Phangan Arena Hostel in Baan Tai

We had a reservation here for a month and were so excited to stay here, we had received all of their emails and responded to all of them with any information needed. When we showed up on the day of our reservation, they told us they gave our room away to a walk in with no explanation and could not offer us any other room, all they had available was dorms which we were not comfortable staying in and why we had reserved a private room with a private bathroom. The lady at the front desk was very standoffish and kept ignoring us and when we voiced our frustration, she stopped offering us anything, and when a private room had come available, she gave it to another walk-in and completely dismissed us. While we were in the reception there was another guy who was complaining that people had showed up to his room, thinking it was theirs because it got double booked, and another guy as well, whose reservation had been given away. There is absolutely no hospitality at this place, the service is horrendous and we were offered no compensation. On top of that, we are here during the half moon party and so it is very busy and we were not able to find another safe place to stay until 11:30 PM. I highly recommend you to stay clear of this place and don’t waste your time. Don’t let the good reviews fool you like they did for me.

When we arrived the lady that helped us was average friendly, but the rest of the staff we met was very unpleasant. They would stop you mid-sentence, do not take action to help you and the guy that brought us to our room was clearly very moody. It made us feel we were not welcome and bothering him. He didn't tell us where the toilets/showers were and said nothing about what more we could do on the property. It was on the last evening we found out we could use their sport facilities.

We were upgraded for free to an air-conditioned room. When we entered the room, it felt more like a cage. No windows, low ceiling, a hole in the wall where it looks like a fist was trying to get through, stains on the ceiling and a weird smell. Thank God we got upgraded. We don't want to know in what kind of room we would end up if not for the upgrade.

The toilet doesn't flush properly so half of the time you are doing your business on someone else's and the showers are very claustrophobic and stay so humid that mozzies will get you when showering.

Furthermore we had a very unpleasant encounter with one of the guests in the pool. He shouted loudly at us to get our attention and then made kissing sounds. We clearly showed we were not accepting such behaviour. Staff was just watching.

The lady that helped us with the motorbike and the Vietnamese security guy were very nice though!

There is also at least one rat around the building. He is friendly though.

I would recommend staying at another place

This message is for the owners, JEREMIE JORET, YVES PIEDNOEL AND AURELIEN COMETTI. The worst experience ever. Old, knackered, filthy and unfit for habitation. Make you pay up front when you book, then they give your room away before you arrive and put you in a so-called upgrade, pretending they are doing YOU a favour....putting you in a run down , filthy, neglected, unsafe and overpriced studio miles away from the actual hostel. A complete lack of care as "the studio" is unsafe for girls having to walk at night down an unlit road to this room. It does have the most disgusting little kitchenette. To top it all if you complain, the staff will laugh in your face!!!! I suppose you have a monopoly with these full moon parties and don't care about customer service. But you claim in an article that you opened this hostel as other hostels were putting up their prices and told customers they had to stay a certain amount of time taking complete advantage of customers.... AND NOW YOU BEHAVE IN THE SAME WAY AND WORSE AS YOUR HOSTEL IS JUST NOT UP TO EVEN A BASIC STANDARD. I urge people not to stay here or at least if you have paid and are staying not to put anymore money into these 3 owners pocket. I suggest you buy your liquor somewhere else! It's time to stand up to these greedy unprofessional hostel bosses.