Downtown Washington Hostel

Sorry I didnt get to say Bye, but this place is great! Walking distance to everything. Everyone is super friendly. The place is clean and organized, staff is fun and very helpful — Id definitely come back again! :)

Conveniently located 10 minuet walk from Union Station, open ²⁴⁄₇ and cheap. Plenty of bathrooms and common space to hang out. Free wifi, clean bathrooms.
On the negative side the building was a little old and stuffy, but for ~ $ 25 a night, can you really complain.
Had a very attractive young lady working at the front desk.

The staff are incredible, all very young and cool, the rooms are clean and the whole hostel feels very safe. I met a lot of really interesting people from all over and would recommend this place to anybody. also, there is free beer (and sometimes shots) between 8 and 9 and the bar across the street didn’t card me.

This was my first time staying in a hostel and I had such an awesome experience! I stayed for three nights and all of the staff that I interacted with (Jude, Dylan, Savino, and Alianna) were friendly and welcoming. They had free wifi, video games, Netflix, board games and daily activities to get everyone staying in the hostel involved with each other. They had a few simple rules to ensure that all of their guests enjoyed their stay and felt comfortable during the time they spent there. I had a great time and met a lot of interesting people. I look forward to going back to DC and will definitely stay at this hostel again. Thank you for making my first visit to DC a memorable one!

This is a nice smaller hostel, in an interesting neighborhood of DC. My traveling partner and I stayed here because we decided to extend our DC trip an extra night, and no other hostels were available in the area with private rooms. I would stay there again because of the price, cleanliness, and safety.
Location: ³⁄₅. It’s about a 20 – 30 minute walk from the mall. The immediate vicinity has restaurants and bars that are pretty good and unique. The neighborhood surrounding H Street NE is residential, but if you stray too far in the wrong direction, you’re not in a good area at all. Make sure you have a map of some sort with you for walking around. Parking is hard to find.
Accomodations: ⁴⁄₅. Pretty clean, well maintained, and comfortable. They have a no shoes policy which probably helps to keep the place clean. The kitchen was clean and did not smell. Everything was very neat and organized. I wish they had privates, but that’s not a huge deal. The wait for the bathrooms can be a bit annoying… but if you don’t want to wait or share a bathroom with anyone, you probably shouldn’t be staying at a hostel.
Safety: ⁵⁄₅. Felt very secure – they have a lock code to get in, and the place is staffed ²⁴⁄₇. It’s small enough that they recognize everyone who comes in and out, and they have a staff member waiting at the door at all times to greet you. There are a lot of rules at this hostel – quiet hours, shoes, where things were allowed to be placed– which were pointed out to us immediately when we got there. However, the rules were not judgmental at all, rather meant to promote safety and a pleasant stay for everyone. This gave the impression that they meant business about how their hostel was run. I appreciate things like this when staying in hostels.
Cleanliness: ⁵⁄₅.
Staff: ⁵⁄₅. The staff was very nice and polite, and friendly to talk to.
Price: ⁴⁄₅. Not the cheapest hostel I’ve stayed at, and not the most expensive either.
Bottom line: I would stay here again.

I stayed here in December for 6 days. During my time here I had so much fun! There was only three staff members because the rest had to be let go. They worked their butts off to make sure everyone was enjoying their stay and making the hostel clean. The dorms are spacious and clean, as well as the bathrooms! They had events like movie night that brought all the guests together for a fun time. This was also my first time staying at a hostel so I was very impressed.
I now work here and would like to mention a few things I’ve seen on previous reviews. We now have a brand new set of staff members, and things have changed. We are sorry about anything the old staff members may have said or done to compromise your view on our hostel and would recommend to try us again! Thank you!

I stayed here one night. Its a really good place to stay. The staff here are friendly and helpful. I give 5 stars to this place.

