The Chocolate Hostel

This place is a joke. Not a place for travelers. It is full of a bunch of pathetic, overweight, desperate guys who work on boats in Fort Lauderdale and on their off time sit around drinking and talking really loud all night long. Drug dealers come and hang out on the property and everybody is either on or uses drugs. There is a transvestite living in one of the female dorms. The two girls running it don’t know what they’re doing and would rather socialize than run a business. It is noisy, dirty, ugly and the people working there are stupid. I’ve never met a more disrespectful and discourteous bunch of people. The place should be shut down and I’m sure the Ft. Lauderdale Police are going to get tired of coming there.

Why is 0 stars not an option?! I booked this hostel through
and regretted it the MOMENT I stepped foot on the property.
Yes, like other Unilocalers have mentioned, this is a Locals/​Dive Bar type hostel. These aren’t students, they aren’t international travelers, they’re down on the luck, in between gig types of locals. One guy said he’s been staying here on and off for 7 years! What?!?
The cleaning staff does their part to maintain for a moment but it’s fleeting. The amount of foul body odor and stinky feet is just overwhelming in the dorm rooms. I wanted to open the windows but there were no screens and I didn’t want to let the bugs in. Regardless, I woke up to a salamander on the curtain — but eh, it’s a ground floor room in Florida — I understand.
What is BEYOND my comprehension was my first night, I tip toe to my room to not wake anyone up, I go toward my top bunk bed and get ready to climb in… and I hear some rustling. I thought Oh My God there’s a opossum in my bed! No, it was just the «community cat» — «I guess someone just let him in and he found your empty bed». Hand to God.
Even better, the last night I was there, I DIDNT HAVE ANY SHEETS OR PILLOW CASE to sleep with. I had to scrounge up extra towels to lay on. The front desk staff was no where to be found and wouldn’t answer her cell.
Never EVER stay here. Just buy coffee every half hour and stay at the Denny’s over night. You’ll actually save money! NEVER. NEVER.

I would have been better off sleeping in my Jeep at a rest area… but I gave this place two nights and I totally regret doing so.
!!! AVOID !!!

I’m having a hard time rating this place, so I’ll tell you my story.
I was coming into Ft Lauderdale on a Saturday night, and this place worked well with my nonexistent budget. Real horrorshow reviews, as you’re no doubt aware, but in the worst case it’d make a story.
Arrived at the hostel at dusk — quite a number of people hanging around outside, though keeping to themselves. It didn’t feel very social. A very friendly lady at check-​in, though. In a first for me, I had an assigned bed in the shared dorm, which I guess removes the claim-​jumpers but I did wish it was the bottom. Oh well.
I went to check out the room and saw the door was unlocked. The room was essentially a 90s-​era one bedroom apartment, with two sets of bunks in the bedroom. A guy was in the living room on the phone watching a basketball game, where he stayed for the 10 minutes I was there. I felt like I was breaking into a domestic scene. After my bed was set up, I split for the night.
Back around midnight — our door still unlocked. I was nervous over this, so I locked. One guy there, asleep already, and I climbed into my space. The bed/​pillow suited me and I slept… until 3am. This was when I was woken with a lady pounding the door yelling «I need my fucking keys!» I was worried I had locked someone out, and immediately sprung out, but then realized I was in a guy’s dorm and as I looked through the peephole I saw the lady went off somewhere else and seemed in a different place. The music is always going here and there are apparently a lot of loiterers, and it reminded me of one of those «they’ve all had a bit too much to drink» moments. I went back to bed.
Up promptly at 7 to head out, so I quietly grab my bag and linens. The loiterers are in the courtyard talking to themselves. I walk by unobtrusively to drop my linens off, and then a guy belligerently yells, «you’re not going to say hello?» to which I apologize, telling them I didn’t mean to interrupt. Not that he wanted to continue the talk. I just dropped my stuff off and moseyed the heck on out. My story.
So, 2 stars? Here’s why:
Obviously we don’t have to even think 4 or 5 stars. Let’s establish that right off.
One star would be pretty harsh. I already had lowered expectations so it’d have to be even worse to descend further. As it was it was not the worst place I’ve stayed in by a fair amount. And if you’re reading these reviews you apparently don’t shy away from 1-​star reviews, either. So unless you’re a cat who thinks lodging starts with Hampton Inn, you will manage somehow.
I’m having a hard time between 2 and 3. The plethora of 1-​star reviews wants me to elevate the group rating a little, though truth be told this place sufficed but was not enjoyable so I can’t give a 3 with a good conscience.
So think of it this way: you probably won’t get a better price by far, and it’s extremely unlikely you’ll suffer bodily harm. But don’t expect any other positives. If you’re okay with that, well alright. For others, this chocolate probably won’t be your fix.

