I shouldn't complain given I have stayed in 3rd world countries in compounds. I have stayed in hostels before but this one had me feeling just that......hostile! First you should know that this hostel is not in a safe neighborhood. I needed a padlock for my locker and ice and the receptionist sent me to the market next door where I thought I could get gunned down at any time. When I was walking I was only stopped a couple times and asked if I was a prostitute. Wait a minute, now that I think about it I had 5 or 6 men ask if I needed a ride.....is that code for "Are you a hooker?" I'm not sure if it was my frisky blond hair or blingy shoes that would make them think that. I didn't know prostitutes looked so polished.
Now let me go back to the beginning. I have stayed in super nice hostels before. I loved the experience of it being inexpensive yet it being fun to meet new and interesting people. Beds were assigned and there was no confusion. I booked this on Priceline. On Priceline it asked me nothing about whether I wanted an all female room or a mixed room. It said an 8 bed room. I thought the more girls the merrier. Only to arrive and learn that my first night I would be staying in a room with all men. Super scary since one was a meth addict. The meth addict came in earlier in the day and asked one of the other guys if he knew where he could buy meth. I was in 5th stage REM sleep at 2 am but one of the other guys said the addict was walking and stomping up down the middle of the room when he came in. He left and when he came back in I opened up one of my eyes from my top bunk and all I could see without my contacts in him hanging like a monkey onto the top bunk from the bottom bunk. He was squirming anxiously not remaining still. He was having hallucinations as evidenced by him talking to nothing there. Then I saw him masturbating. Yeah I was sleeping with my selfie stick under my pillow. I complained about it several times to the front desk. I complained about not having a female room, but they were overbooked. I complained about the addict but they didn't seem to care or see it as a huge problem. The next evening when I came back one of the roommates told me that when they came in at 2pm the druggie was smoking pot in the room. He didn't come in again until 5 or 6am. When I got up he was asleep with his shorts down and his butt completely exposed. There were several times he'd go into the bathroom for long periods of time masturbating too! As if that wasn't enough drama there were 3 unoccupied bunks before he came back in and the couple in my room decided to have sex on the bunk below me. I didn't need an alarm clock. I woke up to being jolted around! Finally after telling 2 of the girls at the desk about this there was a guy there my 3rd and final night. Someone finally accomodated me and moved me to a female room. This was a huge problem for me being a nurse. I don't want drugs in my presence or in the same room as me. This place didn't care about my nursing license. They didn't care about my safety or me going to jail if I needed to use my selfie stick to defend myself potentially going to jail for killing the man.
That is the scariest part of this entire experience. Other things that made this a horrible experience is that I arrived with motion sickness and a migraine. The lobby has the filthiest worst smell ever. Up to arrival I had not puked yet. The smell of the lobby sent me outside dry heaving. The check in process was an extremely long process. Taylor at the front desk had a very negative vibe and no warmth to her personality. She should work on greeting people with a smile and friendliness. I received a sheet and a bath towel. There was no face towel. I was freezing with the AC cranked up (it was 100 in Vegas that weekend). I'm shocked I was able to get an extra warmer blanket. The bathrooms in both rooms were absolutely disgusting and filthy as well as the carpet in the rooms. They offer pancakes in the morning, but they don't even have an ice machine. Since Vegas is a desert wouldn't it make sense to have ice? I looked up where the hostel was before the trip but I must have put the wrong hostel in Google maps. This hostel is 4 miles from the strip and atleast a $20 Uber roundtrip to the strip and back. I normally drive but had an airline ticket that was expiring that I had to use. It would've been cheaper for me to drive with all of the taxis I paid for. I go to Vegas atleast once a year. The next time around I'm going back to the MGM, Circus Circus, or one of the other hotels. For real cheap you can get super nice hotels.