20USD for a nice clean double room with shared bathroom and no breakfast, a little bit expensive but OK, there is a kitchen.
The problem is that for that price there was no hot water (hot water is coming from a centralized city loop and there were roadworks close to the guesthouse). We managed to get hot water from an electric kettle.
An additional problem is that the batheroom/toilet/washing machine are in the same room and shared by up to 8 people plus employees in charge of the washing machine!

We decided to move to Gana's guesthouse where for the same price we had a double (less clean than Zaya) with private hot shower, toilets and breakfast.

Booked my stay with Zaya after seeing it recommended in the Lonely Planet. I guess I should have guessed that once a place gets a glowing report in a guide book, it might start to go downhill. I had booked a private room with private bathroom. I had a private room but I had to share a bathroom with seven other people. Also for the three days I was there I had one hot shower. I defiitely would not recommend this place.

My husband and I stayed in Zaya Guesthouse apartments for a total of 3 nights during June-July 2007. There were some things we liked about the place and some things we didn't like. First, the good points: Zaya is a very helpful host. She's very reliable in terms of information and does not over-charge (for anything). I kept my valuables (passport, tickets, etc) with her when we went out of UB for our trip and Zaya took good care of them. The rooms are basic, but functional (except for the shower --- I will come to that later) and cheap. Good value for money. The premise is clean and the staff are nice people.

Now the bad points. There was no hot water in the shower and we didn't know about this till we actually turned on the shower. I told this to Zaya but she really didn't make any effort to provide us with at least some amount of hot water. I took the initiative myself and got a small container of hot water using the electric kettle. If you are thinking, what's the big deal --- well, 10 days of Gobi trip endows you with a lot of dust and, believe me, you would want to get rid of those. Also when we came back from Gobi we were given a room with no bathrooms though I had booked a room with bathroom at least one and a half months in advance. Zaya however apologized and told me that one of her staff made a mistake.

Overall, a little above average. Soma Dey

very clean, good location- in right center of the all attraction of the Ulaanbaatar/ Mongolia

Cheap for budget travellors. helpful, friendly staff,
Most important thing: make for every one budget tour cross Mongolia relaible tour good drivers. provide travel information in lot of language.
LP Mongolia guide book -2005 (page 73) recommended the Zaya hostel as a best Hotel in Mongolia

For more info: --------
Nice hostel+budget tour= fun