Five Elements Hostel Frankfurt

1. hostel is right at the heart of the red light district (didnt see it listed in the information, would have helped to make a decision), it;s noisy despite the room being on top floor (people yelling, police sirens, etc) 2. we found live BED BUGS in one of the beds (on a 3 bed apartment on top floor), it was late at night so decided to squeeze in the other beds (checked them of course), next morning when we informed the staff their answer was "send an email"... zero customer service there 3. room smelled like cigarettes despite the clear prohibition from their staff and the smoke alarm in the room

The Room i got have bedbugs!

Unfortunately, we encountered bed bugs in our beds on the first night, which left us unable to sleep until morning. The following day, the staff changed our room; however, our luggage—with personal items inside—was kept in the previous room for heat disinfection. As a result, we did not have access to our belongings, including our pyjamas, and could not sleep comfortably on the second night, especially as the maintenance team was unavailable in the afternoon to return our items. Additionally, on the third night, at approximately 2:30 a.m., we were abruptly awakened by a fire alarm ringing continuously in the corridor on the top floor. We were extremely alarmed and attempted to contact the 24-hour reception, but no one answered. Eventually, firefighters arrived with sirens and turned off the alarm. This incident caused significant distress and once again prevented us from sleeping properly for a third consecutive night. Furthermore, the surrounding area did not feel safe, particularly after sunset; there were many intoxicated individuals shouting and wandering around, which forced us to remain indoors in the evenings until the next morning.

Very cheap. Location is great for proximity to the Central Station but this is the heart of the redlight district and more disturbingly the streets were packed with groups of vagrants taking drugs in plain view. Not threatening but discomforting. Nice staff. Decent facilities. My first encounter with a BEDBUG. Given a new room immediately

During my stay at this hostel I faced a very serious problem: at night I was bitten many times (20–30 bites in one night). These clearly look like bedbug bites. The bites are very itchy, my skin feels hot, and I had a strong allergic reaction. I even took an antihistamine tablet, but it did not help — the itching and discomfort remain. This completely ruined my stay. Such conditions are absolutely unacceptable for guest accommodation. The management must urgently treat the rooms against insects. I am also requesting compensation, as the stay was extremely uncomfortable and unsafe for my health. Future guests should be very careful when booking this place.

I do not recommend staying at this property. Unfortunately, I experienced a bed bug infestation during my stay, which has caused ongoing issues. Additionally, the cleanliness of the accommodation was below expectations. There was also significant noise at night, and the surrounding neighborhood felt unsafe. Overall, this property did not meet my standards for comfort and safety.

I booked this hostel because of the amazing reviews and figured it would be a great place to stay. They did mention it’s in the red light district, but I honestly didn’t expect it to be like this. The atmosphere was just off — not welcoming at all. The staff weren’t very friendly, the place was quite dirty, and overall it didn’t feel comfortable or safe. It was full of young solo travellers, which I usually love, but even that couldn’t make up for the experience. Plus it had bed bugs so don’t go

The hostel was clean I didn’t find any bed bugs which had been mentioned in some previous reviews. After reading previous reviews I was initially quite scared of the area but the streets were well lit, wide and had lots of people so was not what I expected initially. I still would recommend walking around with someone else as didn’t feel safe as a female solo traveller.

I found bed bugs. I had a number of bites all over my body after the night of staying there. Additionally, I showed the front desk staff, several bed bugs that I caught in a glass to highlight the problem. The front desk staff were polite but the manager didn't reach out or make a serious effort to address the level of discomfort that was caused by this problem. Again, I have bites that are very uncomfortable and all over my body.

Staff is complacent about their bed bug infestation. Look at the date of stay. They acknowledge they are aware and are not going to even try to resolve it so trust that when you sleep here, you will be sleeping with these critters when they come out to feed on you from midnight to 3am. Also, there’s urine-yes actual piss- in the elevator that wasn’t cleaned for an hour after notifying staff. I bet it’s still there. I don’t think the hotel has a mop- shoes peel off when you walk everywhere, especially in the room. They claim to have AC in the family room but it was old and inoperable. Likely had not been maintained to have coolant. And I’ve stayed in some sketch neighborhood hostel, including Amsterdam’s red light distinct. This one truly is bad, even in the daytime. And security is lax. I was only in the lobby for a few moments to get the cold coffe when I learned that one guest was allowed to bring in an unregistered lady friend “oh but just f like, or one hour” for just a 3€ cost. So much for the secured entrance. What’s the point of you don’t enforce it. Oh, I guess they do make money off these hourly rental fees.