Stayed for just one night but had a pleasant experience and would recommend it to others.
Pros: Great location (a 30 min walk to the mall), decent price, friendly staff, and clean.
Cons: only one toilet and shower per floor and heat was blaring

I’m not all that particular when traveling on the road. I just need a safe, clean bed and bathroom free of bugs and b*tch*ssness. Sadly, this hostel did not meet those expectations.
It’s a hostel, not a Best Western. I get that. I actual enjoy it. I love talking to people from all over. I enjoy learning about different people & their perspectives. What I don’t enjoy is rude and judgmental staff members who are dismissive and spread ignorant, bigoted beliefs to foreign travelers.
During my 4-​day stay, I heard racist and derogatory comments about American Indians and African Americans from 2 of the hostel staff on 3 different occasions. Although the overweight gentleman working the check-​in desk wasn’t much better, Levi — the self-​absorbed pancake chef — felt not only were his comments perfectly acceptable, but he also tried to chat with me later as if 1) we were friends, or 2) I was too stupid to know I should be offended.
Well, I wasn’t the only one offended. Levi left a bad impression on several of the hostel guests, several of whom sought me out to share how they didn’t agree with him and his statements. Thankfully, some of them were Americans (like Levi) and well traveled (like Levi), so I have some hope that his kind are in the minority.
Overall, I met some interesting people and enjoyed my time in D.C. The owner of the hostel was friendly, but he was in and out most of the day so his presence didn’t improve the situation much. I liked the neighborhood, although I abhor gentrification. The hostel is convenient to transportation and food. The Sidamo Coffee and Tea café across the street is a nice workspace & it’s locally owned by an Ethiopian family.
All in all, I can’t recommend this hostel due to the poor service and ignorance I was subjected to, but I know it’s a slow economy. So if you can’t afford anywhere else that’s relatively safe and semi-​clean, go ahead and crash here. Just hold your nose and don’t engage the staff unless necessary, especially if you’re brown.

I stayed here a short while ago and was somewhat disappointed with the results. There are some really positive aspects, so I’m throwing in an extra star.
The Good: The staff was attentive, friendly, and would hang out alongside people in the common room. Relatively clean, though bathroom hand towels would go missing sometimes, and comfortable beds. Fantastic location — you can walk to Union Station in 10 minutes, and H Street is a gentrified area with historic homes, bustling restaurants and bars, and even a couple live music venues. It does get significantly more sketchy as you walk east, though. I would say the location is a big asset.
The Bad: I showed up on my first night, spoke to the front desk and was shown around the facility. So far so good. But when I returned the next evening, someone’s stuff was in my bed. They hadn’t checked me in on the computer, resulting in them recording me as a no-​show and overbooking the hostel. I’m pretty easy-​going, and this wasn’t the biggest deal, but I had to change rooms for the night. And then another night. And then again — I found out this happened to several people while I was there. The upsetting part was showing up to my bed, thinking I was in the right room, and finding my stuff missing — it turns out it was moved to another room without anyone telling me. And no one provided a list of the rooms or beds I’d be staying in, which existed but was never given to me until later in the trip.
Other things… there was one night when someone was playing music at the front desk loudly enough that I could hear it down the hall. Yes, it was only about 11. Yes, I usually go to bed at 2 anyways. But when I’m on a trip and I’ve been walking around all day, I want to sleep early — so did a number of other people in my room and the rooms next to us.
I wouldn’t write this hostel off — the common area is nice, you meet some great travelers, and the staff is pretty cool. They were quick to try to resolve each problem. But they need to get their reservations in order.

«Iconic» and «Trendsetting»…
HA!
First gripe, they booked me on the wrong date. I show up and the only room they have for me is an upgraded room for more than double the price. I would have been tempted, if not for the deplorable conditions. Seriously, this place is sketch — it’s in a skeezy neighborhood with a pretty ominous, tiny entry.
Since I was only in DC for that one day, I couldn’t stay there for when they did have me booked, and they wouldn’t cancel or refund me either.
The gentleman at the desk was the best part of the experience — incredibly helpful and concerned with my well-​being — I definitely commend him and he’s the only thing that deserves a star, but the actual owner was terrible, so there’s that. Wouldn’t try to stay here again because of that.