Review of Selina Jaco 3*

Selina Jaco was an incredible stay. I was there for 4 days and so happy I got to be able to call this hostel my home for that time. Beautiful interiors and exteriors, very pleasing on the eyes. Delicious food and clean, comfortable rooms and beds. Super cool coworking initiative and apparently tons of really cool customer service initiatives as well. I actually was so intrigued by this hostel that I did a little research on its founder and it’s origination and over-all system, and that’s where I discovered that the desk-staff are apparently unpaid. They are entirely volunteer interns that just get to have a free room and a small monthly food allowance of $10/day at their restaurant, and actually have to pay a fee for the internship as well. Kind of a wild employment system. Anyways, Yamanick, a male staff member at Selina Jaco, he is an incredible staff member who is very kind, enthusiastic, funny, genuine, helpful and attentive to the guests. Most other staff members seemed very disinterested or annoyed by the guests, but I don’t blame them after finding out they are basically working for free. Anyways, the indifferent employees did not affect my stay negatively whatsoever. Just something to comment on after my discoveries. A beautiful hostel but left a bad taste in my mouth when I found out I’m paying $18USD to sleep in a 6-bedroom-dorm where the staff aren’t even getting paid a decent wage. Kind of sad, but to each their own. I won’t allow this odd employment system to completely alter the view of my great stay. Just felt it was worth mentioning as it was intriguing to me. Maybe the staff really are getting a valuable internship experience? I’m unsure. I highly recommend Selina and would make a point of it to try to visit all of their locations. Awesome environment, super cool community, great vibe, clean rooms, nice amenities! All around a great stay.