... having to convince the cleaning lady that in a room we just moved in to a blanket with sandy footprints and plenty of spots is neither "new" nor "just changed" wasn't a good start at this place. the new bedding felt much better, but still there remained cigarette butts in the corners to manifest the Cha Bu Duo/差不多 (it doesn't lack much/almost okay) attitude of the management towards cleanliness. The rooms are small but not a bad value at this location and the hutong is atcually pleasantly quiet.

Mosquitos, as mentioned before, are an major issue here, but once you go on a killing spree and get the pest out of the room, you should be fine (since it may not be likely the cleaning team will enter your room again to clean and leave the door open while at it). We stayed shorter than intended - with still work to do online, what I really couldn't cope with was the slower than snail internet connection in the mosquito-ridden lobby ... (which was alreday infinitely better than the connection in the room).

This hostel would be fine if not for two (related) things:

1.) bugs
2.) lack of cleanliness

Me and my boyfriend stayed here for 3 nights and that was quite enough. After getting eaten alive during the nights by the more than 50 (how many we killed the next day) mosquitos in our dorm room, we left early in the morning to see friends off to the airport. In the hallway was a large dead scorpion!! That was the last straw, and we moved out that day. They only clean the dorm rooms once a week and I don't know if the bathrooms are ever cleaned. They were filthy mosquito breeding grounds. On the plus side, the breakfasts (not included) weren't too bad and the other travelers are a great source of information. If you can stand the mosquitos and other creepy crawlies, this place is ok.

+ AMAZING location, within walking distance to pretty much everything, and the buses were easy and so so cheap
+ Yummy breakfasts, got a fry-up every morning!
+ Cute common area & decorations in the corridors
+ Big rooms, comfy beds, clean bathrooms
+ Hostel provides tours & good travel advice to anywhere in Beijing

- Rubbish internet connection on the hostel computers (but good wifi)
- Towels were way too small

I stayed in a double-room, single-occupancy, for three nights in October 2010, total CNY 684 / 81 euros / 100 dollars. The hotel was down a nice laneway/hutong, 7-10 minutes from the nearest metro, and 20 minutes from the main shopping street.

The room itself was a bit grotty. Not sure when the bedding was last washed, so bring your own sheets, boys and girls!

The bathroom was ok. The sink drainpipe was too short and spilled water everywhere on the floor. But I fixed it by slicing off the bottom of a large water bottle and inverting it, funneling the effluent into a hole in the floor. I was proud of myself, being an arts major and all.

There's a little bar in the lobby where I met some nice travellers on one night. On another night it was full of old guys telling tales of their sexploits in southeast Asia, so I made my polite excuses and retired early.