H.I. Hostel (Santa Monica)

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Hostelling International Santa Monica (H.I.) is what you'd expect of it: professional, organized, clean comfortable and centrally located -- and easy to spot. With its worldwide locations it is a good and safe bet for its members (and others; but non-members are charged $3 per reservation...so if one extends his stay that equals another $3).

considering coffee, toast and cereal as "free breakfast" is not an offer, it's an insult

It lacks noting in comfort or niceness. Since H.I. is in Santa Monica its draw is a foregone conclusion: you're at the beach, bitch! An easy walk to the iconic Santa Monica Pier with the Ferris Wheel or stroll a stone's throw away to visit the original Muscle Beach where one can check out Crossfit zealots and gymnasts showing off and doing awesome things on the traveling rings. The water looks tempting but is frightfully cold and unbearable without a wet suit. Consider yourself warned. (A bit farther down is Venice where you can see more bodybuilders and circus rejects and surfers.) Also near the hostel is the popular Third Street Promenade, a stretch of retailers and restaurants, including an Apple store, H&M, cinema, Johnny Rocket, etc along - you guessed it - Third Street.

One of the nights in the hostel cost $53 -- for a dorm room! Fifty dollars for sleeping in a room with some eight other people for one night is a lot of money. It definitely is not a "hostel" price. Location, location, location is the real estate mantra but if the lease is costing an arm and a leg then maybe a travel hostel has no business being on, say, Rodeo Drive just so they can advertise "convenience to superfluous shopping!" In this respect, Hosteling International is a victim of its own success. I guess providing shared rooms keeps it in the hostel category but, like I said, the price does not.

More, the wifi and breakfast sucked. The wifi connection was spotty and always down. As for the breakfast, I don't wish to be crude about it but with the capital of this organization they seriously need to ditch the '70s era concept of considering free coffee, toast and cereal counts as "free breakfast". That's not an offer. That's an insult. If you toss me a Tic-Tac first thing in the morning, technically that's breakfast too. At $53 I'm looking for bacon. Hello!

see the Ferris Wheel?