Funkhouse Backpackers Hostel and Travel Desk Reviews

Toilet super smell and kitchen very dirty ... my first time here would be the last as well. Don't believe what they say on the Web. Rooms are smelly as well.

Very nice people working there, very helpful and funny. But if you want a to some extent clean hostel it's definetly the wrong place to stay! In the kitchen there were insects and the showers were full of dirt and hair, even the rooms were dirty and everywhere was mildew. But it's cheap and next to the CBD - with many good night clubs around this area. So I can only recommend this hostel to you, if it doesn't matter whether it's clean and tidy or not.

Very nice and welcoming-receptionist. I got there late at night and they easily arranged the room without paying first (administration work pending to the next day morning).
The kitchen not that large, could be quite crowded when many people staying.

Kings cross station and nearest bus stop within 3-5 mins walk, with Coles supermarket around the corner (10 mins walk).
There also halal kebaab near by.

This place is the worst possible place in Sydney! stay away.

They stole my money for the security deposit with the room keys. I had to leave for a flight before the front desk opened, so the night manager told me to leave my information with the keys when I dropped them off, and my money was never refunded. I emailed them multiple times with no response. Don't stay here, they will rip you off!

Infested with bed bugs
stay away

Room: Had a private 2 bed room, the size of the room was okay, but not particularly large. But we had a private fridge in the room. The television didn't work, but it wasn't needed either. WiFi was also very good. The toilets were fine for hostel standards. There were 4 showers and 5 toilets per level. During the showers the temperature curve was a sinus curve and you wouldn't really have any influence on the heat. There was very little water out of the showers, which was annoying at times. There is a burst water pipe in the hallway on level 2, so the floor in the hallway was always really wet. The burst water pipe doesn't necessarily mean that it was there recently. One night we ran into 2 fat cockroaches which were really gross.
Staff: staff was usually very friendly. But why do you have to start cleaning the rooms at half past ten every day? You knock briefly but at the same moment you are inside with the vacuum cleaner. So if you want to sleep in, you have bad luck here, especially annoying when you were partying at night. The kitchen is also relatively well equipped. The free breakfast is nice but nothing special.
The location is really great! There is actually everything in the vicinity. There is also a free club where you can go every day and there is always a party bus going there.
So that's fine for a hostel, but nothing special.

Good place for cheaper minimalist accommodations. It's kept clean but the facilities are outdated. Staff and guests are very friendly! Great location.

Only stayed one night, didn't need to use services. Room was clean. Location was convenient.

Fantastic Staff! Natalia was amazing. Great location. In the heart of it all close to train and Coles. The door to the rooms close super quite. So nice to not have door slamming. Thanks so much for the fun time. :-D

This was the worst experience I have ever had in any hostel or hotel ever. We decided to leave in the middle of the night because our room was INFESTED with cockroaches. Not just one or two here or there, there were multiple roaches, including on our BEDS and they were very large. Additionally, the bathrooms are disgusting and I have several suspicious bites that I can only assume are from bed bugs. There was no night management to discuss this issue with at the time. We ended up having to shell out over $200 to find suitable lodging in the middle of the night and were not granted a refund from the hostel even though we did not even stay there due to disgusting conditions. Do not stay here, it is the WORST.

I ve met my best friends at Funkhouse. Was going to stay for one weekend and ended up staying for 6 months. Amazing hostel with lovely staff and great people. Also very clean compared to most other hostels I stayed at!

The location is good and the staff are helpful and nice. However, I found everything else absolutely unsatisfactory. We had several hundred cockroaches and other insects in our room, at the window you could see mold and the showers are much too disgusting and small. The kitchen was also not very handsome. Despite the low price, I would not go there again.

Accommodation is in an area with many bars and clubs. It is also very noisy during the week during the week. If you like it a little quieter, should look a bit further outside. The staff are very friendly and helpful. The Wi-Fi can only be used if everyone is at work or celebrating. The location is super very central and easy access to the S-Bahn. For cleanliness, do not look too closely, but think that applies in every hostel, so no explicit criticism.
All in all, I would come back here.

