We stayed in the dorm here way back in October 2010. The rooms were okay, nothing special. As they are in the basement they are a bit dark. The breakfast was very poor. Everything was pre-cooked and the staff were indifferent whenever you asked them anything. Bathrooms and kitchen were poor but the location was fantastic.

I have always loved Asia, asian culture and history, so I was very happy, when my boyfriend invited me to stay in Beijing for a week. We stayed in this hostel in september 2011. I found it via internet and booked it straight per the web site of this hostel. I wasnt concerned about few bad reviews, cause the most of the reviews were good. When we arrived, everything was ok. The first dissapointment we discovered was a dirty towel, then dirty pillow covers, but we didnt make a great deal about it. When we came to the tourist information desk, we already knew, where we want to go, but the lady convinced us to go to a different side of the great chinese wall, because " it was the nicest view from all". We also wanted to be waked up at 5.30 but the waking up call never happend, so we almost lost our money, because we didnt have our mobile phones (no alarm clocks) on our vacations. Later we discovered she had just two people (a couple) in the car and she just wanted to fill the car. That day should be the most beautiful day in my life, ..We got engaged on the great chinese wall, but when we returned to the hotel, the lady at the tourist info desk ruined the whole day. I wanted to ask her something, because nobody else was near (i think I wanted to buy postcards), she just pointed me to the reception with a unpolite gesture and rude face expresion. Then my boyfriend came to her desk and wanted to ask something, but he decided to ask at the reception, he just turned around,never said a word to her and she started making rude faces at me, yelling at me, what I want from her, that she already told me to ask at the reception. I was in shock so I just said "I m sorry" and she continued to make rude faces at me. The next thing that happend was, that our lock on the door broke. We went to the reception three times but nobody cared, we couldnt close the door, so we told the reception staff to fix it straight away, because we were leaving for a whole day trip next morning. It wasnt fixed for more then 12 hours, and when we were leaving for the trip we had to leave the door opened. When we left the hotel after a week nobody at the reception didnt even say goodbye to us.

I have never stayed in such a disgusting, filthy lodging in my entire life. This is the kind of place I'd imagine Amy Winehouse going to die. Our first room made the Bates Motel look like an upgrade. It started with the hall on the second floor. It reeks of urine. Gag reflex inducing stench from the public restroom on the floor.

Our room door was stuck. We should have taken it as an omen. Instead we opened it. The rug had cigarette burns and layers of dust and filth. All the furniture was nicked and damaged. But the worst part was the bathroom. It stunk as though the 1000 people peed all over it and no one ever cleaned it. Horrible. The tiles on the floor and in the shower had black mold. The door frame was peeling and had black mold. I wouldn't put a human being in this place. We walked down to the basement to check out the hostel and found worse conditions.

I wanted to leave but had prepaid for the room and didn't have a credit card due to a pickpocket.

We tried to stick it out, bought and air freshener to spray the bathroom. But the stench was coming up through the plumbing. We shut the bathroom door at night, but it seeped through the wall. It was so bad we couldn't sleep. Finally, at 3 am we demanded to change rooms.

Our room on the third floor had the same hallway stench. But the room itself didn't stink. The floor was not carpeted and looked ten times better. The bathroom still had black mold, but at least it didn't reek.

The beds were okay. Sheets were scratchy, ripped and stained. Every minute spent at this hotel felt like punishment.

The maid cleaned and each day we found more long black hairs were mopped into our room. I'm blonde and my friend had super short brown hair.

The hotel restaurant is a complete rip off. Avoid it. All the restaurants that are super cheap near the hotel are also not properly licensed. We saw them all shut down when a cop came through. Owners flipped tables, threw food away and pretended they were playing cards or hanging out. Ew.

The hutong is a horrible poverty ridden area and it is a shame that anyone lives under these conditions.

Location good in the hutong.
Housekeeping terrible. We stayed for 5 days and bedsheets were never changed. It was a complete mess under the bed. Even called housekeeping to show them but it stayed as it was.
Cleanliness of bathroom was just ok. The shower leaked and so the bathroom was always wet.
Staff unfriendly.
Breakfast western 38rmb. Chinese breakfast advertised at 10rmb but went to the coffee shop at 9.30 and was told it is only served till 9.00.
But there are many food joints nearby.