Gastnutzer
10. November 2021
My friend and I visited this hostel during low season late October. We had booked two beds in the four-bed room. When arriving in the evening, we found out that they had placed us in separate rooms. The staff member checked on our booking in the morning, found out we could not be placed in the same room, and decided to not inform us about this matter. According to her, it was not her job to inform us about such matters, and she also said it was our fault because we did not proactively contact the hostel to check on our reservation. We were shocked to hear this, and consider that absolutely abnormal. With experience of two months travelling and sleeping in hostels, we never had to contact a hostel to check whether our reservation was alright! Being just two young girls traveling together, we actually felt uncomfortable being placed alone in rooms with other men. She really could not understand why we felt uncomfortable and why we wished to know this earlier. Instead of understanding us, she said it was our own fault, talking in a rather unfriendly way to us. Informing guests about such matters is maybe not obligatory, but doing it means caring about guests and it shows hospitality. The staff member discussed this matter with her manager, they decided to make no compromises for us. In the end we had to upgrade to a two-bed room that was free anyway, but we had to pay the price ourselves. About the hostel: the interior is basic and cold, the bed was very short (I am 1.74 and my feet stuck out) and had a hole, and the walls were thin so we could overhear our neighbors. The common room was a bit cold, and other travelers did not interact with each other so it was hard to meet new people. Weirdly enough we only saw men in the hostel. The hostel is nearby the train station (15 min walk), and about 30 min from city center by public transport. There is actually nothing to do in this neighborhood, just some restaurants. Sightseeing or partying is mostly in city center. We've particularly chosen this hostel because of the coziness and hospitality most small hostels tend to have. However, just the lack of this hospitality was exactly the problem in our opinion. We can understand boundaries of a small hostel, but we cannot understand the way they dealt with the situation, handling in a way that is no more than the bare minimum. This hostel may be a nice fit if you want to stay in a place close to the train station and don’t care about hospitality or comfy beds. Otherwise, if you do care about above matters, I would advise another hostel as there are plenty of hostels in Barcelona with better hospitality, nicer surroundings and cozier common rooms where you can easily meet others.
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