The Hostelz.com Review
Woodduck Boomerang Backpackers is filthy, gives bad service and false promises; it's not worth the money and is out of control, but it is in a good location.
The Location
The hostel is located on Williams Street, a few minutes from Hyde Park, within walking distance from the railway station and George Street. If you like walking, you can get to Darling Harbour and the Opera House (otherwise, there is a bus stop in front of the hostel); it's a stone's throw away from Sydney's pub and party area. The Sydney International Airport shuttle conveniently drops you in front of the hostel, however the blue wall meeting point mentioned in the hostel's confirmation was painted white some time ago.
Rooms and Bathrooms
The bathroom is spacious and well equipped, with plenty of showers, toilets, sinks, mirrors, and plug points. However, it's dirty. The toilet paper ran out on Friday and was still not replaced by the time we left on Monday. No, actually it didn't run out -- it is just spread all over the bathroom floor with water, vomit, and a white substance.
Filthy or any other word meaning dirtier-than-filthy describes the rooms -- you will find used earbuds, dirty underwear, clothes and smelly shoes of people who have left months ago, rotten food scraps, empty or half-empty beer and booze bottles, spilled flour. The large dorms are "well-decorated" and plainly disgusting. A further problem, also present in the smaller and slightly cleaner rooms, is the humidity, leaving blankets, pillows, and mattresses forever damp.
Arriving in the room, we are warned by one of the long-stay girls that people here like to get drunk and go hunting every night, and that there might be some "action" in some beds -- the day she arrived there was "action" in five of the ten beds it seems. She was right and the apparently unwashable stains in the "clean" sheets do not improve the initial impression. One of the boys proudly explains that he is staying here for over a week already without paying -- he just started sleeping in one of the girls' beds.
They overbook frequently and on the weekends, mattresses are placed on the floors in the hallways to accommodate more people (this happened during our stay). We had booked three nights online and ten percent had already been deducted from our credit card, when we received a message saying that due to an error in the system they were not able to accommodate us. After an e-mail to the booking engine manager, we received a further message, that new staff got confused and they were still expecting us. Upon check in, we were informed, that they accidentally had only one bed instead of two reserved for us and the hostel was completely sold out. We waited. The receptionist waited. When we did not attempt to leave and find another place (we knew that all of Sydney was full), she eventually upgraded one of us to a smaller, four-bed dorm for the first night. The next day they wanted to move both of us, since they "do not guarantee beds."
Common Spaces
The kitchen is closed for cleaning in the morning and evening and people are strictly informed and thrown out ten minutes early. The tables are wiped, but the crust on the stove, mildew around the tap. as well as the stains on the walls keep growing undisturbed. Not knowing whether the packed fridges actually get cleaned on the weekdays mentioned and looking at the greasy old fingerprints on their doors, we decided not to use them. Further we suggest turning the toaster upside down once before use, to get rid of the roasted cockroaches.
The dirty, old TV lounge does not look very inviting, especially since last night's empty bottles and leftovers are not cleared till mid-afternoon. The rooftop terrace has a nice view, but the tables and chairs are not set up for use. Smoking officially is allowed outside, but the slight stink of cold smoke in the TV room and staircase (where it mixes delightfully with the scent of the full garbage bags stored there for the weekend) inspires different habits.
After buying an internet day pass, the network went down. The receptionist has no time to restart the router, because he is "about to get busy with checkouts" -- it is 8:30 a.m., we are the only ones at the desk and check out time is 10 a.m., so maybe around noon he can look into the matter. By 8 p.m., when we returned, nothing had been done, but after an e-mail to Global Gossip, they kindly refunded the amount.
Summary
The signs saying that management wants to keep the hostel clean and should be informed of any inconveniences seem ridiculous. Where is the management? In the three days we spent here, we only met working backpackers. The hostel is run by its partying guests. So if you are young, all you care about is partying, and you are ready to accept the consequences of a hostel without enforcement of its own rules and restrictions ... actually, no, we think even in that case, there are better places for you to go.
The Location
The hostel is located on Williams Street, a few minutes from Hyde Park, within walking distance from the railway station and George Street. If you like walking, you can get to Darling Harbour and the Opera House (otherwise, there is a bus stop in front of the hostel); it's a stone's throw away from Sydney's pub and party area. The Sydney International Airport shuttle conveniently drops you in front of the hostel, however the blue wall meeting point mentioned in the hostel's confirmation was painted white some time ago.
