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Reviews of Arts Factory Lodge

2 out of 5
Arts Factory Lodge
Skinners Shoot Road, Byron Bay, NSW

Reviews

7.4

Good

Rating 10 - Excellent. 57 out of 222 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 78 out of 222 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 50 out of 222 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 22 out of 222 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 15 out of 222 reviews" "

6.8/10

Cleanliness

8.0/10

Staff & service

7.0/10

Amenities

6.8/10

Property conditions & facilities

8.4/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

10/10 Excellent

Luciano

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Everything was great. Highly recommended. Will return. Toilets could be cleaner as my only gripe.
Stayed 5 nights in Jan 2024

2/10 Terrible

Caitlyn

Travelled with partner
Disliked: Amenities
ew! worst place ever stayed nothing about it was nice, the bathrooms were vile plasters, mud and hair all over the floors. the room didn’t have an aircon so it was like being in a sauna there was a fan in one corner that you couldn’t move and it just blew out hot air, the bed was rock solid! the kitchen was a mess! if you have a car the parking lot was full of pot holes! it’s about 20 mins walk to the beach
Stayed 7 nights in Jan 2024

10/10 Excellent

WEI-FEN

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities

6/10 Okay

Dean

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Cleanliness
Oil squeaky doors...how can staff not hear them! Bathrooms and Kitchens (due to sloppy customers and food bandit turkeys) need to be checked/cleaned more often.
Stayed 2 nights in Nov 2023

4/10 Poor

Molly

Travelled with group
Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Do not recommend
Myself and a friend decided to stay in the Arts Factory, for a two day stay in Byron Bay. We have been travelling Australia for 4 weeks at this stage and when we turned up we received weird looks, I assume this was due to not looking a certain way, and having suitcases. The hostel is located among a significant amount of greenery (almost forest-like) and is at the end of a road with no street lights, which is very unnerving when walking home late at night. As a result, a car leaving the hostel during the night proceeded to beep and scream at myself and my friend when we were walking home alone in the dark. We stayed in the Cosy Corner, and this was a private room with a sitting room attached. Upon checking in, we noticed that this room was unclean with chewing gum on several walls, dirty sofa, dirty curtains and a bathroom which had mould and no hand soap present. When we entered this room, someone attempted to open the sitting room door, which was very unsettling and the curtains do not close properly, leaving you visible from the bed. This level of cleanliness followed into the shared bathrooms, which were covered in urine. We made the decision to vacate the hostel a night early and rearranged our trip to leave Byron Bay, a day earlier, as this experience tainted our view of Byron Bay as a location. Luckily, the manager agreed to issue a refund for this extra night which we did not stay, which was appreciated. However, I would not recommend staying here
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2023

6/10 Okay

Claudie

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The forest setting was beautiful but the filth especially in the way that soiled toilet paper was visible on a tour that I took of the camping area. I was trying to run away from the horrible doof music that was playing on my first night there. It was a shame to spoil the quiet with such rubbish. The last night music offering was better. The staff were willing to refund me my money but last minute didn’t so I had to put up with an isolated filthy place. I will not be booking accommodation with you again !
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2023

2/10 Terrible

Fabian

Travelled with partner
Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Dirty kitchen, dirty and stinky room, dirty fridge, noise and loud people, no control by the staff, people smokes on kitchen and dining area. Terrible stay. its owned by nomads.
Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2023

10/10 Excellent

Mathilde

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Beautiful hostel with good vibes, the room was perfectly clean, quiet during the night, the bathrooms were ok, the shared kitchen is big, well equipped and pretty clean ! Very hippie vibes, a little bit to much for me but it’s very personal :)
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2023

8/10 Good

Jacqui

Liked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
My first experience at a backpackers - enjoyed the vibe and the staff were super helpful. The cafe has excellent coffee (that’s coming from a Melbourne coffee snob) and breaky at affordable prices.
Stayed 3 nights in Jul 2023
Response from Arts factory team on 3 Aug 2023
Hey Legend,Thanks so much for your awesome review, we really appreciate the time you took to write it. We are over the moon that you enjoyed your stay here and hope that its even better for you next time!Thanks so much,Arts Team

