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The largest hostel in downtown Vancouver with a central location in the entertainment district. We boast a clean environment with a great atmosphere and friendly staff. Everything you need in a hostel! Clean, comfortable, safe and fun, SameSun is the place to stay in Vancouver! You get what you pay for in this city, so if you want the best experience for your stay in Vancouver, check out the #1 rated hostel in the city!
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
HOTEL STYLE
Budget
City View
Languages Spoken
English
Location
1018 Granville St, Vancouver, British Columbia V6Z 1L5 Canada
Samesun Vancouver
4.1 reviews
Getting there
Great for walkers
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travellers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
Fairly big hostel - pretty clean. There are about 6 toilets and 6 showers per floor. I stayed in a 4 bed female dorm. Beds were comfy, although the rooms were quite warm (I stayed in summer). Next to each bed is a little fan, light and power point. Beds have blackout curtains which were great. Lockers were large enough for my 65L backpack. Hooks in the room for towels etc. the rooms were a bit small e.g if one person has their bag on the floor it’s a bit awkward to get around. kitchen facilities were quite good. Free breakfast was great - large selection of bagels + spreads, fruit, oatmeal and hot drinks. Staff were friendly and helped me to book a whale watching tour. They also have a large luggage storage room. The hostel is in great location and easy to walk to most places. They have washing machines and dryers (about $3 per load). Bathrooms were relatively clean - they had a door that locked rather than a curtain which I liked.
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Date of stay: June 2023Trip type: Travelled solo
Room Tip:This hostel is on a busy, loud street. Bring ear plugs!
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Samesun Management, General Manager at Samesun Vancouver
Responded Jun 7, 2023
Hello, and thanks for the wonderful review, we really appreciate it! We hope to see you again soon. Cheers and safe travels,
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Breakfast was yummy and plentiful! I loved that they have guided activities available each day of the week, too. The location relative to things to see and transportation was excellent! Unfortunately, it's also on a street that never sleeps, which means it's noisy (at least if you have one of the front rooms) -- definitely bring earplugs! The facilities, though, were excellent. Rather than having each individual room have a shared bathroom/shower, the whole floor shared individual toilets and showers with solid walls and locking doors. I much preferred this arrangement! They also provided shampoo, conditioner, and body wash in the showers.
The biggest annoyance about the hostel itself was the extremely weak WiFi signal in the front rooms on the upper floors. In the lounges and the lobby, and even in front of the hostel on the street, the signal was fine.
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Date of stay: August 2022
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Samesun Management, General Manager at Samesun Vancouver
Responded Jan 13, 2023
Hello, and thanks for the feedback. We recently upgraded our free WiFi to further increase it's range and speed, but I will take a look at your room, and the upper levels of our building. Safe travels,
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Stayed in a 4bed dorm and each bed comes with privacy curtain and personal fan, light, socket :) Bathroom can be cleaner but I guess there are just too many guests staying here. Breakfast variety is awesome. Very friendly and diverse staff working here, and helpful posters offering lots of tips on what to eat, where to explore etc. Location is in downtown but there are druggies just across the street but they are usually harmless and stoned doing their own thing.
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Date of stay: June 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled solo
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Samesun Management, General Manager at Samesun Vancouver
Responded Jul 14, 2023
Hello, and thanks for the feedback, especially regarding our free daily breakfast. Some guests may also encounter those less fortunate moving through the downtown core, but the city in general is considered very safe, and for those reading, we do not have any issues in front of our building or in any of the areas surrounding us. Regards,
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Great stay! I stayed there for three days and really liked it. Staff is very friendly and helpful. There were issues with the check-in process because they had given away my bed to someone else. But they worked it out for me. Breakfast is very good with a variety of bagels, fruit and coffee (though if it starts by 7.30am that would benefit people who have to head out before 8am). Bathrooms are always available and clean with nice locking doors rather than curtains. I would not hesitate to stay here again. Very central and convenient location. Good places nearby to grab a quick bite. The street is noisy and dirty but its not unsafe, its beyond hostel's control anyway. The downside is there is no elevator and you will need to carry your luggage up the stairs. As others have stated its expensive for a hostel but Vancouver is an expensive city and the location of this hostel does not help there much. Its busy hostel and can get noisy at times.
