Beach/ocean view
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Reviews of ITH Beach Bungalow Surf Hostel

2 out of 5
ITH Beach Bungalow Surf Hostel
San Diego, CA

Reviews

7.8

Good

Rating 10 - Excellent. 89 out of 188 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 39 out of 188 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 29 out of 188 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 13 out of 188 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 18 out of 188 reviews" "

7.4/10

Cleanliness

8.6/10

Staff & service

8.2/10

Amenities

7.4/10

Property conditions & facilities

8.2/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

6/10 Okay

Diego

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
A little messy
Stayed 1 night in May 2024

6/10 Okay

Gozeno

Good place
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2024

6/10 Okay

Gozeno

Dirty
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2024

6/10 Okay

berken

Is good
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2024

10/10 Excellent

Patrick

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2024

2/10 Terrible

Abraham

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Discriminación y generalización?
Ellos me dijeron que por ver en mi id que vivía en imperial beach no le dejaron entrar, y ya había estado allí antes
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2024

10/10 Excellent

Pamela

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great location
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023
Response from Beach Bungalow on Oct 30, 2023
Hi Pamela! thanks for staying with us here at the bungalow, hope to see you again soon!

8/10 Good

Mike

Liked: Staff & service
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2023
Response from Beach Bungalow on Oct 30, 2023
Hi mike! thanks for staying with us here at the bungalow, hope to see you again soon!

10/10 Excellent

Oscar

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Was great! Love place and peoples inside! ❣️ wanna come back always
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023
Response from Beach Bungalow on Oct 30, 2023
Hi oscar! thanks for staying with us here at the bungalow, hope to see you again soon!

10/10 Excellent

Annie

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Loved staying here at ITH Beach Bungalow Surf Hostel! Right on the beach, fun activities planned throughout the day, breakfast included, friendly staff-I would highly recommend if you’re looking to save a little money & meet new people in a fun community based environment.
Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2023
Response from Tessa on Sep 4, 2023
Annie so glad to hear you had a great time here at the beach bungalow and enjoyed our staff and activities3 Come back soon!

6/10 Okay

Paul

Liked: Staff & service
Very affordable. Great location. Unfortunately, despite the 10pm lights out/quiet time, there were some who would talk all night, put the lights on etc. I got no sleep and had to find another place to stay. But I loved the location. Plenty to do and see. Enjoy… if you can!
Stayed 3 nights in Aug 2023
Response from Beach Bungalow Management on Aug 24, 2023
Dear Paul,Thank you so much of taking the time to give us feedback! We really appreciated! We are trying hard to enforce the quite hours and we will keep striving to do it! We hope we can host you with better service in the future!Safe travels!

6/10 Okay

David

Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Pictures are deceiving.
The Employees were friendly we didn’t expect a lot for the price on the beach but we did expect the room we rented. This was not the deluxe private room in the pictures. Bed was comfortable but the room was in the worst shape I’ve ever stayed at. Been with my wife over 30 years and never had her stay in a room this bad. But surprisingly she was ok with it. The place has an amazing vibe lots of history and it’s unique. I would just like the room we rented on the pictures. Someone needs to spend a couple of days caulking and painting. We couldn’t touch the bathroom sink or it would fall. It’s anoint an inch from the wall. The ceiling has 3 types of texture or not at all. They have breakfast as it says but you have to cook your own. They provide eggs and pancake mix. No creamer or sugar for the coffee. It is what you make of it. Like I said good vibe, friendly people but at least give me the room I saw on the Hotels.com. We checked out and someone threw up all over our car looked like top ramen dried up. Not the Hotels fault though. Just remember looks and pictures are extremely deceiving.
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2023
Response from Beach Bungalow Management on Aug 19, 2023
Hi David,We appreciate the feedback and am happy to know you had some positive aspects of your stay.There are definitely some renovations needed in the room as we have an older facility. It is just a matter of us slowly renovating the facility and choosing the top priority projects. We just remolded the bathroom but there was an error in installing the sink, which we are attending to.We also have creamer and sugar. The staff would have been able to provide that for you.We will review this feedback as a management team.Best-

6/10 Okay

Tati

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
The area is great. Although the bunk beds aren’t in the right spots becuase of the ladders. It could definitely be remodeled. Super old and a lot of rusty spots.
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2023
Response from Beach Bungalow Management on Aug 19, 2023
Thank you for the feedback. We can review the bunk bed setup in the dorm you were in.

10/10 Excellent

Keith

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Absolutely heaven
Stayed 3 nights in May 2023
Response from Beach Bungalow on May 12, 2023
Keith, we've loved having you here at the Bungalow! Thanks for sharing such kind words with us! We hope to see you the next time you find yourself in Pacific Beach.

