YHA Canterbury

I stayed in a large 'family' room that had 2 x bunk beds and 1 x single bed. The en-suite consisted of a shower, wc and sink. Plenty of sockets and free WiFi. The kitchen had everything you needed and there's a large, lounge, dining area and rear garden where you can easily meet other guests. All areas were very clean and the staff are friendly and very helpful. There is limited parking at the front. The nearest supermarket is a short stroll away as is the centre of the city.

Need to have a serious look at fire safety at the hostel, and staff conduct - very worrying! Heard a member of staff moaning on her mobile while she’s meant to be sorting a potential fire issue “I’ll be late back because the f*cking fire alarms gone off!” Clearly staff are more bothered about leaving early than the safety of others - making it clear that not having a 24 hour reception is a bad idea - most YHAs are 24hrs this one isn’t! The staff here were a mixed batch. General rule of thumb were that the male staff were fantastic - friendly and knowledgable. But the female Members of staff were mostly uncaring and ignorant. (Bar one lady who actually knew what she was doing.) At 11pm on our last night the fire alarm went off, shockingly the two female workers appeared to have no idea what to do! They seemed pissed off and didn’t tell people what was going on for quite some time (despite everyone else doing the right thing and coming out of our rooms and meeting downstairs). We were eventually grunted at that this had “never happened before” and that the alarm was stating there was a fire in zone 10 - the kitchen. We had been asking for a while for someone to check the kitchen, but it took a long time for them to think of that (meanwhile ignoring us). The young lady went into the kitchen and was up in seconds, barely checking anything properly. I was so concerned that I went down there after her and properly checked everything was off - as it was clear she hadn’t properly checked. Eventually we found out from another person staying at the hostel that there was apparently a leak in a toilet that supposedly set the alarm off - and so the staff had then SILENCED THE ALARM. Which meant we had NO FIRE ALARM ALL NIGHT. We were quite understandably shocked by this. We checked the following morning and could see quite clearly on the system that the alarm was silenced - still showing a fire in zone 10 (the kitchen). It is disturbing that the staff clearly just wanted to go home and so silenced the alarm, didn’t apologise for the loud noises late at night, didn’t appear to check things properly, didn’t inform everyone what was going on nor check if everyone was okay. And then still as we checked out that there wasn’t a fire alarm active in the hostel as they had turned it off - meaning if there was a fire no one would know. Safe to say I didn’t sleep well that night knowing the lack of care shown. I will not be returning and wouldn’t recommend.

Very welcoming.super helpful receptionist that made the big building feel like a breeze to find the brilliant self catering kitchen and laundry room!! After hiking all day it’s was so good to be able to clean my clothes. Great bunk beds with power and reading lights. The shower was clean, spacious and lovely hot running powerful water pressure. An amazing spacious communal lounge area too. As an avid hiker my YHA experience provides everything I need and more . Thanks for always making my stay a restful happy one

The best to spend our Christmas with our enormous family. I would definitely recommend for all the amazing features of this property. From lovely room to the amazing cabins, very spacious kitchen and canteen, cozy living space and an amazing service. Thank you

Good clean dormitories and great value. Very friendly staff. The breakfast was fine and also good value. For an overnight stay with friends whilst walking the North Downs Way it was ideal. Small amount of parking plus easy walk intro town to eat.

Stayed here as a multi generational family of 6 and had a wonderful time. Staff were kind, friendly and helpful and went out of their way to make our stay enjoyable. Facilities were clean and had everything you need. Would recommend to all, particularly families who need more than 4 beds!