Balcony view

Reviews of Mad Monkey Coogee Beach Hostel

2 out of 5
Mad Monkey Coogee Beach Hostel
186 Arden St, Coogee, NSW

Reviews

8.4

Very good

Rating 10 - Excellent. 8 out of 15 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 3 out of 15 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 3 out of 15 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 1 out of 15 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 0 out of 15 reviews" "

7.6/10

Cleanliness

8.8/10

Staff & service

7.2/10

Amenities

7.8/10

Property conditions & facilities

7.0/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
The hostel has a great location just across the road from the beach, however it is overpriced for the service you receive. When booking, please be aware that you will have to carry your luggage up three flights of narrow stairs to get to the reception area to check in. The rooms are shabby, with holes in the walls in several places. Having ‘apartment’ style rooms is quite nice, however in my apartment there were guests sleeping on beds in the communal areas, which was not very private. At full capacity, there are 14 people sharing one bathroom in the apartment I was in. The bathroom was mopped daily, but the floor was constantly filthy. Cleaners came in regularly to change beds and bins, but it would have been good if they could have vacuumed the floors as there was sand everywhere from the beach. Bed was comfortable, but room was stifling hot with just one small floor fan and one window (which had to be propped open with an empty bottle of dry shampoo), this made it very difficult to sleep, especially with 6 people in the room. On my first morning there, staff came into the room unannounced every hour between 8am and 2pm to complete various checks, including checking for ‘extra’ guests. This was quite disruptive in itself. I was disturbed on more than one occasion whilst I was in the shower by housekeeping staff also. Privacy is lacking a lot in this hostel. I would not choose to stay here again.
Stayed 6 nights in Dec 2022
Response from Kristy on 6 Jan 2023
Hey AnonThanks for taking the time to leave your review, we have an amazing beach location and the stairs are worth it everyone says ! Our team is more than happy to help with your bags, just be sure to ask.Our housekeeping team clean the rooms daily and we ask guests to be considerate of others in keeping their belongs clean and tidy. Our team does do various room checks which is stated in our arrival details. We suggest that perhaps next time you stay with us in a private room which would probably be more to your liking. Safe travels till then.Kristy BakerGeneral Manager

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Staffs are very friendly however the cleanliness and condition of the place is not great
Stayed 10 nights in Dec 2019
Response from Kristy on 10 Jan 2020
Hi Anon Thanks for taking the time to leave your review. Glad that you enjoyed our friendly staff and hope you managed to experience our restaurant and bar ! Sorry to hear that the cleanliness was not what you expected, our housekeeping team work hard to ensure it is however I will pass your feedback on. Hope we can welcome you again in the future.

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Liked: Staff & service
Probably would have been a better stay if not in a room by myself with three blokes, from a female point of view perhaps some gender rooms
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2019
Response from Kristy Baker, General Manager on 15 Dec 2019
Hey Anon Thanks for your review, we have three different types of Female Only dorms available - next time be sure to book this one or let us know when you arrive and we can look at changing you ! Hope to see you back again.

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Staff was super friendly, upgraded my friends and I to a much preferred room and were super easy to talk to and ask questions of, great host! Location was prime next to Coogee; just a bummer that lockers had to be paid for
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2019
Response from Kristy on 26 Aug 2019
Hey Anonymous ! Thank you for your lovely review, so glad that you enjoyed your stay with us. Make sure you come back and next time if you want a locker in your room book our 12 bed dorms that have lockers under the beds. Kristy Baker General Manager

10/10 Excellent

anders

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Not bad
Stayed 14 nights in Jul 2019
Response from Kristy on 29 Jul 2019
Thank Anders ! see you again soon.

