Dirtiest Place on Earth! Ewwwwww!, October 10, 2003
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Anonymous
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This hostel is disgusting. The beds are dirty and stained and to get to the bathrooms you must walk outside and around the courtyard. If you want to catch something, stay at the 3 Ducks. I walked out after I saw my room. I was willing to lose the money rather than attempt to stay here. I read the reviews that said it was dirty, but I never expected the squallor I found.
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Hostel Manager's Right of Reply
I would like to react to the last critic. Obviously it's not somebody who stayed with us and his critic are really not objective.
The 3 Ducks hostel can be criticized in many way, noisy (although its not off season), old (probably because it's a 18th century building), insolit (we like it this way as its probably why lots of people love it) but definetly not dirty (old but not dirty) as the 3 Ducks is cleaning evey morning the common areas (kitchen, toilets and showers) while everybody is sleeping and every afternoon! Of course if the rooms are messy and things all over the room, the hostel cannot be judge as dirty if the customer is! Do not forget that people are sharing a room and everybody unfortunately doesn't respect the space of the others!
The matresses are changed at least every two years and some are changed every year! We're checked every 3/4 month by the hygiene services (official services) and we never had a critic by none of them that the place was dirty. The 3 Ducks needs some renovation and we are planing to start this in January 2004 for our pleasure and the pleasure of our customers.
We do not expect everybody to like the place but i think that at this stage its really not normal! Since the beginning of October the rooms have less beds, new matresses in most rooms and the rooms are cleaned daily as we always have.
Our customers seem to be very happy with us and we encourage them to tell us if they are not as if they are not happy to stay at the 3 Ducks for some reason we book for them in one of the other hostels we have and even in the hotel of their choice.
(Review ID: 3078)
Stop whingeing! Do your research if you're so precious, October 6, 2003
Reviewer:
James
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The biggest problem with this hostel is the complaining morons who stay there. I have never - NEVER! - read a review that says this place is anything but a loud party hostel - if you don't have a sense of humour and don't want to party and put up with everything that that entails, do everyone else a favour and don't go!! If you're not a fussy princess and you DO have a sense of humour and want to have fun and generally not give a shit, you'll most likely enjoy it. Yes the staff are most of the time rude and grumpy (if you DON'T HAVE ANY SENSE OF HUMOUR!!) as you can imagine how many primadonnas - female AND male - come through expecting silver service and VIP treatment (in fact this is from time to time very amusing! Again, sense of humour required). If you have problems or need help and you are reasonable about it the staff are completely willing to aid where possible. Sleeping conditions - sure, they're not very good (ok, bad even) and there are too many idiotic rules (lock-out and curfew suck) but don't complain about 22 euros a night - it's fucking Paris! And if you disgruntled fools can find a cheaper bar in Paris than the Ducks you might want to advertise it - IT DOESN'T EXIST!!
4 of
7 people found this review helpful
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(Review ID: 3079)
Where are the DUCKS!?, September 20, 2003
Reviewer:
Bernie
( bgeurope@hotmail.com)
from United States
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I stayed here a few nights. I didn't hang out at the hostel besides just sleeping there, but I had a good time. The bar, courtyard, good location, for the price, it's worth it. The only bad thing about it is the lockout and curfew. Either than that, worth checking out.
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3 people found this review helpful
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(Review ID: 3080)
Filthy, crowded and unfit for humans!, September 17, 2003
Reviewer:
Leslie H.
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My traveling companion and I couldn't bear to sleep there. The beds were falling apart, the bathrooms opened to the outside and stunk and it was crowded. We ended up leaving and staying elsewhere without a refund.
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5 people found this review helpful
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(Review ID: 3081)
I'd rather sleep by the Seine, September 9, 2003
Reviewer:
Mike
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Here's the lowdown. The area is nice...if you have cash to blow. The 15e is not cheap. Neither is this hostel, mind you. Considering that there are hostels for EUR14 in Paris (really), this place is a crack-shack.Let's see...the luggage "room" is a luggage "pile".No pillows...for EUR22, I would appreciate a bloody pillow.There is a lock-out until 17h00, and a curfew at 02h00.Breakfast...sucks. It's just not enough, the tiny slice of bread that they give you, to get you to lunch even!There are leaks in the toilets.There are bugs in the room.Generally, the people who stay there are drunks. The bar is generally a rip-off, too.Ultimately, it was one of the worst hostels I've slept in. Ironically, it seems to be affiliated with "Europe's Best Hostels", or something like that. These "Best Hostels", chosen by some mysterious electorate, include Kabul in Barcelona, which I also had the unfortunate pleasure of visiting.Only good points: a kitchen, and the girl at the desk from Montréal.But it still wasn't worth it. Stay away.
