Kenmore Res Club

These past two weeks I have stayed at the Kenmore Hostel and I just had to write a review about it.
Before I got to see the room I immediately had to sign a payment contract which stated that I had seen the room and everything was ok. Additionally, it said that I agree to pay the full amount at once. I then specifically asked to pay in instalments and asked to see the room in advance. I was told that if I didn’t sign that I won’t be able to go to the room and the prepaid amount would be lost as well. So unfortunately I did.
When I got to my room, which was not dirty, not clean, I noticed that there was no WIFI internet access there. I immediately went down to ask what was wrong. I was told that they have known that for years!!! and that I was too late in the evening to do anything about it, I should come back in the morning.
The following morning a friendly employee showed me another room which had no WIFI internet access either. Therefore I told him that this was a deal breaker for me; I needed a good internet reception and a place to work without interruption as well. He then kindly offered me that I could leave with my remaining money back if I could find a better place within the next couple of days.
The next day I came back and asked the guy for my money back for the remaining days because I had found another place. At that moment he asked the manager to come by and she immediately started yelling at me. She yelled that I had been rude to everyone in the hostel and that because I «complained-​ish» I wouldn’t get my money back. She also said that nobody ever said that I could get my money back. The guy who had said it the other day stood next to us and when I kindly asked him to tell what he had said he was overruled by the manager and couldn’t explain anything. Of course I tried to explain more about what happened and she rudely just turned around and left in the middle of the conversation. That was the end of it.
Because of what I signed the first night I had no legal ground and was forced to stay the full 2 weeks. Therefore I’m now also able to write you more about the hostel. (I do have to add that I didn’t complain about everything while I was at the hotel. This was because I was completely fed up with the manager and I had to make my stay as comfortable as I could)
The beds are short and feel like you are directly lying on the springs
Towels have stains on them
The staff except for one person (which is underemployed) and the chef is not very helpful. Don’t expect to receive any extra service.
The manager is the worst.
Roomservice was in my room on Labor Day at 9.30am. Because I was in the first room of the entire floor I asked them if they could be back in half an hour because it was still a bit early. That was no option, right now or not at all.
The heating system makes terrible loud noises when turned on (they sound like two coffee cups are constantly being banged together).
The blinds didn’t close properly.
Roomservice forgot to lock my room twice.
And of course the internet: No WIFI in the rooms. There was some internet in the public area downstairs. But quite often not even fast enough to load a page like Facebook.
Isn’t there anything good about the hostel: well yes actually there is! The diners are actually quite good, correctly served and healthy. It was the some of the best food I’ve had in over a month in the US.
Was that worth it though…
Final advice: Please stay away, it isn’t worth it.

Only come here if you are prepared to sleep with earplugs on. The heater in the room is extremely old and noisy, you will hear loud crackling all night. The noise continues even if you turn the knob on the heater off.
THE STAFF TOLD ME TO GET EARPLUGS. If you ask the staff for help after 4pm, they will not even come to look at your room. They will just repeat «there is nothing I can do».
The breakfast and dinner are not bad, just be prepared for extremely poor quality of sleep. (In my opinion, the trade off of free food for inability to sleep is not worth it — I can find food elsewhere, but the whole point of a hotel/​hostel is to be able to sleep at night…)

It’s really an adorable and affordable place to stay in SF. It’s in a very calm and safe neighborhood, close to Japan Town so there are nice places to see around. The rooms are quiet, bed comfortable, all always clean.
You get free breakfast and dinner. Breakfast is fine, not much fancy stuff but it’s full and good. Dinner is always cool! Good food, with vegetarian options, and fresh salad bad. There is always a good soup, it makes me warm in the little chilly restaurant room. Often also a tasty dessert, tart, cake or ice cream. Fruits are also available at breakfast and dinner. And of course free coffee all the day.
Definitively the best place to stay. It’s about $ 1,000 a month, if you share the room with a dude. Including food.

I’ve been to hostels and residence clubs before so my expectations weren’t too high. This is by no means a hotel. My private room had a double bed, bathroom with claw foot tub and good sized closet. Not clean, but not filthy.
Sure it’s cheap, but there are a lot of other places in the city you can get for the same price (not including the nasty food) and food isn’t pricey if you know where to go. It’s easy to stay on the same budget by staying somewhere better.
When I booked my room, I was told that linens were included and that I would have Internet in my room. I got there and there were neither.
The girl who was at the desk when I checked in was very RUDE and at first didn’t believe me that I had no towels in the room. After about 20 minutes of searching by another employee, he found me two tattered bath towels. I asked about hand towels and face cloths and were told there weren’t any. Later, by asking another staff member, I was able to get a hand towel, but I had to buy my own face cloths at the drugstore.
Apparently there is Internet in some rooms on the 2^nd floor, but even the Internet in the common areas is patchy, slow, and goes out frequently. The Kenmore staff recommended that I try to get onto a neighboring hotel’s wireless access. I had to go to a café multiple times to get online.
The radiator in my room leaked, filling up one 8oz coffee cup every 20 minutes for the first 3 days so I was regularly stepping on the wet, stained carpet where it had been evidently dripping for a long time. I guess it was better than my friend’s room: the radiator EXPLODED and made her room into a rainstorm with water dripping from the ceiling. All of her electronics were ruined. They talked about repairing or replacing her laptop.
The phone only worked if I pressed the cord into the jack while I was using the phone (one hand on the receiver, the other on the wall jack). I mentioned it to one of the more polite staff members but it didn’t get fixed within the 2 weeks I was there.
It took 3 days of requests for an extra blanket to actually get one, reluctantly, with one staff member stressing that «we don’t normally do that.»
The food is free, but that’s about it. Salty, greasy, mushy. You can ask them to pack it for you if you miss the dinner hour, but if you ask for it to go make sure you ask the right person. I asked a girl who was new to the kitchen and she told me I couldn’t have my dinner to go now — I could pick it up on a plate at dinner time or in a box after dinner time. Two of my friends already had theirs boxed for the same meal, but they had asked the right guy. Those friends told me who to ask, and after asking the other staff member, the girl got really rude towards me. I was going to leave without dinner but the other staff member told me to stay while he got someone to box it for me.
I had the Do Not Disturb sign on the door for a couple of days and wanted maid service another day so I thought that putting the «Maid Service Please» sign on the door would work. It didn’t. Apparently ANY sign on the door means «Do Not Disturb» at least that’s what the manager told me!
Since it was Friday, I couldn’t get maid service until Monday so I had another long procedure to try and exchange my towels for clean ones.
There is a strict «No Guests after 10pm» policy (depending on who’s at the front desk)
The girl who checked me in was there a few nights and rudely told me there was «NO POSSIBLE WAY» for me to have someone in my room until 11 or 12. Meanwhile, the groups of people who are staying there can party in the hallways until 3am without being asked by the staff to keep the noise down — even after a complaint!
I ended up leaving early due to these events and the rudeness of a few of the staff.
My Recommendation: STAY AWAY!