10/10 Excellent

Maritza

Business traveller
It was a beautiful place. This place so much
Stayed 1 night in May 2023
Response from Beach Bungalow on May 4, 2023
Maritza, thank you for the high praise! We appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with us! We hope to see you the next time you find yourself in San Diego!

4/10 Poor

Howard

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Bad hostel for sleeping
Travelers who value a good night’s sleep and cleanliness might want to choose a different hostel. The location on the beach is great but you’re roughing it here, it’s not comfortable, loud music, people talking late into the night and early morning, maybe before surfing. Also, not enough bathrooms. Too many people are sharing just two bathrooms, one in their room and one other in the common area. And cleanliness is an issue. Bathrooms are not cleaned often enough because they were not clean during my one night stay. And a lack of toilet paper in the bathrooms. Overall, this hostel is a base for surfing, sleep a little and catch a wave!
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2023
Response from Beach Bungalow on Apr 26, 2023
Hi Howard,We appreciate the feedback. We reviewed you comments and will take those into consideration when looking at ways to improve the hostel.It is a social hostel, so it is typical to have plenty of people socializing on the deck at night and in the morning. I apologize that the noise levels did not meet you expectations; however, this is also a big aspect of what makes hostels so fun: the communal atmosphere. We have a housekeeping team that cleans the bathrooms every day after check-outs. We are working on renovating the bathrooms though.

2/10 Terrible

Jordan

Business traveller
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 4 nights in Mar 2023
Response from Beach Bungalow on Apr 23, 2023
So sorry you didn't enjoy your stay with us. We never want guests leaving Reed Ave disappointed, and we apologize that this was your case.

8/10 Good

Tyler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
I had a good time. It’s a friendly little place and most of the people are kind.
Stayed 3 nights in Mar 2023
Response from Beach Bungalow on Mar 29, 2023
Hi Tyler,We are glad you enjoyed your stay! We hope to host you again!

10/10 Excellent

Bryce, Mira loma

Travelled with partner
Liked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Colorful and friendly
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2023
Response from Michael on Feb 25, 2023
Thank you for the positive review. We are glad you enjoyed your stay!

4/10 Poor

Jennifer

Liked: Amenities
I didn't realize from the description that this place was going to be like a summer camp for college age partiers. It was not the place to choose for peace and rest. The location is excellent and it is a fun atmosphere... Certainly geared towards young 20 year olds with themed nights like "jungle juice night" etc. The Facebook page mentioned surf lessons are available from staff but the staff there seemed not so willing to do it. Thats minor sunce there is a surf shop nearby that will. Parking is pretty terrible though. If I was 21 and looking to get wasted and mingle it would be a perfect spot. I just wanted to enjoy the beach, get good rest, and maybe make some new traveling friends. The place has some character for sure.
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2023
Response from Michael on Feb 25, 2023
Thank you for your response. We discuss each review as management and discuss how to improve the hostel moving forward. We will make sure our website accurately reflects the hostel, re: surfing lessons. Unfortunately, we cannot do much in regard to parking as our location in right on the beach in the middle of the go-to part of the coast, but I hope you found street/neighborhood parking to be manageable.We appreciate your feedback and our taking it into consideration.

6/10 Okay

Timothy

Liked: Cleanliness, amenities
Disliked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities
In poor condition. Few doors or windows made it quite uncomfortable on mornings of 40 degrees. They don't seem to like older guests.
Response from Michael on Feb 25, 2023
Hi Timothy,Though it can get cold at night during the winter, we have heaters in each room that I hope you were able to utilize.We appreciate your feedback and take each review into consideration.

10/10 Excellent

Recep Tunahan

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 4 nights in Dec 2022

2/10 Terrible

James, PORTLAND

Stayed 1 night in Oct 2022

10/10 Excellent

Brian

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Great, clean, place to stay! Staff very friendly, and helpful!
Stayed 3 nights in Aug 2022

10/10 Excellent

Edoardo

Liked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 14 nights in Jul 2022

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 2 nights in Jun 2022

10/10 Excellent

Pamela

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
I love the place...great location
Stayed 1 night in May 2022

10/10 Excellent

Benjamin

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2022

10/10 Excellent

Sergio

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The location is awesome, the staff super profesional and friendly. Nice activities, great place to meet new people and share with travelers from all over the world.
Stayed 6 nights in Apr 2022

10/10 Excellent

Christopher

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
What i liked the most was people's vibe. Staff and tourists. Nice place with the beach right there
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2022

10/10 Excellent

Ciara

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2022

10/10 Excellent

Matthew

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Great. Everyone was extremely friendly. Definitely will come back!
Stayed 6 nights in Feb 2022

