Nightingale Hostel And Guesthouse — Hotel in Sofia City

Despite five or six visits to Sofia in the past few years, I had never discovered a hostel that I liked enough to go back to. That was until I discovered Nightingale hostel, and stayed twice within a short-term period. The introduction was ominous: it took a long time to get through the front door despite constantly ringing the buzzer, and then there was no one on the front desk for about twenty minutes as we waited. The girl who checked us in was on her last shift there, and didn’t seem to care at all.||There are two guitars in the lobby though, so I tuned one up and played for a bit. The showers were difficult to use: both ends of the tap seemed to spray really hot water, with cold water in the middle and warm only coming from a slight turn to the left. It was a really bizarre plumbing system. The beds were comfortable, but the plug sockets adjacent to the large bed in the middle of the dorm room don’t work; that accessibility was the sole reason I picked that bed, so this was annoying.||The wifi is very good and works throughout the building, but they really should sort out the downstairs door situation as it is always difficult to get back in; especially late at night. The best part of the hostel is how friendly it is though: the owner and regular volunteers are all generous and talkative. When he discovered that I was planning on spending the night at the airport before I left, the owner even offered to let me sleep a few hours that night for free before a morning bus - but I decided against that. ||The cleaning time is weird, in the middle of the afternoon meaning it is difficult to set up to get some work done in the living room. Overall though, it is a reasonable location and a friendly place; so I suppose I’d go back...

So I booked a room at this hostel and due to an unfortunate delayed flight and getting lost on the way from the airport, I arrived later than expected. I emailed the hostel to inform them as soon as I can because it isn't a 24 hour reception (despite what is advertised). I show up to the hostel to find it overbooked and they are refusing to honor my reservation, despite the deposit I paid and the agreement I made upon booking saying if I did not show up at all, I would still get charged for the night. After much frustration, I did get a refund of my deposit, but then I just have to leave without any extra help (not even letting me use the Wi-Fi to find another hostel nearby) to just wander the dark, unfamiliar streets on my own, a small in stature young woman weighed down by luggage and a long day of getting there. If you care about your safety and you want to book somewhere that will actually honor your reservations, absolutely do not stay at...

Really poor. The bedsheets haven't either been changed or properly washed since there was still plenty of crumbs and hair from the previous people inside. Similarly situations in the bath rooms and toilets. It heavily smells like smoke and the security of the place was poor. No lockers (or at least there were no keys given out even though I asked several times), the dorms weren't lockable and the whole hostel was only secured by a 4 digit code that according to the manager hasn't changed in 6 month. Also the promised breakfasts was none existing (apparently because of some broken pipes in the kitchen but I don't buy that excuse). Worst was that the manager asked us to go and get some cigarettes for her and went into a DORM to get money. I am seriously concerned if this was really her money or just taken from a traveller. :( I definitely don't...