Hotel Borg by Keahotels — Hotel in Reykjavik

Arrival at the hotel by car, was one of the worst experiences we ever had, road in front of the hotel is closed, and no valet service.

Trash throughout the gravel area and planters. The carpet at the front entrance was torn from the edge, which made for a bad first impression.

Check-in was quick and simple with friendly service, but minimal orientation. The elevator was stainless steel, and larger than the standard European ones. However, anyone who owns stainless appliances, knows that it takes constant cleaning. We observed a handprint on the wall, that was still there when we departed several days later (there was actually three prints by then). Upon leaving the elevator, the only thing decorative was the hardware and the carpet. There was nothing wrong with the hardware, as it falls into the general theme of the décor. However, the carpet was plain out disgusting; stained all over for several meters from the elevator (this condition stayed the same throughout our stay).

Our room was clean, spacious (for European standards), and elegant, but not very user friendly. The desk was cluttered by the coffee station, desk lamp, and hotel book (which was moveable to… the bed). The closet was large enough for a one – two night stay and came with a safe and a stocked refrigerator. The hotel did honor our request for a high floor, but apparently didn’t realize that this implies a “View”. Our view consisted of windows of other buildings in all directions, and a metal roof below. Our Balcony was a 6-8” ledge. Bed was very comfortable. There were a couple of minor maintenance issues, but nothing major. One of the outlets would not accept the round plugs, and there was some scuffed wall near one of the night stands with the paint still attached to the stand. The light switches in the room were definitely something that should either be marked, or covered during an orientation (which this hotel doesn’t have).

The Borg Restaurant has been closed for several months, but they do serve a buffet breakfast in a ballroom. The quality and service for the buffet were equivalent to a low-end, all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean. We went to the Radisson the next morning to draw a direct comparison for the same price, and yes, the Borg buffet is in comparison low-end in both quality and especially service.

Housekeeping overall was disappointing. Empty glasses in room not being cleaned, elevator walls, and carpets. One day we approached the elevator on the lobby level when a janitor was mopping the floor in the area. Not only did he not acknowledge us with a smile or greeting, but he was coming closer and mopping around our feet while we were waiting on the elevator.

There is no actual Concierge at the hotel. Those duties are part of the two-person front desk, which were overwhelmed at times. Not once during our stay did we see anyone else besides front desk or cleaning personnel.

We did pay attention to the noise levels around the hotel area, since we had read several reviews about noise issues. Between Sunday and Wednesday, there was no noise issue at all in the area. Thursday night it did pick up a little in the bar area around the park until midnight. However, we were told by many locals (including staff) that the area around the hotel becomes extremely loud on Friday and Saturday nights.

The location downtown Reykjavik is great, as restaurants, bank, grocery store, liquor store, and night life, can all be found within a three to five-minute walk. However, when traveling by car, this is one of the worst locations, as the hotel has neither Valet, nor hotel parking.

Even though the hotel was originally built as a luxury hotel, it is far away from falling into that category. Boutique hotel would be a much better categorization for the Borg; it has beautiful art deco throughout some of the hotel, but lacks services and conveniences found in...

We recently took a trip to Iceland (our second). My mother-in-law recently retired after working in a retirement facility providing end-of-life care for hundreds of patients over the years. We took her on this trip as a 'bucket list' item.

Initially, we had booked with Apotek (next door to the Borg Hotel). Several days before arrival, we were informed that Apotek would not be open and all reservations would be moved to Borg Hotel.

We're understanding, in the time of COVID, last minute adjustments are to be expected. Borg Hotel had great reviews and the building looked charming.

We booked directly through Apotek as full-paying customers. We did not use any 'deal' sites or any other discounts.

Upon arrival, check-in was fairly busy (to be expected, many US flights arrive in the AM hours). Check-in was relatively easy and the staff was polite.