Hostel is as poor as expected for Australia; no air con, dirty, cockroaches and resident kitchen rat....but it's the guests who make it this way. As the cleaners work constantly throughout the day and maintain a high standard furthermore the reception staff are lovely and helpful. There is a very obvious cliche resident drug dealer who rules the roost among young naive travellers. Many guests are loud and disrespectful, all these faults clearly lie with the management. Fire them, enforce the rules before somebody is injured or worst and become the most highly rated hostel accomodation in Sydney.

And maybe move the smoking area from the roof where the only place to dry clothes is....

Worst hostel we've stayed in. The bathrooms are gross and smell terrible (The hallways smell also). Found a dead cockroach in our room, no ac, located next to like 5 strip clubs. Don't know how this place got any good reviews. Reception ladies nice and helpful for directions and things to do.

Horrible !! TO BAN !!! Everything is really dirty there, I stayed 5 nights to visit Sydney and I had a terrible time! It is located in a so called most dangerous area of Sydney, (said by taxi and tour driver) parties, alcohol, drugs, ... The only thing I would have appreciated is the help of the staff and the price laundry .. !!!! If you liked the noise until very late, and the dirt Welcome! The carpets are dirty and stinky, the kitchen is a disaster, the showers are abysmal !!

Very basic. Noisy area. Tiny rooms but they are clean.

Backpacked for 13 mpnths now and its the worst hostel ive stayed at. Smells like a dirty sweat box, Is a dirty sweat box. Cockroaches in our room, showers were terrible rooms were dirty the only thing that was clean was the floor which got hovered at 7:30 one morning! Never again dont recommend

I enjoyed my stay til my last day there, but my good impression about this place was spoiled at the day of checkout as i's insulted by one of the receptionists ( the beard, Italian, gay-toned one), simply because i locked the luggage room door with key inside. All other staffs and and my dorm-mates were incredibly friendly, though.

The Funk House is a Backpackers Accomodation in the heart of Kings Cross. A very colorfull nightlife but close to everything: transport, bars, supermarket, McDonalds...
4 bed doorms are quiet and have good beds. Clean pots and pans (you have to clean them before bringing them back to reception)

The hostel is really close to king cross station, it's clean, not too crowded. Nice people

I would advise people not to stay here. I lived here for 3 months while being in Sydney and it completly ruined what should have been a good experience while living there. There is no free wifii, The rooms are small,bathrooms dirty and the rent is very high for a place I can only describe as a sh*thole. I cried numerois times and everyone who lives there is in with a stupid clique. The managers are a part of this and like to judge people . The night managers are chosen at random. The hallways are loud when trying to sleep. They say they do not promote partying and that it is not a party hostel yet they promote night clubs in the area and allow loud music played at night . After I moved hostel, I had overheard other people speaking about how much of a hole this place is and that they would never stay there again. I am very sorry to sound so negative but I cannot describe this place otherwise. Not a safe place to stay and area is rough.

What a hostel! Can only recommend staying there when in Sydney. Never felt so welcome and at home in a hostel. The staff goes above and beyond for their guests. Also love the free wifi and free bbq on the rooftop!

I do not recommend staying here long term. I stayed here for near 4 months, between mid-February to the end of June.

Before I move onto why you shouldn t stay here long term, let s examine the basics.

+++
Value
Somewhat clean, above average for the price you will pay

So here we go...

Although cleanliness is above average for the price paid, the place is still dirty and crawling with cockroaches. If you sit around the kitchen/dining area at night you can hear rats (or perhaps a possum???) living somewhere
in the roof/walls. I was also severely bitten by bedbugs twice. Once upon arriving, and then again upon changing beds. Another long-termer from my room was also bitten.

