Summer House Melbourne

3/5 - Mixed but mostly positive. Great staff and location, facilities and info could be improved. We had a mostly positive stay at Summer House—way way better than our experience at the ancient Sydney one. There’s a lift, plenty of space in the corridors and rooms and it’s more modern throughout. The staff are a credit to the brand, and went above and beyond to help us with anything we needed. That being said, it’s a youth hostel and you get what you pay for. We’re in our early thirties now so maybe we’re less tolerant of the inconveniences that come with staying at places like these. For example, the kitchen gets very busy, and again there was no room to store our groceries properly (fridge or non-fridge)—everything had to be stuffed in. There is a bathroom (toilet and shower) in every room. Good at first. But of course, at 2am a roommate decided to take (no joke) half an hour to take a shower. There’s no other toilets accessible in the building except on the rooftop floor, closed at night. If there was just one available for cases like this, that would be good, but tricky to implement. A much easier fix I’d recommend to management is to clearly list accessibility information on the website and provide a seat or two at reception. My partner injured her knees and struggled to use stairs or stand for long periods of time. These small things would have made the world of difference in our case.

3/5 - Mixed but mostly positive. Great staff and location, facilities and info could be improved. We had a mostly positive stay at Summer House—way way better than our experience at the ancient Sydney one. There’s a lift, plenty of space in the corridors and rooms and it’s more modern throughout. The staff are a credit to the brand, and went above and beyond to help us with anything we needed. That being said, it’s a youth hostel and you get what you pay for. We’re in our early thirties now so maybe we’re less tolerant of the inconveniences that come with staying at places like these. For example, the kitchen gets very busy, and again there was no room to store our groceries properly (fridge or non-fridge)—everything had to be stuffed in. There is a bathroom (toilet and shower) in every room. Good at first. But of course, at 2am a roommate decided to take (no joke) half an hour to take a shower. There’s no other toilets accessible in the building except on the rooftop floor, closed at night. If there was just one available for cases like this, that would be good, but tricky to implement. A much easier fix I’d recommend to management is to clearly list accessibility information on the website and provide a seat or two at reception. My partner injured her knees and struggled to use stairs or stand for long periods of time. These small things would have made the world of difference in our case.

The hostel has a really welcoming atmosphere at first glance, and the location is actually quite convenient — close to shops, public transport, and a few nice cafés. The common areas also make it pretty easy to meet new people, especially in the evenings. However, there are several issues that really affected our stay. The lockers in the rooms are far too small, so it’s impossible to store all your belongings properly. We placed some of our things neatly in bags on the side of the room, but the staff pushed them under the beds in a careless way, even with their feet. That felt very disrespectful. The kitchen is small, constantly crowded, and often dirty. On top of that, we had a balcony attached to our room but weren’t even allowed to use it, which was extremely disappointing. Still, I want to mention that the reception staff were genuinely friendly and always tried to help whenever they could. The social vibe is great if you want to meet other travelers, and the common events in the evenings were fun and well-organized. With a few improvements, this hostel could actually become a much better place to stay.