Wake Up! Sydney Central - Youth Hostels, Sydney > Reviews (6)

I went backpacking for a year from October 2008 til October 2009. I was arriving in Sydney, Australia on the 20th December 2008 and was going to spend a couple of weeks there over Christmas and New Year.

I went onto the Gapyear website to see what other travellers were recommending as good hostels to stay at, and Wake-Up came out top. I read the reviews and even though they were a mixed bag, I though I would go with the majority.

Wake-Up had a fantastic website and the photos looked great. There seemed to be great amenities and their own bar downstairs – great way to meet people. I booked it for 2 weeks, as it was over the holiday season a minimum stay of 7 nights was required. I was all excited and though it would be great.

I had meet a group of people in New Zealand and become great friends with them, and we were all meeting up again in Sydney, but staying at different places. When I arrived at Wake-Up I was checked in and went to my 6-bed female only dorm. I was sharing with a some girls who were so unfriendly and rude it was unreal, but I decided to persevere.

The hostel was a total disappointment. The photos on the website were great – the reality was not. The rooms were tiny and cramped with the smallest lockers (which didn’t lock), and there was no room to swing a cat.

The toilets were always blocked, the showers were either scorching or freezing, the bar stank of vomit, the hostel's cafe was expensive and the food was dire, the computers didn't work, the staff didn't care about anything, the other residents were snooty daddy's girls - WAG wannabe's who spent their days strutting around looking down their noses at people, and the lads were thugs.

The rooms were double priced over the holiday period at $45 per night and I was bitterly disappointed. After my 2 weeks were up I moved to the YHA with my friends and had a great time.