I REALLY WANTED TO LOVE THIS PLACE. Hostels have a special place in my heart stemming from my residency in co-​op housing during my first year of college and I enjoy sharing a deep camaraderie with the people with whom I live. I’m usually a laid back person when it comes to room accommodations, especially when the pricing is bargain and the atmosphere is alternative. This hostel… I suppose… can best be described as a «dive» hostel (like a dive bar). It wasn’t really the cleanliness that got to me (although removing the mold and mildew from the corners of the room WOULD be nice), it was the lackadaisical treatment of the premises. So, I was travelling alone and they put me in a «dorm» with two other guys. Granted, I did have a key that locked the door to my private room, but the door had a hole right at the doorknob/​lock mechanism. To be clear, the hole made it look like an altercation may have occurred on one night after some alcohol had been consumed and some unnecessarily harsh words had been exchanged. I actually stuffed the hole with a paper towel so no one could peek in to see what I was doing. The TV in my room had no remote control. I got a little bit squeamish when I got too close to any of the walls because of the oldness and dinginess of them. I finally gave in a went out to buy some Lysol wipes so that I could wipe down the floor and toilet seat before and after each use.
Why I call this a «dive» is because there seems to be a lot of resident locals. The outside atmosphere is actually quite nice since there’s music being funneled through to the courtyard at all times and the «party area» comes complete with a disco ball hanging in the pool area. If I were 10 years younger, I probably would have joined in on the festivities that occurred both nights I was there. The people act like locals. If you’re not one of them, they seem apprehensive. The person who checked me in was… nice enough. However, I think she was mixing a bit a work and pleasure at the time I showed up to check in because when I first got there, a guy rushed out and was scrambling to get his belt on with a rushed «she’ll be right with you» that was said to me as he flew past me and out the door. The girl approached casually and carelessly from the back like, «yeah…what?» Like another reviewer on here, I got the sense that I would be assigned a room based on my charisma score (assigned by check-​in staff of course). EXCEPT… I couldn’t tell if she liked me enough or not, so when I realized I was going to be in a dorm with two stranger guys, I didn’t know if I was being set up to be beaten and raped in the middle of the night or not. At which point, the hole that had been kicked/​punched into my door did nothing to help allay my fears.
The bathroom was clean enough, but I still wanted to wipe down floors and toilet before and after every use. The blanket that comes with the bed is the thinnest sheet I have EVER encountered. I visited at the beginning of March, so it was ok, but I still went out to purchase an oversized beach towel as extra cover. You don’t get anything with the room. No towels, no extra pillows, no extra sheets. So for me, the beach towel served as a shower towel that was hung up to air dry for bed time. Because I was travelling alone and am female, it was very hard to not feel on edge here. I had to work out a lock and unlock routine with the bathroom door and the door to the private room even for quick trips to the bathroom to make sure that no one would be able to sneak in when I wasn’t looking.
I have travelled alone to many other places and stayed in hostels. Before I started a family, I would stay in hostels with 6 other stranger girls no problems. When it comes to the Chocolate, no other place has made me feel as unsafe.

This isn’t a place for everyone
THE SURROUNDINGS
The hostel looks like those typical, small apartment buildings where rent is dirt cheap, looks worn out, and lawn maintenance doesn’t exist. It’s not exactly a shady area – there’s a nice hospital a block away, it’s next to the main road, and many chain restaurants nearby because of the proximity to the beaches. Still… nothing to get negative about.
THE PEOPLE
At first I thought, «What the hell am I doing here?» as the receptionist took my money under a single light bulb and had a beer within grabbing distance… still… nothing to get negative about. Half of the characters around looked shady – I bet they were just using the hostel as a cheap sleeping place because they got kicked out of another: these looked old, unclean, and always had a beer in hand.
The rest were genuine bagpackers from other countries and were very friendly (except a few were partying outside at night and made some noise). My «roommates» were from France, Australia, and Columbia.
SLEEPING OVER
I took every precaution such as bringing slippers into the shower, checking my bed for bugs, bringing my own linen, locking up my bag… and felt like I was being silly after the 2^nd day. The bathroom was cleaner than most college apartments I’ve seen. The bedroom was cramped but not disease-​ridden. The worst part was the kitchen – stained and old appliances. But I didn’t use any of it.
SUMMARY
Great, cheap alternative to a hotel for travelers if you’re in packs of two or less (because of the price)… but it’s definitely not for everyone. If you know how to take precautions and can yuck up beer-​touting schlubs, then I’d give this a shot. But if you have a level of cleanliness that doesn’t waver in any situation – just go to a hotel.

This place was a nightmare. Horribly filthy (see photos). It was so incredibly dirty we left and slept in the airport instead! Avoid at all costs!

This is not what you expect in a hostel. No planed activities, no group meals, BBQ’s or pool parties. I booked this in researching it as a place to book for college trips and have found it is a low income rental. Most of the guest are real nice, but in a challaging place in life. There are some that are who are here just to get by and avaliable to sell you what ever you want. It’s 11:50 pm and music is blairing from the office for the second night. It would be different if it was a planned activity or after going out party, but not a just couple of guest hanging out drinking and smoking. I had booked for 6 nights but later e-​mail back and reduced it to 5, this was before the cancelation time. When i arrived the rate was raised to equal to the six night rarte. I question it and was told the web page is wrong. I decided to deal with it while checking out other locationd. Even at $ 30. a night it isn’t worth it. They are one bed room apartments which could be a great deal but they are dirty and beds and furniture are subpar. Some outlets are not working, globes missing from lamps and hard wired fire detector was missing as was the battery operated one, No screem on the windows with one not locking. There are no private lockers so some one else always has access to you luggage. This will be the last night i stay here, Hopefully the next hosterl will actually be one.

Wow. This is the worst place I have ever been. Would never return.
First, we get there and the people that work there are smoking weed in the back office… Then they try to get into our personal business, asking us questions as if to see if we should be «allowed» to stay there.
After about 20 minutes we got into the room, there aren’t even any locks on the doors. The sheets were dirty.
It was horrible service and it didn’t even feel safe to sleep there. I don’t recommend.