Terrible hostel and horrible service – stay away!
Via Giulio Petroni 17, Bari – the most humiliating experience I've ever had as a traveler.
As a solo female traveler with extensive experience staying in hostels – and someone who has worked in both hostels and customer service – this was by far the worst hospitality experience I’ve ever gone through.
The hostel operates with no reception most of the time. If you arrive in the afternoon, at night, or (god forbid) on a Sunday – no one will be there. You just get a code to open the door, no welcome, no leaflet, no QR code with information. You’re basically walking into a stranger’s place, clueless.
I booked a female-only dorm, expecting basic security and peace of mind – but the room door doesn’t lock, and anyone (including men – which did happen!) can walk in at any time. When I raised this with the manager, he gave a bizarre excuse claiming “they’re not allowed by law to give out keys.” That is simply untrue. As a solo woman traveler, this made me feel completely unsafe – and it’s not mentioned anywhere when booking.
The room itself was extremely cramped, with no air conditioning, no windows that open, and no proper lighting other than small bed lamps. You can't even access all the storage drawers because they block each other – and the manager said you have to remove one completely to reach the other. That's not a solution – it’s bad design.
One night, I was in the shower and the water stopped for over an hour – I was standing there in a towel, with shampoo in my hair, unable to rinse. A friend had to buy bottled water and heat it up so I could clean myself. When the manager eventually came to fix it – he didn’t even apologize.
There is no water fountain, and the “luggage storage” they claim to offer is useless – when we asked at the front desk, the staff member said: “I'm just a poor soul working here” and had no idea how to help. She sent us to another office several blocks away – which we dragged our heavy suitcases to.
And then came the worst part:
At their main office, we politely raised the issues we experienced. The manager responded with gaslighting, excuses, and condescension – literally making air quotes when saying we “had bad service.” I was holding back tears.
Then, a senior manager entered and started yelling at us aggressively – saying we were disturbing their meeting and should 'go cry outside.' He physically leaned over us, shouted in Italian (as if we wouldn’t understand), and told us to shut up. He shoved money into our hands, kicked us out, and locked the door behind us.
And as if that wasn’t enough – they sent me an email saying my reservation had been canceled.
Clearly, this was done to block my ability to leave a public review – by pretending I was never a guest.
But let me be clear: I was there. I stayed. And I experienced this.
The refund was never the point – I would have much preferred a sincere apology over being handed cash and kicked out like a problem.
It was a deeply humiliating experience that ruined my day – not because of a mistake, but because of how they chose to treat me.
If you value your time, your safety, or basic human decency – do not stay at this hostel.
