Beaches Backpackers Hervey Bay

Flashpackers hostel is cheap, central in location, safe and allows a mix of international and Aussie tourist’s to stay but it’s HOT!! This is the second time we’ve stayed @ Flashpackers! A warm and friendly welcome has always greeted us at the front door and the lovely receptionist was helpful in organising transport for us! However beyond the front reception area and the wonderful staff who’ve run this hostel over the years. Is now a very tired building….. It’s disappointing to see that years after our last stay the entire establishment has declined in quality and atmosphere! It’s disappointing that our memory of a thriving hostel is now just a quiet, unkept and unmaintained hideaway…. nestled along side the pristine coastline of Hervey Bay, the gateway to K’gari! We as repeat guests would love to see some life brought back into the atmosphere of this hostel (it was Saturday evening 11:00pm, the communal area was shut, not a soul in sight). But more importantly we would love to see a little TLC shown toward the rooms and communal areas which would otherwise make Flashpackers an upscale, upmarket hostel based in an absolute tourist mecca. The option to use the air conditioning at free will when NO alternate cooling option was made accessible should be a standard, as it is in any accommodation. The time restrictions imposed in this hostel only allowing guests to operate air-conditioning between 5:00pm-6:00am, when no fan was made available is unreasonable in an Australian summer and particularly when there are many energy efficient and cost effective ways to manage electricity consumption in this kind of business. We would love to return but aircon is a must! Thankyou

Had originally booked 1 night here which was fine. We phoned a week and a half before our stay to book the K’gari/Fraser Island tour through the hostel, a two day/one night trip. We also requested to book a room for the night we return from the trip as we would get back around 6pm, which we were told was fine and booked in. We were originally quoted a discounted price as we were booking the trip through the hostel, but when we had to pay the full amount on the day, we were disappointed to learn that the discount wasn’t applied. On returning from the trip and trying to check in to the hostel, we learned that the staff had actually booked the room for the night before, when we were still on K’gari, and that there wasn’t another room available at the hostel. As it was late in the evening, there was 0 vacancies in any hostel/hotel in all of Harvey Bay. The only solace we were given was an offer to sleep on the sofas in the cinema room. However, as it was a public area, we couldn’t access it until after 10pm and we’re woken up by other backpackers at 06.30 who decided to play pool whilst we were trying to sleep. I understand that the hostel is ran by people with minimal experience who are trying to back pack at the same time, but the whole experience with the staff felt very amateur, as two of them sat behind the desk laughing at us whilst we were very visibly upset and tired. Disappointed with the customer service, I wouldn’t bother staying here if you can avoid it.

Staff are beyond helpful here, from the free breakfast put out in the morning to the shuttle to the local shops. our car broke down and they were happy to hold on to the keys and liaise with the mechanic assigned to picked it up while we headed off on an overnight trip to fraser island. Our private room was comfortable and quiet. Kitchen facilities were spotless. Thank you for providing affordable, good value accommodation.