HI-Tofino - Whaler’s on the Point Guesthouse
81 West St. P.O. Box 296, Tofino, British Columbia V0R 2Z0 Canada
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Prices above are provided by partners for one room, with variable occupancy rules as provided by the property, and do not include all taxes and fees. Please see our partners for full details.
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Travel safe during COVID-19
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What you can expect during your stay
- All linens sanitised in high-temperature wash
- Face masks required for guests in public areas
- Face masks required for staff in public areas
- Floors marked for social distancing
- Hand sanitiser available to guests & staff
- Stay-at-home policy for staff with symptoms
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Updated 21-02-13 Safety precautions are provided by the property and are not checked by Tripadvisor for accuracy.
A note from HI-Tofino - Whaler’s on the Point Guesthouse
Updated 21-02-13 Safety precautions are provided by the property and are not checked by Tripadvisor for accuracy.
About
#5 of 27 Specialty lodging in Tofino
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Value
Whether you are interested in surfing, fishing, whale watching, storm watching, beach combing or just which to explore Tofino and its exciting arts, culture and restaurant scene, we offer the best value around. Spend your money on adventure not your accommodation. At the end of each day, enjoy a hot drink or a cold brew next to our fireplace in the comfort of our lounge room overlooking the Sound, or relax shooting a game of pool in our games room! Fully equipped communal kitchen. BBQ area and coin operated guest laundry facilities. Choose from our spacious private suites (2 - pc bathroom), private rooms with ocean views, Deluxe private room with balcony, Budget private rooms or shared dorm style rooms - all with 9 ft ceilings and many with breathtaking waterfront views. We look forward to making your experience memorable!
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Property amenities
Paid private parking on-site
Free High Speed Internet (WiFi)
Outdoor dining area
Beach
Bicycle rental
BBQ facilities
Non-smoking hotel
24-hour check-in
Parking
Wifi
Bicycles available
Game room
Hiking
Fishing
Patio
Walking tours
Outdoor furniture
Shared bathroom
Shared kitchen
Shared lounge / TV area
First aid kit
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Room features
Dining area
Fireplace
Separate dining area
Coffee / tea maker
Kitchenette
Microwave
Oven
Hair dryer
Refrigerator
Stovetop
Electric kettle
Kitchenware
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Room types
Ocean view
Non-smoking rooms
Family rooms
Location
Full view
73Somewhat walkable
Grade: 73 out of 100
14Restaurantswithin 0.5 km
13Attractionswithin 0.5 km
Contact
81 West St. P.O. Box 296, Tofino, British Columbia V0R 2Z0 Canada
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My partner and I stayed here in June and were greatly disappointed. Currently it is not the hostel it advertises to be. Of course we’re aware covid has had huge impacts, but with the lounge and kitchen being closed to guests it seems silly to pay upwards of $90 a night just to sleep in a bunk bed with wifi. The outside kitchen has one covered table, the rest of the patio furniture is at risk of rain. There are no cooking utensils or crockery provided, we were told we needed to supply our own, and guests have no access to food storage or a fridge. Unless you’re travelling in a camper with a mini fridge (and then why would you need a hostel), or plan on eating out all the time (and you could probably afford better than this hostel), it’s almost impossible. This wasn’t communicated to us when we booked over the phone, nor did it properly explain the level of covid closures online so we had a rude surprise upon arrival. Hoping hoping this review informs other travellers.…
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Date of stay: June 2021Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Helpful
Response from Tofino Hostel, General Manager at HI-Tofino - Whaler’s on the Point Guesthouse
Responded Jun. 17, 2021
Hello Anna, Thanks a lot for leaving a review for us after reaching out to us by email before. We are very sorry to hear that your stay was not as expected. We try our best to make a stay during COVID-19 as pleasant and normal as possible. However, we also have to ensure the well-being of all our staff and guests. After more than a year into COVID-19 most of our guests understand very well that travelling during COVID-19 is a different experience than during pre-pandemic times. We are also aware that our house rules here are strict and at times very different from what other hostels offer. However, for the last 16 month we successfully managed to prevent any COVID-19 exposure here at our hostel and were able to keep the highest possible safety standards to ensure the well-being of our guests, staff and ultimately our community. Tofino is a very small community and we are operating in the traditional territory of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation of the Nuu-chah-nulth peoples – there have been valid concerns from the local first nations communities about welcoming tourists here in Tofino during a pandemic. This and the fact that our community has 10 hospital beds for 8,000 people is why our COVID-19 safety protocols might seem stricter than in other places. This is the reason why we are strictly following the provincial orders that put a circuit breaker on all indoor dining and also introduced strict regulations around travel. As a result, we had to make the hard decision to close all our communal areas to guests until further notice. This is clearly communicated in all our confirmation emails, pre-arrival emails and also on our website (https://www.tofinohostel.com/ and https://www.tofinohostel.com/covid-19-info ). We also give out pots, pans and dishware to all our guests who want to use the outside kitchen. We will make sure to communicate this again with our team to ensure this is clearly explained to all our guests at check-in. Luckily, with the new infections going down and more and more people getting vaccinated we were able to open all our communal areas and kitchen again. Again, we are sorry that your stay during COVID-19 was not as anticipated. We do hope you enjoyed your trip to Tofino regardless and hope you will give us another chance during post-pandemic times - when hostelling and travelling is hopefully like we all used to know it from the times before COVID.
