Pal's Mini Hostel — Hotel in Budapest

First of all I would like to say I never write reviews, even though I have had some bad experiences but the way these people have treated my group has prompted me to write my first review ever. I'll explain our horrible experience here down below.

Our group booked a stay at this hostel. And for this stay we booked a date that was 3 months from now. Sadly we had some difficulty with booking a flight because the website of the air plane company was down. And when the website was back up our only option was to book a flight for the weekend after our original booking date at this hostel. Of course this meant that we had to change the date for our rooms which we wanted to do at this same hostel, because the reviews looked good on the internet. But the person dealing with customer service handled this situation very poorly, apparently we only had the right to refund 1 of the rooms which left us with around 400 euro's which were non refundable. This was strange because we were sure we booked a refundable option just in case, but apparently the website was a bit vague in this regard.

We tried to contact the hostel in the hope of finding a compromis with our situation as we still wanted to book here for the new date. But there was no cooperation from the hostel management, no calls were returned and there was no talk about our situation, moreover the person was downright unfriendly towards us. We even tried to find a compromis that we would pay half of the 400 euros and give the owner the right to rent out the rooms we booked anyway. And that on top of that we would also book for the weekend after our original booking date.

But as I said no corporation once however I find it strange that the owner of this hostel isn't capable to empathize with our situation as we really tried to be patient and friendly. I want to clarify that this is the work of the owner of this hostel and not the manager this person is just following the orders of a boss who doesn't care about his customers. I would definitely not book here again, because when booking a stay customer service is around 80% of the experience, I wouldn't trust these people with my stuff and I would discourage people from...

This is a nice hostel for a low key vibe. The double private room was quite affordable at around 27€. There’s also rooms with bunk beds. The location is central at Oktagon and directly across from a tram stop. They kindly accepted a last minute booking and sent a video about how to arrive. There was a fan in the room, which was helpful with the heat. The reception is not there 24/7 so check-in has to be coordinated, but they were responsive and asked me for my arrival time and provided a number to let them know when I was close. They have a kitchen, fridge, and cupboards. The bathrooms and showers were suitable. The common area is a nice work space or social space, and there is a terrace for enjoying a cup of coffee or smoking. The room was clean with nice bedding. The bunk beds didn’t appear to have curtains. I highly recommend the private room.

My only concerns were that the WiFi wasn’t quite fast enough to handle Zoom calls, and there were some noisy guests late into the night and without an employee there, it continued for a bit. I would still highly recommend this hostel for someone needing a low-key, calm option who isn’t in need of 24/7 staff presence, planned social events, or “party hostel” vibes. Also important to note is that there is an elevator but you must walk about 5-6 steps to get to it, so it is not fully accessible for all mobility levels or...

I feel obliged to share this story with you about the management of Pal's mini hostel. In February we, a group of students, booked this hostel for our vacation to Budapest. We wanted to book our flight as well, but the website of the airline company was down. A couple days later it was up again, but a major part of our group could not go anymore. We decided to move the vacation a weekend earlier and tried to cancel our rooms at Pal's mini hostel. We succeeded with two rooms, but the other two bigger rooms could not be cancelled. Apparently, by mistake, we booked a room that was not able to be cancelled. We thought, with three months between cancel date and actual stay date, we could cancel our reservation and get our money back. Unfortunately for us, the management, and especially the owner, would not allow this. They wanted to stick to the policy. Of course, this is their right, but they could not show understanding for our problem. So, we wanted to try to make a compromise with them: give back half of our payment and we will cancel our reservation, so you are able to get new guests. Their reaction was that if we did not show up, they would be able to rent it again to other guests. This is just very poor customer service and it feels...