VENUS Harbourside - FEMALE ONLY HOSTEL - Long stay negotiable

Poor

Liked: Relatively safe area.
Disliked: Room service was almost nil. Never once was the room cleaned up during my 1 week's stay there. Change of clean bath towels has to be asked.

Wouldn't wish this room on...

Liked: Nothing, I was only there for 5 minutes.
Disliked: I wasn't sent an entry code as I should have been, so had to go to the accommodation after 24 hours of travelling to chance it to see if I could get in. Not ideal as a solo female traveller, but there you go - luckily, there was an emergency number on the door and after about 30 mins I was in the room.I wasn't even in there five minutes because it was unsafe and unsanitary. The door handle fell off when I entered, the bath mat had mud (chunks of mud) on it, the bedsheet had stains, there was a blood stain on the window blind, and I found a pill on the floor, at the bottom of the bed. Not wishing to contract an incurable disease on the first day of my holiday, I left immediately and emailed the property about the problems, telling them that I was leaving and wanted a refund. They never responded, and when I went through booking.com support they lied and said that I never told them there was an issue. When it's in plain english. On the booking.com platform. They have ignored my subsequent messages asking them to issue a refund.Cheers for making my first ever night in Australia cursed and taking my money.

Good for a cheap short...

Liked: The location is amazing. A stones throw from Darling Harbour and the Pyrmont Bay lightrail stop. I used the lightrail a lot. The check in process is easy with your 4 digit code (goki app didn't actually work, just the code) and it's nice that there is a kitchen to use. There is no reception but I messaged to ask for extra towels as my shower was flooding the bathroom and they were very responsive. The towels were left in my room as requested, very thankful for this!
Disliked: Pretty clean but just lacking some care. No mattress or pillow protectors. Shower flooded the bathroom easily. No bedside table, just a lamp on the floor. No mirror in the bathroom, but there was one in the room thankfully! Walls could go for a clean/repaint, ditto bathroom & tiling. Old building so some bugs are to be expected. Rain came in the fireplace quite a lot overnight. Portable aircon unit was provided and was necessary as it was a bit stuffy but it was very noisy/intense.They ask you to clean up and put things away after you use them in the kitchen (fair enough) but there is no tea towel. You get what you pay for and it was very cheap to be fair.

Passable

Liked: Location
Disliked: It was so dirty, specially the shower and the toilet

Poor

Disliked: Cockroaches, window not shutting, very loud A/C unit

Pleasant

Liked: Location close to city centerClean bedlinnenand confortable bedCalm
Disliked: The window diz not close properly.Just two towels no rug on the slippery bathtoom.No xhair or closet....no place to put or hang anything.

Pleasant

The security of the bathroom...

Liked: Clean linen and towels. Very good air con. Hot showers. Access to a kitchen with a fridge. Close to Darling Harbour and good places to eat. soap and shampoo/conditioner supplied. Clean enough. Little clothes hanger in the room. Big enough for 4 people to sleep. Even though the air con was loud, we slept very well and did not hear traffic or drunks over the air con.
Disliked: The door locks are online. One room would not open and we had to call 5 times to sort it out. Not a big deal but took about 20 minutes and we were really tired from travelling and if we had of arrived late, we would of had to try to get onto the owner because there is no reception. No parking onsite but you can park very close in the Wilsons paid parking (called Harbourside Wilsons), book online and it is cheaper. The showers are a big issue. You can not actually get in a shower stall and lock the door. THE BATHROOM IS SHARED AND THERE ARE ONLY SHOWER CURTAINS AND ONE OF THEM IS SEE THROUGH!!!!! The dividers are a hanging piece of thin plastic and I slipped and fell into the next shower. Imagine if that was a man falling where a young lady was. The curtains are not big enough so if you are in the shower, the person next to you can ACTUALLY SEE YOU. I have 3 daughters so my husband had to stand guard in case a random came in to use the toilet. We are not fussy when it comes to cheaper rooms however security of a bathroom needs to be acceptable and this was not. If you were a lone female you would not feel comfortable having a shower in that bathroom by yourself.

Budget hotel? More of a...

Liked: Nothing. We took one look at the Venus Budget hotel and booked somewhere else instead. We did not stay there and they have refused to refund us the money.It is more of a rundown backpackers hostel than a hotel. There are no staff there.
Disliked: Everything about it. Booking.com need to visit the property to see how bad it is. It is rundown and unsafe. Should not be advertised as a hotel at all