Norðurey Guesthouse — Hotel in Reykjavik

I stayed here for four nights ONLY because my positive Covid test, the day before my scheduled flight back to the U.S.A., required that I self-quarantine for five days before I could request a "Fit to Fly" Certificate to get on my return flight. Needing to quickly find a place to stay for several nights that was not too far from the BSI Terminal, I felt blessed that this place met my needs at a price that significantly less than other lodgings. Unfortunately, the number of negatives were simply too much for me to ignore. ||||Let me be clear: I am not fussy when it comes to sleeping accommodations. When I do wilderness backpacking, a roof over my head & an outhouse are luxuries for me. I knew this place had shared bathrooms but figured (correctly, I need to emphasize) it would not be a problem for me.||||First, the positives. Good location in a quiet neighborhood at a budget price. Warm, comfortable beds. Very clean rooms, including all common areas. Excellent wifi. Spotless kitchen had more utensils than I expected, with plenty of refrigerator space for your food; thus allowing you to save on meals. A hair dryer was in the room.||||Negatives.||Unless you are walking along the Snorrabraut sidewalk, with a good idea of where this place is -- it's right behind the bus stop, BTW -- you'll never see its sign. With a lack of street signs in the area, I can't say I'm surprised I got lost trying to find the place.||There is no elevator; it was not fun to carry my suitcase up a flight of stairs.||Check-in was not till 3pm, and there is no place to safely store your luggage. I've gotten used to mid-afternoon check-ins, but having to sit around till then is also not fun.||My room was supposedly designed for four people, but I see no way for more than two people to not trip over each other.||The paint on the white table was clearly coming off, and any attempt to move it resulted in its legs falling apart.||TV had ONLY Apple TV, meaning you must pay extra for anything you wanted to see. I enjoy watching news & free entertainment, but this was literally impossible.||The washing machine was broken while I was there. ANY ability to do laundry is a nice feature, and getting it free is a real treat. But not if it's unusable.||My room has radiator heat, meaning you have two choices: lots of heat or none at all.||||I must state that my biggest negative was lack of communication about getting a room key. All I got was an email message stating "Front door: xxxxxx" and "Room code: xxxxx". I've spent a lifetime training people how to use technology, often after I had to teach myself because of bad instructions, so I'm pretty good at figuring out how to get things to work. And I had no problem getting in the front door. But getting my room key took me almost fifteen minutes because there was nothing more about unlocking the box beyond the above words. I shouldn't have to email a request for instructions when I arrive at a lodging; they should be available before or at arrival.||||And I never was informed what to do when checking out. Put the key back in the lock box? Leave it in the room? Leave it in the door?||||Similar lack of instructions on how to use the TV -- I was able to figure this out, even if I concluded that I didn't want to spend $3 to watch 30 minutes of TV. And the dial to get heat from the radiator also had no instructions. Or the dishwasher. Or the laundry room. ||||Yes, I could -- and did -- use email to get answers. But writing out a list of instructions for download would have been a far better choice.||||If you're a small group who prefers budget lodging without much in the way of help on how to operate things like getting your room key, this is an excellent choice. But if you need a little more, be aware of the potential pitfalls...

We stayed for a week recently. We don't understand some of the previous negative reviews. The place is easy to find, well marked. It's fairly small with no on site receptionist but the check-in process is simple and clearly explained by email well in advance. While there is no one on site there is quick support via the phone - while we were there one customer had lost his check-in instructions but a phone call quickly fixed that. Another day the kitchen kettle broke - and it was replaced within 3 hours.||The building looks a bit run down from the outside but it's fine inside. Clean, warm and comfortable, with good facilities. And as for the people who reported poor cleaning - well that's not the case now. Good staff came in every day to clean all the common areas thoroughly.||The quality of stay can be affected by the behaviour of other guests, but the people who were there during our week were generally considerate. The walls are fairly the thick, the doors and windows are solid, and we weren't kept awake once. However we were on the top floor. The rooms on the second floor open directly onto the shared kitchen / dining area, and these could be more affected by other people.||There are sufficient toilets and showers, though it's sometimes necessary to go to another floor. The kitchen is on the small side for the number of guests and it's sometimes necessary to be a bit flexible about when you eat.||The location is good - comfortable walking distance from town and the airport bus station. There's free parking and a local bus stop right outside the door. There's an excellent hot pool within easy walking distance.||Best feature is the fully equipped kitchen. We were horrified at how expensive it has become to eat out in Iceland, so we made all our own food. Cheapest supermarket seems to be Bonus.||One suggestion - the kitchen could do with a few more posts and pans, so one group can be preparing food while...

Given how expensive a city Reykjavik is, I wanted to save some money by staying at a guesthouse, rather than a hotel. It was a mixed bag in the end.||||Positives:||- Immaculately clean||- Free Wifi||- Beautifully furnished communal kitchen area, with every appliance you could want.||- Full control of the heating in your room.||- Showers were nice and hot.||- Central location.||||Negatives:||- My key safe code was already entered on the key safe itself before I got there, so anybody could've gone into my room, or stolen the only key.||- Dishwasher didn't work.||- My TV didn't work.||- Tumble drier didn't work. Or rather, it tumbled, but that was about it. After putting it on three separate cycles over several hours and still having my clothes come out soaking wet, I finally gave up and had to dry them with a hairdryer! Because of this, I had to stay in for a good half of the day, as I couldn't go out in the clothes I had left (all the winter gear was what got washed). I missed a tour because of this that cost me £60. ||- Walls are thin, so you can hear the front door slam every time someone uses it. Someone also thought it'd be a great idea to have insanely loud sex at 7am, so that was a fun wake up call...||- The cleaner that came in the morning was SO LOUD and inconsiderate. Didn't stop talking on the phone (on loudspeaker), at a shrill, inhuman pitch the entire time she was here! It was like she saved every phone call she ever needed to make until arriving here and I could still hear her screeching from the top floor (I was sub level)! This jappened 3 times over a 7 day period and woke me up every single time! I had to shush her in the end; to her credit, she stopped.||||So don't get me wrong, there were positives, but yeah, I'm disappointed. Wasnt awful, but wasn't great either. Would I recommend it? Eh, maybe, depending on your budget, but at the end of the day, you get what...