AVOID this place! It`s infested by BEDBUGS, I woke up the first day with bug bites on my feet. We didn`t know why... we thought maybe it was an spider. Next morning, the problem was worse. all over my legs... We stayed there for 3 nights, but we realized about the problem when we left. Our bags, clothes and even our jackets we had for the rest of our trip in Europe. That last day we had bites all over: hands, arms, back, legs, feet, neck. We got to Paris and we found a bedbug in our jackets!!! we had to wash immediately with boiling water in a tub. We also had to buy new clothes, and go to the drugstore to buy medicine and a spray to disinfect our clothes and put in plastic bags. IT ALMOST RUIN OUR VACATION. Besides that, they dont give you towels... the only thing they gave me was a HAND towel, you have to ask before you take a bath for hot water... otherwise there is only cold water in the shower. And they just live a note on the desk "I will be back in 20 mins" and actually nobody is in charge for hours! When we arrived, we had to wait for 30mins for someone to show up. The girls that cleans the rooms is rude and actually she doesnt clean anything... the first morning she came in the room, she asked us which beds we used, and she "cleaned" the beds where we didn`t and nobody made our beds... This is the worst place I have ever stayed. PLEASE, DON`t STAY HERE... they never replied to our emails asking for an apology.

The website claims friendly owners, free breakfast, maps and tourist adivce, air conditioning and above all a "safe and quiet" hostel. We arrived in the dodgiest backstreet area of Rome, hiked up 5 flights of stairs to reach the reception where we were grimly greeted by three blokes chain smoking and wandering round a dingy kitchen area shirtless. We were taken to a building 4 streets away and deposted in a tiny apartment, where 10 dirty bed were shoved into a tiny room with unwashed smelly bedding, a broken toilet and shower in the bathroom and a kitchen with less than the bare minumum. We are hostelling on a tight budget through Italy, and have stayed in some pretty grubby places, but never before have we felt unsafe in a place. The experience was unacceptable, even for the cheapest type of accommodation. You would be better kipping on a bench in the station...

Unfortunately for us we read the reviews of this hostel only after our stay.
The hostel is close to Termini station, which we thought was an advantage. Although it took us a while to find a small Calatafimi street. We still could not believe we found the place as the door bell button was not easy to spot.
The reception is on the 5th floor and the lift was small, two of us took the lift and and other three had to climb up the stairs.
After meeting a receptionist we were given the 2 sets of keys in exchange for 10 euro deposit for a set.
Then the surprises did not stop:
- the key BROKE when we tried to look the room's door! To avoid loosing 10 euro for a broken key we used another set to cut a copy key (for 1 euro) in the city. They must be earning extra for broken keys (I know.. unbelievable) as we saw one broken key lying in the kitchen.
If you google this hostel you will see reviews of other people saying how their key broke as well...hehehe...weird.

- There is only 1 BATHROOM on the 1st floor to share among 12 people.
But even this was not working properly. When I flushed the toilet the water from the tank above started to leak on the floor and the wall. In the evening the flush did not work at all! We had to use a bucket to flush the toilet!
Plus, the hot water was very low pressure in the shower room.
After complaining to the receptionist we were advised to use the other bathroom on the first floor..

- Only lower sheets were provided (no upper sheet) and we were left with a smelly blankets.

- The kitchen is very small (3 chairs). There was only one knob on the gas cooker, so you couldn't use more than one hob at a time. Plus the knob was inserted incorrectly so that someone left the gas on. My friend smelled the gas when she entered the kitchen and did not know what to do because knob was in OFF position. The receptionist reacted with a confused face when I asked her how to switch off the gas supply! (Zero points for health & safety!) We switched it off ourselves finally.

I don't recommend this hostel to anyone unless you like adrenaline rush and improving your survival skills (gas leak, cold shower, using bucket to flush the toilet, being first to get the croissants in the morning before other travelers, manouvre to avoid being moistened by a leaking water tank, having to climb to the 5th floor's bathroom to brush your teeth, finding the key-cutter to replace your ).

I like beginning my reviews on a positive note so here goes:

Two Ducks Hostel is close to the train station (5 minute walk if you get the "main" hostel, 10 minutes if you get the "other" hostel...I will explain later), and they give you free breakfast. Okay now onto the negatives.

We arrived at an unmarked building whose address matched the one we were given. We were confused, but saw on a teeny tiny list of residents next to the doorbell "Two Ducks Hostel" so we felt slightly better. We rang the bell and they let us in. We proceeded to enter the very small, very rickety elevator which actually managed to raise us to the correct floor instead of dropping us to our deaths below. That was the first surprise.

The next surprise was when the receptionist told us (and not very politely I may add) that we wouldn't be staying there. Oh...um...what? No, we would be staying about an 8 minute walk away. We reluctantly picked up our bags and followed the girl to our new hostel...which is actually the Two Ducks Hostel's second location. After climbing 6 flights of steep stairs, we arrived at our place. There were two bedrooms, each with 6 beds, a kitchen, and a bathroom. No reception, no internet, no connection to the real world. It felt like someone's flat, not a hostel. Later on, we needed towels and had no way of contacting reception, so we had to walk all the way back to the first location.

The dial was broken on the oven, so to cook the pizza we bought (oh, the grocery store is a 2 minute walk, I guess that's a perk), I had to sit next to the oven and push the dial in the entire time.

Our roommates were nice, and if it weren't for them I feel we would have run away screaming.

In the morning, we awoke to a tray of stale, packaged croissants, sketchy looking jam, and crackers. We passed on breakfast. They tell you to be out of your rooms by 10 AM so the cleaning lady can come. Unfortunately, she came early one day. We hear her talking extremely loudly on her phone. She enters the kitchen first, and she is literally yelling at someone into her phone. My boyfriend, my roommates, and I were terrified to walk past the kitchen to leave. She unlocks the door to our room and comes in without knocking or anything. She sees us and proceeds to get upset because one of our roommates slept in the "wrong" bed. She is visibly angry and quite rude and intimidating. We take off the first chance we get. Our roommates were so put off they changed hostels.

Nothing was good about this hostel. The location sucked, the kitchen was mediocre, the bathroom was mediocre too, and the rooms were iffy. We are budget travelers, so we didn't complain too much, but I would not return here, nor recommend this hostel to a friend.