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| - I do actually have a couple of complaints about this hostel, but I will start off saying that it is actually very clean, the staff is very friendly and hospitable, the hostel is very conveniently located a few blocks to the downtown/Capitol Sq. area and yet is very cheap (the cheapest you can find in the vicinity of downtown Madison). Finally, it is pretty environmentally-friendly and uses biodegradable cleaners & hand soap, has efficient lighting and has signs about water conservation, which I appreciated.
My complaints stem from things that occurred before I came to the hostel and at the tail end of my stay. I have a medical condition and so when I made my reservation so that I could attend a conference in Madison on a tight budget, I had requested a private room with a private bathroom (I offered to pay a little more for this privilege, but would have still saved a lot of money compared to any hotel in the area). The hostel agreed, and I was grateful for their willingness to accomodate me and my condition. After being assured of these arrangements, I registered for the conference and purchased my plane tickets. However, only a few weeks before my trip to Madison (and at this point I had had my hostel reservation for over a month), I received a terse e-mail from the hostel quickly apologizing that they had cancelled out my reservation because someone else who wanted to stay longer in it and pay more money for the room, wanted it. In the e-mail they made no attempt to arrange other alternative accomodations for me. I understand that the hostel is small and needs to turn a certain profit to stay open, but I still think it's unprofessional to cancel a reservation that had been in place for a while on short notice because there is the potential of a higher paying customer.At this point, it was too late for me get a refund on my plane tickets or my registration fee, and most of the other hotels in the area were either booked or way out of my price range. I basically had to make a lot of noise about the situation (including invoking my rights under the American Disability Act), and conjure up my own compromise that would allow me to stay at the hostel. The hostel did agree to it, and again, I was happy for their flexibility, though I wished they had put the effort in first. At the time of my arrival and during my stay, I was happy with the service and friendliness of the staff, and the orderliness of the hostel, until the time came to check out.
Since check-out at the hostel is at 10am, and my flight was not until the late afternoon, I had inquired upon making my reservation if it was possible to store my luggage in the front desk office in the interim period, so that I could run some last minute errands and enjoy some last moments in Madison. I was assured this was a service they provided. I also asked about this again when I checked in and again the night before I was due to check out. But when the time came to check out, no one was around and there was simply a sign on the door saying someone would be back in the office in the early afternoon. Several other people also were wondering where the staff was to check in, change keys, etc. I guess there had been an emergency and the front desk person fell ill and by some fluke there was no back-up for the front desk. I know stuff happens and again it's a small operation. I was unaware of the emergency (the note did not indicate it), had some leftover frustration about my first situation, and so left an e-mail and phone complaint before I left the hostel.
My complaint now isn't even with the situation itself, since it turn out to be a fluke, but that the hostel manager replied to my complaints stating that they are a non-profit and not a hotel and therefore not responsible for patrons' bags after check-out. Non-profit status was the same thing that was offered to me in defense for the first situation.
My complaint is that the hostel staff actively offered these services, assured them, but then when for whatever reason they couldn't follow through (even if it's for a good reason), the manager appealed to non-profit status as though it grants automatic immunity from any complaints for failing to provide services that were initially agreed to. I did not expect these services implicitly and the hostel manager should acknowledge that my frustration is justified from my perspective. I will say, that a staffer e-mailed me a very courteous apology and a reasonable explanation for the check-out situation, which is all I really wanted. But they caused a lot of stress and wasted a lot of my time prior to and at the end of my trip due to shoddy mgt and unethical priorities.
I had a nice stay though. I would just warn you if you have a medical condition, or another reason that impedes your ability to be flexible, you have a back-up plan.
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