Hostel Elf Prague — Hotel in Prague

Not a place for young backpackers, super misleading marketing. I had to edit this review as the hostel had it removed, apologies to them if my language was harsh.

Firstly, there is a mountain of stairs with a lot of loose bricks, if you need accesibility, I would go elsewhere. However, they are well lit at night, which was good for us.

The hostel marketing makes it seem like a laid back party hostel on the website, but I was made uncomfortable by two members of staff for silly reasons. All of the planned events were cancelled and they just had a lot of excuses as to why.

The first issue was while checking in, the staff member was just very short mannered. I assumed they had a bad day and left it alone. They got annoyed when I asked if we could pay for another key to the room, they only give 1 key per couple and said, annoyed, this was normal practice, when actually all hostels and hotels we stayed at during interrailing gave us one each. This made it difficult to go toilet/ shower etc. alone and others in our room had the same issue.

The same person who signed us in told us 'this is an area you can make coffee and tea in, everything here is free to use' which is wonderful, but note this for later on.

Second thing was they had booked in a massive group of teenagers and their teachers during our stay...which was lovely...but getting in and out of the hostel, eating breakfast or being in any type of communal space was just impossible. Ladders in the room also injured me when getting up to the bed, super sore and awkward, but otherwise the rooms were lovely.

First night of our stay we asked when breakfast ends, they said 10:30am approx., we got out there at 9:10am and nothing was there, the large group had eaten it all, and the hostel didn't plan past the group. You also have to pay extra if not in a group, groups eat free.

When I asked a staff member, they got annoyed and said 'no, there's nothing left, it is ALL packed up, if you want breakfast get out earlier', to which I replied 'well, what time does it end? We were told 10:30am', to which he replied 'yeah well normally, yes, but now it is 9:30am'. But it was still, only 9:10am.

I have health issues so made coffee before leaving, it's hilly around, and I'd faint without eating/ drinking something.

While making coffee, I see that there is a bin of some bread rolls. In other hostels, bread rolls leftover from breakfast get put in the 'free' area, which we were told this was. I turned to the person I was travelling with and said 'oh there's some bread, will we take one for the trip?' (I feel dizzy before food).

After literally one bite, the same staff member comes literally out of nowhere and said 'eh EXCUSE me? Breakfast is NOT FREE!' I got immediate anxiety and said 'Oh, I, I'm so sorry I thought this was all free'. He just repeats the last sentence a bit louder, so I get my purse and offer to pay for breakfast, and said I tried paying and was explaining how I assumed it was a free area. Also, he had said breakfast was all gone and packed up, so I was really confused, uncomfortable and nervous.

He just repeated again, calmer, 'this time is fine, but it is not free'. I got so uncomfortable I threw away the rest of my roll, as I couldn't eat it and got some shopping bags and left.

We went to the local Lidl where I found out that this person had raised his voice at me for 12c worth of bread. I bought two to replace it, and double checked before making coffee again and avoided the staff member.

Johnny and the man who was doing the night shifts with him, were SO lovely and made everyone feel welcome and put us in a great mood every time we spoke, as a major contrast, they were lovely.

All-in-all, if you need a room, this place is fine. But it is not a laid back party hostel, it's trying to do a lot and it feels like a stingey, unwelcoming place other than the two staff members I mentioned. It has no amenities, no real communal areas, all activities were cancelled and those interactions were not worth the few...

The hostel itself is nice, clean and dorms are comfortable enough. The free breakfast is a plus and there are lockers in the room (bring your own padlock). I'm removing 2 stars because something serious happened and was not taken seriously by the male receptionist (that was working there on Monday 23rd morning shift October). A guy was sitting in the couch in the corridor, in the morning, drinking beer and being loud. That would have been more respectful to go to the common area instead of disturbing people in the rooms, but fine. He was being very agressive and every time a girl was passing through the corridor, he would call out to them. "Hi, how are you?". My friend chose to ignore him. He tried again when she came out of the room. "Hi, how are you?". He did that again when she came back from breakfast and AGAIN when she went out. She was feeling very uncomfortable. He did that to me too, every time, the first time I told him politely that I was in a hurry and had no time for small talk. He harassed me again every time I was passing by! This is harassment, it makes women not feel safe and confortable in the hostel, and he doesn't take 'no' as an answer. I told him he should stop because he makes me feel uncomfortable. He said he is just joking and then laughs. I said I will report him to the staff because this is harassment. He suddenly stopped laughing and became serious 'why are you so aggressive?". I'm laughing. "you are the one who is harassing women and being agressive and now you play the victim? Come on already". I went to the reception where there was a female and a male staff member. I explained what happened and how myself and my friend were feeling. The male member seems not to be taken this seriously. Because there is not action of physical violence he thinks that the guy is not a problem if he is only talking. I realised I was faced to a member of the staff who has no idea what harassment is, doesn't take verbal violence seriously and only need proof of violence to act. I was very upset about this. He went to talk to him and asked him to stop. He came back saying he hopped he will stop. "hopped"? That is not proper measure to that! He should have told him it is a proper reason to evict a customer out. He said if more complains come he will do something. I said that it takes courage to speak out and most girls choose to ignore the harasser out of uncomfort and not knowing what to do. I chose too l, before. But being harassed almost on a daily basis makes you think about speaking out and I think in a environment like a hostel where people go to have a bed to sleep on, it is very important to feel safe. That's why I'm choosing to remove 2 stars from the hostel. I can't seriously respect a place that doesn't care about the safety of...

The hostel on its own is amazing. The staff is incredibly sweet and helpful and made sure everything was taken care of. The beds were comfortable and every bed had its own light and charging point. They provided bed, blanket and pillow covers as well. Youre required to bring your own towel and lock for the lockers but you can always rent one from them for €5. The bathrooms are very clean and a slightly different concept compared to any other hostel i have lived in. They have common shared bathrooms but they arent "stalls". There are dedicated shower rooms which have a shower, sink and a stool or stand to keep items on and are also equipped with hooks to hang towels on, and then they have separate toilet rooms which have a toilet and sink. But what makes it unique is that its individual rooms and hence no other person is in your shower or toilet space ( including space to change) while you use it.

Its only a 10 min walk from the florence bus stop and a 20 odd minutes walk from the main train station. The only disadvantages in my opinion is that it is a little away from all the tourist attractions ( the closest being either the jerusalem synagogue or the National museum which are both atleast a 22 min walk away from the hostel and may involve going through a slightly beaten path) and that one is required to climb steps to reach the hostel making it slightly unfriendly for wheelchair users or anyone who has a difficulty with mobility. As such it is well connected, with a bus stop at a one min walk, main bus and train stations at a 10/15 min walk. A grocery store right opposite which is open 24/7 ( just like the reception!) and there are loads of restaurants present close by that aren't too expensive. I got lucky in terms of the people I met here. For the majority of my stay the crowd was between the ages of 20&30. On my last day however, I think a school had booked a few rooms in the hostel and there were kids who looked about 12-13 living in the hostel. They have a baggage storage area for you to keep your bags incase you reach before check in or need to leave way after check out time. The hostel conducts a lot of activities ( game nights, free barbeque and pub crawls) and also partners with other hostels to provide an activity filled evening! They also have links to free city...