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Date of stay: September 2022
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Samesun Management, General Manager at Samesun Vancouver
Responded Sep 18, 2022
Hello, and thanks for the great review. We don't give away reserved beds, but I am glad that we were able to sort out the issue with your booking. In regards to our free daily breakfast, we do have some items available much earlier. Hopefully we will see you again soon. Safe travels,
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Accommodation in downtown VCR is very expensive so expect to pay a lot more for a hostel than you might in other cities. We had a private room. Came with a clean room, bathroom (shower was hot & strong) & fridge. The bar can get noisy especially if you are on the first floor directly above it. However, residents we met said the staff were polite and efficient and moved you if you requested. Breakfast was bagels, bread, fruit, hard boiled eggs and tea/coffee. At the end of breakfast they allowed you to make lunch, a bonus if on a tight budget. Kitchen for those who want to self-cater. Good wi-fi, best in lounge/corridor. All hostels can be noisy despite notices asking people to be silent. Bar actually had a great beer selection. Lots of cheap eateries in the area, even if it's not most salubrious part of town. Overall it's a very good place to stay, 10 min walk from the airport metro.
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Date of stay: May 2022
Value
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Really awful experience, I left after 1 night. Nothing like advertised, hot, cramped, rammed in bunk beds with no room to move or store luggage. Lockers totally useless. Minimal toilets and showers shared between a large number of people, also whilst not an issue, it should be noted these are mixed gender. Really dark and dingy, area isn't the best either. Don't get a room at the front overlooking the street, the neon lights and music will keep you awake, plus the curtains don't actually fit either. I checked into a hotel, and it seems from these reviews, I'm not the first to leave early.
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Date of stay: July 2022Trip type: Travelled solo
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Samesun Management, General Manager at Samesun Vancouver
Responded Jul 16, 2022
Hello, unfortunately Vancouver can be quite warm in summer but we do provide fans for all of our dorm beds, and air-conditioning throughout our building. Our lockers do fit small possessions, and we also have a large secure luggage room. Whilst we are located in the heart of the downtown Entertainment District, there can be some street noise at night, but we do have rooms away from the street which are generally much quieter. Some guests may also encounter those less fortunate moving through the downtown core, but the city in general is considered very safe, and for those reading, we do not have any issues in front of our building or in any of the areas surrounding us. Regards,
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In all honesty, I had not stayed in a hostel in almost 15 years when I stayed here - at some point the allure of bare bones accommodations wears thin as you age. But because I needed cheap accommodations for a conference, I tried Samesun. It was much better than I expected, and I appreciated several features of this hostel in particular. First, I was pleasantly surprised to see the number of points of entry that were keycard only, including the initial door upstairs from the lobby (where there is a bar past the check-in desk), and that each individual room was also keycard entry only.
Second, the bathrooms, which were generally clean enough, had locking individual shower stall doors that reached top to bottom providing full privacy. There was room outside the shower for you to hang your clothes and dress without standing in the shower, and the areas were kept clean.
The rooms (which I shared with 3 other females) were also fine. There was an individual power strip and light at each bed, and an individual locker for each room inhabitant. I saw no bugs (and trust me, as a bed bug phobic, I did look...). I tend to go to bed early, but I lucked out in that with my conference, I was actually out later than all of the Aussie girls I roomed with, and all seemed to go to sleep earlier and wake later than me (probably suffering from jet lag), so I was not bothered by loud roommates. However, I was glad that I stayed Tuesday through Thursday night and not the weekend, as I noticed a lot more noise on Thursday night than on prior nights.
If you're there to sightsee, drink, and club, then you'll definitely enjoy the area - clubs and bars abound up and down the block. Again, I was there on work, and being about two decades older than most of the hostel's inhabitants, I felt rather out of place. But for what I needed Samesun was fine, clean, and safe, and the price couldn't be beat.
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Review collected in partnership with this hotel
Date of stay: November 2019Trip type: Travelled on business
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The Samesun Hostel in Vancouver was quite nice. I stayed there for a couple of days in a private room which was actually quite spaceous for the price. It's still a hostel so the bathrooms aren't always clean but the showers were great.
