WOW what a great hostel and in the best location!! It is literally like 2 block from 6th street which is the main drag for all the bras and restaurants. We stayed in the top private room which was the most expensive room but so worth it! It was like a hotel room!! Own beautiful huge bathroom and comfortable bed with a great view out the window. It has a great bar as well where we regularly had drinks before heading out and a few snacks- and you get there through a hidden bookcase that is in reception which adds to the experience. Such a great hostel and highly recommend staying here when in Austin. There is also other private room options with shared bathrooms or dorm rooms as well. read more

Im still pumped from entering the bar: through a secret bookcase a la James Bond. Swing the bookcase open and a dark, homey atmosphere greets you with ecletic but relatable tunes playing loud enough to make patrons raise their voices to talk. At first glance it seems like a dive bar, but after sitting on the comfy booths around the exterior and noticing the details, it's so much more. read more

Such a perfect location in a convenient and safe area in downtown ATX. The staff is super helpful and will do their best to help you through your stay including giving suggestion to your visiting plan and some local`s favorite hidden places. Oh did I mention also you will meet some really cool people as your roommate and you can go downstairs to Firehouse Lounge to have some awesome drinks? read more

I stayed at the Firehouse hostel for 4th of july and I had an amazing experience. The staff are absolutely friendly, the rooms and bathrooms are clean, also the kitchen - and they have a nice and decent breakfast. I totally recommend the hostel for people who wants some nice, comfortable and clean but doesn't want to spend lots of money. read more

This is the best hostel I've stayed at. Decorated nicely, cool down stairs bar, friendly staff and solid wood bunks -- not those squeaking metal ones like at Drifter Jack's. Bunks have a small shelving box, perfect for charging your phone, holds bottled water, has a fan and a light. Lots of storage space. It gets loud and rowdy late into the night but it surprisingly wasn't a big deal. Bathroom is OK, two showers, two stalls and one urinal and sink. It was like being in a locker room. The beds are the same as the ones they have in psychiatric hospitals (thick foam covered in waterproof nylon) but still comfortable. Hostels aren't known for "hotel like" amenities but this place has it all except room service. It's also very safe and secure with individual room key cards. And non-guests not allowed upstairs. The only thing that sucked was paying for a parking pass. Since there isn't really many places you can securely park overnight it's better to use their car key. It's $15 a day. :/ The other thing that was weird was Austin residents are not allowed to book but you only find that out in the post reservation email -- and also my ID still says I live in Austin -- but I don't anymore. Hence the reason I'm staying in a hostel. But they didn't give me a hassle about it. read more

This place is legitimately around the corner from 6th str- and you'd miss it if you weren't looking! A little on the pricey side for a hostel, but for the location and amenities- fresh strawberries for breakfast (hell yes,) and free towels- it's well worth it. Huge gym style showers, clean place overall- and def a good hosteling experience- met some people from all over and can't wait to go back again! read more

This place was definitely cool, Cheap and unique! We enjoyed our stay. We had a group of 6 with us and it was just a bit tighter then we thought! But that was okay because we needed a place to crash at night. The guys up front check in were so nice! Specially bear aka James! ! I would come back to firehouse hostel! read more

Best, most fun hostel I've stayed in. Friendly accommodating staff, awesome bar hidden behind a bookshelf, great free breakfast setup and perfect location. read more

We stayed here in August in one of the 8 bed dorms on a cross country roadtrip, and it was by far one of the better hostels we stayed at! Great location, the room was clean and quiet, and there were plenty of bathroom options. If you need parking, make sure you email ahead of time to reserve a parking pass for $15. The parking is in a parking garage a couple of blocks away, but they only had so many passes. read more

Fantastic service, Elizabeth was incredibly helpful and saw to our every need. Great place for to stay for a great price. Great location, close to everything you could need for a short stay. read more

I have yet to stay at the Firehouse Hostel, unfortunately due to their very unhelpful staff, specifically a staffer named Collin. I am planning a visit to Austin with a couple of friends for the weekend. I used to live there, and travel there often. I was excited about the possibility to stay so close to downtown and in a hostel. I've been fortunate to travel all over this country and others, and I prefer staying in hostels. I don't need a fancy hotel room if all I'm going to do is sleep in it. However, I was unable to use the "Book Room" feature on their website. The link wouldn't open. I was able to open their contact link, which led me to calling. The call rang and rang, eventually taking me to a voicemail box which was full. On the contact page, they list an email address for "Hostel Inquires/Reservation Questions," so naturally, I emailed them, with a simple "Do you have any space available for three people this upcoming weekend, specifically Saturday and/or Sunday night? I look forward to hearing from you." As I waited for an email response, I tried phoning again, only to recieve the same voicemail box full message. Finally, an email response which told me to go to the website and book through it. I emailed back, explained that the link for booking rooms on their website wasn't working properly. Only to recieve a reply stating that I should try a different broswer/computer/etc. I was also told to just call them, because you know, I hadn't already tried any of that. Lastly, I was told, "We can't book reservations over email." Which is fine, but all I needed was a simple - yes we have room and call us, or I can call you, OR a no, we don't have room. Maybe because I'm female, this guy Collin, doesn't think I know any thing about computers, that I should try opening the page in other broswers, or how to make a reservation, or really, how to survive without a man telling me what to do. It's unfortunate, because I would have really liked to have stayed there, and as often as I travel there, I could have become a repeat customer. Instead - no worries - I'll never mess with them again. read more

