August was with mum and dad for a week and even though I'd only just arrived home there wasn't a compelling reason for me to stay in England and in all fairness I was keen to create as much distance as I possibly could between a the unpredictable weather and be the sad comment tragic from appalling divisive language attitudes and acts that seem to be happening on an increasing frequency in the place I was born.
I wanted to erase any sense of faff having spent a lot of time traveling recently and so it was down to wherever I could get to from East Midlands. The options were Kefalonia or Dubrovnik. Kefalonia was a serious contender but a slight legacy of sadness from the previous year and a desire to see somewhere new, particularly Dubrovnik which is geographically situated between two of my bucket list destinations Bosnia Herzgovina and Montenegro and with an amazing price of £60 for a TUI flight from East Midlands Dubrovnik won.
Unfortunately prior to booking the flight silly me hadn't checked the cost of accommodation, having assumed it would be really reasonable as with the visits to all of the other parts of Croatia that I had been to previously. Unfortunately that was not the case and aside from a couple of hostel options you were looking at 600 pounds for four nights in a hotel which was absolutely unviable. So I opted for a Hostel, not the one that looked the nicest but the one that would be an easier base for the city exploration and also for a guided tour that I have booked by a get your guide to Bosnia on one of the days and Montenegro on one of the days.
Arriving into Dubrovnik it was super easy to get into the city using the airport shuttle bus at the return price of 15 Euros. Within 40 minutes I was at the bus station having witnessed the undeniable beauty of the spectacular scenery of the coastline and the UNESCO protected old town of Dubrovnik although a lot of that time had been spent in slow-moving traffic, one of the perennial problems associated with the overtourism of the city.
The hostel accommodation that I had booked, the Euro Adria was an easy walk back from the bus station at the cruise terminal. Arriving there I found no staff members present so took a seat, messaged the owner, as I assume them to be, and said i’d arrived would I be able to check in. Within a few minutes as I was grappling with my flip-flops, another guest arrived seemingly to collect his bag that he had stored there earlier in the day. We exchanged a few words, literally a few; where you from, how long you've been there, where were you going next. Enough to establish that he was Norwegian heading back to Norway.
A few moments silence then he turned to me and said ‘your lovely do you fancy a quickie?’. Not sure what my face registered at that moment, but then I started to laugh, the poor guy that was probably a bit rude of me, but not the sort of thing that normally happens. Immediately though and this shows my naivety I thought he meant a drink as in a quickie, a quick half, ass that was what I was craving at that moment in time on account of the very high temperatures and need for a nice cool beer.
A quickie I replied what do you mean? Sex he said. Oh, I said this is rather unexpected (becoming frightfully British), I normally like to get to know a person a bit first, foreplay if you like (added for humorous effect - not because i’m lying, as the hostel owner accused me of doing on the last night when it all booted off). Clearly feeling embarrassed, bless him he stood there awkwardly and said well life is short. Agreed, but this was going in a bit too cold for my liking. I said no i’m okay thanks, had you asked me for a beer I might have said yes.
Tail between his legs quite literally he grabbed his things and off his strode. The hostel owner, god knows what he is called because in the reviews it seems to change quite regularly, arrived and, still chuckling, I retold my amusing encounter. He confirmed that probably the reason the guest has been so stirred is because two of the guests had got it on the previous night and made a bit of a scene about moving from location to location within the hostel. I spent most of the data chuckling about this very, very unexpected proposition, not annoyed, just amused.
So that first day once I'd dumped my bag and got changed I walked into Dubrovnik growing increasingly frustrated with the throngs tourists that were shuffling around, stopping without any consideration of others for their photos their selfies and it really hammered home the impact of over tourism as Dubrovnik is cited as one of the top destinations second to Barcelona and Venice that is affected by this phenomenon. I felt guilty adding to the problem and so found a nice quiet bar to sit, do some work, grab some grub and a ‘quickie’ in the form of a nice cold beer.
I met some really nice people at the hostel so that's one redeeming feature. It reminded me that hostels when travelling solo are actually a good option as you get the opportunity to meet people from all around the world and hear their interesting stories. If I didn't have work to do in the early mornings and early evenings (the way I try and play it so that I can try to balance when I'm traveling to be able to see some things as well because otherwise what's the point), then it would have been easy to arrange to go out for drink or food with one of the other guests. But right or wrong I tend to avoid that because at the end of the day I need to work in order to fund my travel habit.
The room was fairly decent, the occupants fine, bed seemed fine but the next morning I woke covered from top to toe in really itchy bites. But I had to leave early for my day trip to Bosnia Herzgovina and Mostar, something I was incredibly excited about. Maybe they could have been mosquito bites? Some idiot had left the door opened so this was quite a likely thing. So I didn't really get the chance to think on it too much or to do anything about it until I got back to the hostel late at night when the slightly hostile owner questioned me as to why I haven't said something sooner and it was too late to do anything about it but tomorrow he would ask his staff member to fumigate the room and would move me to another option. A ‘private’ room in a different place that he had.
The trip to Bosnia was amazing, the cost was so much much better than in Dubrovnik, the architecture of Mostar, the scenery of Bosnia on our drivers something very much to be enjoyed and it was fascinating to hear more about the history of this country one that I know has suffered tremendously in the past.
