ODDSSON Midtown hotel — Hotel in Reykjavik

I stayed in a quadruple room (2 single beds pushed together to make a king size(?) bed and a bunk bed) with my family in September.

The room: We were on the top floor, so we had a great view of the mountains in the distance from our window. The room was nice and warm when we arrived and we turned down the heating on the second day to make it more comfortable at night. The room was very clean, with a modern, spacious wet room. We did have to email in advance for our room code, but received a prompt response and had no trouble getting in. I found the key code to be a great alternative to a key card because it meant that we could all get in and out without having to ask for more keys/ borrow each others. I found the room to be very quiet considering we were in the capital city, but the ear plugs were a very nice touch. The shower worked beautifully, beds were comfortable and the mini fridge in our room came in handy. Housekeeping every other day was a really nice touch. We weren't used to that and I didn't expect it, given that it's not a fancy hotel. There was plenty of storage space given the size of the room and the USB ports by the bed were really useful.

Breakfast: The breakfast was incredible. I don't understand the negative reviews. Especially for a free breakfast in one of the most expensive countries to eat, I was amazed by the quantity and variety of food. There was fresh fruit (which, granted, isn't always quite ripe), pastries, a selection of bread and spreads, porridge, a selection of cereals and granola (which is delicious), make your own waffles, chia seed pudding with mango puree and more. There's plenty to choose from for vegetarians and vegans. For drinks there was a selection of teas, filter coffee or decaf, apple juice, orange juice, water, dairy milk (hot and cold) and oat milk. Staff were constantly cleaning and refilling everything.

Parking: There were 16 spaces in the car park, including one disabled bay (plus, there were always a couple of cars parked on the side, so 18 cars fit comfortably... or 20 very uncomfortably for anyone unlucky enough to enter at this point as we had the pleasure of finding out). We arrived late on our first night, so the car park was full but a member of staff was still around and advised us on where to park (the car park where Hagkaup is up the road was our go to if we couldn't get a space in the garage).

Staff: All the staff were really helpful and pleasant to talk to and just let us get on with our business unless we needed something.

Overall we had a great stay and would stay again and...

The customer service is rude and arrogant. The cleaning service is unprofessional. The rooms are poorly maintained and ridiculously designed. Nothing matches the price of more than 60 Euros per night in just a room-of-six. You could definitely find a better room with the money.

The disaster started at the time we booked 4 beds through the online portal Expedia. It marked a price of roughly 15 Euros per person per night, which looked insanely cheap and so we made a booking immediately. However, after securing the booking, an extra item appeared on the receipt: the "extra guest fee", which is 3 times the original price, and there was no way we could avoid it, because cancellation still entails payment in full.

Our stay was also unsatisfactory. We got a pair of flip-flops and a pair of trainers thrown away when the room was cleaned during the day. Naturally, we tried to complain at the front desk, but the hotel was simply indifferent to our complaints. No refund was ever offered, nor even a simple pair of slippers. They never replied to further emails of complaint either.

The rooms are also terribly designed. The electric sockets are insufficient. There is only one socket next to my bed in a room of six, and this socket is already occupied by the bedside lamp. Had I not bring a power strip, I would have to spend a night without electricity.

The lounge on the Ground Floor looks modern, as does the exterior façade, but don't be deluded. The rest of the building is just an ordinary hostel. The corridors are dark and damp. The bathrooms are equipped with a "eco-friendly" sensing device, which turned the lights off halfway through my shower. There are lockers in the bedrooms, but some of the door knobs are missing, so it was practically impossible to lock anything inside.

The only upside was the spacious kitchen. The four of us could enjoy ourselves cooking together without bumping into one another.

Overall, my experience at Oddsson Hostel was terrible and I would definitely never choose it again if I...

BEWARE: BAD MANAGEMENT - AVOID THIS HOTEL

In short: I highly recommend finding another hotel in this beautiful city for the same price. My experience there was HORRIBLE. For those interested, here is why:

Good: The hotel is new, yes it looks sharp and yes, it is clean. For those reason, I decided to book that hotel despite it being far from downtown. It just seemed like a charming place. The included breakfast is nice, despite the breakfast area being way too small and people having to wait in line.

But beyond the nice appearance, this is where our nightmare began: CRAZY amount of noise at 7:00AM several morning in a row, waking us up and preventing us to go back asleep Problem with the indoor car garage design (how the slope is made) that DAMAGED our rented vehicle, which did bring it fair share of stress. Not to mention lost a lot of time because of this (research, making sure everything would be ok) No fan in the bathroom: the WHOLE bedroom get extremely humid and stuffy after a 5 minutes shower. Imagine when 2 person need to shower. This was a real issue for us as our stay was far from comfortable there. Poor room service: dishes left dirty in the bedroom, towels not replaced.

We are not the type to make a huge fuss about issues encountered in a hotel, but the FACT that the management CLEARLY refused to accommodate us in any way during our stay OR after made us feel disrespected. Not only that, the management never took responsibility for the issue during our stay, and brushed off our complains saying "sorry, we cannot do accommodations for those issue".

Well let me just warn you: There is a chance that your stay here goes well and is enjoyable, BUT if you are one of those that get bad luck and end up with issues, YOU WILL REGRET TERRIBLY OF GOING THERE.

Find a better hotel. There is a lot of options in this beautiful town. Don't let the Oddsson ruin your trip to Iceland, one of the most beautiful country...