ITH Colive Balboa Park

steve churchill

Great central walkable neighborhood near city buses. Friendly, helpful staff. Nice living room and kitchen. Near many coffee houses, cafes and restaurants.

Elijah Mccord

I give this place 2 stars because I met some great people there and the manager cares about the place. That said, housekeeping is pretty much non-existent. The rooms are tiny and never get deep cleaned beyond the beds being turned over. Nor do the bathrooms, which are often out of toilet paper and soap. The toilets get clogged constantly at which point the stalls are taped shut and left with a terrible smell that festers because of poor ventilation. The fridges in the common areas are never cleaned, and the pantry area has a terrible mold problem that completely ruined multiple of my food items in which they were stored. The overall issue is cleanliness. I don’t wish to throw the staff under the bus because they are largely great people, but the truth is there’s a serious lack of maintenance that left me feeling pretty undervalued as a paying customer. My opinions seemed to be shared by several of the other guests with whom I spoke about the issues. It’s an ok option considering the price, but the infrastructure and work ethic of the staff needs some improvement.

klaudia lennerling

If I could give this hostel a negative review I would. I was supposed to stay in a private double room but due to a mistake made by them, they sent us off to another hostel that they claimed was their "sister hostel" ( which it wasn't) and would get us a room there. Upon getting to the other hostel we were told that they had heard no such thing and after calling the ITH they said that they were not going to pay for the price difference and that they could offer my friend and me 1 bed in a dorm that we could share..... We booked two beds in a dorm at the new hostel (because the staff there was way better) and we had to email the owner of ITH hostels to try to get a refund. At first, they didn't even give us the right email... We did however get paid for the difference between the private room at ITH and the two beds in a dorm at the new hostel, but honestly, we should have gotten more for the change in the accommodation we had to do but also the distress that they put me and my friend through. We thought we were in safe hands because the staff at the ITH Balboa park seemed to fix our problems very fast, but don't be fooled. I will never book any accommodations with this hostel chain ever again and since then I have told all my friends as well as all the people I have met in other hostels to never support this business after what I and my friend went through.

Nomad Skateboarding

One of the most welcoming hostels I've been in. 🙂 Bathrooms and kitchens are easily accessible. Good amount of space for guests. Inside separate smoking room. Great prices/value. Free breakfast (I didn't see what either time I started, but others seemed happy!). Stores, transportation, and University district right outside. The staff were all very good. Kayla and Aubrey were exceptional! (Full transparency, these were the only two I really spoke with, so the rest of the staff are most likely cool as well 😎). I would recommend this to anyone looking for a short or long-term stay in San Diego.