A student has set up a Trip-Advisor-style website for university halls of residence after spending his first year in “poor quality” accommodation.
Kristian Else, 22, moved from Australia to study at Westminster University in 2011, but was disappointed with his digs in Beaumont Court in Camden.
He wanted to write a review to warn other students but could not find anywhere to do so, so he has now set up his own website, Hallbookers, which was launched this week.
He said: “When I arrived, I saw the hall could hardly be considered liveable and there was nowhere to publicly alert other students, so I made Hallbookers.”
Mr Else, who now lives in another hall of residence in Holloway Road which he likes, set up the website as part of his course in business management entrepreneurship which he completed this week and he now hopes to work full time on the project.
London students can currently search for and leave reviews of 100 halls of residence and Mr Else plans to expand it to the rest of the country soon.
Student Castle in Leman Street, Whitechapel is one of the most highly rated halls in his list along with Pure Hammersmith in Shepherd’s Bush Road, Hammersmith.
Mr Else said he was taking action against “expensive and poorly managed student halls accommodation”.
He added: “Despite the large costs, students have never had anything to check independent information about the halls before booking. This has led to many hall providers selling sub-standard accommodation with a hyped-up sales pitch at rip-off rates.
“Working very similar to TripAdvisor, Hallbookers expects to rapidly change student habits.”
Ten student unions in London are now encouraging their students to use the site. Daniel Cooper, vice-president of the University of London Union, said: “For years, students have been silently taken advantage of by dodgy hall providers lowering standards to increase profits enormously. This long overdue and crucial initiative, Hallbookers, will force halls to meet students’ expectations or fail.”
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A University of Westminster spokeswoman said: “The university has never owned Beaumont Court and it has not been one of the accommodation options recommended to our students by the university staff since 2012.”
A spokeswoman for Unite Students, which owns the hall, said: “We have recorded highest ever levels of customer satisfaction in each of the last three years across the UK, but we take any complaint seriously and ensure we take action.”
