We stayed here August of 2012 and you couldn't ask for a better location. We did have a private room with a fridge. The room was small and had no ac unit so it was hot mid day in the room. After sunset the room cooled down nicely. The queen size bed was comfortable and the bathrooms and showers were clean. It was a great environment with a bar down stairs that serves food. Everyone was super friendly and gave great directions. We so far have never had any problems at a Hostel and we would stay here again. It was a very good experience! read more

This was the first time I stayed in a hostel and it was an amazing experience. The staff were all helpful and friendly. You can stay for free if your willing to do a little housekeeping work ( every bathroom is cleaned twice daily, all the floors are mopped daily and all other surfaces are wiped down throughout the day). I took a dorm room the first 2 nights and had some issues the second night with people drinking too much. The staff handled it very professionally and quickly. They also upgraded me to private room for free because of the issues. All in all I would recommend this place to anyone who wants a cheap and comfortable place to stay in Victoria. read more

Stayed for two nights, everything was good, staff very friendly and helpful. Had my plans spoiled by rain one day, but they offered a good discount on whale watching, helped to book it the last minute, and I ended up having a great adventure! Bathrooms are very good - completely private cabins with shower, and there's like six if them on every floor, so I never had to wait in line. Rooms are ok, the only drawback is that the windows open right into a busy street, and I often got awoken because of loud cars. The bar/lounge is great too, they have deals for beer everry day, and low prices for great food. Only drawback that it's open only from 5 till 11 pm. read more

I guess you get what you pay for. Not sure if all the other comments are from staff members, but it is very likely. Here is my experience to the contrary: As a professional computer engineer and a sports businessman, I came to Victoria and made the mistake of staying at this hostel. Although the hostel is neat and clean and I met many people, at this point I sit with a deep fear of Victorians as ego-fueled, unwilling to communicate and uncivil people and I hope it changes as soon as possible. The reason, second day of my stay at this so called part of the hospitality industry, I asked permission to work in the common area for an upcoming meeting. Tired and exhausted, I fell asleep. The next day I was kicked out. Reason, I broke some grave rule of sleeping in common area. I had a meeting scheduled in the lounge downstairs with the reseller and I made my best attempt to cancel it, needless to say I lost the reseller. Not only that there were some other accusations which were so ridiculously false that it shocked me. For a lack of better word, I was bullied, insulted, harassed and kicked out for no fault of my own, feeling suspicious of speaking to other Victorians out of the fear of a similar kind of aching interaction. Still not sure why. I was the only middle easterner there, that is the only unique thing about it. So if you like to stay with staff members who enjoy power trips, unable to listen to you, are rude, insulting and can damage your whole image of Victoria, then this is your place. Otherwise stay as far away as you possibly can. read more

Ok, so this place is the sort of artistry (music scene) hostel, with a friendly atmosphere. You might still find a quiet room and enjoy a quiet stay, but basically this place is more for the people who like to interact. It is usually full with all kinds of tourists, clean, young and quite respectful people. I've seen no "party animals", which is a good point. Don't forget that Victoria is some sort of hippie city. The staff is perfect, it is the sort of people with personality, sociable and helpful. As this is an old building, the management could replace some old doors that happen to be often slammed early in the morning. Come and stay, just make sure to ask or book for rooms on the 3-4th floors if you need to rest and be quiet. read more

This review is for the cafe area only. I stopped here to get a bite, brew and check the Internet. After spending some time in Canada I now realize the food was extremely reasonably well priced and tasty. The atmosphere was very relaxed and people of all ages could be found. At night though the place seems to cater with younger adults with the nightly activities posted. I would have stayed here if I needed a place to stay, it felt safe enough and close to downtown. It may get a little loud at night though so if you are looking for peace and quiet I would consult with the phone attendant. Overall 4 stars for value and social scene observed. read more

I recently had a great time staying at Ocean Island. The staff is super nice, the rates are reasonable, and the lounge right off the lobby is great. My only complaint, and this is probably a major drawback for a lot of people, is that the sheets in my private room had either not been changed or were poorly laundered. My first night at the hostel I crawled into bed after I had already turned out the lights. The next morning, I woke up to discover a significant amount of long hair on the sheets. I keep my hair buzzed extremely short, so they were not mine. This was not a small amount of hair, either, so I am not sure how someone could miss it. The strange thing about the hair is that I didn't see any on the pillow cases or comforter. Having said that, I would guess the hair was an anomaly. The place seemed very clean in every other facet and I am sure the accommodating staff would have corrected the situation had I discovered it sooner. I would not let it deter me from staying at Ocean Island again. Finally, the lounge just off of the lobby is the best thing about this hostel. It is really fascinating to sit down and have a few brews with travelers from all over the globe. I even got to chat with a nice local named Drew that gave me a few tips on local color to take in while visiting Victoria. Jess, the bartender, had a great personality and provided quick and efficient service. read more

Booked a mini double room this weekend, and were surprised with a free room upgrade upon check-in! Exceptional service, and the place was overall very clean and comfortable. Would definitely come again when visiting Victoria! read more

The hostel met my expectations and I had a nice two night stay.

