Hotel a&o Stuttgart City (Stuttgart, Germany)

While some guests comment that the hostel has a somewhat institutional and antiseptic feel, the upside is that most found both their rooms, and public areas, to be spotlessly clean.

Very unusually for a hostel, especially one part of a chain, the A&O Stuttgart tries to accommodate pets when at all possible. Definitely a major plus point for animal lovers who like to travel with their pets.

Though not right by the main station, it is only two stops away on the U-Bahn, which passes right outside the hostel. Guests also like going to the Milano Shopping Centre, just three stops in the opposite direction.

As with many places in this category, the walls and doors have both been described as paper thin. Unfortunately this results in rather a lot of noise bleeding into the rooms. There's not much remedy, except to use earplugs.

While there is a common kitchen where guests can prepare their own food, it's very small, is only open limited hours, is very cramped, and is stuck away in a corner of the basement. This doesn't make for a great experience when preparing your food.

While the hostel staff members were often described as friendly, many guests found that fairly simple tasks take forever to complete. Not really a problem if you're just relaxing and chilling out, but if you have flights and trains to catch this may need to be taken into account.