I booked a two-night stay but was very eager to leave after the first night. I admit my mistake - I didn’t read enough reviews on the property, the high booking.com rating fooled me. A hostel at $40 a night is the first red flag. I have stayed in many around the $40/$50 price before but quite didn’t expect this.
The location is isolated and unsafe, compelling me to return each evening far before dark, and it was a 30-minute walk from downtown LA. Burlington Hostel is certainly not an ideal choice for anyone's first visit to LA. Thankfully the Bird scooters that could seldom be found within a 10 minute walk did make accessing the light rail easier so I could travel to Hollywood, Santa Monica, touristy areas easily (would take about 1hr).
Disappointing because the photos of the house promised so much. The floors, walls & facilities were damaged and the pervasive smell throughout the premises was beyond unpleasant. It was so off-putting that I found myself spending as little time as possible indoors to avoid the foul odors in the bedrooms and the exceedingly unclean kitchen, food storage areas. Most uncomfortably you are asked to leave your shoes stored with all other guest’s shoes downstairs. Walking around in my socks was, for lack of a better term, incredibly gross.
Concerns about safety also marred my experience. The guest demographic is unsettling, predominantly older men who didn’t speak English. The room was uncomfortably warm and smelly, the air conditioning was ineffective, and the window blind was broken.
The bathrooms were particularly deplorable. They were consistently wet and filthy, with urine around the toilets—a clear sign of neglect in maintenance. The odor of urine was detectable even outside the bathrooms, leading me to question the frequency of cleaning.
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