Great staff, eccentric and diverse hostel geared towards youth, it's a hot spot hub for finding out about anything happening in the city. Great rooms and pub read more

The OI is a good place to stay! It is right in Downtown Victoria with pretty much everything in walking distance, just a grocery store, that is not ridiculously expensive is missing, but I guess that's because it's right downtown. I stayed 4 nights and met so many nice people, that was incredible, I would even say I made some friends. The prices for a night are quite reasonable, the cheapest dorm is $20, a discounted room with 6 beds, closer to the street than the usual dorm. I stayed in a usual dorm the first two nights and then moved to a discounted one, because I wanted to stay another 2 nights. The noise kept me from sleeping a bit in both rooms, there wasn't much of a difference between the rooms! The staff is really helpful with everything: activities, directions... and very friendly. One advice for those who don't want to pay much: before you book your room, ask if could do woofing. That means that you work around 3 hours per day but get free accomodation and some coins that you can spend in the bar/cafe lounge. I wanted to do that as well, but was too late ;-) read more

Looked into this hostel for an extended stay. Probably would have liked this place, but after two weeks of calling and there never being a manager around too speak to and no one returning my calls as promised I'll be looking else where. It's a shame to see a business that travelers rely on being undependable. read more

Wish I could give this half a star or none! My partner and I used to work for the hostel on their work for stay program. Let me get right to it, Located right on the corner of crackhouse heaven is the beautiful Ocean Island Inn! Besides being shoved in a dorm room with 6 people, BED BUGS are a huge issue! We would constantly keep getting massive bites and management tried to pass them off as mosquito bites (without providing service for a solution to the problem).. I can't say I'm surprised, the bed covers almost never get washed ! Who knows what's on there! Although, If you want to escape your bedrooms the common area is a great area to make some furry little friends ! During our stay we were surprised to find out how our clothes/ personal belongings were taken without permission (illegal), put in garbage bags, and into the basement.. We had no warning of this and we did not discuss that it was okay for anyone to go forward and do so. This has also happened to many other people I know who are staying or have stayed at the hostel. The cleanliness of the rooms are disregarded for speed on which the rooms get done. For what people pay to stay at the hostel, having rooms with no proper ventilation nor windows (especially for some privates) is more than disappointing I'm sure. Some of the beds are squished into old elevator shafts with almost no room to walk, so that more money can be made for the lovely owners of the hostel! A little close for comfort if you ask me! After being let go from the hostel's work for stay without warning (for leaving my shift 5 minutes early to make my other job even after I had discussed it with the manager that day) We had next to no notice when being told to find another place to live. The owner then proceeded to tell my partner and I that we weren't allowed back on the property. We questioned why and were told "we have a right to refuse service". When we asked what we had done wrong to deserve being banned from the hostel property completely, the owner had cowardly shrugged his shoulders and refused to give us an answer or reason (he didn't have one?). So we strongly advise against staying here. Stay anywhere but here (even if you have to pitch a tent in Beacon hill Park).. Anyone even considering their stay at the Ocean Island Inn have a great time..do not expect the owners to care about your comfort, privacy or your time at the Inn. If you're wanting to work for people who are unprofessional "travellers" and don't give a rat's ass (lol cause they have rats) about real hospitality or any consideration to people's well-being, then the Ocean Island Inn is the place for you! Also, enjoy the "free breakfast" that comes out of every one of the staff's paycheques! Hope you enjoy toast! .. Please message me if you have any questions or concerns about this hostel. -Annie read more

Typically I'm not the type of person to write reviews but this place really deserves one. To be honest if i could give this place no stars i would. For starters when we went to this establishment and booked our rooms we were unaware of the fact their weren't any bathrooms in the rooms. Once we actually went upstairs to the room it smelled very awful and it was EXTREMELY small. All of the furniture in the rooms were outdated smelly. Once we actually got to the dinner, which was complimentary, the rice was uncooked and the stew was extremely horrendous, and on top of all that we had to wash our own dishes. Also whilst we were eating our dinner we saw the breakfast in a fridge which was located in the middle of the lobby, and it was a bunch of old waffles and a box of pre-made hard boiled eggs, needles to say we skipped breakfast. Once it started to get dark out there was a lot of shady people in the hostile and around the establishment which made me and several other guests feel very unsafe. Therefore we tried spending a majority of the night staying out of the hostile so that we didn't have to go back to our horrible room. Later that night as we were sleeping in our room we woke up to someone pounding on the door at 4 am and they were trying to break into our room, and it was important to note that it wasn't the staff or anyone we knew. So we decided to wake up as early as possible at 5 am just so we'd be able to leave and we decided to use the bathroom before we left, but upon entering our bathroom we saw that someone had thrown up all over the place and it hadn't been cleaned for hours, leaving the bathroom unable to use. All in all this was only some of the main concerns that we had regarding this hostile and we HIGHLY recommend that you stay away from this establishment. read more

Moved to town and needed a place to start without major commitment. Stayed about 2 months. One month in a really small room, and the next in a larger room. Both were exactly what i needed at that time. Staff was incredibly helpful. read more

The experience to be had at Ocean Island Inn is dependent on the person(s) staying there. For us, a twenty something couple not well experienced with hostels, we found it a fairly pleasant stay. The first night in our private room was rough. Sweltering hot and the noise from the street had me waking up every 20 minutes. This is not the fault of the hostel by any means; upon booking I knew the room would have a window facing the street and that it would likely be disruptive to my slumber. My boyfriend slept like a baby as usual. Despite the small Honeywell fan in the room it was still very hot. The weather is also not the fault of the hostel. If I had advice for people looking to stay here I would say bring flip flops to use in the shower. The bathroom floor is wet most of the time and if you're sharing foot space with several others it's better to be safe than sorry. Also there were no towels (paper or otherwise) in the bathroom to dry your hands, towels are $8 at the front desk (you get $7 back at the end of your stay) so bring your own or be prepared to request them. I didn't check out the cafe downstairs but it seemed to be popular with other guests and was usually busy. There are some lovely places nearby for food and drink, our favourites being Habit Coffee, Shine Cafe, Brickyard Pizza (we literally went every night for a late snack) and John's Place. Bottom line I would definitely stay here again. read more