There were bedbugs in the room. A lot of them. We stayed there for four nights and were bitten all over. It took me a whole day to clean up our luggage to make sure I didn't bring them back home with me. Not to mention being itchy for the next week. We were in a studio with a kitchen annex, and perhaps the room wasn't ventilated properly it still smelled like scrambled eggs for the next two days. A friend who was travelling with us stayed in the dorms and said the lockers in the rooms were dirty, so he didn't dare to place his luggage there.

The next day my wife discovered that she had been bitten all overnight by bed bugs. And we were charged 6 euros for the bed linen. This is unacceptable!

I didn’t like to pay extra fees for taxes and bed bugs, any extra cost should have been added to the original price !

Bed bugs and red light District. Lots of undesirable street activity at night.

Bed had bedbugs, only noticed after I left the hotel

After 2 nights on 4th floor of this place my friend found out spots on his body which looks like bedbugs bites. —— Outside of this place is ghetto.

The hostel warns you it’s a redlight district. But they depict it, in the confirmation email for your booking, as “safe and rather entertaining”. It’s not. It’s the worst district I’ve seen. People take crack and heroine in the street, prostitutes wait for customers. Some people do bad trip. Streets are dirty. To me, the area wasn’t “entertaining”, it was disheartening. I had bedbugs here but the hostel responded seriously to that, promised to take great hygienic measures and reimbursed me.

Bedbug!!!!

Overall I didn’t mind staying here. I was very aware of its location and willing to accept that risk. I kept to myself and ignored the people on the street and had no issues with them, even walking by myself at night. It’s about it 15 minutes walk to an area with restaurants and shopping. Super close to HBF as well. As far as in the inside of the hostel, the rooms and bathrooms were clean but there’s only 1 shower per gender for the floor, so you have to be flexible on your timing. I thoroughly checked my linens for bedbugs and found none thankfully. But the linens are stained and could definitely be replaced. The highlight of the property is the staff, they’re all so kind and helpful and will give you the best recommendations. Happy hour is great and was always packed during my stay.

I stayed in a private room and got insanely bitten by bed bugs

They have bed bugs! I WAS BIT BY BED BUGS AND GOT A HORRIBLE RASH FROM IT

Had a private room, it was obviously suspiciously cheap, definitely bed bugs, staff seemed indifferent. Seemed to be a decent atmosphere otherwise.

I was already prepared to be staying in the Bahnhofsviertel, frankly this is not my problem with the hostel. But the hostel itself was not hygienic at all. The bathrooms are, excuse my language, disgusting. On the door it says it’s being cleaned 3 times a day but I highly doubt this. I’ve read a few reviews about there being bed bugs. Luckily, I did not have any bed bugs in my room. A few pro’s: The view from the room was nice. The staff was kind.

Bed bugs, but at least they gave a refund. Not a safe location though.

Extremely close to the train station, which is what I needed, but found a bedbug in my bed. The reception staff was fine. The neighborhood is not of the best ones.

We rented the private suite, and found that it was infested with bedbugs. We had to leave our luggage to the sun for an entire day to make sure that the bedbugs that could have crawled into our suitcase were dead. I would give a 100% positive review if it wasn't for this fact, but havving bedbugs is really bad.

After one night there I got around 10 bites from bed bugs. I had a private room.

Great hostel for the atmosphere and staff, but I ended up finding bed bugs the next morning and from there washed all my clothes and used bed bug spray ,hostel was not in the best area by any means , all in all good price decent stay besides those negatives

Overall decent. Good atmosphere. They need to address the bedbug issue some people have written reviews about. The hostel is right next to the train station, but also what is known to be one of the roughest parts of Germany. Don't let it deter you though. One staff member was very rude.

Worst hostel I’ve ever stayed at: staff are nice but everything else is bad - In a red light district with prostitution and junkies everywhere - Extremely loud music, shouting and sirens from street til 5am making it impossible to sleep - Window broken and wouldn’t shut - Bed bugs - No AC - Showers have curtains not doors meaning anyone can open it and come in - Creaky beds Even walking through this area in the day there are junkies lining the streets making it feel very unsafe

Do NOT stay here! BED BUGS, we noticed instantly, and brought it to the staffs attention, they did not appear to be shocked by this information and were not apologetic. Most importantly, this location is horrendous. There are other places near the train station and this hostel is located in the heart of what I hope is the sketchiest street in Frankfurt, don’t know how it could get worse. In one comment the hostel mentioned the activity was entertaining, but it’s actually sad and scary.