10/10 Excellent

David

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
The staff was unreal and the environment was really good just had good time
Stayed 1 night in Jul 2023
Response from Arts Team on 21 Jul 2023
Hi David, Thanks so much for your epic review, it means so much to us! We hope that you enjoyed Byron as much as you enjoyed our hostel, and wish you all the best in your future travels!Thanks again,Arts Team

8/10 Good

Nathalie

Liked: Cleanliness
Stayed 3 nights in Jul 2023
Response from Arts Team on 13 Jul 2023
Hi Nathalie, Thanks so much for leaving us a review, it means the world to us!We hope that you had a great time in Byron Bay and that your trip overall is fantastic. Many thanks,Arts Team

2/10 Terrible

Ryan

Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Everywhere was dirty and unclean. Got bitten in the night.

8/10 Good

Patricia

Stayed 4 nights in Apr 2023

8/10 Good

Robert

Liked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities
The toilets could be cleaned a bit more - not sure how often they were but it doesn't take much for them to get grubby being a backpackers
Stayed 5 nights in Apr 2023

6/10 Okay

craig

Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2023

4/10 Poor

Matthew

Liked: Staff & service

8/10 Good

Luciano

Travelled with family, Travelled with family and small children, Travelled with partner, Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Fantastic loved everything and would stay again! Only had one issue - needed cleaner toilets / bathroom
Response from Arts Factory on 13 Jan 2023
Hey Luciano, Thanks so much for your review, its super helpful for us! We hope that you enjoyed your time in Byron Bay and get to return soon!Thanks again,Arts Team

8/10 Good

WING YAN

Travelled with group
Liked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
A good stay with reasonable price. Good location if you go there by coach. Have own lounge. You can drop your bags before check-in and after checkout. Staffs are nice.
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2022

2/10 Terrible

Jason

Stayed 1 night in Oct 2022

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Filthy, disappointing, not worth the money
Reception staff were friendly & helpful, location was pretty good but for the price there are so many other places closer to town that would cost around the same. The hostel was filthy, the floors were covered in dust & dirt constantly, the bathroom was cleaned once in the week we were there, the kitchen was absolutely disgusting, bins overflowing, old food sitting out stuck to the sides & dirty plates and pans just sitting in the sink… it would have been fine for a night or 2 but after that we were fed up. No aircon as advertised - just a fan in the room stuck facing the floor… the lights didn’t work in the room either! Wifi barely worked & in the room even the 4G signal was poor. Pool wasn’t cleaned once in the week we were there & full of leaves & debris. Other guests left empty cans/bottles/rubbish around in the communal areas so it was difficult to enjoy the creek view being surrounded by mess… Hugely disappointed as I was looking forward to Byron Bay but the hostel kind of ruined it for me…
Stayed 5 nights in Oct 2022
Response from Arts Team on 20 Oct 2022
Hey Legend, Thanks for your feedback. We are so sorry that it wasn't up to our usual standard for you. We clean everything Daily, however obviously our cleaning standards have slipped. We don't have Aircon anywhere, and don't advertise this - however we will be checking all of our listings to make sure that it is not being falsely advertised by a tertiary company. We hope that you got to enjoy Byron outside of this poor experience and would like to apologize again for your bad stay. Thanks again,Arts Team

8/10 Good

Clara

Liked: Staff & service
Helpful staff, vibrant atmosphere,
Helpful efficient reception staff, helping me to find a bed in different rooms for the remaining three nights when I had problem with the room for the first night. Vibrant atmosphere, with some organised daily activities. Bed was fairly comfortable. Toilet and shower were tidy and reasonably clean.
Stayed 4 nights in Oct 2022
Response from Arts Team on 17 Oct 2022
Hi Clara, Thanks so much for your awesome review, we are over the moon that you enjoyed it here and that our staff were excellent for you! We hope that you get to come back again soon!Thanks again,Arts Team

2/10 Terrible

Frederick

Travelled with partner
Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Worst night’s sleep I have ever had - guests being very loud and noisy at 1:30am. Shower facilities not very clean and furballs floating around in the room under beds and behind the fridge. Couldn’t wait to get out of there
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2022
Response from Arts Team on 17 Oct 2022
Hi Frederick,Thanks so much for taking the time to leave us a review, it means so much to us! We are so sorry that your stay was not up to scratch, we are working hard to improve our standards, however sometimes things get missed. We hope that we can prove ourselves better if you ever get to stay with us again. Many thanks,Arts Team

