Almond House Hostel

We liked everything at Almond Hostel except the way we were treated by one staff member. ( see below) the location is great: close to town but not in the midst. Facilities well looked after. Woodburner in cold weather cosy. Owner of the hostel quick to follow up on anything not right.

Paula the owner was excellent in her manner and efficiency. rude and abrupt staff member However when we turned up, to check in it was in the afternoon, a half an hour before the office was open , early afternoon. No one let us in. We found out later that the staff member was there but not 'on duty'. When we did turn up with the the set office hours later that after noon, we were 'greeted' by a staff member who seemed very abrupt verbally and non verbally, unsmiling and unfriendly. She explain to us about the basics of how the hostel works in a series of commands. This is despite the fact English is our first language and we were at least 30 years older than the staff member. I confronted her directly but gently about about this on the spot. She continued to seem abrupt and unfriendly during our whole stay there( two lots of 3 days). She and her fellow countrymen usually spoke Spanish and excluded the rest of us automatically, including an Indian family and there Indian students staying there.Tis felt very click. Her manner was unfortunate, as everything else about the hostel is excellent. Her manner which was consistently like that over 6 days, undermined what usually feels like a home away from home.

Comfortable, reasonable breakfast