a&o Hamburg Reeperbahn - Hostel in Hamburg

mattress stank of sweat, rooms have no lockers, beds have no individual light switches or charging points, bathroom with shower that is shared between 8 people in a mixed room had no lock.

all the other guests in the room were middle aged men visiting the sex workers in the area.

they kept trying to talk to me and they set up the beds nearest to mine.... it didn't feel safe at all.

I have stayed in multiple A&O hostels across the country and most of them have been nice, but this one was unfortunately the worst of all. To begin with, my friend and I arrived early in the morning and had to wait several hours before the check in. During the time that we spent in the lobby we have been approached by multiple shady looking people, I wasn't sure if they were hostel guests or simply homeless people looking for a place to sit inside. One of them offered us *****, which was completely out of place. Since the hostel is located on Reeperbahn (area known for questionable nighttime activities) I suppose they should have more security to protect actual guests from such unwanted interactions in the lobby/outer area and not let shady people use the hostel's facilities (like bathrooms etc) for free. When we got to the room, our first impression was that it was EXTREMELY small for an 8-person room: 3 beds were crammed up against one another (imagine a P shape), which meant one person's head would be like 50cm away from another person's head, and the same for one's head and other's feet. I understand a hostel is a shared space but this is a bit too much for lack of personal space. The room didn't have lockers: or, in fact, any kind of box/shelf to put your stuff in. There was only a locker downstairs that costs EU6 for 24 hours or the staff could take your valuables to their office for free: still, that's very inconvenient, normally all other A&Os had either a box or at least an under-bed space that you could use and lock. The toilet in this room was also broken, the water was constantly flowing and this disrupted my sleep even further along with some unpleasant loud guests (which is not the hostel's fault but just to mention). The room also didn't have enough light and felt generally unpleasant. To sum it up, this was a very unpleasant stay. If you are in Hamburg, A&O Hauptbahnhof is much more pleasant.