10/10 Excellent

Dushyant

Travelled with family and small children
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
It was mostly non-family accommodation but even with my toddler, we had fun. Location was great.
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2022
Response from Arts Team on 12 Oct 2022
Hey Legend, Thanks so much for your awesome review! We are primarily a backpackers lodge and dont usually accept any under 18's, however we are over the moon that you enjoyed it here regardless of this. We hope that you get to come back to sunny Byron sometime again!Thanks,Arts Team

8/10 Good

Rui

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Everything was excellent, the painting was lovely, apart from a small down side which was that the property was not sound proof and it was very noisy at night.
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2022
Response from Arts Team on 12 Oct 2022
Hey Legend, Thanks so much for your awesome review, it means so much to us! We have staff on all night to keep the noise low, but we are sorry that they didn't work out during your stay. We will look into this to make sure that it is up to standard again as soon as possible. Thanks again,Arts Team

10/10 Excellent

Kristabelle

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
It was a lovely stay
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2022
Response from Arts Team on 12 Oct 2022
Hi Kristabelle, Thanks so much for your amazing review, it means so much to us! We hope that you enjoyed your time in Byron and get to come back sometime soon!Thanks again,Arts Team

10/10 Excellent

Kerri

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Loved the different atmosphere it was fun and will be back
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2022

8/10 Good

Dave

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Tucked away in a quiet part of Byron.... yet a short stroll to everything Great vibe & the Talent Show downstairs was actually good! Large kitchen where many can prep own food together. Nice little cafe. My ONLY issue... I could not get Telstra phone or phone internet to work in my private room (9 downstairs), not in most common area either Only in the carpark.... so as I was WFH 0700 - 1500.... I spent most of my time in my van & not the room I paid for A simple enough fix!
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2022

6/10 Okay

Cristina

Travelled with group
Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Arts Factory Lodge has seen better times, the facilities and rooms are in need of a revamp. On the positive, staff were all friendly and accommodating.
Stayed 3 nights in May 2022
Response from Arts Factory on 19 May 2022
Hi Christina, Thanks so much for taking the time to leave us a review, it means so much to us to help us improve and hear what people do and don't like. We are happy that you liked our staff and they made you feel at home, however we realize there is always work to be done to keep the standards high. We are working super hard to get as much of this done as we can and hope that you can give us another chance one day. Warmest regards, Arts Factory Team

10/10 Excellent

Fiona

Stayed 1 night in Jan 2022

4/10 Poor

Luke

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2021

10/10 Excellent

Lawrence

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
After a long series of lockdowns I was going a bit stir crazy, so a quick and close getaway sounded like a great idea. I arrived to the Arts Factory and instantly I was surrounded by a breath of fresh air. The warm welcoming community spirit of the backpacker community whisked me away and transported me to the times of international free travel. Once again I was socialising with people from all over the world, the most kind hearted, considerate and accepting group of people who are still living the dream. I recommend anyone who is sick and tired of dealing with the opinions, politics and restrictions of this pandemic go book yourself in and embrace the individualist yet accepting culture that the people at the Arts Factory have retained.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2021

10/10 Excellent

Andrew

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2021

2/10 Terrible

Verified traveller

Stayed 1 night in Mar 2021

2/10 Terrible

Verified traveller

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
It was terribly dirty, I was bitten by a spider in bed, the private room was like a cell, no aircon just a rusty fan. Noisy, I was woken up to five times each night by cars, people, music and more. Never again.
Stayed 4 nights in Mar 2021
Response from reece on 10 Mar 2021
I am very sorry to hear that you didn't enjoy your stay, I hope that you had an awesome time here in Byron Bay in any case, enjoy the rest of your travels

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Disliked: Amenities
Very eclectic and diverse community. 24hrs party place. Loud and boisterous.
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2020

6/10 Okay

Gregory

Travelled with group
Disliked: Room comfort
Backpackers
Essentially this is just a backpackers lodge which has appeal to that market. As such it was an interesting experience to stay there but only for a short stay.
Stayed 3 nights in Oct 2020

2/10 Terrible

Wayne, Bilinga

Travelled with partner
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Worst place I have ever stayed never going back or would I recommend it to any one the smell the noise the facilities are all apauling place should be condemned
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2020
Response from Anna on 14 Jun 2020
Hi Wayne, so sorry to hear about your bad experience in our hostel. Please know that we're available at reception 24/7 if something is wrong during your stay so we can help you fix any trouble you experience. If you want you can always email us to elaborate on what was wrong so we can help you and/or make sure it doesn't happen again.

