PODs The Backpackers Home & Cafe
PODs The Backpackers Home & Cafe is a hostel near KL Sentral towards the back of KL Sentral Monorail Station. I have used PODs The Backpackers Home & Cafe many times before as a self-declared shower room to freshen up since the closure of KL Sentral’s shower room.
On this trip, I decided to book a bunk bed in the 8-Bed Dormitory during my day transit in KL after arriving from my AirAsia AK702 flight to the departure of KTM MySawadee 1004up from KL Sentral to Hat Yai for a comfortable place to rest, take a shower, use the locker, and some space and power socket to do immediate writing for my AirAsia 1st Flight from Changi Airport Terminal 4 to Kuala Lumpur review.
The façade of PODs The Backpackers Home & Cafe.
The front of PODs The Backpackers Home & Cafe is teaPODs Café.
Walk through teaPODs Café and you will find the front desk of PODs The Backpackers Home & Cafe.
Check-in was fuss-free with my booking from agoda, and I was issued a key card and a physical key for the locker.
No bottled water is provided, but there is a water dispenser opposite the front desk.
Heading up the lift to my room. The key card is required to enter the rooms area.
My room was at 1Bunk1 which was not listed on the sign. Nevertheless, there was only 1 corridor, and a room with an open door confirmed that it was an 8-Bed Dormitory.
There is a big locker cage for luggage storage here.
PODs The Backpackers Home & Cafe 8-Bed Dormitory
The interior of the 8-Bed Dormitory at PODs The Backpackers Home & Cafe. Thin wooden panels separate bunks for privacy.
I was assigned Bunk 4 which was a lower bunk.
A 3-pin power socket is available on the pillar beside the bed.
A locker is assigned to each bunk. The physical key provided unlocks this locker.
A pillow and blanket is stored inside this locker. I did notice something that was missing, which was the sole purpose of my day stay at PODs The Backpackers Home & Cafe.
It turns out that a towel rental costs RM5 for dormitory guests, and is only provided free for pod guests.
Ah well. My day transit now costs RM5 more. Not the good locker and shower deal I thought I might have had.
The air-conditioning in the room was also not switched on during the day, however, there were 2 ceiling fans, and luckily the weather outside was consistently overcast which didn’t heat up the room too much.
The air-conditioning was turned on at night.
Heading to the toilet and shower at the other end of the corridor.
The toilet has toilet paper and a bidet hose provided.
The sink has hand soap and a wall-mounted hair dryer provided.
The shower had good water pressure and temperature, along with 3-in-1 soap on the wall. A side rack is also available for your own toiletries. A passive-aggressive sign tells you to pee in the toilet instead of the shower.
Checking out at 9pm wasn’t a problem since I had booked my stay for the whole night, and the front desk only closes at 2am.
Conclusion
I got a good rate on agoda at RM20 for a bunk in the 8-Bed Dormitory which would have been the same as a locker rental at KL Sentral plus a shower with towel at PODs The Backpackers Home & Cafe. The additional RM5 for towel rental was a bit of a bummer as I thought a towel would have been included in the room rate since it was listed on agoda.
But nevertheless, the bunk bed was a cheap place to rest and write the article on AirAsia 1st Flight from Changi Airport Terminal 4 to Kuala Lumpur to be published on the same day. It also allowed me to freshen up before the departure of KTM MySawadee 1004up from KL Sentral to Hat Yai, ready for the overnight train journey.