Tourist Paid For Boat Quay Hostel Stay For F1 Weekend, Only To Arrive & Find Out It’s Closed Down

Imagine travelling halfway across the world anticipating a fantastic F1 weekend in Singapore, only to be left stranded because the hotel you booked and paid for has actually closed down.

That's what happened to TikToker @full.time.formula over the recent F1 Singapore Grand Prix weekend.

The content creator from London set a challenge for himself to travel the world to attend all 24 Formula 1 Grand Prix races this year. 

The catch? He’s still working a full-time job and has to keep to 28 days of leave, with a spending budget of £20K (S$34.5K).

His budget took a hit recently after he travelled to Singapore over the weekend for the F1 night race, no thanks to the accomodation hiccup that happened here.

He spent a total of £1,231 (S$2,126) on flights, transport, accommodation, ticket, food and drinks.  

In his video detailing his time in Singapore, Full Time Formula revealed: “I had booked the Wanderloft Capsule Hostel, but upon arriving it was a building site and had clearly been closed for a while even though my stay was still confirmed on Booking.com.”

“This was going to cost me £55 (S$95) for two nights, but I had to book an alternative on the day which was Bluewaters Collab Quarters. A room with shared bathroom facilities cost me £451 (S$779) for two nights,” he continued.

In his video, he shows the entrance of what used to be Wanderloft Capsule Hostel — its glass doors completely covered with paper, blocking the view of the interior space.

A quick search online shows that the capsule hostel on South Bridge Road is listed as permanently closed. The reservations page on the hostel’s website is no longer up, and the last post on its socials were in 2024.

While the content creator was able to book his stay there via Booking.com, the rooms are no longer available for booking on third party sites, including Booking.com, at press time.

When 8days.sg called the number listed on the hostel’s website, we found out that the line is no longer in use.

Despite the inconvenience with his accommodation plans, the content creator said Singapore would have been his “best value race” of the year, considering that he had to travel all the way from London. Of course, that’s not counting the money he had to spend on booking a second place.

He plans to reach out to Booking.com and his travel insurance company to try to get his money back.

Many expressed pity at how his budget was affected by the hostel’s unexpected closure, with the majority agreeing he should be compensated for the mess-up.

Guess we'll have to wait for his next update to find out if he's able to add the S$95 back to his budget. Fingers crossed?