10/10 Excellent

Flick, SWR

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Awesome vibe and energy. Great food and bery clean amenities
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2020
Response from supervisor on 12 Jan 2020
Hello Flick! Thank you for this awesome review and 5 star rating! We are stoked that you enjoyed our great vibe and facilities! We hope that we get the pleasure of seeing you again soon :) Much love, The Arts Factory team

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Chilled atmosphere, awesome staff very friendly,hot showers and heaps of facilities, games and great food at the cafe. I will be keen for a longer stay in the future
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2019
Response from supervisor on 28 Dec 2019
Hello, Thank you for taking the time to leave us such a great review of your stay! We are so happy to hear that you enjoyed so many aspects of your time with us and we look forward to seeing you here again soon :) Much love, The Arts Factory team

6/10 Okay

B

Liked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Disliked: Cleanliness
Very social and comfortable
Interesting vibe, lots going on at the lodge and can see why it’s so popular. We had a private room with tea & coffee and it was pretty nice. The bathrooms were not in a great state which you’d expect from a busy hostel but 2 blocked toilets for a good portion of the day. One fridge was out so everyone’s food was crammed into the two remaining ones, not helped by leaking liquids on the top shelf running into everyone else’s food, but that’s more a guest comment than the hostel. The staff were great and it was awesome to have a shuttle to the bus stop!
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2019
Response from supervisor on 15 Dec 2019
Jax Van de Scheur 3:09 PM (3 minutes ago) to me Hello, Thank you for taking the time to leave us this feedback for your stay. We always really appreciate feedback from guests (positive and negative) as this is a great way for us to improve on our hostel. We are very happy to hear that you enjoyed our vibes and your room! In regards to the bathrooms, we do clean them multiple times a day. However with so many guests (as you mentioned) it can get a bit harder to stay on top of this, so your feedback is really appreciated and we will look further into this. And in regards to the fridge breaking, we understand that this was made things a bit difficult, however we have ordered a new one and it will be arriving shortly. So this is almost resolved! But we want to thank you for being so understanding :) We hope you enjoy the rest of your travels and thank you again! Much love, The Arts Factory team

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Travelled with group
Liked: Staff & service
It was loud at night from the neighboring brewery. The double rooms on the ground floor had little natural light and were very narrow. The opening of the room door was very cumbersome to open with an app and mobile phone. The app often did not work because the WIFI reception was very bad. The manual code entry was bad. But the Pool was awesome.
Stayed 4 nights in Nov 2019
Response from Arts Factory on 1 Dec 2019
Hello, Thank you for taking the time to leave us feedback form your stay. We are sorry to hear that you had troubles with your room and door code. Please always see reception staff with these issue so we can troubleshoot when you are on site, as we are always happy to help out the best we can! We are happy however to hear that you enjoyed our pool and facilities, and we hope you enjoyed your overall stay in Byron bay. Thank you again and much love, The Arts Factory team

6/10 Okay

BM

Liked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Too noisy, specially during the night. It's hard to fall sleep when the guests party until late night
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2019

