Native Hostel Austin

Great style and design. I loved the atmosphere of the hostel.

Did not feel safe. The door to the back area where guests stay was always open. Anyone from the bar area could enter. One time I came into my room and two people who were not staying at the hostel were in the room visiting a guest. I also thought the common area had a weird "sewer-like" smell.

Breakfast. was above average. I really like that there were curtains over beds.

There is one open kitchen sink in every room (no separate bathroom). It means you can't use a shaver in the morning without waking everyone up, and whatever you do (dental floss, makeup, etc), you'll do in front of everyone. At least a privacy curtain would be necessary. When you register, they force you to sign a waiver hidden in the fine print: "By signing a registration form, I agree to hold Native Hostels Austin entirely free from any liability, including financial responsibility for injuries incurred, regardless of whether injuries are caused by negligence. By signing a registration form, I forfeit all right to bring a suit against Native Hostels Austin for any reason". This is abusive. In my 80+ hostels I stayed at all over the world, never did I have to sign such a waiver. When you've already arrived you don't have much of a choice but to accept it. Chances of a real injury are obviously very low, but in case of negligence (a bed falling on you, electrocution, whatever) they will happily wave the waiver you just signed. This needs to change.

If you love trendy accommodations, this is the hostel for you! The design is striking and incredibly photogenic, with the building itself sporting colourful graffiti on the outside, and moody art, carved wood, and brass finishings on the inside. The wifi was fast and free, and the staff were friendly - often going out of their way to strike up a conversation.

The location isn’t great, particularly if you’re a female solo traveller. Austin as a city is sprawling, and while you can walk to the borders of the city in around five minutes, you need to pass through a highway underpass to get there, which also is the chosen location for a segment of the local homeless population. While I never had any trouble from these rough sleepers, I still never felt safe walking to/from the hostel. The Capitol is about a 25 minute walk away, and there’s also no grocery store close by - the closest is a Wholefoods about a 30 minute walk away. I also found that most of the people staying at the same time as me were all older and seemed to be professionals staying for work. It meant that during the day, the common areas were populated by people working on laptops, so the vibe was quite serious and quiet. The breakfast was heavy on the sweets (think yogurt and granola, fruit, and white bread with spreads) which was sufficient in killing the hunger cravings, but was sickly to have each morning. I would have loved some brown bread and cheeses or sliced ham to help break up the sweetness each morning. This hostel wasn’t bad, by any means, but considering the price for a hostel, my expectations were high, and this didn’t seem to be value for money. If it was a little cheaper per night it would align with what you get.