Ostello Per La Gioventu Genova

The location was a real problem, up a hill and far from the city. You can't really walk from the centre, and getting to the hostel felt almost like climbing the hill. Wi-Fi barely worked: there was none in the rooms and only limited access at reception. Complaining just led to someone restarting the router, which gave me internet for two minutes before it stopped again. As a traveler, I needed it to check email, contacts, and destinations. The toilets on the floors and at reception weren't clean, and I never saw anyone cleaning them. The showers weren't clean either. There was no food to eat. The worst hostel ever.

The online availability on Booking and Hostelworld seemed wrong. It showed as full when I checked, but I arrived to try my luck and there were lots of spaces. The hostel has poor decor and no hostel life; it felt much more like a refugee centre. It calls itself a youth hostel, but if you go out, the rules say you can't return until 5 in the morning.

The staff tried their best to make guests feel welcome, but the owner was very rude. The building is old and needs maintenance. It’s far from the City Centre, poorly connected, and the area has few basic services or amenities. I spent a couple of nights there and was glad to find better accommodation.

We waited 45 minutes to check in, then learned one of the two private rooms we'd booked was still dirty and we couldn't check into it. Both rooms had bunk beds, six in the first and four in the second. We'd booked two private rooms with two beds each, not rooms with 10 beds in total. The staff were super unfriendly and told us, “now you paid already” and “this is just how it goes.” Never again.