RixHouse Hostel

I had two different rooms during my stay, changing rooms from fourth floor to fifth because a friend joined me. In the fourth floor room there was mould all over the shower curtain. I took it down to reception. The night desk guy had no idea where the curtains were kept. The next morning another staff person installed a new shower curtain. The room on the fifth floor is not serviced by the elevator and the rooms are worse. Avoid the fifth floor. You have to pay for bath towels and hand towels. Rooms are big enough for one person. The bed in both rooms on both floors is two singles pushed together and hard. On the fifth floor, theres a double locker taking up all the floorspace that is locked, thus useless. The “table” is the size of my hand and there is only one chair, a horrible folding chair. The good: the price, big bathrooms, convenient location for tourist sites via public transit and for getting to the hotel. However, neighborhood is gritty south Neukölln. If you want upscale leafy neighborhood then stay in Friedrichschain ( but not at Hotel Kiez pension).

I had booked single room accommodation for 13 nights and paid it well in advance, as required. The first room they gave me was inaccessible by lift, had no warm water, and windows did not open. The room they then moved me to, had only 2 Watt emergency lighting, so for two days I needed a torch to find my bed in the dark. Bed width was children’s size, so one nearly fell out when turning. Provided was only a rickety garden folding chair and a mini coffee table too small and too low to work on it. And a narrow wardrobe in an inaccessible corner. Fittings rusty and hanging off the wall. Toilet roll holder at a height where it bangs against one’s knee when using the toilet. Light switching off when one takes a shower, having to come out in the dark and wave around for the light to come on again. No air conditioning, but full sunlight into the room from 3pm to 8pm, which at 30° degrees plus makes the room feel like a furnace, not usable during those times. They gave me a tiny fan, which allowed a little relief at least during the night. No towels, no bedside table, no bedside light. Soap holder broken. At times the lift was out of order. The lovely communal area with pleasant greenery, for guests to prepare their own non-cooked food, which is advertised with pictures on the Rixhouse Hostel website, does not exist! Ladies toilet in their reception area having no light at all, and faucet wobbling loosely around the mini sink. Six chairs only in the reception area for all the guests in the hostel. No complimentary coffee or tea, but at least a kettle for common use. The only positive thing one can say about this hostel is that their reception staff are really friendly and try to help where possible. I suppose they would need to be, at their accommodation prices. Rina Schiller (Belfast)