and installations were fantastic. Everyone and everything was great until the morning front desk person behave in an absolute rude and disrespectful way. My negative episode happened Friday morning, the manager or whatever she was, treated us bad, entered to our room without announcing herself, breaking our privacy and screaming that we needed to leave the building. Moments after that, she made an scandal shouting and screaming that she was gonna call the police if we didn't leave the building. We were waiting for our rental car to show up and load our stuff onto a new destination. She kicked us out in the most irrational and disrespectful way possible and giving clearly racial and xenophobic references due to our lack of a versatile use of english, of course considering we were foreigner travelers. Screaming: speak English, here we speak English. This was one of the most disrespectful and embarrassing situations I've ever experienced on my travels. This lady should not be treating people the way she did and of course she shouldn't be involved in taking decisions or even interacting with guests. It's such a pity that such a beautiful experience lived at the hostel gets blown away by a disrespectful and ignorant idiot. It's so sad what a little mind can do with a tiny bit of power. So so sad.Unfortunately, i won't return to this installation ever again.

I stayed here in Nov '23 and had a great stay. The hostel is central, secure, and comfortable in the shared areas. I stayed in a single room which was sizable, and a dorm which was pretty standard for that kind of stay. There are heaps of showers and the bathroom was always clean.

What really stood out for me, however, was the effort of the staff to make everyone feel welcome and entertained. Each night we had the option to play games at 7pm and then head out to visit the local bars at 8pm. The staff were amazing, particularly Meg who was always warm and enthusiastic.

BEWARE OF FRAUDULENTLY HAVING RESERVATIONS CANCELLED! On 25/09/23 I booked 10 nights at this hostel for Mardi Gras week in Feb '24. My one bed in a 10-bed mixed dorm incl taxes came to $480 for all 10 nights ... and I booked my international flight around this reservation. Two months later (on 26/11/23) I received an email from City House saying that my booking had been cancelled due to some damage to the room requiring repairs. I panicked because I absolutely cannot afford to stay in hotels and my flight is not refundable. But then I thought ... wait - it's only November. Why would you not be able to have repairs done by February? So, I rang the manager. She claimed that they couldn't get the repairs done because of the upcoming Christmas holidays ... but TBH it sounded like a run-around to me. Basically - they knew they could get more $$$ for the bed now. I noticed on the hostel website that there were still beds available in a 10-bed dorm exactly like the one I had booked, so I requested that the manager give me one of those beds instead. She said she can't do that but that I was welcome to book it myself online. However, those beds are now $200 a night (YES, in a 10-bed dorm!!!) ... MORE THAN 4 TIMES WHAT I HAD BOOKED THE BED FOR TWO MONTHS AGO. When I brought this to the manager's attention and asked to re-book for the original price she told me she could not honour that price. Nope. If I wanted to re-book I would have to pay $200/night 'because that is the price now'. I was so frustrated and upset I was near tears. Meanwhile, the manager's stance was just kind of a 'tough luck but sorry I can't help you' attitude. Even when I explained that the ONLY reason I had booked this trip was because I had found affordable accommodation and now I am stuck trying to scramble to find something else ... I received NO HELP whatsoever. Do I actually believe that the room needs repair? Nope. Because what on earth would take months to repair? And if it were true that repairs were needed then they would (and should) honour my original price in another room. No ... I 100% believe this is a case of cancelling my reservation in order to re-book the bed at a higher price. The fact that a traveller who booked far in advance is now left high and dry is seemingly 'not their problem'. TO CITY HOUSE NOLA - SHAME ON YOU. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY DISGRACEFUL BEHAVIOUR.

Great value, right inside the French Quarter. The room was comfortable and the staff made the place feel like a big family home. I felt safe and welcomed there.

Perfectly located on the edge of the French Quarter. Clean and warm. We were treated to happy hours and a free and generous Thanksgiving meal.

There are so many things to like about this hostel. From the super friendly and helpful staff, to a level of tidiness that I have rarely seen in a hostel, to the great happy hour and complementary breakfast. The atmosphere is extremely friendly, and as it was our first time in Nola, we got a lot of super helpful advice from everyone at the hostel. Above everything it has an awesome location right next to the French Quarter and close public transport links. Wether it is your first time or not I would book this hostel without thinking twice!