Iceland Comfort Apartments by Heimaleiga — Hotel in Kopavogur

Not. A. Hotel.

Think of it as a rental, like an AirBnB instead. And in that it is all too typical of the mid-lower tier of rentals. This may be the last straw for me using the entire sector. But, if it meets the budget and you are a college-age backpacker who needs a basecamp, especially if your mom says you need to clean your room more, you may not mind at all.

It is not like an apartment OR a hotel. No staff, no mailboxes, no bells. No way to greet friends, get packages, delivery food, your luggage from the airport, but to wait around and coordinate via phone. This is not great, so plan ahead if it matters.

Older building, dressed up so it looks good from a distance, and in photos. Close up, cheap fittings, cheaply repaired and maintained. Numerous drywall repairs in the common areas with no mudding, no paint. Numerous fixtures not fully attached, burned out, broken fittings of all sorts. Insufficient number of outlets, so giant extension cord with electrical tape repairs in the room. Shower stall very small, cheap, and what is not dirty is rusty. Kitchen tiny, providing less total counter space than a typical (no kitchen) hotel room.

Trash is not emptied all weekend, so is overflowing for days right at the entry door.

Weird entry system, using realtor-style lock boxes with a key inside. Door code is the same for everyone. And all this means that security is suspect: the physical keys could be copied, and even if you didn’t just rent once to know the door code, the keypad is getting dirty so it’s clearly those four keys, doesn’t take much to break in with that knowledge.

Good access to the city, especially if driving. Will need a bus to get to most of the good stuff if not driving but nearby bus stops abound. Parking is free, and while ill-defined appears to anywhere in the strip mall so if no parking right in front, just go down a few more meters to find more.

Across the street is a small and good grocery store. Good restaurants nearby, the best are a few blocks downhill. One block away is a very good bakery, worth visiting. Also some museums, a bouncy park, and other stufff.

The immediate area, the strip mall it’s in and the building itself, promote lots of exterior trash that no one picks up. A lot of trash, including scrap food, rotting in the corners. Pretty trash-strewn for anywhere I’ve been, but shockingly dirty for Iceland. And in case there’s some thought I hit a bad season or so on: Nope. There are piles of cigarette butts and leaf litter at least 2 years old. Weeds growing up out of the edges of things. It’s an overall level of attention...

We booked five nights in this apartment, a Superior Studio with balcony, in early July through Opodo/booking.com. This turned out to be front facing on the 4th floor. ||The host was extremely helpful sending us details with directions, transport and parking arrangements. Prior to check-in I was asked to send a copy of photo ID and a credit card (with the leading digits obscured). We arrived early and ended up being directed to a manager by the cleaning staff who showed us to the room. He apologised for the broken toilet lid saying that it was difficult to get it repaired immediately as it was holiday weekend. ||The room appeared as described on booking.com, grey walls and minimal black furniture, although it looks like it is ready for a makeover. The coffee maker turned out to be a cafetière, but otherwise the kitchen was sufficient for us to cook breakfast each morning, with a small 2-ring electric stove, refrigerator and a small microwave. Ventilation for this may be an issue as we had to evacuate one evening due to fire alarm and they do leave a notice to warn about cooking setting it off!||||Overall, lighting was rather poor, particularly in the bathroom. Curtails were adequate but not completely blackout. || ||The bed could have fared better. Poor quality sheet and pillows. Bathroom and walk-in shower very good (apart from the faulty toilet seat already mentioned), although minimal towels and toilet paper provided, the cleaning staff were happy to refresh these when we called in at the laundry in the basement.||||I would strongly recommend if you are parking, use the car park at the rear (shared with a beauticians). Although access is through the front door, the rear door is open during the daytime otherwise it is a short walk up some steps next to the Subway restaurant. The front CP is used by a constant stream of customers visiting the Krónan grocery store - I saw one customer damage another guest's rental car then drive off without leaving any details. The front CP is also untidy and some people may find this off-putting.||||The TV was rather small and very limited (British only!) TV channels. WiFi however was good so you could always take your Firestick or Chromecast if you really need to be watching TV. We did find it useful for replaying the videos we shot on the whale watching tour... WiFi measured at 20MBps down 3MBps up.||||There are several reasonably-priced restaurants locally, otherwise a good selection within 10 minutes drive (We recommend Ginger!)||||So not really a review but a collection of notes whilst they are still...

I definitely do not recommend this hotel; it is one of the worst hotel experience I’ve ever had. Check-in time was after 15:00, and when I arrived around 19:00, I saw two staff coming out of my room with suitcases and trash. When I called the hotel management to ask about the situation, they apologized and said the room cleaning wasn’t finished. About half an hour later, the staff left, and when I entered the room, I saw that it had not been cleaned at all. I also took photos of the room.

I called the hotel again, and this time they said they would move me to another room but that I would have to vacate that room by 12:00 the next day. Not wanting to sleep in a dirty room, I accepted and moved to the other room. Of course, since I would have to change rooms again the next day, I couldn’t unpack and settle in.

The next day came (which is today), and because I had work in the morning and might not be able to return by noon, I vacated the temporary room early to avoid causing issues for the hotel. I took my two suitcases and other belongings back to my original room and left the hotel. When I returned around 12:00, the room still hadn’t been cleaned. When I called again, they apologized and told me I needed to move back to the temporary room. Once again, I had to move all my belongings from the original room to the temporary one.

Meanwhile, the temporary room I had vacated had been cleaned after I leave, and I noticed that the room next to my original room was also being cleaned, yet my room had been completely neglected. I’m writing this now from the temporary room. I still have to change rooms again, so unfortunately, I haven’t been able to unpack my suitcases or settle in. I’ve only managed to take out my laptop.

I’m here for work, but I can’t even imagine if I had chosen this hotel for a 3-4 day vacation. Two full days would have been wasted on...