Again, when I mention cleanliness, this unfortunately comes at a cost. As mentioned in several other reviews, their cleaning procedure is lengthy;
Every morning, someone comes early to empty the bins. The door is knocked, Housekeeping! . The door opens, someone empty s the bin, and the door is often times slammed shut.
An hour later, you ll hear them vacuuming the hallway. They then vacuum the room. No problems here.
What drives me crazy though is what comes next... (again, this happens daily.) An hour after someone vacuums, another person will come by (they knock the door, Housekeeping! ) and clean the lockers. Sometimes, even when the room is fully booked, I hear the lockers being opened. Why? Are staff looking for valuables? Or are they simply breaching privacy? Either way, I kept my locker locked for these reasons.
And it gets worse! The knocking and slamming of the door continues. This time, with an even more thunderous knock, as reception comes to check the room. Often times, I was accused of sitting on empty beds (i already had a bottom bunk of my own? And there are no chairs in the room (probably because there is no space for one, there is hardly space for luggage)).

In total, your door will be knocked and slammed, your privacy invaded and often harassed for trivial things at least 3-4 times a day between the hours of 09:00-15:00.

So, after staying here for 4+ months, why am I writing this review? Well, I had the WORST customer experience in my final 10 days here. During my stay, I was never a part of anything controversial. I stayed to myself. I work and study here in Sydney, so life is too busy to be involved in trouble. I always paid my rent on time, except for Easter (and the final weeks of checking out). During Easter, I was working 10-14 hour days, travelling up to 2 hours per day. I was unable to pay rent because I was WORKING during reception hours. After falling 3 days behind on rent (no one tried to call me to find out where I was or why I hadn t paid) one of my bags were taken as keepsafe . I paid my dues, and extended for another two weeks and received my bag back without a problem. I have no issues with paying rent, I often times pay ahead, and if i paid late it was by a day, and I would always pay for multiple weeks.

This leads us to why YOU SHOULD NOT STAY HERE LONG TERM! What happens next, as stated, is easily my worst customer experience EVER. I would even go as far as to call it harassment. During the month of June, I ran into some financial difficulties.

During the second week of June, i was unable to pay my rent on time due to lack of finances. I spoke with the receptionist in advance to say I would struggle over the next couple of weeks and explained my situation, but they did not understand. Instead, the same rhetoric; We are a business, you must pay your rent on time . Were at a standstill. Reception says: pay your rent now, I tell them I won t have money, and will be two days late.
Every day, we had the same conversation. Everyday, they would put a notice on the door, and every day I had the same conversation with reception. I was told we all need to make sacrifices . Natalia, the head manager, even went so far as to criticise me for coming home with takeaway food. Do not stay here if you intend to stay long

Old. Bathrooms were ugly, small, dirty and broken.
Not worth to pay a single dollar

It is full of cockroaches in the kitchen, in the common sofa and in the rooms, everywhere cockroaches. I absolutely do not recommend it.
full of cockroaches

Just came back from a day in the city, and once back at the hostel it appears that our bag of groceries has been removed from the fridge. This morning already mice bites in our bag, and eaten spaghetti and bread. (mice?!?) According to the receptionist, they can only view the camera images tomorrow. I am very curious how this will be solved but so far certainly not a good word for this hostel.

Awesome roof too kitchen adequate staff are top notch and all the guests were lovely had a great time definitely recommend!!!

Funkhouse, what a place! Highly recommend staying there when in Sydney. Lovely staff and a great atmosphere. Clean and decent sized rooms, plenty of bathrooms and a large kitchen for everyone. Close to all bars and shops in Kings Cross as well and only 2 minutes to the station.

Receptionist girl is awful, bathroim awful, rooms basics, location awfully, cleaning awfully done. I did more than 10 hostels all around Australia and this one was the worst from far

Funkhouse was really friendly, and had a good atmosphere. It was located perfectly, and the staff were really accommodating. It wasn't the cleanest experience, and I felt that not all relevant information was clearly communicated or available online.

