I am living in Russia, but slept in Napoleon hostel with a friend, one week for commodities. I didn t planned to go to te hostel, but the other one I booked was flooded one day before.
I was panicked, didn't know where me and my friend would sleep. When I contacted Napoleon, they were really nice, well organised.
Finally, I am really happy that the previous hostel was flooded, because it is exactly the kind of place I wanted for me and my friend, welcome, convenient, nice and comfortable !

I stayed 5 nights in this hostel and found it very very good. Its interesting to read some of the reviews from 2010 and to see how they've turned it around. Cleanliness is definitely not an issue here and the staff are very helpful and welcoming. The location too is incredible. I thought the laundry charge (300 rubles for 5kg) was a little steep however. Overall though its a great place to stay in Moscow. Definitely recommended.

Due to mixed reviews on TA I was aprehensive about this hostel, but I neednt have been. From the moment I stepped though the door the smiling happy (wonderful) receptionists checked me in quickly and registered my visa. The rooms had been newly renovated and had colourful trendy wallpaper, comfy beds and good lockers (bring your own padlock). Location was superb, 5 minutes walk to Red Square and its located in a vibrant, trendy and I think rich area. There are great cafes nearby, check out My-My and some really cool bars. The manager took me to Papas Place Bar (again 3 minutes walk from the hostel) which was an unbelievably cool place. Buy one cocktail get 4 free!! You gotta love that!
All the sights are within walking distance, Arbat, Kremlin and Pushkin museum.
Hostel was very sociable, a real back-packers type place, lots of students and young people to chat to in the evening and a mini bar (read beer fridge) to get drinks (all reasonably;y priced). Theres chess, card games, huge plasma TV so youre never bored. The manager didnt like people watching TV he told guests to socialise and was a funny host.
All in all I recommend this place, don't be put off by other review, they are not true. You have to register your visa in one day, it even states that on the back of your immigration card (flyingkiwislondon you got that very wrong). This is really a first class back-packer hostel, if you are used to hotels, don't complain, pay the money and stay in a hotel instead. If you are a backpacker on a budget, and want a cheap bed, with 150% service and help from the staff stay at Napoleon Hostel - you wont regret it!! Possibly the best 5 days I have had in my life.

My flight arrived at around 2am so the hostel arranged a taxi to come and collect me which seemed like a very handy service (paid for of course) - bearing in mind I was a female travelling alone in a strange country in the middle of the night it was a little disconcerting to have a huge Russian man collect me and then proceed to chain smoke and speed all the way into town. He also kept trying to tell me the hostel was bad but as I was concerned for my safety and thinking he might try to take me somewhere else I pretended not to understand him.

The hostel is at the top of about four flights of stairs which they hadn't mentioned on their site - I have a trapped nerve in my back so climbing all these stairs with my heavy backpack was very painful! My bed wasn't made, so I had to disturb my roommates really more than necessary by climbing up and down onto the top bunk to put on the sheet and pillow covers. The mattress was literally the worst and lumpiest I have ever slept on, if it hadn't been so early in the morning I would have asked if there were another bed available.

I was unfortunate in the timing of my stay as there was a group of 25 American students who had come to Moscow to "spread the word of the lord", which for some reason included being extremely homophobic and racist in open conversations in every room of the hostel, so that I literally had not one minute's peace there.

I asked for a taxi to be booked to take me to the train station the next evening as I was catching the sleeper train to St Petersburg. I told them the time of the train so that they could book a taxi for the appropriate time - I actually ended up sitting at the station for nearly 2hrs in the cold which wasn't great.

Worst of all, when I arrived back in the UK I found the hostel had charged my card twice for my stay! They denied this several times and said my bank had simply paid them the money twice - after several days of discussion the matter was finally settled and the money returned to my account (and in fairness to the manager, he did respond very quickly to my emails on the subject), but all in all it just summed up the ineptitude of the place.

On the plus side, I quite liked the decor.