Y Hotel City South - Sydney, Australia 

Worst hotel I have ever stayed at
Posted: Mon, Jul 07 2008
I had the extreme misfortune of staying at the Y City South hotel in Sydney very recently. The experience was so bad that after three nights I had to checkout and move into the local hostel which I found to be a lot more comfortable and clean! Starting with the arrival, you can't actually get into the building without pressing a buzzer to notify reception. If somebody is not at the desk you can be stood there for a little while. Once you have your room key though you can actually use this to open the door. The hotel itself is nowhere near the city centre despite what it claims on their somewhat vague website. It is a good 15 minutes walk just to the train station and a good hour to the entertainment district and harbour. On the plus side taxis are quite cheap in Sydney but not after you have taken at least 4 rides a day! Upon entering my room the first thing I was greeted with was the beds not made and pulled into the middle of the room with the luggage rack and desk chair on the beds. The carpet had not been hoovered and the room smelt like it had not been entered for a few weeks. When checking out the bathroom I was greeted with the very unpleasant sight of cockroaches scuttling across the floor. I promptly asked to be moved rooms! The rooms are very compact and have loud air con systems which can be a pain during the night. There are no curtains either and the blinds only partially cut out the light. There is also only basic tv and no guest laundry services. Laundry is located in the basement where you will need to spend a few dollars just to use the washing machine. All in all this is a very poor hotel at best and should probably be classed as a hostel. But to be fair, as I said earlier, a hostel is actually better.

Excellent budget hotel!!
Posted: Fri, Jun 06 2008
The Y hotel is a very nice budget hotel, with very friendly staff at the reception desk. Rooms are extremely clean and breakfast is OK. Maybe the ONLY negative thing to say is that is not in Sydney's CBD so you will have to take the train to get there. Nevertheless I highly recommend it! It's a budget hotel, it's clean and besides, when you stay at one of the Y Hotels you are helping with some of the programs the YWCA (Young Women Christian Association) holds to support women in Australia.