Just disgusting everywhere cockroaches even in the beds. The toilets were not clean at all in the kitchen was always a gammeliger smell. The location was very good.

Decent place. Great location, really central to all the action

Dont even know where to begin with this place. Worst hostel i have stayed in. No aircon firstly. Didnt seem so bad to start with, just another basic hostel. Then it all went downhill. Cockroaches EVERYWHERE. I could not sleep, one night i killed 5 the next a record of 8. Had to sleep with a flipflop so i could kill them crawling EVERYWHERE. i spoke to reception on this matter (didnt offer anything) or an apology. Cleaner came in the next morning to clean AROUND the squashed cockroach on my wall next to my bed and left it there in plain sight. No where to put your clothes or anything whilst in the shower. The hostel has such a clique that it makes you feel so uncomfortable to sit anywhere. Such a waste of money. Shared a room with employees who were bringing boys into the room for the night etc being all loud and squeely. Not impressed. I said i wouldnt put a review online if they would provide me a solution for the cockroaches. Never got anything therefore expressing it all now.

I NEVER write reviews about a place but I had to after this:

Couple of good things, good WiFi and very near to train station. That s it
Cockroaches everywhere I know this is Sydney but it s gross
There s NO AIR CON they ve got these lame desk top fans in some rooms to keep four people cool? Middle of summer in Sydney temperatures got to late 20s the room was stifling. No escape from the heat.
While I appreciate them cleaning it takes them all day to do between 10am -3pm to stand in the
Doorway and push the vacuum head as fair as it goes, they don t even enter the room! One girl missed a load of sand. First person empties the bin then 2 hours later someone does the mirrors then another two hours... for someone who works night this was very tedious.
The staff and the long termers are in little cliques, very hard to socialise with other people are they all speak their own language. Reception staff are nice, friendly and helpful and even remembered my name unfortunately I wouldn t stay there again. Should of read the other bad reviews. Moved over the road to Mad Monkeys with air con free pancake breakfast and gym passes

Dont even know where to begin with this place. Worst hostel i have stayed in. No aircon firstly. Didnt seem so bad to start with, just another basic hostel. Then it all went downhill. Cockroaches EVERYWHERE. I could not sleep, one night i killed 5 the next a record of 8. Had to sleep with a flipflop so i could kill them crawling EVERYWHERE. i spoke to reception on this matter (didnt offer anything) or an apology. Cleaner came in the next morning to clean AROUND the squashed cockroach on my wall next to my bed and left it there in plain sight. No where to put your clothes or anything whilst in the shower. The hostel has such a clique that it makes you feel so uncomfortable to sit anywhere. They all stare at you like you dont belong (other backpackers i spoke to said the same). Such a waste of money. Shared a room with employees who were bringing boys into the room for the night etc being all loud and squeely. Not impressed. I said i wouldnt put a review online if they would provide me a solution for the cockroaches. Never got anything therefore expressing it all now.

Not bad, bit basic but cheap. Good place to meet travellers

Great for cheap accommodation. Good location near kings cross station, so easily accessible from the airport, and easy access to Bondi beach. Even when the hostel was full, there was still plenty of opportunities to use the kitchen when I needed. The manager and staff were very nice and helpful, and I really loved the TV room, as well as the rooftop with lots of sitting room and a bbq. 20 minute walk to the botanic gardens, where my friends and I love to spend a hanging out in the park.

Lots of cockroaches and there is also a kitten.. The kitten walks over the tables in the kitchen, so if you are allergic for cats don't go here.. Badrooms are gross.

Most of the people stay here for a longer period of time and I think 80% is German.

Have stayed here a number of times, good cheap accommodation within a stone's throw of the city.
However don't rely on the staff to know what to do in the event of an emergency.
Fire alarm went off the last time i was there and the night manager just stood out the front having a cigarette waiting for the fire brigade.
DOES NOT INSPIRE CONFIDENCE!

