Granville Hall Student Residence

The only issue I had with the stay was that the unlock feature that allows you to unlock with your phone stopped working around 8am when the check out was not until 11am.

My bed was against two hot water pipes and a radiator that wouldn’t shut off . As well as having a window that I could not adjust and had to prop open otherwise it would fall out. I got heat stroke many times and management had little to no interest to resolve the issues. I also had a shower head blow off the wall on me , only two stove burners work and many of the kitchen appliances were broken .

SAFETY WARNING: This residence uses completely automated processes. It is nearly impossible to get through to a person. (It took me 40 min even using their 'emergency' number during business hours.) I booked for several students coming together as group. (Multiple rooms.) Unstated is that if you book multiple rooms you will receive only a *single room code*. That means that they can all walk in and out of each others rooms at will. This creates an obvious safety issue (sexual assault). The only way that this can be avoided is to book each room as a separate transaction, which also requires separate check-ins for each booking. This place may work fine for individuals looking for a place to stay, but stay away if you are a school or community group looking for affordable Halifax accommodation. Note as well that if you call their normal phone number during the stated business hours you cannot talk to anyone. The only way to get to a human is by texting their 'emergency' after hours number. Even that number did not respond to phone calls. (Voice mail with no call back.)

Our arrival was disrupted because the access code didn't work. After several attempts, we communicated via text message (we would have liked to speak to someone). After an hour and a half, we were finally able to access our room, which was located on the side of a building under construction. As a result, it was very noisy very early in the morning. And since the fan was faulty and making a strange noise, we had to turn it off and leave the window open. The bathroom ceilings and floors will need to be repaired if you don't want the ceilings to collapse or the floors to break. The last night was very disruptive because the neighbors got into a fight (which is beyond our control) and kept us awake for part of the night. The only positive thing was being close to the places we wanted to visit. We only had to walk to get there. This is not a place we would recommend.

I typically find the best prices for accommodations through Airbnb and other such services, but Halifax who baffled me. The Airbnb locations were extraordinarily expensive. It is high season and this is a tourist destination. Then through the wonders of AI, I discovered that universities in Canada provide summer accommodations at reasonable rates. Sure enough, I was able to find a beautiful accommodation right in the heart of everything. It's a 2-minute walk to the art museum up right up the street from one of the greatest comic book stores I've been to in a long time. The rooms are comfortable and everything is new and well equipped. There are plenty of towels and private bathrooms and hot water. The kitchen is well stocked with cooking utensils possibles. But there was no salt. At least on my floor. There's a kitchen on every floor and even after you check out you still have access to the building so you can leave your stuff. Even hang out if you need to until it's time for you to leave. My only request is that they put some sort of shelving in the bathrooms. I had no place to put my many toiletries.

Great place. Had a little problem with the self check-in, the SMS answer took about 15 minutes. Other than that, I had a marvelous experience. Great location, super clean, nice small rooms, comfortable bed. I enjoyed the desk to work on.

Very standard, no-frills hostel residence situation albeit a bit run down. Great location that was super accessible and close to the waterfront. Cons would be that there were many mice in the kitchen and hallway areas and that as a solo female student, most of the other residents were older men. Everything is self-service so there’s not really much there. Overall worth the affordable price for a short stay.