Rooms and Bathrooms
The bathroom is spacious and well equipped, with plenty of showers, toilets, sinks, mirrors, and plug points. However, it's dirty. The toilet paper ran out on Friday and was still not replaced by the time we left on Monday. No, actually it didn't run out -- it is just spread all over the bathroom floor with water, vomit, and a white substance.
Filthy or any other word meaning dirtier-than-filthy describes the rooms -- you will find used earbuds, dirty underwear, clothes and smelly shoes of people who have left months ago, rotten food scraps, empty or half-empty beer and booze bottles, spilled flour. The large dorms are "well-decorated" and plainly disgusting. A further problem, also present in the smaller and slightly cleaner rooms, is the humidity, leaving blankets, pillows, and mattresses forever damp.
Arriving in the room, we are warned by one of the long-stay girls that people here like to get drunk and go hunting every night, and that there might be some "action" in some beds -- the day she arrived there was "action" in five of the ten beds it seems. She was right and the apparently unwashable stains in the "clean" sheets do not improve the initial impression. One of the boys proudly explains that he is staying here for over a week already without paying -- he just started sleeping in one of the girls' beds.
They overbook frequently and on the weekends, mattresses are placed on the floors in the hallways to accommodate more people (this happened during our stay). We had booked three nights online and ten percent had already been deducted from our credit card, when we received a message saying that due to an error in the system they were not able to accommodate us. After an e-mail to the booking engine manager, we received a further message, that new staff got confused and they were still expecting us. Upon check in, we were informed, that they accidentally had only one bed instead of two reserved for us and the hostel was completely sold out. We waited. The receptionist waited. When we did not attempt to leave and find another place (we knew that all of Sydney was full), she eventually upgraded one of us to a smaller, four-bed dorm for the first night. The next day they wanted to move both of us, since they "do not guarantee beds."
Common Spaces
The kitchen is closed for cleaning in the morning and evening and people are strictly informed and thrown out ten minutes early. The tables are wiped, but the crust on the stove, mildew around the tap. as well as the stains on the walls keep growing undisturbed. Not knowing whether the packed fridges actually get cleaned on the weekdays mentioned and looking at the greasy old fingerprints on their doors, we decided not to use them. Further we suggest turning the toaster upside down once before use, to get rid of the roasted cockroaches.
The dirty, old TV lounge does not look very inviting, especially since last night's empty bottles and leftovers are not cleared till mid-afternoon. The rooftop terrace has a nice view, but the tables and chairs are not set up for use. Smoking officially is allowed outside, but the slight stink of cold smoke in the TV room and staircase (where it mixes delightfully with the scent of the full garbage bags stored there for the weekend) inspires different habits.
After buying an internet day pass, the network went down. The receptionist has no time to restart the router, because he is "about to get busy with checkouts" -- it is 8:30 a.m., we are the only ones at the desk and check out time is 10 a.m., so maybe around noon he can look into the matter. By 8 p.m., when we returned, nothing had been done, but after an e-mail to Global Gossip, they kindly refunded the amount.
Summary
The signs saying that management wants to keep the hostel clean and should be informed of any inconveniences seem ridiculous. Where is the management? In the three days we spent here, we only met working backpackers. The hostel is run by its partying guests. So if you are young, all you care about is partying, and you are ready to accept the consequences of a hostel without enforcement of its own rules and restrictions ... actually, no, we think even in that case, there are better places for you to go.
— Exclusive Hostelz.com Review
February 2012
Their Description
Woodduck Boomerang Backpackers Details
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Woodduck Boomerang Backpackers Reviews from the WebHostelz.com Guest Reviews
My Home Away From Home When I got there I was a bit daunted by the stairs and the actual rooms were pretty standard, however the friends I made at Boomerang made it all worthwhile! All the staff were like a family and arranged nights out and activities every night -- the rooftop BBQs were a highlight! Roof is great to sunbathe on as well. It was probably one of the cleanest hostels I've been to so far, I never had to wait for a shower which was a plus. Location was perfect. I'd recommend this backpackers to anyone! — Gavin Sharpe , England (2011-04-11) Dirty Its dirty, for a start there are cockroaches everywhere! Security is SHOCKING. 4 people i know in the hostel had their credit cards stolen and management did nothing! yet when someone kicked a hole in the wall they went mental and punished the whole hostel until they found out who it was by shutting the outside areas at 9pm and not letting anyone be around the hostel other than their rooms. i mean, we're not at school anymore. break ins happened all the time. they had to get the locks changed because a master key to all the rooms went missing and they did nothing about it until someone actually caught someone in their room!! Although I cant dispute that i met some of my best friends in australia at this hostel -- without the people it would be suicide! — Bckper , England (2010-02-08)