Hostel was hospitable from the very friendly staff to the complimentary beverage for relief from the humidity! For one slightly past my "hostel" staying years, this was comfortable, inviting, and intriguing! The only caveat is the din from the environs is real so bring earplugs if you're a light sleeper!! read more

Consider yourselves warned! I have traveled across four continents, slept in countless lodgings including hostels and hotels and everything in between, and Firehouse is by far the worst that I have ever had the extreme misfortune to encounter. Allow me to review the list of amenities they offer. Surly staff. Of course, they are friendly when you check in. The minute you ask them to do their job, however, their attitude flips and you become the biggest nuisance in their world. On my first night, the other lodgers on my floor decided to throw a surprise shouting party/drunken hallway hang-out/last-minute disco featuring the melody of one thousand door-slams. This began at 2:30am, even though the hostel has multiple posted signs announcing a 12am-8am quiet period. At 3am it was still going strong, so I phoned the front desk to ask them to enforce their quiet rules. Between 3am and 3:30, I was forced to call the desk three times before they actually did anything. On noting my displeasure the next day, the oh-so-helpful woman at the front desk shrugged and assured me of how little she cared. Paperless bathrooms. Now, at first, this may sound like a modern innovation - some way to provide good service while being environmentally friendly. NOPE. They just refused to stock the shared bathroom with paper towels or toilet paper. I had to wait until arriving at a restaurant for breakfast before I could use a decent facility. Unusual smells. The first place you'll experience them is the elevator, which reeked of a combination of dead cab driver and fear. The second place is the bathroom, a pungent cocktail of old and new mildew. The third place is your room, which over time has become a storage box for the smell of decaying building materials and shattered dreams. The final place you'll encounter the smells - your clothes, bags, and body after staying there for even a short time. You will not even notice how terribly you reek until you arrive at a non-reeking location and reacquaint yourself with smells that don't crush your will to live. Painfully regular garbage pickup. My room was situated with the paper-thin window facing an alley. Sometime between 2am and 4am each night, the world's loudest garbage truck arrived to empty out the bin in the alley below my window. The bin was apparently filled with the entire city's supply of empty glass bottles, which is probably why the truck returned before the sun even rose. Beds from a war-era P.O.W. camp. I've slept on terrible beds before. Some of them lacked cushion, some rattled and creaked with the slightest movement, and some were comically tiny. But until I stayed at Firehouse, I'd never before encountered a bed which boasted ALL of these traits at the same time. I would only have been mildly surprised if the CIA had burst in after dark and interrogated me. It must have taken a huge amount of effort to find a bed this ridiculously terrible. I was originally booked to stay four nights. I stayed two and then fled for my life. Firehouse was so bad, I canceled the remainder of my stay and left before I'd even come close to finding another hotel. Want to know why? Because I would rather have slept in my car then stayed another night in that hell-spawned pit of failure. If you're planning a trip to Austin and wish to preserve both your sanity and your faith in humankind, do yourself a favor and stay anywhere other than Firehouse Hostel. read more

I spent a week at the Firehouse and I loved it. There's a great vibe. It's an excellent place to meet people and a comfortable place to stay. The lounge downstairs is awesome, who doesn't love entering a bar through a bookcase? I highly recommend going on the pub crawl with Mike. He is a great guide and shows you all the cool places you may not have known about. You get to see some awesome live music and get great deals on drinks at some places. He might even teach you a few swing dance moves if you're lucky. I went on all three pub crawls while on my stay and loved each one. read more

Wonderful overall experience, very new hostel with lots of great aspects. Location can't be beat, right near the heart of 6th street and with a beautiful view if the Driskill across the street. The Firehouse lounge had great entertainment every night and even included a pub crawl for minglers. The staff was very accommodating and informative. The only reason I'm giving it 4 stars is that I stayed in a room that felt like an oven in the dry summer heat. We were told repeatedly that the AC was on and functioning and even given a large fan and Popsicles by one if the concerned owner/ employees, but it was still pretty hard to sleep in. I really wish this problem could be remedied bc I have read it on other reviews. The hostel is amazing and has so much potential and character otherwise. read more

hands down the best place to stay in the city when you're visiting. brand new hostel right in the heart of downtown off of 6th street. there's free breakfast in the morning, great wifi, and laundry on site. it's central to everything so you can walk everywhere and if needed most of the buses run just one block over on Congress. zipcar and car2go is also parked just outside if you have a membership to one of those services. decor is nice and on the two separate occasions i stayed more more and more character was added which really made this place unique. a lot of handcrafted pieces throughout which gives this place a nice charm. very clean, never had any issues and a super cool and friendly staff. most important thing to me when traveling is having a good shower and the showers are excellent. spacious with 3 private showers, one to wash your hair, one to do a body scrub and one to just steam in. j/k there's also the lounge downstairs that features live music and great barkeeps. make sure you enter through the speakeasy bookcase. read more