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in May 2019
Response from Kristy on 28 May 2019
Hey Anonymous Thanks for your fantastic 5/5 rating ! So glad you enjoyed your stay with us. Come back again next time you are in Sydney ! Kristy Baker General Manager

10/10 Excellent

Tristan

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Must stay when in Coogee!
I literally booked 3x because I kept extending my stay. Only issue is Australia has more bugs than I’m used to so I saw some. But everything else about this hostel was amazing. Everything I needed and exceeded my expectations... only issue is now my hostel standards are too high 😂
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2019
Response from Kristy on 6 Mar 2019
Hi Tristan Thanks for your kind review, we hope we introduced you slowly to the Aussie wildlife ! Make sure you come back again soon. Kristy Baker General Manager

10/10 Excellent

Tristan

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
A week in Coogee
The place was amazing, the people who work there are great and location is perfect. Will stay here always when in Sydney!
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2019
Response from Kristy on 6 Mar 2019
Hi Tristan Thanks so much for your kind review, we loved having you stay with us and become part of the monkey family. Make sure you come back again soon ! Kristy Baker General Manager

10/10 Excellent

Tristan

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Best hostel in Sydney!
By far the best hostel I’ve ever stayed at... I couldn’t have been happier. Clean, spacious, friendly and helpful staff. They have a bar downstairs too where they host events and happy hours so it’s a good way to meet people.
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2019
Response from Kristy on 28 Feb 2019
Hi Tristan Thank you so much for your kind review, we are very glad that you enjoyed your stay with us. Make sure you come back again when you are next in Sydney ! Kristy Baker General Manager

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The location is great for being right in the middle of it all. Steps to the beach and restaurants. Staff was very helpful and the facilities were kept clean for how many people stay there.
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2019
Response from GM on 6 Feb 2019
Hi Anon Thanks so much for your kind review, we are glad you enjoyed your stay with us by the beautiful Coogee Beach Make sure you come back and stay with us again ! Kristy Baker General Manager

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Parking a bit tricky
Free street parking right across the street is one hour and monitored till 10pm; otherwise, there's a pay lot for four hours and also monitored till 10pm. It was a pain that Reception could only accept the $20 deposit in Australian currency, even though I offered USD 20, which is worth more than AUD 20. The 8-share female room had no lockers and not enough hooks to hang up our jackets.
Stayed 1 night in Jun 2018
Response from Kristy Baker on 23 Jun 2018
Thanks for taking the time to write your review, parking in Sydney is tricky you are right ! We are lucky that we have fee parking near us. We have lockers for our rooms on order and expecting arrival of them in the not too distant future so this will certainly make a difference. Unfortunately we are not equipped to take foreign currency but can certainly look at doing this in the future. Hope that we can welcome you back to Mad Monkey soon.

6/10 Okay

Justin

Disliked: Room comfort
Social, but bad beds.
The hostel is cosy and social. It’s not a party hostel, but people do socialise in the kitchen. The beds are the drawback here - they are rickety and every time someone moves in their bed, you can hear the springs. Also my bed moved every time the guy in the top bunk rolled around. I’m 193cm and couldn’t stretch out in the bed. Difficult to sleep. If you value your sleep, find another place.
Stayed 2 nights in Nov 2023
Response from Kristy on 9 Nov 2023
Hi JustinThanks for taking the time to leave your review, glad that you enjoyed our social, cozy hostel. Sorry you didnt find the beds comfortable, at 193cm Im sure it is difficult ! We do have some private rooms with double beds - perhaps that would be better next time.Kristy BakerGeneral Manager

10/10 Excellent

Rene

Stayed 3 nights in Dec 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Stayed 2 nights in Nov 2019

8/10 Good

Outi

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Hyvä hostelli yksin matkaajalle
Hyvä sijainti ja ystävällinen palvelu sekä näppärät kulkuyhteydet. Ravintoloita vieressä. Hostellissa hyvät patjat, tyynyt ja peitot.
Stayed 4 nights in Feb 2019
Response from Kristy on 20 Feb 2019
Thanks so much for your kind review, we are so glad that you enjoyed your stay with us ! Make sure you come back again next time you are in Sydney. Kristy Baker General Manager