On the third day I had arranged a trip to Montenegro with the company Super Tours. Again Montenegro is somewhere I've been dying to visit for a very long time now and so this seemed like a wonderful opportunity and was a key driver of why I selected Dubrovnik over Kefalonia in the first place. From start to finish the tour was amazing. NiKo, the tour guide with finesse, I would go so far as to say the world's best tour guide looked after us so well and was so incredibly engaging, humble and informative. He really made the day!
We visited Perast and Kotor. Although beautiful medieval towns, they weren’t the aspect that I enjoyed the most, it was the information that the wonderful guide Nico was sharing with us and the coastal scenery that made me definitely want to go back.
Unfortunately however the entire trip has been overshadowed through the experiences at the hostel. I am fully cognizant that in the hospitality and tourism industry many things can go wrong but it's about the service recovery approach and it just was abominable in this case.
No doubt this entry along with my Google and Booking.com review will generate a whole load of abuse from the 'owner' who seems to go by different names depending upon who you speak to, but that is nothing compared to the abuse and rudeness he has already given me. I rarely complain and nor do I have the time to do so UNLESS something is so serious.
At the end of the day we are paying guests (the amount we are paying should not justify unclean and unhygienic conditions and poor service). I had booked 4 nights in the hostel as a base to explore the surrounding area. To begin with the manager was jovial and friendly, great I thought.
Night 1, I was assigned Room A, Bed 1. I slept well but woke covered, and I mean covered in bites. I had to leave very early for a day trip I had planned, so, wanting to give the benefit of the doubt, thinking they could have been mosquito bites, I tried to put it to the back of my mind. Returning quite late from the trip, I checked my bed - the sheets were covered in dots of blood and there were three bed bugs on the sheet, 2 small, one very large. I messaged the owner. Why did you not tell me this earlier? I can't do anything now? (please see above why, I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt).
The solution that night was to cover myself from top to toe in clothing and bug spray (which he kindly gave me) LOL
More bites in the morning.
The previous night the 'owner' had assured me that the beds would be 'sanitised'.... with a domestic steam cleaner and that he would move me to a private room in a different property he had. I watched this process as his staff member, clearly not knowing how to use the machine, blew puffs of air onto the bed, not even taking the bottom sheet off fully.
I waited around most of the day for this then he eventually took me to my alternative accommodation.
It seemed to be staff quarters combined with some overflow guests.
I was shown to a room that had two other females in it. A double bed and a single.
They were leaving in the morning and I had no idea who else could be placed in there - he offered some swift assurances he would 'try' and make sure they were female. I didn’t believe him.
All other occupants appeared to be the Uzbek and Nepali staff he had working for him.
The bathroom resembled a scene off trainspotting. An open door to one of the workers rooms showed that some people were sleeping on the floor (another issue potentially).
I immediately made the decision to leave and head back down the hill. He has you over a barrel really because who can afford to jump from £50 pn accom to £150......
I told him my decision by whatsapp and asked for a new bed. You will have to go back to A1, no other options.
After reminding him that I had been very reasonable about all of this so far he eventually confirmed I could move to B2, after claiming there were no other beds free - even though he had counted 3 in front of me earlier.
Room felt cleaner and fresher and I slept okay but woke up with still more bites.
The final night I returned to my room late to find another guest. After 10 mins she screamed out. A bed bug had bitten her. I told her what had happened to me. i'm outta here she said, i'll join you said I, having reached my limit. We both tried to contact the owner. His responses becoming more and more hostile, I was called a lier, he threatened to call the police on me for causing trouble! His response to me was 'stop texting me these things'... to her it was to block her number. However I feel reassured that I am not the only one he has called these things, see the Hostel’s Google reviews. It seems all is hunky dory so long as you play to his tune and do not challenge things. To the 195 reviews on Google all saying pretty much the same things with the exception of a few who he, I witnessed was working very hard to charm, we were all liers, trouble makers, stirrers…. Not guests….
The epitome of great hospitality! I have therein deduced that the problem lies with him.
So I would categorically state on this basis I would never return to Dubrovnik not that anyone in Dubrovnik gives a shit. What I would say is that the airport has one of the best sleeping opportunities on the fourth floor with some very comfortable couches that were shared by other travellers in various situations, one being the Australian girl who had departed the hostel at the same time as me.
So I'm literally itching to get home right now.
Key takeaways are before you book a cheap flight, make sure that the accommodation is affordable. Be also aware that reviews on booking.com can be manipulated, which is what has been happening in this case, is that the reviews look fairly decent, but when people were leaving early, the host was cancelling the booking meaning that people did not have the opportunity to leave a review.
For full accurate reviews take a look at Google reviews they are much better source of inspiration or Tripadvisor. Although as we speak for some reason my Google review is not allowed to be shown with no clear explanation for why . Step up Google, in the interests of honesty and transparency.
It also raised some very sad questions about the ethics of the tourism supply chain and the sense of corporate social responsibility that accommodation agents like Booking.com and Hostelworld.com have and are often unaware of.
I've noticed on booking.com because I use it so damn much that there is so much independent accommodation appearing, but is this licenced? who is checking that it meets basic standards? and who's scrutinising the supply chain of these providers?
Comments