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Super nice place to stay! Clean and comfortable, the room was perfect. The staff is amazing, I can see that the people who work there have a lot of attention to detail. Everything looks very clean and tidy. Definitely, I would refer this place to other people.
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Date of stay: December 2020
Location
Service
Sleep Quality
Helpful
We spent two nights in Whalers Hostel and it was amazing; super clean, staff very friendly and helpful, near all main attractions. During Covid, they had special mesures in place to ensure the safety of all. I would recommend it to everyone !
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Date of stay: November 2020Trip type: Travelled with friends
Helpful
Great stay! Definitely suggesting to other people. Beautiful view from the living area, nice kitchen and friendly staff! Rooms with nice bedding and towels provided. Very clean communal bathrooms. I will be coming back for sure. Thank you!
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Date of stay: October 2020Trip type: Travelled on business
Helpful
We had an okay stay at the Hi-Tofino Whalers on the point Guesthouse. We had a private room with shared bathrooms. The big plus is the location. The view from the lounge/fireplace area is incredible. However, for a hostel the prices were very high for what it was. I understand that prices are higher in Tofino, but I have been to far better hostels elsewhere for less than half the price. Also, for the price, I assumed that the parking would have been included...! The COVID-19 sanitary measures were not fully enforced which made us question how seriously they were being taken by the hostel’s staff as well. The kitchen hours were quiet restrictive and the reception was almost always closed. It remains one of the most « affordable » accommodation in the area and I think it is why they are getting away with an average hostel with a high price point. We liked Tofino and the location, but we were slightly disappointed with our stay here.…
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Date of stay: September 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
1 Helpful vote
Helpful
Response from Tofino Hostel, General Manager at HI-Tofino - Whaler’s on the Point Guesthouse
Responded Sep. 28, 2020
Hello Pascale, Thanks so much for staying with us an leaving a review. We are sorry about the confusion with the parking fee. We only have fee for parking during high season (5CAD per vehicle) but do not charge for parking during shoulder and low season (November to March). We also recommend to visit us during low or shoulder season - Tofino is beautiful in the off-season and we have a lot of good deals and discounts during the more quiet time of the year. Please also be assured that we are taking COVID019 very serious. We re asking all our guests to wear face masks inside the building and a sanitizing and cleaning high usage areas frequently and multiple times day. Can you please reach out to us by email and let us know which sanitary measures you found were not enforced so we can retrain our team if necessary? Thanks again for visiting us in Tofino, we hope you had a safe trip home.
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Opted to try the HI-Tofino as an "affordable" option (around 150$ for a non member rate, private room). Pleasantly surprised by the surf gear storage area, although some means of having it securely locked would be an added plus. I can appreciate the challenges covid precautions place on a hotel, and protocols and safety measures made sense. Bit disappointed that 150$ a night doesn't provide the guests any shampoo or conditioner services. Staff are seemingly absent after 9pm or so. I found both Friday & Saturday the hallways and rooms to be areas of communal parties / music etc passed 10-11pm. There was no contact available at the front desk to enforce noise issues, and seemingly no one to contact based on the info pamphlet provided. Going forward for future visits I'll likely shell out a few extra bucks on a hotel to get a better nights sleep.…
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Date of stay: September 2020
Value
Cleanliness
Service
Helpful
Response from Tofino Hostel, General Manager at HI-Tofino - Whaler’s on the Point Guesthouse
Responded Sep. 28, 2020
Thanks a lot for reviewing us. We are happy to hear that you liked the surf gear storage. Due to COVID-19 we currenlty do not lock it since guests would need to handle a key for the storage and we considered it safe for everybody not to have a key being passed down. While we close our office at 9PM staff is around until at least 10PM to sanitize and clean bathrooms, communal areas and kitchen and also to enforce quiet times. We also have emergency numbers posted by our main entrance door in case guests need assistance. We are not a party hostel and take our quiet times serious. While we do not have a 24 hour front desk, all our staff live onsite and ensure that quiet times are kept and respected. While we do not offer individually wrapped soap and shampoo we do have soap dispensers in all our bathrooms and provide samples of a local soap manufacturer for our guests to use. Next time you stay with us just check without front desk and we are happy explain the different types we offer. We do offer a 10% discount for HI members on our rates - you might also want to check our fall / winter deals - which is as low as 64CAD + tax for a private room.
