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Hostel Mona Lisa – reviews, photos

Via Palermo 13,, Rome, Italy
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Ranked #217 of 316 Speciality lodging in Rome
3.0 of 5 stars 14 Reviews
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14 reviews from our community

    Trip type
Traveller rating
    2
    5
    1
    0
    6
Date Rating
Moscow, Russia
Senior Reviewer
10 reviews 10 reviews
Reviews in 6 cities Reviews in 6 cities
4 helpful votes 4 helpful votes
“second worst hostel I've ever stayed at”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 8 June 2011
1
person found this review helpful

...first worst was "Peace and Love" in Paris, see my review.
This place features:
1. absolutely no security. No keys, no lockers, nothing. People strill freely in/out no one askes who or where you belong.
2. tiny rooms and poor equpment. No other furniture than bunk beds - you only can spread your stuff on the floor. Common room is combined with reception and kitchen. The reception guy sleeps right there on the sofa, so you cannot use the kitchen early in the morning
3. 2 bathrooms, dirty (paint peeling off, rust and heir everywhere!) and occupied most of the time (have to stand in queues every morning!)
4. bed linen consists only of 1 pillowcase and one sheet (fairily clean, thank God)! The blanket is feathery and uncovered, supposed to be used by everyone just as it is! Guys, it is simply unsanitary! A heaven for bed bugs!
I asked for an extra sheet pretending It's too hot to sleep under the blanket (and so it was!) and luckily got it carge-free, while hired waffel towel cost me 2 euro and had suspicious stains on it.
5. I booked a female-dorm, however, there were 2 guys in the room when I checked in! I didn't care and went to sleep but in the morning other girl complained she couldn't have slept because of the snoring! She claimed her rights from hostel keepers and next night our room was cleared of opposite sex :)
6. there was free pasta for everyone at about 9pm. Didn't try it (too late for me), others said it's ok.

The hostel guys are quite friendly and easy-going, however they kept picking on my fellow girl, she got really tired of that!

All in all. It's bearable, didn't spoil my marvelous Rome experience, but definitely not worth money paid!

  • Stayed June 2011, travelled with friends
    • 2 of 5 stars Value
    • 3 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 1 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 1 of 5 stars Service
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ancona
1 review
1 helpful vote 1 helpful vote
“there is no |AC, not even electricity , no free dinner or breakfast as thery said”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 7 August 2010
1
person found this review helpful

I stayed there 1 night, i didnt mind the drunk ppl who slept there, things i didnt like are that I paid 18eur for bed in room in which 6 ppl slept and the others paid 12eur. I stayed 8 hours,
They say there is dinner and Air Conditioner, not true. There wasn;t even water and eletricity, I slept in room where i had to use my flashlight and there was no sheets, on top of that i had to stay 30 min outside of building cos they didnt have the key from the building where i slept *(thats the other building , theres no common area, and the person who worked there was expecting me just to lay in dark in my bed and not move)
I dont recommend this place, sux! Dont go there!
ps no internet as well

  • Stayed August 2010, travelled as a couple
    • 1 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 1 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 1 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 1 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 1 of 5 stars Service
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London, United Kingdom
Contributor
14 reviews 14 reviews
Reviews in 10 cities Reviews in 10 cities
10 helpful votes 10 helpful votes
“Fantastic”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 23 July 2010

Easy (10 mins) walk from the train station made an easy transfer from the airport. The welcome we got was warm and friendly and the hostel was immaculate. I travelled with 3 other friends and we had the private en-suite room which was spread across a ground floor and mezzanine level and had air con (which we were able to use as we liked) and a lockable fridge which doubled up as a safe. Ok, so the view from the window was nothing to write home about but when you can walk to the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps & Colloseo within 10mins each its no big deal! Despite all this the area was lovely and quiet and the room was fantastic value for money.

Note though-I actually travelled here in June 2006 so maybe things have changed?

  • Stayed June 2009, travelled with friends
    • 5 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 5 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 5 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 5 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 5 of 5 stars Service
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London
1 review
3 helpful votes 3 helpful votes
“regret”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 11 August 2009
3
people found this review helpful

we really regret staying here.
after merely seeing the room we went back to the office to change our booking from 3 nights to 1 night and in the mean time, try find somewhere else to stay. looking back, we shouldn't have even stayed one night.
after just one night i was literally eaten alive by bed bugs (counted over 600 bites on me).

no cream or tablets the pharmacy could give me would work and i ended up in emergency at the hospital getting needles to calm the pain and the aggravated bites.

this all still didn't work and we ended up having to cut our holiday short there (2 weeks early) to go back to London to see english speaking doctors to find out what i needed to do and to try get some relief and get better.
2 weeks later im still not better and sitting at home trying to rest instead of being on my dream holiday.

just dont do it. dont risk it.

for those who dont believe me, i have attached some photos (and these aren't even all the bites!)

i hope you take my advice

  • Stayed July 2009, travelled as a couple
    • 1 of 5 stars Value
    • 1 of 5 stars Location
    • 1 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 1 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 1 of 5 stars Service
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New Zealand
1 review
1 helpful vote 1 helpful vote
“very unhappy”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 5 March 2009
1
person found this review helpful

I was totally unimpressed with the hostel. Unprofessional, bad service, and not genuine people.

At the time I arrived to check in (evening because of their lock-out hours) they gave me the 'there's been a mistake on the computer system with your booking' story they seem to have given to other people in the past. When I asked why I hadn't been contact earlier they said they had just found out about the problem THAT day. I can't believe that considering I booked months in advance.

They then said they could put me up at another hostel they were associated with, which they promised offered the same facilities they did. As it was late and I was alone in the city I went to the other hostel, which did not offer the same facilities (towel hire, safety deposit, internet) at all!! It was also MUCH closer to the train station, one street away to be exact. As a solo female traveller one of the reasons I had SPECIFICALLY booked a hostel away from the station, because I didn't feel it would be safe for me returning by foot alone at night. The cost for the night was the same as for the original booking.

I was totally unimpressed with the lack of apology from the hostel and the fact they had obviously bumped my booking without telling me for whatever reason. I stayed one night only in the other hostel as I was rather stuck, it being later in the evening. I promptly booked the rest of my stay in another hostel (Alton Room), in a nicer part of town, though for a higher price.

I would NOT recommend this hostel at all, and if you do book it anyway have a few other hostels contact details as a back-up in case they do the same thing to you they did to me. Absolutely disgusted with their customer service.

  • Stayed February 2009, travelled solo
    • 1 of 5 stars Value
    • 1 of 5 stars Service
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Hostel Mona Lisa Also Known As

  • Mona Lisa
Address: Via Palermo 13,, Rome, Italy

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3.0 of 5 stars 14 reviews
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