St Christopher's Inn, Hammersmith - Hostel in London

The Worst Experience I’ve Ever Had — St. Christopher’s Inn, Hammersmith

I’ve been a regular customer at this hotel for about a year now. Every time I visit London, I’ve always booked this place — but this time, my experience was absolutely terrible. Don’t get me wrong, they do have one of the best bathrooms, but what I went through was beyond disappointing.

I booked a six-night stay from October 10th to 16th. Check-in went smoothly at first, and I was placed in a mixed dorm room with eight double bunk beds. However, at night, a group of Eastern European men would return completely drunk, turn on the lights in the middle of the night, and start shouting. It was unbearable. We reported the issue to reception, but nothing was done. On the third night, things even got violent — one of the men got into a fight over turning on the lights. It was chaos.

Then came the fourth day, when things got worse. In the morning, I reported bedbugs and even showed them a video. The staff looked shocked, as if they’d never seen such a thing before. Later that afternoon, around 4 p.m., a staff member came to me and said they were checking me out immediately. I was stunned and asked why. They said “some maintenance work” was going to happen near my bed.

I asked politely if I could just be moved to another bed, but they refused. I still had two nights left. I couldn’t understand if this was racially motivated or if it was because I reported the bedbug issue and they wanted to protect their image — I was confused and disappointed.

They told me they’d refund £24 for the remaining nights, but that it would take 2–3 weeks to arrive. At that point, I had no option but to leave. Sadly, as an African abroad, I’ve come to recognize these kinds of injustices — and this felt exactly like one of them.

If I had a choice, I would’ve booked somewhere else, but at that moment, I had no funds and nowhere to go. At least they could’ve informed me earlier so I could make other arrangements instead of being kicked out suddenly.

My biggest question remains: Why check in a guest if you already know that “maintenance work” is planned for that bed? You could have simply removed that bed from your booking system.

I left with the typical empty “sorry” — but at what cost? I had to find last-minute accommodation that cost me five times more.

This is my first time ever writing a hotel review, but I felt it was necessary. No one deserves to be treated this way, especially after being a loyal customer. What I experienced felt deeply unfair, and people deserve to know the truth about how St. Christopher’s Hammersmith handles its guests.