Pros:
Buzzing, always people around, and nice daytime staff
Cons:
Some jobsworths let the side down
Hookey
saw things this way
Maintenance
(3)
Cleanliness
(3)
Facilities
(3)
Atmosphere
(4)
Milhouse is an extremely popular hostel in central BA. People stay here largely because of word-of-mouth reviews (as did I), and most people go there because its busy and fun. It has a popular bar area and there are regular group excursions to explore BA (more on this later). The hostel itself is pleasant and very secure, and you get large lockable cages in each dorm room for personal storage. Each dorm room has an en suite bathroom. The rooms are clean and tidy but don't have aircon and I would imagine they would be extremely stuffy in summer, as they were stifling at times in early March. There is a very good travel agent on site, and an extremely cheap laundry service (12 pesos for as much washing as any backpacker is likely to have, washed dried and pressed). The daytime staff are all pretty helpful, friendly and all have good English. There are free internet terminals (3 of them) but they're pretty much always occupied and its often less hassle to spend 1.5 pesos an hour at the internet cafe next door.The downside of Milhouse is a degree of pettiness that can get a bit wearing after a few days. For example, there is a nice rooftop terrace with an indoor lounge attached, but we were barred from using it after 8pm, not because its a residential area (it isn't) but because the staff couldn't be bothered policing it. The nighttime security guy was pretty rude and unhelpful too, and you often got the feeling of being treated like a child.Finally, be careful of the hostel excursions; some are worthwhile, but they do regular trips to football matches and you would be better off organising yourself; for instance a few us went to a Boca Juniors game under our steam and paid 40 pesos for a ticket and 10 pesos for a taxi between us; the hostel charged 150. Of course if you're a bit nervous about going to a football match you may feel its worth it to be chaperoned, but we went in with the hard-core Boca fans and felt perfectly safe, just be sensible and leave valuables at the hostel. Overall I'd still recommend Milhouse because I did have a lot of fun there, but they have to fix a few details to make the place worthy of its popularity.
