Name: Sydney Central YHA
Address: 11 Rawson Place Cnr Pitt Street & Rawson Place, Sydney
Telephone: +61-370-732-900
Rating: 4

Good

Liked: Perfect location. Staff were very helpful when I needed to upgrade my booking.
Disliked: A bit noisy. And a bit grubby.

Superb

Liked: Great location.

Poor

Very good

Good

It was fine for a...

Liked: The location was really convenient and the price was pretty good for 1 night. There were lots of plugs for charging devices and a pretty spacious common area. It was also really convenient to be able to charge my phone next to me while I was sleeping, even though I was on the top bunk bed in my room. I liked the privacy curtains on the beds too. The wifi was decent.
Disliked: Having to take my key card everywhere, including to access the bathroom on the floor I was staying on, was a huge hassle. I understand safety measures are important, but this seemed really excessive in comparison to other hostels I've stayed at in the past, and kind of gave the impression of less safety, if all these measures are really necessary. The lifts and rooms were already only accessible with a key card, so having to have it on me at 2am while going to the bathroom was just inconvenient and frustrating.It was also ironic that safety seemed like such a priority but it was not mentioned on the website that I needed to bring my own padlock to actually use the "lockable lockers" inside the room, otherwise my bags wouldn't be secure. If the key card has to be on me at all times, it would have also made sense to maybe have lockers that would be accessible by said key card. I did end up purchasing a padlock from the front desk, but it was so small that it was a real struggle to get it onto the lockers in question, which doesn't really make sense since staff should be aware of the size of the lockers in the rooms. The shared bathrooms were not particularly clean, especially the showers. The common areas were fine but quite cold, which is not ideal in the winter. Staff were okay, but not particularly friendly or helpful. The whole atmosphere was just a bit distant and not very welcoming. On the whole, I stayed at better hostels for cheaper, and will probably be looking at other options next time I'm in Sydney, even if they're a little bit further out from the city centre.