Steel House Copenhagen — Hotel in Copenhagen Municipality

I stayed here 2 different nights (July 28th, 2024 and August 10th, 2024) in 2 different rooms (505 & 426) so I’m writing this while it’s fresh in my memory.

I was able to book with my Bilt credit card points which was a huge plus (and to quote my friends “girl math!” felt free). That’s the last thing I got for free at this hostel and in Copenhagen (which I learned on this trip is one of the most expensive cities to visit!). Maybe I haven’t traveled in a while, but I was surprised they charge for lockers before/after your stay. And from other hostel guests I met on the walking tour, their hostels charged less for locker storage. If you just need a place to sleep, use the bathroom, and get on your way, it felt safe/clean and is well located which is all I really need for a hostel. If you want to use the pool, gym, lockers, bikes, or anything else, be ready to pay by the hour/use (I think it would be nice if it was per stay).

Oh and I went on the free walking tour on Tuesday, July 30th so I’ll leave notes on that for anyone curious how it works. Someone from Politically Incorrect Tours (wearing an orange lanyard, our guide was named Sebastian) will come pick you up around 10:15am from the hostel and walk you past Downtown Hostel to pick up more guests and then to a meeting point with guests from Next House Hostel and two other guides. I ended up in Magnus’s group. I believe we met on the West side of the horse statue (search Equestrian Statue of Absalon on Google) right by a 7-Eleven if you wanted to meet the group there directly or were running late. It’s a free walking tour and we learned a lot and thankfully I knew from my roomies that there is a way to pay/tip by card at the end. I didn’t take out any cash this trip, but apparently you can get cash/coins (not sure which but the staff at the front desk mentioned it as an option) if you do laundry at the hostel so that’s another option if you wanted to look into it.

Both women-only rooms I stayed in were clean and sold out as in 6 women sharing a small space together, but I had respectful roommates both times. There’s a trash can at the end of the room by the window. There’s also an outlet and a little pouch to store your belongings near your pillow/head of the bed which was appreciated. The lockers and towel racks are labeled which was a nice touch and helps you know whose is whose. Other reviews and guests have mentioned the bathrooms have motion sensored lights and are sliding frosted glass doors so it’s hard to quietly go to the bathroom without alerting the whole room. I simply went to the bathrooms on the lower level (-1 level) to brush my teeth or change since I arrived late and didn’t want to wake my roomies. Oh and the Wi-Fi from Room 505 was so bad I couldn’t send/receive messages, but thankfully this wasn’t a problem in Room 426. The views were slightly different and the window could use cleaning/dusting in Room 426, but I’ve included photos or I wonder if you could ask to face the water side in the future. I was grateful to be in a bottom bunk both times and didn’t have to ask for it or don’t remember selecting it so thank you to whoever either saw my age or arrival time and was like yeah she’s not going to want to climb the ladder. 😅

There is a luggage scale by the lockers (on the -2 level) which is a nice touch and thankfully free. There’s also a cafe that has food/drinks which I didn’t purchase from but appreciated the convenience if you were hungry and too jet lagged to venture off. There’s also a grocery store Netto (which my tour guide said is for the ghetto and cheapest grocery store around) around the corner which I recommend. It’s a short walk to Vesterport Station (one stop/transfer away from Norreport) or Copenhagen Central Station (I walked there on my way back to the airport and there’s a direct train which was quick/handy).

Overall I would recommend this hostel. They have events (live music, karaoke, trivia, etc.) that vary depending on the day of the week so check the schedule or plan...

Keeping in mind the price and location, Steel House is likely a place i will go to again, or suggest if asked. But there were some issues.

First positivity, the dorms are nicely arranged, and the bed "pods" are much nicer than the standard "bunks" in many other hostels. The staff is helpful and nice.

Some minor issues is the cost to use the kitchen (20kr for the duration of the stay), the cost is neglectable, but to the point it simply doesnt sit right with me that it isnt included, again a minor nuisance i wouldnt really bother to count towards the score if it was on its own. The cost to use the pool, I can see more reason for this given the small size of the pool to avoid crowding, but still feels very much like something that should be part of the costs, especially considering the attention given to it in the listings of the hostel. The lobby and common areas were very crowded (at least when i came through), I consider this a minor thing, since it is a hostel after all, and it must be expected that primary goal is to fit as many beds at a time, and many hostels will have fewer things to offer in the common areas. In the dorm, a sign urges the guests to not open the windows and use ac instead (environmentally friendly? 😬), to avoid flies and mosquitos in the room, a fair sentiment, but the cooling and ventilation of the ac did not seem enough, so the nights got very warm with all beds in use, and the smell of tourists-feet was the first thing jumping at you, when you entered. The drain in the shower(and 👍 for separate shower and toilet in the rooms) could hardly keep up, so even a short shower would flood the floor of the bathroom, thankfully the water didnt flood into the main room. Of course cleaning the drains every day cant be expected (if the problem is clogging, and not the design of the drain), but still a nuisance to meet in the morning. A final of the small issues, the sliding doors within the room were very loud to use, and had a tendency to get stuck, the locks had a trick to it. Like the other minor things, not a huge deal on its own but it is very annoying to know you are disturbing the other guest, when you all have different schedules.

A major issue, was that the door to the dormitory toilet did leave a gap, so you could hear everything going on out there, from counting the use of toilet paper (not single ply, nice quality) to all the spectacle of a "Nr.2). We all know what people do when going to the toilet, but a certain level privacy for all involved would have been expected and very much appreciated.

Again, despite all the "negativity" it is still a place i might go again, but there are definitely some downsides to the place that cannot be ignored, and while some of them are to be expected for hostels, steel house have a bit too many minor things to not bring down the...

A holiday planned for over a year was ruined by a mistake of the staff

What we liked: The location as it was very close to the city center and transportation stations (bus, train & metro). We also liked the design & aesthetics of the premises. Staff was helpful and polite, although customer service from higher administration can be improved.

What we didn't like: The room is really small, if you have a big suitcase you will not be able to open it unless you place it on your bed.

The bathroom has a few issues: The light is operated by motion and if you are in the shower for more than a few minutes, the light switches off and will not turn back on as it probably does not catch your movement inside the shower area. The faucet is very close to the sink, resulting in water splashing outside. The toilet flush buttons have been placed behind the toilet lid (when it is up), meaning that you have to move the lid every time you need to press the flush buttons. Also the sink's piping was partially blocked, there was water remaining in the sink every time you used it, which drained really slow and left dirt on the sidewalls.

The worst thing that happened to us and kind of ruined our holidays is the fact that the hotel charged us twice for the amount that we were supposed to be charged. I realized this a few days before the day of our arrival and after communicating with the hotel they acknowledged their mistake and made a refund. The thing is that the refund took 5 days to come back to my account, leaving us with very few money at our disposal. We had very few money to enjoy our holidays, money that was barely enough to have a basic meal every day. We had no funds for transportation, tickets for museums, exhibitions etc so we couldn't have a good time. The hotel staff said "there is nothing we can do". They offered to give us free sandwiches and drinks from the bar but only after we requested it. The funds returned to my account the previous day before our flight home, so we literally had one day only to do all the things that we had planned to do.

We believe that the hotel did a serious error by charging us twice the amount, and they did absolutely nothing to compensate us for the trouble and inconvenience they caused us. We expected a much better customer service - we did nothing wrong to...