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I was utterly disappointed with this hostel. They charged me a lost key fee despite telling us we had extra time to check out after asking. We were also told off for chatting outside with other guests at roughly 9:30pm, we were in no way being loud. The kitchen policy was obscene - very strict over even getting water. Finally, they seemed very unhelpful with tours if it wasn’t with the direct company they usually worked with. Overall, I was disappointed with HI hostel Tofino, which was sad given that I am in general a big HI hostel fan. Staff weren’t warm, helpful or friendly. My advice is to look for somewhere else especially given the price.
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Date of stay: September 2020Trip type: Travelled with friends
2 Helpful votes
Helpful
Response from Tofino Hostel, General Manager at HI-Tofino - Whaler’s on the Point Guesthouse
Responded Sep. 12, 2020
Hello Jordan, thank you very much for leaving a review for our hostel. We had charged a lost key fee because one of the keys was not returned and also explained to your group that we would refund you if the key is found. We refunded the lost key fee right after your group found the key and returned it to our front desk. Due to COVID and extended cleaning and sanitizing protocols that we follow here at our hostel for the safety of our guests, our kitchen is open to guests from 8AM to 11AM for breakfast, 12PM to 2PM for lunch and from 5PM to 9PM for dinner. Outside these times we are cleaning and sanitizing the kitchen. We will be back to our usual kitchen times as soon as it is safe to do so. As we are located in downtown Tofino and our neighbors are not too far. We usually close our patio area at 10PM and give our guests a quick heads up around 9:30PM that our patio will be closed soon. We are sorry that you had the feeling that we did not make enough recommendations for tour companies. We have a great variety of companies that we have in program and that offer our guests a great discounts on adventure tours and lessons. We have picked each single one of them because they are our Tofino favorites and we know each of the tours they offer and can tell you every single bit about them. For guests who prefer to go out with other companies we usually recommend to make your booking directly with that company to ensure you have all the information about the company prior to your booking. Kind regards, Juliane
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The common room is large and spacious with a great view towards the mountains of Meares Island. The hostel itself is in good shape, almost feels that it is new. The shared bathroom facilities are sufficient for the number of hostel rooms at this location.
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Date of stay: September 2019
Value
Location
Service
1 Helpful vote
Helpful
Great place to stay in Tofino. Close to the city and trail. If you not afraid to walk, you can actually do everything on foot in Tofino :) The staff is nice and helpful and they organise lots of stuff around like show at night or help you book activity like surfing...