Loved it here. So close to everything downtown and very friendly staff. My only problem was with parking. There is no parking at the hostel and solid overnight parking seems to be a mystery with everyone in Austin. I must have asked at least 10 people where I could find overnight parking and they had NO idea. Even at Firehouse they weren't sure to tell us where to park for certain. BUT, I did happen to the perfect place. St. David's Episcopal Church has a parking garage on Trinity and 8th. It's $10 weekdays and $7 weekend. I was told by an attendant that they do not tow. So, you can leave your car there for the whole day and night if you want. At certain times during our stay there was no attendant and the gate arm was up so we didn't even have to pay. This made my trip so much better knowing that I had a secure place to park without the fear of getting towed. I hope this helps! Other than the parking situation, Firehouse is awesome and I think it is the perfect place to stay if you want to be downtown and save some money. read more

The staff is very kind. Our rooms were clean and the bathrooms were clean. We never had to wait for the bathroom or the shower. There is a great spread for breakfast every morning- cereal, pastries, fruits, bagels, English muffins. They also have a full kitchen if you brought your own meals. It's centered right downtown close to food and nightlife. I would highly recommend this hostel! read more

Great experience in a great location for me to attend my professional conference downtown. Beds comfortable and sturdy with no shakes. Bathrooms clean enough and like the roll up wash cloths. Staff are friendly and lounge is fun with good chunes. Shout out to Holsum who cleaned me up when I shamed myself. Even old ladies sometimes have too much fun. Thanks my friend! read more

Man, what an amazing experience. Staying there made me want to never leave. Such a perfect location, with the nicest staff I have ever encountered (hostel and lounge staff). Clean, FUN, and a lovely complimentary breakfast. The staff is local, funny, helpful, and kind. The building itself was an adventure. Jeff was wonderful and knowledgeable company while waiting for my flight on my last day, and Russell was by far the nicest, sweetest person I have ever met in my travels. He ensured I was comfortable and offered his assistance at the drop of a hat. I hope the staff is the same when I return. I can't wait to come back to Austin and stay at the Firehouse again. Skip the expensive and impersonal hotels, and stay here. Open yourself up to an experience, listen to stories of fellow travellers, and see where the adventure takes you. Trye the Y Andele at the lounge, it's the best drink ever. And ask for Russell, he's lovely. read more

You get what you pay for. I just check out of my private room for the long weekend, which includes bringing my bed sheets and used towels down. I did not have to remove the duvet cover from my bed, which was a little gross to realize. I also felt like I was advertised falsely to, as I was surprised that my private room seemed just like a dorm room all to myself. Could sleep five but only one lamp, nothing to hang clothes in or on, a cold concrete floor, and you must use a shared bathroom across the hall. The bathroom includes two stalls, three sinks and three pretty gross communal showers. Also during my five nights here one of the showers was out of order during to drainage, the washcloths (provided instead of paper towels) were always out by a certain time of the day. Oh and my door didn't lock well, which I notified one of the employees, she tried to fix it and told me she would contact her manager and nothing ever came of it...in the end I wish I had just stayed in any hotel instead of this hostel. read more

Awesome atmosphere and great location. No qualms about cleanliness or amenities. Walking distance to downtown and 6th street. Knowledgeable staff, cool people. Also, lounge behind the book shelf brings nightly live music and the bar crawl tour was a great intro to Austins night life. Awesome time at the firehouse, thanks guys! read more

Best cocktails in the city hands down!! Antonio is meticulous about his method and the result is pure perfection!! We will be back and its a great tucked away secret spot! read more

so far so good the customer service is amazing.... more to come later when i stay there in mid October

AWFUL!!!!!!My daughter and I just left this place after trying to celebrate her 21rst bday and I got a drink thrown at me by the woman who was working at the front desk because i brought my glass to the front. The drinks were too expensive and tasted awful and the staff is even worse!!!I was excited to see the sliding book shelf but really that is the best this place has to offer-do not go. read more

Stayed there for business the other day. Checked in Sunday night at the tail end of ACL. The staff was very attentive, and helpful. I use to live, and work in Hostels in different parts of the world, and in the U.S., and the Firehouse is a damn good one. The lounge on the first floor is a great little Austin haunt full of that famous Austin uniqueness that facilitates great adventures. The prices are really good considering the location, and the selection is also above average. Bathrooms very clean, and common areas are not neglected. People staying there are nice, and no donkeys that I could I see. A place that I will be going to again. Didn't wake up for the free breakfast, but I'm sure I'm not the first. Smelled good though. read more