Old Mill Holiday Hostel

Group of us staying for a hen party in Westport. When we arrived all guests were asked for a €30 cash only security deposit. Caused a bit of a nuisance for the group and not everyone had cash. So check in took longer than necessary. Room was grand. Just a plain room with loads of bunk beds. Not really enough sockets in the room for everyone needing to charge phones etc. Grand if you just want to rest your head for the night, bedsheets were clean and fresh. Toilets and shower area clean. No issues Issue with night porter/security man on shift. Rude to different groups of us. Refused to show us the correct door up to our room, refused to let some of the girls into the communal room to get bottles of water filled. Some of the girls had brought home bags of chips and didn’t want to be eating in the bedroom, gave out that they were sitting on steps outside the hostel to each their food. Threatening behavior and based on my own opinion, clearly just because we were women. My advice, teach him basic manners and respect! Spoke to manager next morning who took it on board but said she has never had complaint about him before but based on previous reviews on this…. I think that’s a lie. Anyway, overall great weekend in Westport. Just need to sort out the night porter

This really is a shocking place. 0 stars would still be flattering them if it was available to give. The room stinks or urine and the staff have the most disgusting rude manners I have ever witnessed. The lady on check in should really find a new job as i have never met somebody so moserable in my life. They lie to you on check in. Take a cash only deposit and then make up more lies on check out to find a way to keep it We ended up calling the police on the ower to get our deposit back as she was committing theft. Right in front of us (or trying at least). We were a family of 6 well travelled who have stayed in hostels all over the world and this was by a distance the worst ever. Its a shame as the town is great and everybody has fun apart from this downer. AVOID

The hostel is in a great location and as its the only one in town you don't have many options. It's basic but that's all you want. The reason for the review is the terrible staff, the checking lady was incredibly rude, lacked any warmth and a kind word and they inforced a policy of a thirty euro deposit per person ontop of the twenty five euro for the bed. You also are not told before of the deposit and that it has to be in cash until you check in. (Its in small print on the website) not mentioned in the confirmation or when you book. On checkout we were told a guest asked us keep the noise down last night (which was correct, but we did straight away) and hence this she refused to give is back our deposit. We were never told about this before but there is a laminated sign in reception which was pointed out afterwards. I have stayed in multiple hostels around the world, and no where ever refuses a deposit for noise, no staff were called the verify, just one person's word against another and then refuse to return a deposit. We obviously argued this, the owner is very simple, while we were disputing her taking our deposit she even said 'how can we afford to pay staff when people are paying twenty five euro a night' - so the business model is to rob peoples deposit to cover staff wages- disgusting. She finally decided to only take 70 euros off the six of us and return the rest... Making the rules up as she goes along. I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone and will make sure to tell others to avoid solely due to the management and how they just refuse to return your deposit. Why not just charge 35euro per person and run an honest business.

I gave it one star cause I can't give it zero starts, but it's one of the greediest and lousiest places I've ever been to. Had to wait half an hour to check in cause I went with my kids and apparently it's over 18??? ***? Youth hostels are notoriously for families...looks like a prison, bunk beds are lowest I've ever seen, felt like choking, no fittings whatsoever or broken ones, obviously they spent as little as possible. Price is extortion, especially considering they don't pay taxes (cash only, I wonder why that is). Bloody showers were freezing cold...and designed by some warped mind. I'd say go and check for yourself but I'm not that cruel...a campsite would have been half the price, twice the comfort

The Old Mill is perfectly located in the centre of Westport, the accommodation comfortable and the facilities basic. My main problems are with the way it is run. The staff are all short term volunteers and are not confident when it comes to check-in, not sure whether I should pay a deposit or not, but decided to err on the side of caution and ask for €30, no receipt, just put into a named envelope. All transactions are cash only, in this day and age, really? It is not a newspaper shop, why cash only for what can be large sums. Being short term volunteers, the staff I asked had no clue about Westport so cannot advise where to eat, drink or visit. Breakfast is advertised from 8am until 10 am, one morning the staff didn't appear and after numerous phone calls the owner came in at 9:40 am to open up and lay out breakfast. Check out is before 10am, but having got an on-time breakfast I wanted to check out at 8:30, no couldn't do that as nobody was available to check me out and I had to wait until 9:30. It may only be a hostel, but it needs to be reliable for clients.

Nice Hostel, very central to Westport. Close to all pubs and handy for hiking and cycling the greenway. Nice size common area. Provides the basics well. We got lucky with the people who were staying there. There were a lot of lone travellers lookint to share experiences.

Pros: spacious and well equipped kitchen, cool old building, great town centre location close to cafés, shops, bike hire, etc, good wifi Cons: All rooms are mixed gender, walls very thin so you’ll hear anything in the room next to you, showers on a 10 second timer until you have to press the water again, we booked 2 beds in a 4-person dorm (for two girls) and were instead put in a 6-person. Notes: Ask for the wifi network and password at the front desk as it isn’t the “OLDMILL” network that they advertise. We actually weren’t asked for the €30 cash deposit. Would definitely advise bringing earplugs for a less disturbed sleep. All in all, fine for a night or two, friendly staff and nice kitchen. Our main complaint (noise) can be mitigated worth earplugs, and just be aware that it there are no female only dorms.

A place to be with friends and enjoy the city of Wesport. Rustic hostel, low cost and excellent environment. The kitchen is spacious and we can cook and chat with other guests. In the city center close to bars, restaurants and supermarkets. Westport is a beautiful city. .