Mad Monkey on Broadway

I walked into my private room and immediately booked a hotel instead. It stank of mould and they had a bed bug bag on the mattress so they’re clearly struggling with bed bugs. I cancelled my stay at the front desk but the night manager said she couldn’t refund it so I had to come back the next day to get them to refund me. The only redeeming feature was the night manager was welcoming. Overall I’d say this hostel deserves 2.5-3 stars, it’s massively overrated due to 5 star reviews in exchange for free laundry service alleged by other reviewers.

Dirty sheets on bed. Loud, disrespectful guests. Bed bugs.

I had a terrible experience. Dirty sheets and bed bugs crawling all over me all night. I asked to cancel my next night's accommodation due to bed bugs and they wouldn't offer me a refund. Much better options around for the same or $5-10 extra a night.

Great atmosphere, great community vibes. Love the events, free occasional dinner or breaky and the amazing staff. The rooms could have been cleaner and they didn‘t do much against the bed bugs when one room had them. The kitchen was tiny but had all necessary utensils, even an oven. Was the cheapest hostel during Christmas and NYE. Great hostel, would definitely stay again.

The only star this hostel deserves is for its location, right in the city center, near a shopping mall — and for the evening activities it offers. Apart from that, there’s a lot to improve… the hostel has cockroaches! In the kitchen and in the rooms. I also came across a girl with what looked like bedbug bites, which is just unacceptable. The cleanliness of the place really leaves much to be desired: belongings (clothes, toilet paper on the floor, socks, etc.) are lying around everywhere all the time, and the smell of marijuana that reaches the rooms is also quite unpleasant. The kitchen is small and gets crowded very quickly… In short, I do not recommend this hostel.

I hated almost everything about this accommodation, the facilities were all extremely old and dirty, they looked nothing like the pictures on booking.com. I booked a private double bed and the bed had bedbugs which is a health and safety hazard. There are only 2 tiny sinks in the female toilets which along with the all gender showers were old and filthy. It is also hard to sleep/rest as there is no soundproofing so you can basically hear everything everyone is doing. The hallways are filled with suitcases, shoes, dirty clothes etc even though there are signs stating not to leave stuff in the hallways. The door also wouldn’t open/close properly. The wifi also didn’t work.

Great hostel! Much cleaner than some reviews suggest. Actually one of the cleanest hostels i have been to. Never had problems with bedbugs neither. Gym access as well! Just very hard to find parking if you have a car.

Until now I’ve never left a Google review on anything, but my stay in an eight-bed dorm-room here was far below expectations. I wonder if the overall review score would be lower if the staff did not offer free laundry money (no card option) for giving a five-star review (which I was checked on). This isn’t an isolated incident as another negative review from three months ago had the same experience. I was asked for a five-star review, not just for “feedback” as Mad Monkey claims their policy is (in the response to the negative review). I find it hard to believe that a regular staff member would go out of their way to ensure the company keeps such a high review score without instruction to do so. It’s good to see that Mad Monkey are giving lengthy responses to many of the negative Google reviews, but it seems the issues outlined in many of them have not been addressed months later. Most importantly: My Girlfriend and I had sores regularly appear across our body over the course of our 6-night stay which the local pharmacist told us are bedbug bites on the day we left. This isn’t an isolated incident as two other negative Google reviewers from three and four months ago claim they had the same experience. My girlfriend and I slept on opposite ends of Room 23 and both had a similar experience with this. We have both left reviews warning others of this problem. The dorm-room space (in our eight-bed room) was extremely small, smaller by far than any other rooms I have experienced in Australia (also eight per room). This caused consistently bad smells because we were all more cramped than usual, not because the people/items in the room were particularly smelly. The heat from the close-quarters was also particularly bad (made worse by the problematic Air Conditioning Unit). The bunk-bed noise was also not ideal. The Air-Conditioning Unit was visibly dirty. It would not always work and when we could get it going the air quality was very poor. My girlfriend became sick during our stay which she believes was caused by her head being in direct contact with the airflow from the AC unit while sleeping. There are no curtains on the top bunks to avoid this. I hope Mad Monkey will improve the air quality from the AC unit, but little seems to have changed from two negative Google reviews from eight and nine months ago which had the same complaints. Mad Monkey dismissed this feedback in their response, asking the reviewer to “turn it off”. Some other points: -The staff were overall very friendly, helpful and available for us. -We found the Kitchen space very narrow. -The upstairs showers we were using was clean. -The location was very good for us. It is only a 10-15 minute walk from central station which connects to networks all around the city and to the greater New South Wales train lines. Despite some positives, I feel that the health issues we faced as a result of this stay still warrants a one-star review and a strong recommendation against staying here. I would be very surprised if there are not similarly-priced hostels around Sydney which don’t have these issues.

BED BUGS. Woke up a with bites all over my arms. I was on the top bunk and checked for any signs first but didn’t notice anything till it was too late… Otherwise Great location, clean bathrooms though showers can get boiling hot at random times. friendly atmosphere and staff. The rooms are small, stuffy and VERY close quarters. The bunks are old and make lots of noise at night, can hear everything. We were in room 23. Our door didn’t unlock unless you fiddled with the lock for a while and held the door in a certain way. There is little privacy if you’re on the top bunk and you need to bring a padlock (if there’s any lockers left) but that’s expected in a hostel. They do lots of events and make meals, and have a hostel WhatsApp chat so it’s great if you want to be social but really not worth the bed bugs. I promise you There are better hostels out there!!

Bought and labelled food to put in the fridge, next day 2 items gone, day after that another item gone, possible bed bugs, wouldn’t recommend

Good facilities (kitchen and laundry) but the dorms are the worst I’ve ever stayed in. I’m covered in bed bug bites, was meant to stay 4 nights but only stayed 2.

In meinem Zimmer war ein Bett komplett abgebaut aufgrund von Bettwanzen, die Matratzen standen aber noch im Zimmer an der Wand neben meinem Bett angelehnt… meine Matratze bestand einfach nur aus Eisenfedern die in meinen Rücken bohrten, weshalb ich auf meiner Decke schlafen musste um keine blauen Flecken von dem Eisen zu bekommen. Ich habe mich gefühlt wie in einer Zelle…

Bed bugs