Our hostel is in a converted church located near Dean Village in Edinburgh’s beautiful West End. It is the perfect place for people looking to meet new people and explore the wonders that Edinburgh and Scotland have to offer!
We are a fun and energetic backpacker’s hostel with a great staff “family” with volunteers from all over the world, including Australia, Germany, France, Belgium, Italy and South Africa. We look after each other, work hard and treat each other and the hostel with respect - we expect the same from our volunteers!
Anfitrión Top
Estados Unidos
This was my first Worldpackers experience and it completely blew me away. It was beyond my expectations to feel so at home, for the staff became my family, and to contribute to making the hostel a comfortable and fun experience for all guests. I appreciated Tas and Mat’s dedication to making sure we were in good hands, to getting some free food for the volunteers and to problem solve promptly as necessary. Some of my favorite experiences were to cook for everyone and with the staff. The only downside is the cold, but hey it’s winter! 😉 thank you and I’ll see again you soon!
hace 9 días
Estados Unidos
This was my first world packers experience and one ill never forget. I met so many amazing people here. The hours working are super manageable and reasonable and the tasks and jobs aren't hard. Tas the manager brings free food 3 times a week which is very appreciated. One thing to note is since the hostel is in an old church the insulation isn't great and can get quite cold so if you're volunteering over the winter months I highly suggest bringing lots of warm clothes. Overall my experience was good here!
hace 1 mes
Brasil
The experience was good, but the working hours were not as per the description. Some days I would work 3 hours, another worked 6 hours, you only finish work when had no more work and it is a more individual job, they ask not to socialize during the service or listen to music. Managers are super friendly and interacted a lot, always looking to bring delicious food to the team.
hace 1 mes
Hey Julia, we did outline that you have to work 15hrs per week, which you agreed on. The 6 hours you mentioned is an exaggeration. For this particular day you are mentioning, you only worked 4.8 hours not 6 hours 10am - 2.50pm. We have the whole week that you worked, that we feel you are outlining. The total we calculated you worked was 14.45hrs that week. It is written on all our sign sheets you signed. In regards to socialising, for the 2-3 hrs you have to clean the hostel. We try to make sure no one is socialising as it would be beneficial to you finishing earlier and respectful to those that do put in the effort to house-keep in the morning shift. Listening to music on your phone will interrupt guests that have prolonged their stay in the dorm you would be cleaning. We do allow 1 earbud in one ear if you want to listen to music. As 2 in the ear is a work health hazard. I would suggest next time voicing these issues to the managers to get a clearer perspective. Thank you.
Brasil
The hostel met the schedule. The hostel was cold and the heaters were not enough, the staff room was small and smelled bad, there was no window and the air did not circulate, the closet was small and there was no key to lock it. Some tasks were risky, such as cleaning fire extinguishers with flammable products and if they used them for a possible fire in the future, the fire would go to the person. They asked to go up a ladder that was leaning on another ladder, with risk of falling. Also, they asked me to clean a room that had a guest and the manager said not to talk or turn on the light.
hace 1 mes
Laryssa, much of what you say have been lies and with no positive outlook. You lied about having an family emergency after we gave you the idea, by asking if it's an emergency, we have recently come to this knowledge.
As this is an old church, we have dedicated heated areas. The dorm room can be hot and bothered with the heating turned on full when the room is filled with a lot of people. It can be turned down at any point and turned up. We did not receive any feedback from you about the dorm room, that you were cold or anyone else for that matter.
As for the cleaning spray that you may have used to wipe the extinguishers, it is only flammable when exposed to a burning flame at the same time you spray it.
There was no such task that you mentioned about a ladder leaning on another. We had a moment when we had to use an extension ladder to clean dust off a ledge, but this was done by the managers themselves.
In a hostel you will have guests that prolong their stay in a multi-bed dorm, in this situation you still have to clean other beds around that dorm that have been checked-out, as there are new guest who have booked these beds to check-in to on that same day. So discretion is necessary, turning on the light is recommended though.
So if you want to host Laryssa, please beware, as it seems, she will criticise everything without asking or having knowledge of how the situation should be handled.
Australia
I met lots of wonderful travelers while staying at Belford and have made some real friends, the hours required to work allowed me to socialise and explore Edinburgh. The hostel itself is very cold, there's verry little insulation few heaters in common areas, but we still had fun all hanging out in the kitchen and lounge area. The manager was generous with providing food for the volunteers each week and was often friendly, but this could be jarring as he was quite rough with communicating issues. Managers are your managers, even if they act friendly most of the time. I enjoyed Edinburgh!
hace 2 meses
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