Duo Housing

"I stayed in a 12-bed mixed dorm and then a 10-bed mixed dorm in my stay at Duo Housing. It was my first time sleeping in a mixed-gender dorm and I was fine with it. The 12-bed mix dorm has some shared space for storing your personal belongings, but since it was already occupied I had to place my stuff on the shelf outside the dorm. The lockers were a bit small and I initially had some trouble locking it up with my lock, and I saw that others had the same issue too. The 10-bed mixed dorm felt much more cramped and there was barely any shared space for you to store your personal belongings - you will probably have to put everything in the locker in the room, which is luckily quite large. The hostel offers pancakes and coffee for breakfast. There are two kinds of pancakes, chocolate chip and blueberry. They are so delicious and I probably had way more pancakes than I should have. The community kitchen is a bit small, which may or may not be a good thing. You can probably start a conversation with another guest easily. There are some computers in the community kitchen which you can use, and I am amused by the warning signs that say guests cannot download anything illegally or use BitTorrent through the hostel internet. The rooftop is accessible from the community kitchen, and at night the views from the rooftop is nice. However, it can be a bit chilly. The male shower room is a bit small. There are three stalls with no hooks or shelves, so the best you could do is to hang your towel on the semi-see-through stained glass door and dress up outside the stall. The water gets really hot, and then not as hot, perhaps to encourage you to save water. One of the knobs sometimes fall out if you don't know the right way to turn it. There are only two individual toilets on the ground floor, which can be frustrating especially if you have an urgent need, but luckily there are more individual toilets on the second and third floor. One of the individual toilets on the ground floor often malfunctioned, not being able to flush, which is frustrating. There is a small covered backyard area which people use sometimes. In the common area, people like to watch TV together. The hostel has a shoes-off policy, so it is quite laid-back, but since the check-in area is where people store their shoes, it always smells like feet. The hostel is located in a very convenient location - walk 8 minute to the subway station, and a lot of bars are within walking distance. Washington DC is generally quite walkable, so you can also walk to major tourist attractions easily."

"Good location. Beware of bed bugs. Rooms are extremely hot. Facilities could be cleaner. The whole taking shoes off at the door is odd. No male only rooms. Showers not really an ideal setup and minimal water pressure. Hi hostel is much better but sadly the DC location is closed."

"Good place to meet new people from all over the world! Stuff very friendly,polite and smile. It was really kind to treated. Also big plus that everything is close. This is not expensive hotel so there are some thinks which could be improve. New for me was that at the reception entrance you need take shoe's off. Water little dropped in the shower"

"I had a really good time here. The staff is very friendly and so are all the backpackers here. It felt very safe as there is an access code for the main door. Breakfast is delicious with very good pancakes every day for everybody. It's not perfect but I would definitely suggest staying here, especially to get to know some other people from all around the world."

"Stayed there for 3 nights. The room was smelly, and AC didn't work. The room was hot as hell (almost 40c outside). In addition, I had a toe nail on my sheets. The room was too crowded, and there was no space to put your luggage and private stuff. There was no lock to the room, and the locker was too small to put valuable things, such as a laptop. The only two good things about this place are the pancakes (was great!) and the location. Can't recommend that place."