Urban Hostel Deluxe

Like home
the people there very friendly. they have a beautiful terrace, a complete kitchen, Wi-Fi, dvds, ping pong table, and is just two blocks to the sea! I stay there in october, like a month, they where making a reconstruction of the dorm and change all the mattresses! If you want to meet young people in playa, that is your hostel.

Not good
the hostel is well located, but they offer internet access and breakfast and the reality is that they do not have internet, and the breakfast is just bread. they do have bedbugs, it is the worst thing i have ever seen. The male dormitory is disgusting and the female dormitory is ok, but with no doors. the atmosphere is great, people are super friendly, the staff are super. the real problem are the bedbugs, so do not go there if you wanna be awake in the middle of the nights full of bedbugs.

Bedbugs
Bedbug alert! Don't visit "Urban hostel." The staff was aware of the plague for a long time, but the only reaction was to hand out some crap spray to their guests. they finally repainted the dorm room (fosa comunal) and actually think that'll help. If you really want to stay there for budget reason, don't sleep in the beds upstairs and talk to other guest first about their encounters with the "chinches." Besides that it's a nice place to meet people with a great atmosphere, so it's a real shame the owner doesn't care about this huge problem.

Nice
I really enjoyed my stay! Actually I loved it, I even changed my flight reservation to stay a bit longer. They do have a bit of bug problems but the new owner Leo is giving an end to it. Leo is not around the whole time but he does show up everyday to see if anyone needs something and does listen to every comment and acts on it. The people that working there are nice (specially the guy from argentina) and can take you to great places only locals know. People at the hostel are almost like a hippie international community -- they all share beer, cigarettes, food, joints, and the weirdest of things. There I met people from Italy, France, Canada, Finland, Holland, U.S., Colombia, Argentina, Belgium, Costa Rica, Uruguay. The place is cheap, fairly clean, loaded with amazing people and movies, near to all the hot spots and decorated with mayan calendars or hoffman's murals. Quite cozy, i loved it.

Infested with real bad bedbugs
this place is infested with bedbugs. while sleeping i woke up at 2 a.m. to find bedbug bites and bug crawling all over me. the only two in the eighteen-person dorm immediately went to a hotel down the road. the next day we talked to the owner and he said too bad that is what happens when you stay in mexico so he would not refund our money (only $10 but principle over small money). Nine others overheard our conversation and all had tons of bedbug bites at well. Eleven people all checked out and moved elsewhere. urban hostel has to be one of the worst hostels i have ever seen. the light does not work in the dorm so you cant see all the blood spots on the sheet from the bedbugs and dirt from never being washed. Do not stay at this hostel.

The place is not much to look at but the people make the place magical. The Owners are wonderful and if you get to know them they may even show you some places that only locals go to like the Cenotes. I felt very safe a secure there and loved just hanging out with the people that were coming and going.

It was the worst hostel I have ever lived. We (two girls) arrived in Jan 5th 2007 and found there were only men living there. The bathroom was dirty and full of sands. The smell of the whole youth hostel was very bad. We did not get real pillows until we asked for it. The sheets were full of bad smell of perspiration. Besides, you can smell the stink of sweat everywhere. The fan was out of power at night. The locker had no lock (you have to bring your own lock to use them and many of them were broken). There was a drunken man who walked around the place. We could not reach the owner directly. The only way we can contact him is from the staffs who had to connect the phone before dial it. And the owner never showed up. We decided to move out after staying for not even one hour. I don't know how it got four stars three years ago, but it definitely lacks of management now. We met another people who had been here or stayed here and they all agreed it was a horrible hostel.

A good hostel with great security. Very close to beach and 5th Ave. Very clean and friendly staff. It has a nice lounge area and cable TV. Tables and chairs upstairs by the "kitchen" which isn't really a kitchen. Don't count on cooking great meals there. I would definitely stay there again.