Nice reception and great staff. 2x day is cleaned and everyone is friendly. The bathroom on the first floor, for example, is very stuffy and smells a bit, because the fans, at least in the men's locker room at the time did not go. One had no facilities for clothes in the showers, only a few rakes were put into it. The roof terrace is nice, but to reach them you have to go up a very narrow path where the railing just goes up to your hips. For people with a fear of heights that would be nothing. But if you are at parties and young, you can stay in this hostel, there is a good thing and you have right next to a street with bars and also erotic bars with dancers, etc. For young people that could be interesting.

This hostel isn't the cleanest and there's a few cockroaches running around. Broken tiles all underfoot in the girls showers. We had food stolen from both our dry and fridge bags which were clearly labeled. The long term people that stayed there didn't respect the place which is what caused the mess. But the girls at reception gave us great service which definetly improved our stay.

Best hostel, best staff, best people I met there. Super clean and nice rooftop to chill at. Free wifi and free bbq on fridays. Highly recommend

Trying to sleep is near impossible, other people living here we're running around at 3am playing music through speakers and banging on doors.

Fast WiFi internet and in a good location, the building felt kind of cramped though. Still, I give it four stars.

Ive been in Oz 6months. This is my favourite hostel so far. Rooftop common area, TV room, themed nights out every night, friendly guests and the staff are really friendly and helpful staff. Also the staff are constantly cleaning. Oh and FREE breakfast!!!

Update:
So after writing the original review that you see below, Funkhouse graciously gave me a refund for my stay. Great, right?! Wrong. This evening I noticed red dots all over my stomach and back. Yup, you guessed right! I have bed bug bites. So my final words of advice: Don't do it to yourselves, people. Stay somewhere else.

Original:
Currently staying here now. Where do I begin? In the time that I've been here which has only been one night, I have killed two large cockaroaches, seen grime and hair all over the showers, and witnessed two healthy massively adult rats run and play in the kitchen. The only thing noteworthy about this place is the rooftop, otherwise save your money and stay somewhere else.

Terrible wifi. The best the rooftop and the breakfast. Quite loud but with a lot of life. A very majestic receptionist, he carried me the huge briefcase he was carrying.

Bring a padlock, they don't have their own. But they sell them at reception for $ 5 (expensive)

Shower water is not always hot. The bathroom with hairdryer and hair straightener included

One of the best hostels I ever stayed at! Great atmosphere and amazing staff! Feels like a home away from home :) Everyone is super welcoming and social. Rooms, bathrooms and common areas are getting cleaned every day. There's free breakfast every morning, free wifi and also a free bbq on the rooftop every Friday, perfect for meeting everyone and getting together over some food and drinks. It's located in the heart of Kings Cross with loads of bars and shops around and only a 2 minute walk from the train station. Highly recommend staying there when coming to Sydney!

It is a great hostel. Spend here the last week of my Australian year.
Nice beds and good lockers in the room. Also the kitchen is big enough and good quality. Bathrooms are nice. They clean everything more than once per day. Rooftop nice to chill.

If you manage to look away over the bad look and the cleanliness in the hostel, you might find people to spend good time with

Even if you take a private room make sure you have earplugs because you will hear cries and shouts until 5 in the morning. The only good thing is the location and the price. A tip that is not to stay in Sydney for more than one night, better to stay in Manly or in other places with the sea, so Sydney apart from the opera house does not offer much to visit (my opinion).

The staff is very friendly, but the backpackers are young and young, and the young people are not good at hygienic habits.

I m so glad I checked into Funkhouse. Never been so pleasantly surprised by a hostel. Absolutely loved my stay there. The staff made me feel very welcome straight away and the hostel itself felt like a home away from home. I also liked that they cleaned the rooms and bathrooms every day. The people I met there were amazing too. Everyone meets on the rooftop for drinks, cooks together in the kitchen or just chills in the TV room. Can only recommend.

Very friendly and helpful. Centrally located in Sydney, this is a good backpacker hostel especially for the younger ones to explore Sydney.