The included breakfast was also quite nice.
I have some remarks though which i didn't like that much. Above your door is a ventilator which is basically just a giant hole in the wall so you will hear absolutely everything, especially if you have my room which is directly opposite of the womens shower. This will mean you need really good earplugs or you will wake up constantly to the sound of hairdriers, because nothing beats a 4 AM shower😉
They installed the lighting of the hallway also just behind the fan which lights up the whole room in the night. I would suggest to install a small curtain infront of the fan.
The Staff at the front desk and at the Bar were really nice and had some good recommendations on stuff to do in vancouver. There was one incident with a barkeeper that i didn't appreciate that much. They seem to have a rule of keeping 2 m between groups, which i totally understand during covid. but that rule seems to be only enforced for people that they don't know yet or that are not their regular guests. i was not allowed a seat at the bar but 4 other people (single, not together in a group) were allowed to sit there because they were friends of the barkeeper. When i asked for an explanation why i was treated differently the barkeeper was not really nice to me. All in all this was a good experience but i think there might be some room for improvement.
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Date of stay: February 2022Trip type: Travelled solo
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Samesun Management, General Manager at Samesun Vancouver
Responded Feb 23, 2022
Hello, we are currently in the process of removing our fans from above our dorms, which will be completed shortly. Some of our private rooms do face our washrooms, but we do have private rooms away from our washrooms which are available on request. I have followed up with your comments regarding our bar. There were two groups at the bar either side, and you tried to sit in the middle, which was not permitted due to the provincial public health orders in place, that you have noted. You were kindly asked to sit at a table until space at the bar became available, however you then became irate at our staff for enforcing these policies, and stormed off. Regards,
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I’ve been to my fair share of hostels and this one was the most lively. When I checked in I was told karaoke started at 10pm. Oh dear, I’m getting a bit old for these types of places!
To my surprise however, I did actually get some sleep. And the breakfast was pretty good - oranges, muffins, hard-boiled eggs, pancakes, juice, tea, coffee etc.
The kitchen and common areas were well-equipped but a bit overcrowded, especially at night. Still, if you are an energetic youngster looking to party, this is your home in Banff for sure!
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Date of stay: January 2023Trip type: Travelled solo
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Samesun Management, General Manager at Samesun Vancouver
Responded Jan 13, 2023
Hello, and thanks for the feedback. I'm glad you enjoyed your stay in our Banff location, it is very popular! Cheers and safe travels,
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Cleanliness: While I was at the front desk a german young man came down to talk about an overflowing toilet.
Customer service: Told me that I should have came prepared to give them a 100$ deposit for a ONE NIGHT STAY. I had received no warning through my booking app fhat this would be requested but they insisted I head off to a local private atm where I would be charged for the withdrawal. I went to my bank and gave them over double the cost of my stay as a "deposit". Then they tried to force me to change the low review I gave them on google maps because of their practice of collecting a huge amount of money for one night in a cheap room. I refused to change the review so they cancelled my booking. Awful customer service, owner acts like he is doing you a favour by letting you stay in his cheap hostel after grabbing a bunch of money from you.
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Date of stay: October 2020Trip type: Travelled solo
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Matthew S, General Manager at Samesun Vancouver
Responded Nov 4, 2020
Hello, for all check-ins we require a credit card in your name or a cash deposit in lieu of a credit card, which is standard practice. Please note that we will also refuse service to guests who have been verbally or physically abusive to our staff. Thanks,
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Hey Coral,
Yes we do, if you need to store your luggage the day you check-in or the same day you are checking out we have free storage available for you!
I don't recall parking at the Vancouver SameSun on Granville...the hostel entrance is directly on the street. They respond fairly quickly to emails if you want to try that.
There are more places to choose from in the Vancouver area.
ALSO KNOWN AS
samesun backpacker hotel vancouver
FORMERLY KNOWN AS
Global Village Backpackers
LOCATION
CanadaBritish ColumbiaVancouverGranville Street / Central / Downtown
NUMBER OF ROOMS
69
Prices are the average nightly price provided by our partners and may not include all taxes and fees. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Please see our partners for more details.
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