YMCA is probably a great buy for Yangon where hotels and Guest Houses are in very short supply. I paid $20 for a very large single room with bath and a small breakfast. It had A/C
(a must in Yangon) lots of hot water. The room had seen better days but it was clean with no sign of any bugs or insects. The staff like everywhere in Myanmar were great. Their English was very limited but they made a great effort and were always very willing to give directions and buy bus tickets for me.. I did not go there with high expectations and was happy with my choice. It has a fairly central location in the downtown area. They will give you a free airport pickup if you are staying for 3 days or more. Good deal as the airport is a good way from downtown.

Well, the YMCA has a bit of a love-hate relationship among expats. It's sort of got an SRO aesthetic going. It is dirty but no bedbugs or rodents (cockroaches, yes, but you can't win them all). In a town where the rooms are all overpriced and anything decently priced is considerably lacking in hygiene (and finding an apartment takes forever), I've been sort of grateful for this place like many other expats. That being said, I have been seriously off-put by its arbitrarily pricing and shady schemes to get you to upgrade to a more expensive room. Not very Christian at all. If I ever return to Yangon, I think I will upgrade to a more honest establishment (even if it means I will have to pay more).

Staying here may mean that none (or very little) of your rent goes to the government. But I'm sure the same goes for most family-run guesthouses in Yangon, which offer better value, and more importantly, a higher standard of hygiene and service.

We booked a double room via email, but when we arrived at 4:30am, we were told that all the double rooms were full. The receptionist made us fill out the check-in forms on the spot, instead of finding us a place to sleep first. Check-in took more than half an hour.

The room was filthy. Bed sheets were stained, and the floor was dusty. The floor paper was peeling, as was the paint in the bathroom. The bathtub was rusty. We asked for our room to be cleaned while we were out sightseeing, but nothing was done. The staff also recommended a restaurant almost exclusively for expats that was expensive, bland, and terribly unoriginal.

Avoid at all costs.