Bus Hostel Reykjavik — Hotel in Reykjavik

Bus Hostel is a nice stay if you are looking for a bed. Beyond that, there’s not much. If you have stayed at Bus Hostel prior to the last 6 months or so, I would not recommend staying here again. Do not refer to Bus Hostel’s website for accurate information regarding the hostel. The information on the website is outdated and false as of today, November 3rd 2018.

I stayed here in September of 2016 and had a completely positive and heartwarming experience, which led me to my 8-night stay booking for this trip. I wholly regret having made the booking, although even if I had looked on the website I would not have been made aware of the “new” hostel. Here are some major points:

The cozy common room that once contained numerous couch furniture, art, and a piano are now all gone. Some of the art and furniture still exists, but it is not in the common room and most of it is not near any power outlets. The common room now has a new welcome desk which occupies about 25% of the old common room space and has resulted in the removal of the bar and café area. All of the furniture has been replaced with 4 high tables and several high chairs. The space feels like that of a sterile hospital room. Power outlets are very difficult to locate and only exist near certain pieces of furniture with little room for anyone else. As I write this, I am using one of the only outlets in the common room near furniture.

The employees no longer have helpful suggestions for sights to go see in the country. This is because it appears Bus Hostel has either paired up with or extended to create some entity called “Reykjavik Sightseeing”. If you stayed here before, you might remember the ~50-100 pamphlets on the wall in the welcome area that gave patrons endless options for things to do in the city and country. These are now all gone. If you want to do something and ask the hostel for recommendations, you will very likely be referred to this internal tour service.

Some of the personnel are accommodating, but certainly not all. As I sat here I can overhear a hostel employee calling a customer he has just hung up with “entitled” for having missed their pickup with Reykjavik Sightseeing due to some element of confusion. Whether it was justified or not, it gives off the impression that the employees are here to make money for the hostel, nothing more. That said, I did have some positive interactions with one or two of the employees. Bus Hostel is evidently a tour service that also has beds.

There is no more breakfast. You can buy some snacks and Skyr from the vending machine for 350 isk (approx $2.88 USD).

I wish I could give Bus Hostel higher than a 1-star review, but I cannot. If their website actually reflected the current state of the hostel, I would give it 2 or maybe 3. Granted, I will admit my review is emotionally biased due to my previous stay here. I will also note that the hostel is currently undergoing renovations. However, the website’s photos and some of its statements are blatant false advertising. Do not stay here if you are looking for the typical heartwarming experience that you can find in nearly all hostels or Airbnb’s throughout the rest of the city and country. I stayed here because two years ago Bus Hostel gave me what I considered to be a unique and wonderful experience. This is no longer the case. I did not break my booking, but I stayed in the hostel for as little time as I possibly could and made other accommodations for the majority of my stay, reserving Bus Hostel as a last-resort backup.

Some positive points:

The hostel is remarkably clean. The wash closets are always clean. Cleanliness is clearly a priority of the staff. The kitchen is also well equipped.

If anyone has conflicting or amending information please tell me so I may...

I stayed here for over two weeks when i first moved to Reykjavik and overall I was satisfied with the accommodations. I stayed in a ten person room, which means the bunk beds are pretty crammed in there (but I've stayed in far more cramped hostels, by far). Unfortunately, they do charge extra for blankets, so bring your own linens/blanket or sleeping bag (and towel for the washroom), if you have space to carry them. There is not a ton of storage space in the rooms, except for under the bed (if your bag fits). I never had anything stolen, but my friend who stayed there around the same time had her sneakers lifted from the communal pile. You can get a key to lock up your valuables in an in-room locker. There is designated space in the kitchen for your food, but it's all on the honor system. There could have been more dish soap, but the kitchens were cleaned and kept rather nicely as far as hostels go. The bathrooms were also very clean, but it is a bit of a drag to wait for one of the gender-specific single bathrooms to open up in the morning when everyone is leaving at the same time. There just weren't enough bathrooms for everyone staying. If you can leave a bit later in the morning, this is a non-issue. You can also go to other floors looking for an open bathroom. It is reasonable rate-wise, as far as budget accommodations go in Reykjavik. It is very accessible to the University, and conveniently located to the Immigration Office (which is right next door) for new students who cannot yet get into their school year housing and who need to handle residence permit issues. It's not close to any of the cheap grocery stores. There are some small shops in the neighborhood, but the prices are steep compared to just walking to one of the Bonus's downtown. It is only a twenty minutes walk to Laugavegur. The closest bus stop was for the hospital (Landspitalinn). It is also not a terribly far walk to the mall (Kringlan) which also has a grocery shop. Bus Hostel is even more convenient if you have access to a bike since there are lots of good cycling paths connecting everything I've mentioned. The paths and sidewalks are good to both Haskoli Islands (University of Iceland) and Reykjavik University. I'd recommend this hostel for arriving students and for backpackers passing through for a few nights who need a clean place to crash. Also, it's a great place to meet new people, due to the set up of the cafe space downstairs, the kitchens, and the...

Basing this review on the fact I had to cancel my stay here due to how they treated my situation. I have restricted mobility so when booking my room on their website I selected the one that said "single bed" when the rest said bunk bed since I wouldn't be able to make it to a top bunk given my mobility issues. After booking i emailed them to confirm its a single bed/bottom bunk at least, and somebody called Matteo replied to me an hour later saying that they can't guarantee beds as they don't allocate beds, and that I'd need to pay 20,000 ISK just to be guaranteed a single bed and the only night they had availability for this was one night halfway through my stay. I found it really unfair how I had to be around £130 out of pocket just to meet my needs for only 1 night when all they could do is allocate a bed on this occasion simply to accommodate my needs. I took a few days to reply to his email because I was trying to find alternative accommodation within my budget and which could accommodate my needs. When I finally replied to him and apologised for the delay in response, emphasised the stress the situation was causing me and asked if I could give them my check-in time and maybe only then could they maybe allocate me a bed, they ignored me. That email was now 10 days ago and I still have had no response from them. I have had to cancel staying with them because if that is how they handle my situation and needs online, then I can't bear to imagine how it would be in person. This hostel is ableist for doing so, and they took no accountability for false advertising on their website either. I'm glad I won't be staying here anymore and have found accommodation which, unlike Bus Hostel, actually consider my needs and don't make me feel like such a burden for having specific needs. Absolutely disgusting behaviour to just flat out ignore a customer for not wanting to allocate her a bed to accommodate her...