Freemans Backpackers

The location is walkable for most of the CBD. The lodge is generally clean and fairly quiet. Parking is available on street, with a 2 hour restriction between 8 and 6, Monday to Friday. The kitchen area appears to only be cleaned once a day, so can get a bit messy of other guests don't wash up. The only issue that was not ideal for me was some of the other long term guests in the shared dorm had developed a funky smell. However, I managed to change bunks and get away from the shell. Considering the cost and location the lodge is good value.

The place was quite bad. The door code didn't work multiple times. The rooms are nothing like pictures. Everything is very old and dirty. I had some hairs on my pillow. I stayed in the private room in the garden but feels like I'm sleeping in the tent as you can hear everything in the garden. The bathroom was disgusting. kitchen was quite ok.

I had booked accommodation here for four nights via hostelworld.com. I paid a deposit and arrived at the property exactly at the time I told the property that I would be arriving at 3pm. There was not even one staff member at the property to help with check in and so I had to call the owner. As a side note, what do international guests do who don't have a New Zealand phone??Originally the room I booked was a twin bed private room with a shared bathroom. The owner tried to tell me on the phone that I was to use a dorm room with 4 bunk beds that didn't have a lock on it. The owner said that a guest had only just broken the lock to the door. I was very very unhappy with this situation as I specifically wanted that type of room.The owner said that he was going to arrive at the property at 4pm to discuss it. I wanted to cancel the booking before he arrived due to him making me wait for an hour, but decided to wait until he arrived to discuss it and see if any alternative arrangements could have been made. When the owner arrived I told him I wasn't going to accept any other room other than the one I booked, especially if there wasn't even a lock on the door. The owner simply told me "Oh well, I guess we can cancel the booking and I won't charge you then." He didn't seem to care at all or even explain to me why my room that I had booked a month ago was suddenly unavailable. I find it outrageous that I have had to pay a deposit and then find accommodation on VERY short notice because this incompetent property owner gave my room away or didn't have it prepared for whatever reason. Additionally, his extremely rude behavior making guests not only wait an hour but offering no solutions or even an apology makes me question if they should be allowed to accept bookings or not if they cannot fulfill their obligations. Now I have to try and get a refund for my deposit through hostelworld and this accommodation provider isn't affected at all. This is a 0/10 accommodation provider as I wasn't even able to check in, had to wait an hour, was left with the burden of a deposit to try and get back and had to find accommodation for 4 nights on very very short notice for 2 people.

I’ve been meaning to make a review of this hostel for a few weeks as I stayed there mid February! After having been to a few other hostels in NZ, this is definitely the worst by far, even compared to bigger ones that sometimes are a bit impersonal. The place just looks like it’s breaking apart & that the owner does not care. Cracks all over the place & painting peeling off & a mouldy smell especially in the shower. I also saw the owner come in as I was about to leave & she was really rude with her staff & complaining about everything... maybe they should start by looking at what they’re not doing right before criticizing their staff...

This hostel was way too expensive 269 dollar for 2 nights for what they offered. The bed was really really bad! When u turned around it made noise that you could hear 2 rooms further, and covers were not fitting, so in two minutes you were laying on a naked and very used matrass, with all his history The window couldn't be closed. You had to hold the shower that u shared with the other guests while showering, because it was loose. Everywhere it was smelly and loads of undefined spots on very old carpet, and furniture. They even overbooked, so that a guy that arrived from Germany had to sleep on the couch in the living room. Of course it's right in the middle of everywhere you want to go in walking distance in Auckland and that's a good thing about it, also staff was friendly.

I booked over a month in advancea double room which looked ok looking at the pictures on their website. But when we got there it nothing like what I booked. The room we were given was out off the main house and smelled like it hadn't been opened for weeks, smelled damp and musty. There was a sheet & a single bed cover on the double bed, & no towels. We had to ask for them and they gave us a couple of blankets & towels, but we had to go and get them. Some of the blinds never came right down so not private. The toilet and showers were in the main building so had to walk between the two. Pictured is the room we given. At least it did have a heat pump which was needed as there was a very large gap under the door & a gap in between one of the windows. The only thing going for this room it looked pretty clean and was quite. JUST A WARNING, don't hand your license over to these people, I made this mistake & like me you might not get it back. It is illegal for them to take your license, ok to note it as ID but not aloud to keep it. It will cost you if you live in NZ $40 to get a new one. So what they are doing with my license who knows. Have been given a return address but won't send it back to me. Thinking that court action is going to be nesarsary. What a hassle.

We booked the same day we arrived at the airport and they wrote us back in a sec. The place was clean and comfy. Me and my friend were in a private room, we had all we needed. The man at the reception was very kind to us and lent us chargers for our phones and also let us had a late check out. We absolutely recommend this place to stay near the city center.

This hotel is actually an emergency housing.. rated no stars but one star as can't put no star. There is a male that lives there, who harasses young lady's who live here by them selfies.. management here are rude and unthoughtful.. also their laundry room is dirty with a washing machine and dryer that smells unclean and do not work properly.

Stayed here for a night, accidentally slept in ...very sorry btw and the person in charge was very nice when we left. Got ready in 10 mins and didn't say anything about it! It is a hostel type of thing so don't expect it to be luxury, its more like a nice couple of days and go out and see the city has to offer. Also a 5-10 min walk into the city so that was awesome.

I stayed here in winter 2015, and I stayed in a room out the back, just by the garden. I didn't have any problems with it. The room was cold at night, but I just simply asked for an extra blanket and it was no problems. There were some cleaning deficiencies, and I pointed them out to the owner, she was very apologetic, and she had the staff clean it as soon as possible. Probably not the cleanest hostel I have stayed in, but for the price is was fine. The kitchen was always kept clean by the girls. They were always checking on it, cleaning the oven, and the dishes. The kitchen was small, so when it came to peak times, it was difficult to cook in there. All the staff seemed to be Japanese, strangely. They were all very nice, your typical Japanese. : It's located in a nice quiet part of Auckland, just outside the CBD. There was a convenience store about a 7 minute walk away, which was pricey, there was also a Countdown 15 minute walk away. The CBD was an easy 15 minutes walk. The Wi-Fi was free, which was rare for Auckland and NZ in general. It was a bit annoying to have to use a time code for it. It was also a little bit hit and miss at times. It was generally good enough for your e-mailing and Facebooking. One problem I had was with the pricing. On her website, she said it was this price for winter, but when you tried to book that price, it was oh no, it's too busy for that rate. I have too many people. Ok, that's fine, all you have to do was change it on the website, but she didn't want to, because she got so much business from the fake rate. After about 3 weeks of staying there, you would be able to go onto a weekly rate, which was still not as low as the one on the website, but still a good price.