Lucia Foster Welch opinion
It's the cheapest accommodation for a reason! Two buses to the Highfield campus, an hour to get there! Atrociously cold in winter with wind passing through the door + windows, without mentioning the heater stopping after each 10 minutes.
In summer, you CANNOT BREATHE! SO WARM A FISH WOULD BOIL ALIVE! 27 degrees and you're done. The kitchen is like a sauna. They could put curtains or something to cool down the kitchen but no, NOTHING!
Cupboards in the kitchen do not close, you can't put a lock 🔒 on it. What you saw when you visited are the 'fake' and nicest rooms you would never get.
Things (bathroom, fridge, freezer, etc.) easily break. Oh yes, including the knob on your door that locks you out most of the time and that, despite the technician coming to repair it.
Ah yes, your bedroom can be next to a machinery room, let me explain myself, with all the wires, internet cables... making a hell of a ton of noise. You need to be lucky to get a room away from that! And at night, be prepared to hear people shouting under the shelter where people sit to smoke their weed.
You can also be unlucky and be next to noisy roommates playing games on their laptop and shouting like crazy if they were in their own world. Also, don't be surprised if you can't store your own food, just a fridge and freezer for 10 people, which is ridiculous!
Yes, you've got nice people at the reception, awesome security staff, a few activities, cleaning once a week of the communal areas, technicians on call to fix things.
But really, it's NOT worth the price you're paying, I would have wanted to pay the double to be elsewhere! For that, I regret having come to Southampton, everything is super expensive, you need to be rich to make it alive.
They need to invest and renovate the building because students are running away from such buildings!