8/10 Good

Tyra

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Cleanliness
A cute, homey and cosy community
Stayed for 3 nights as part of a solo trip. Overall stay was great! Staff are extremely helpful and friendly. Lots of fun activities everyday, open space, kitchen area and awesome pool. Stayed in a 6 bedroom dorm, smaller than expected but the bed was super comfortable. I didn't sleep too well the first night as it was really cold but the reception is happy to provide extra comfy blankets for free. In terms of the cleanliness - its not as disgusting/dirty as some of the other reviews claim and is pretty much what you expect from a backpacker hostel full of young adults. The workers do a great job of consistently cleaning the toilets and showers every morning. My biggest complaint would be the noise levels at night, but again its to be expected with the Byron night life/party scene and isn't necessarily the hostel's fault. Also, its a 10 minute walk from the town but they do provide a shuttle service in the day. Overall a great stay and would recommend as an affordable place to stay with good vibes!
Stayed 3 nights in Oct 2019
Response from Jax on 6 Oct 2019
Hello Tyra, Thank you for taking the time to leave us such a thorough and fantastic review of your recent stay with us! We really appreciate such wonderful feedback, we are so happy that you enjoyed so many aspects of your time here :) We also want to thank you for your understanding regarding some noise and cleanliness. With such a high volume of people we always do our best to keep the cleanliness to the highest standard possible, and the noise to a minimum and we really appreciate your understanding and lovely comments regarding this. We hope to have the pleasure of hosting you again soon! Much love and safe travels, The Arts Factory team

2/10 Terrible

Verified traveller

Travelled with pets
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The Expedia site said there was a hot tub , THERE IS NO HOT TUB , the shower drain clogged up and I had water filling up the shower floor like a bath tub all The hooks to Hang your towels on the back of the door we’re broken, no where dry or clean to put your clean stuff after you have your shower ... I was told I could stay for $15 a night if I pay a week stay on check in , then when I checked out and confirm the $15 per night for 7 nights stay 2ic said no that’s wrong and I had to inform her I was told this on check in. And on top of all That when I went to go check out and explained all this to the 2ic she had a rude attitude about all this and said what do you expect me To do about all this... will never stay again and would not recommend to anyone, I usually do reviews but I can’t do one on this place as it would be a bad review And I rather talk to 2ic so they can improve on these things
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The arts factory lodge is a very cool hostel to stay in beautiful byron bay. Its a short walk to town.
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2019
Response from Jax on 28 Apr 2019
Hello, Thank you for taking the time to leave this wonderful review of your stay with us! We hope to have the pleasure of hosting you again in the future :) Much love, The Arts Factory Team

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Good hostel . Clean and tidy. Friendly staff. Room was fine. Would stay here again
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2019
Response from Jax on 31 Mar 2019
Hello there! Thank you for your awesome review of your stay with us! We are so happy that you enjoyed your stay with us and that you found our staff so friendly, as of course this is what we aim for :) We hope to see you again soon! Safe travels, The Arts Factory Team

10/10 Excellent

Franziska

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Anytime again
Amazing vibes, very chilled atmosphere, great breakfast offers (a bit expensive though)
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2019
Response from A on 10 Mar 2019
Hey Franziska, Cheers for taking the time to leave us a review! We are stoked you loved the atmosphere and cafe!

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Liked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Disliked: Amenities
The facilities were great, the staff were amazing, the bed was comfy. But it was WAY too hot in the rooms to sleep, like really just way too hot!!! I had to leave early into the night to find alternate accommodation so i could get some sleep. I was not able to get a refund which i understood.
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2019
Response from Supervisor on 17 Feb 2019
Hello! Thank you for your review! We are so happy to hear that you enjoyed our facilities and our awesome staff! As it is the Summer period, we do understand that it has been a bit hot and we are sorry to hear that this affected your stay so much. We hope that despite this, you choose to come stay with us at some other time in the future, maybe when it's less hot :) Much love, The Arts Factory Team

8/10 Good

Monique

Liked: Staff & service
Good vibes
I had booked a twin room that had a fridge, upon checking in and going to the room it had a double bed. We were able to get moved into a different area with two beds which was like a permanent tent structure, but with no fridge. Aside from that the overall stay was good, cleanliness isnt paramount however for the price it was clean enough for me. There is a great atmosphere with lots of people in the communal outdoor area or around the pool, however it was never so busy there wasnt enough space for everyone. Town is a 10 minute walk away, and I believe they offer a shuttle service if needed.
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2019
Response from Supervisor on 16 Feb 2019
Hello Monique, Firstly, thank you for your review and we apologise for the room mix up! We are so happy that despite this mix up, that you had such a great stay with us and that this didn't affect your time here. We do understand that some communal areas are a bit busy being the high season and at full capacity, but this can also add to the great vibes and we hope you felt this also! We hope you enjoy the rest of your travels and thank you for staying with us! The Arts Factory team