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5 people found this review helpful
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(Review ID: 3082)
Good atmosphere even though rules and staff suck, August 2, 2003
Reviewer:
Rory
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Supposedly this hostel is the best one in paris, whether they mean accomodation or atmosphere i don't know. we stayed here for six nights, and were fairly glad to leave by the end. we stayed above the courtyard, and we seemed to share a bathroom with quite a few people. they smelled pretty bad, and they didn't have any soap, that was up to you to have. so we bought a bar, and it made it a lot better. the staff aren't very cool, i heard them some nights yellling "get the f*** in your rooms now" quite a few times during the night from them. you have to move from the courtyard to the bar at 10, but sometimes they let you go till 11 depending on noise level. there are two metro stops right next to it, and a bunch of little markets, although the big main one is a bit of a walk, and it is a bit of a walk to the eiffel tower. it gets a bit hot at night, and we even had someone hot box our room one night while we were gone, but as long as your are careful with your baggage nothing should happen. but it pretty much comes down to the people and that cool little courtyard. i wouldn't recommend it any other time but summer.
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(Review ID: 3083)
Expensive and Filthy, July 31, 2003
Reviewer:
Dani
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This place's only redeeming features are its proximity to the eiffel tower (10 min walk) and the one nice guy who works there. The rooms are tiny. The bathrooms are filthy, you are locked out of the rooms from 11am to 5pm which sucks, especially when you check in and have to leave your stuff in the luggage room which everyone has access to. The bar prices are expensive, and the staff will confiscate any outside alcohol, the lady who serves breakfast is a bitch, and most of the other staff are very rude. If you happen to want to get served during shift change, forget it.
3 of
4 people found this review helpful
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(Review ID: 3084)
Dirty and noisy but near Eiffel Tower, July 19, 2003
Reviewer:
Gunther
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My trip to Paris was shortened by the strikes so luckily I only had to stay at this place one night. The reception is the bar where all transactions take place. The courtyard surrounded most of the rooms so noise was heavy and only one key per room. None of my belongings were stolen but I had my own lock, luckily. Shower and toilet were in little rooms in the courtyard. The bed was ok but the heat was so bad I did not sleep much any way. There was a kitchen left open so small bugs abound due to the food smell. I spent as little time here as possible. You are only allowed to drink what alcohol you buy in the bar and not your own. The location is nice though, near a metro and in a very decent part of the city, for that it gets a star.
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(Review ID: 3085)
Do not waste your money here! Dirty, Noisy, Unsafe!, July 8, 2003
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Anonymous
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I wish I had read the bugeurope reviews before we booked. I agree with the other reviewers, 3 Ducks is a dump! It was dirty and loud. Some of the staff were okay but there is a cranky lady who cleans and serves the bread in the morning who couldn't crack a smile if she was paid to. The bathrooms were gross and the one by our room upstairs was out of order. The other bathrooms & showers are the stage of the courtyard. So when you exit the bathroom or shower you face an audience. The phones are in the bar which is annoying because with the time difference, you have to call home when the music is blaring. They do have pillows but we were thankful that we had our own pillow cases. The rooms are not secure, they don't pay much attention to who they allow access. The door to our room had clearly been broken into once or twice. Also, we booked and paid for a female dorm but they completely ignored this and put a male in our dorm with us. They claim to be close to the Eiffel Tower but it is more like 20 minutes after you figure out the directions. The location is pretty average but I would recommend staying in Monmartre which is much prettier. There is a laundromat down the street but you must have your washer started by 8:30pm. The closest market is about 20 minutes away and apparently goes on strike frequently. Your accommodations have a lot to do with your experience in a place....do not waste your time or money here!
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5 people found this review helpful
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(Review ID: 3086)
Famous 5 hostel? more like Infamous hostel, July 2, 2003
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Anonymous
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This was supoosed to be a "Famous 5" hostel, and this was the worst hostel I have stayed in by far. Where can I begin with my complaints? First of all, the place was quite dirty. They sometimes didn't clean the rooms, and the showers & bathrooms were quite disgusting, the beds were quite gorss too. The staff was also quite rude-I made a reservation for 5 nights and was told I could pay with a credit card, but when I arrived, I was told that reservations are basically useless and you must pay in cash. Breakfast was half a baguette served by some miserable old woman-granted this is a hostel, but at least some basic services. Yeah it has a courtyard, but the kick your ass out at 10 and make you go teh bar for their overpriced drinks, where they usually run out of glasses to serve beer. Yeah, this is a social hostel, but most of the guest are loud and inconsiderate if you want to sleep, plus there is a curfew at 2 if you even wanted to go out. Paris the city was great, but the hostel was quite shitty, to say the least-book anywhere else but the the 3 ducks