10/10 Excellent

Mark

Stayed 7 nights in Nov 2021

2/10 Terrible

Bryanna

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
DON'T DO IT
This hostel is absolutely disgusting! For the price its best to just stay somewhere else, anywhere else! The only good thing was that it is right at the beach. The woman who checked me in gave me the wrong door code a few times and didn't explain how to open the door. When I arrived there was only a sheet on the bed and when I got back that night the sheet was GONE! I had to sleep with a TOWEL! It was cold! No one informed me that I needed to ask for a comforter and I'm not sure why they didn't give me one when I checked in or at least put one on the bed. The bathroom in the all-female room looked like it has NEVER been cleaned! It was absolutely DISGUSTING and the toilet seat was all ripped. Only God knows what happened there. The photos are a COMPLETE LIE! The photos make it look like it is bright and clean but it is dirty and grungy. The health department would shut them down. There is a kitchen that you can use but it is unusable, I even took a photo of the stove because I was in disbelief that people actually used this. I used to live in San Diego and this was just one of many places that I stayed at during my trip and this was the worst I could have imagined for so many reasons. Maybe if the price actually reflected the conditions, meaning 10 dollars a night, then I would have been a little more ok with it. But for this price, please stay somewhere else. The other people staying there were inconsiderate and I was woken up every morning at 7am. Rise and shine!
Stayed 3 nights in Oct 2021

6/10 Okay

Jennifer

Liked: Staff & service, amenities
Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
They should use the money they spent on a DJ for a Halloween party to hire a professional cleaning service instead. The place looked like it hasn’t been cleaned in 10 years. The slits on the fan cage in the room I stayed in were half the size they should be due to a buildup of dirt and dust from god knows how long ago. Bathroom was covered in mold. The sheets I was given had black stains all over them. The overall concept of this place is awesome… the front desk girl could be more welcoming.. but really it’s the cleanliness that will cause me to not go back.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2021

6/10 Okay

Fatima

Travelled with family
No kids allowed!
I wasn't able to check in, because I had an 8 year old with me! So, beware parents... I have friends who stayed in hostels with kids before, with no problem. Especially when here, I had booked a private room. So I had to find another hotel on the spot, which thanks to hotels.com, I was able to do. I was so bummed though, was so excited to stay right on the strip...
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2021

8/10 Good

Robert

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Work with no play makes for a dull day!
Pleasantly surprised...location...location...location...with this property...right on the beach...surf and skate boarder paradise...good mix of ages in the crowd...fit my needs perfectly as I love the water and the community culture of the patrons is exactly the right blend for the hostel environment...would recommend even for the mature audience too... individual rooms as well as dorm set ups...get there early on the weekends as it books up full...thanks for a relaxing stay...💯
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2021

8/10 Good

Robert

Travelled with group
Liked: Staff & service
Good stuff.
Stayed 3 nights in Sep 2021

2/10 Terrible

Jerry

Did not check in
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2021

10/10 Excellent

Shana G.

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
They threw a birthday party for my 53rd birthday. The staff was amazing! I wanted to name people specifically but expedia said not to The rest of the gang made it so special. I was so incredible happy...it was the best night!!! And the best stay!
Stayed 5 nights in Aug 2021

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Cool staff and all the guest are super chill loved the place and would recommend it to any one
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2021

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Wow this place was incredible. The location, the breakfast in the morning, the outdoor lounge area, the patio that overlooks the oceans... everything was perfect. Highly recommend a backpacker to stroll through. It was so amazing.
Stayed 3 nights in Aug 2021

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The property is so wonderful directly located on the beach. The hostel was so welcoming and amazing. I personally booked the private room for extra money, but as a 35 year old my old school hostel days are mostly over. I did look into the rooms with bunk beds and they were also awesome. I would most definitely stay here again. Thank you to the staff who was wonderful and the wonderful people traveling along the way.
Stayed 1 night in Jul 2021

2/10 Terrible

Steve

Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2021

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2021

2/10 Terrible

Verified traveller

Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 2 nights in Jun 2021

10/10 Excellent

David

Stayed 1 night in Jul 2021

10/10 Excellent

Maria Elena

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2021

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
This is a female only hostel 3rd party website does not specify details in room restrictions or condition
Stayed 2 nights in May 2021
Response from Beach Bungalow Team on Jun 16, 2021
Thank you so much for your feedback, we do have female only dorms but we are not a female only hostel.

10/10 Excellent

scott

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Staff was great and made you feel welcome from the start. Rooms were clean and the outdoor deck was terrific. Perfect location for surfing or just hanging out. Loved it
Stayed 4 nights in May 2021