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Date of stay: August 2019Trip type: Travelled solo
2 Helpful votes
Helpful
Will say it's a gorgeous hostel but one of the most expensive I've ever stayed in. Whole town had power outage for 3 days (not hostel's fault). The hostel was not prepared at all. Had 1 small generator which was only run about 2hrs per night. No heat, rooms were freezing and pitch black after sunset at 4pm. Hallways and washrooms pitch black too and no hot water. Was given one small flashlight for the 2 of us so went and bought more plus batteries. Asked if we could have a partial refund or be compensated for our purchase but lady who checked us in was a volunteer so couldn't authorize and had been explicitly told by management not to discount or refund any guests. Were told the manager "might" be around the next day. We emailed the manager but no reply. Went to talk to the manager next day but they said they were an assistant manager and not authorized to offer partial refund or compensation for our purchases. We were told the "real" manager might be around the next day again but we were too annoyed to keep trying (which I suspect was the desired outcome). The hostel is run by Volunteers who were left to fend for themselves and guests during the outage (they were awesome though with what they had to work with). Will not stay again. It's the same price for an air bnb.…
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Date of stay: December 2018Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Helpful
Response from Tofino H, Manager at HI-Tofino - Whaler’s on the Point Guesthouse
Responded Jan. 4, 2019
Dear Timmit123, we are sorry to hear that your stay at our hostel was not pleasant due to the storm related power outage. It was one of the biggest storms in the last 25 years with winds up to 100km/h and more. The storm was the most destructive in BC Hydro history, and hit Tofino and the rest of Vancouver Island without any warning. We are used to power outages in our area but most of them only last a few hours or maximum a day. We are well prepared for these ‘usual’ outages: Our hotwater tank is big enough to supply hot water to our guests for up to 24 hours. Our generator allows us to keep selected hallway, bathroom and kitchen lights running, and the fire place in our communal area runs even if the power is out. We have flashlights that we hand out to our guests. We also have a BBQ that guests can use to prepare meals if there is no power and we provided coffee in the office for our guests for breakfast on the last two days of the outage. A three day power outage, however, can presents its challenges and we are sorry if this caused you inconveniences during your stay with us. Please understand that we had to switch off our generator at night since it is quite noisy. We also cannot ensure our guests' safety in case of a generator failure during night time. Our generator was running from 7AM to 1PM and then again starting from 3PM to 11PM on the first day of the outage. On the second day the gas station announced that they might run out of gasoline as their deliver truck could not get to Tofino. Without any updates on the BC Hydro website on how long the outage might last I decided to reduce the running time of our generator (8AM to 12PM and 4PM to 10PM) to ensure we are not running out of gasoline in case power might not be restored for another few days – which was quite likely at that time. We had informed guests about our generator running times and also provided them with information about restaurants, shops, and coffeeshops that were open during the power outage. We are aware that our current generator needs upgrading and are in the process of replacing it. Unfortunately, we did not manage to complete the upgrade before this big storm hit Vancouver Island. We hope to have our generator work completed in the next few weeks. I am very sorry if you had the impression that our front desk staff are volunteers. I can assure you that all our front desk clerks are full-time staff members who have undergone extensive training to prepare them for their job. We also have monthly emergency trainings for power outages for all staff members. I would also like to apologize that you felt that there was no manager available during the power outage. I had daily briefings with my staff every morning/midday and night during the outage. Outside those times I was in and out of the office to get more gasoline for our generator, batteries, and supplies - we were still hoping to be able to prepare a Christmas cookie bake and Christmas dinner for our guests on December 24. All staff members are well-trained for power outages and I was constantly in contact with them. Since our office was not fully operational during the three days of the outage I asked them to document and email me all complaints so I could contact guests once the power was restored. I am very sorry if I did not respond to your email until now. Can you please contact me again at manager@tofinohostel.com with regards to a refund? I can only hope that this exceptional storm and the inconveniences it caused you during our stay did not sour your trip to Tofino too much. With warm regards, Juliane
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PRICE RANGE
US$149 - US$218 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
whalers on the point guesthouse hotel tofino
LOCATION
CanadaBritish ColumbiaVancouver IslandAlberni-Clayoquot Regional DistrictClayoquot SoundTofino
NUMBER OF ROOMS
20
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Claim Your Listing Frequently Asked Questions about HI-Tofino - Whaler’s on the Point Guesthouse
Which popular attractions are close to HI-Tofino - Whaler’s on the Point Guesthouse?
Nearby attractions include Roy Henry Vickers Gallery (0.4 km), Clayoquot Sound (0.3 km), and House of Himwitsa (0.2 km).
What are some of the property amenities at HI-Tofino - Whaler’s on the Point Guesthouse?
Some of the more popular amenities offered include free wifi, barbeque facilities, and bicycle rental.
Which room amenities are available at HI-Tofino - Whaler’s on the Point Guesthouse?
Top room amenities include a kitchenette, a refrigerator, and a dining area.
What food & drink options are available at HI-Tofino - Whaler’s on the Point Guesthouse?
Guests can enjoy barbeque facilities and an outdoor dining area during their stay.
Is parking available at HI-Tofino - Whaler’s on the Point Guesthouse?
Yes, paid private parking on-site is available to guests.
What are some restaurants close to HI-Tofino - Whaler’s on the Point Guesthouse?
Conveniently located restaurants include The Schooner Restaurant, SoBo, and Common Loaf Bake Shop.
Does HI-Tofino - Whaler’s on the Point Guesthouse have any great views?
Yes, guests often enjoy the harbour view available here.
Is HI-Tofino - Whaler’s on the Point Guesthouse accessible?
Yes, it offers wheelchair access. For specific enquiries, we recommend calling ahead to confirm.