We arrived to our rooms to find ourselves somewhat disappointed. My mother-in-law's room was likely the smallest room in the hotel. The only view offered was the back-side of the neighboring building.

My partner and I checked into our room, which was larger but had a neighboring coffee shop patio directly outside the window, offering all guests full visibility to our room if we wanted something as foolish as open curtains.

We pre-paid for breakfast with Apotek, having ate their in the past and enjoyed the experience. Borg offered a breakfast as well and had our reservations moved directly over. The cost was ~60 USD and the breakfast had a decent selection, but nothing to write home about. Having to have the choice again, we would have simply gotten breakfast and coffee out and about, but it was nice to have a 'home base' to have breakfast and visit.

We also found that the bar and restaurant was closed for remodel. It was unfortunate to have the hotel with the fully operational bar and restaurant as the hotel they chose to have closed during this time period. Instead of having a nice bar with great food and a nice area to have a drink in the evening, we were left without an option in our hotel.

It was also a bit upsetting to be given 'leftover' rooms as full paying customers whereas you can imagine folks booking through discount sites (TripAdvisor, Hot Deals etc) being given the rooms with the good views and better layouts.

Overall, the staff was very kind and patient, but I just can't give the hotel a good review based on the overall experience. We had to deal with moving from a hotel we really loved to a hotel we were unsure about, we were given lesser rooms, we were not given any special accommodations for the inconvenience (other than a few lattes that we thought were gratis, but were charged for them at check-out), we paid full price for Apotek's breakfast and substituted with a lesser experience and we just felt like there was no reason to ever visit the hotel again.

That being said, if you do book through various deal sites, I highly recommend this hotel as they will treat you as well as any other customers that may have paid more for their stay.

In the end, I'm going to go with another hotel group. We had stayed with Canopy by Hilton last time and the prices were roughly the same, the breakfast was unbelievable and the rooms and views were more pleasant.

I feel Keahotels had an opportunity to make a lifelong customer (as we plan to return every few years) but instead we're going to be booking with someone else in the future and simply cannot give any sort of recommendation for most others to stay here.

I would have gone one star, but I feel that would have been unfair to the staff who was kind and attentive and not given much time to adjust to Apotek reservations moving last-minute. They are the reason I added a second...

I never thought I'd have an issue with a "4 star hotel", but here we are. The staff were all very friendly and helpful. The location downtown was great (other than what is noted below), being able to walk anywhere was wonderful. I think this could be a very nice stay if there were some fundamental operating changes.

The hotel was incredibly noisy. I imagine part of this is due to the age and design. When anyone around us would move a piece of furniture it was incredibly loud, exacerbated by the wooden floors. The hotel is also located next to a night club/bar, which played loud music till 1 AM some days. Challenging to sleep when hear all the bass, and we used a white noise machine and ear plugs with minimal success. The back of the elevator was on the other side of the wall in our room, which makes putting a room there a real poor choice in my mind. If you are a late night person, or adjust your schedules accordingly, you could offset some of these issues.

The shower design is kind of neat, but not deep enough, so water splashes out all over the bathroom. Better pumps for the soap are needed, it barely spurts out, and you need to be right underneath them to catch it.

We visited the spa downstairs twice on two different evenings. Though we were alone both times, there were towels, robes, and cups strewn everywhere, not to mention the water. We counted around a dozen cups one time. Not sure why things weren't cleaned up more.

They ran out of washcloths while we were there. I don't even know what to say about that other than it's pretty pathetic for a hotel. They gave us a towel to use instead, which was so bizarre. They said they make sure we got washcloths when they had them, we never got them.

There was trash all over outside the hotel entrance. The entire city was incredibly dirty but I would have thought a business would at least try and keep it's own space a little nicer.

There's no hotel parking, which I think they should be more upfront about mentioning. The garages aren't 24/7, so that could limit you depending on your plans.

I think it's pretty fraudulent to purport to be a 4 star hotel and deliver an experience like...