Lazemaze Hostel — Hotel in Krakow

Not bad - I've stayed in much better. Good location and generally the girls working at the reception are efficient and professional and SOMETIMES friendly. The Free breakfast and free evening meals make this actually very good value BUT and these are actually quite serious negative points and I would STRONGLY suggest that management reply to the email I sent them asap which was in response to an email they sent me asking for my feedback, but the feedback form was very general and did not cover certain aspects of a person's stay, so it was rather pointless to send this out. I did not like at all the daily evening drinking games, which turned the common room area into a noisy chaos and obviously unsuitable for anybody who didn't want to participate, so this hostel is completely unsuitable for families and private rooms, if the common room is taken over by drunken, immature teenagers. Why does the hostel want to encourage drinking games? For what reason. The girls from the hostel who were doing this , were doing it everynight because this was part of their job. Not because they liked to. How old do you need to be to enjoy drinking games? Surely by the age of 20 drinking 'games' get a little boring? So it seemed the hostel management see these 'drinking games' as a necessary component of operate a good youth hostel. 'this what the decadent youth from the west like'. Anyway I didn't particularly like the way that the hostel common lounge area looked like a mess with food, bottles all over the place in the evenings when they'd all ready gone out and not bothered to clear their mess up before. If the hostel staff are organising these drinking games then they should also be responsible for clearing it up.

So if you like hanging out with immature mostly English speaking (American, Canadian, Australian) teenagers whose idea of visiting Poland or visiting Krakow is ticking off going to Auschwitz and then spending the evening getting drunk with their friends instead of actually exploring the city and meeting polish people this might be the place for you to stay. It was also rather embarrassing going out to a pub, organised by a one of the staff members with guests from the hostel - super drunk and loud and rude Australians distubing the relative peace of the bar and getting some dirty looks from some of the locals.Why do the staff members have to do this, so the hostel gets better reviews from guests? So it's a management directive that guests should get drunk - better for the reviews.. I also didn't particularly like the way that various members of the hostel management team would be sitting with their laptops for long periods of time in the hostel common areas...This doesn't create a nice atmosphere, especially as they seemed so very distant with a complete.lack of interaction between themselves and the guests. Not even a hello or good morning. If you're going to be working like this, then you need to be actuslly in an office NOT part of the common area of the hostel.

Another example of something quite irritating and bizarre was staff and management constantly putting on very commercial 'pop' music and on the TV, the cartoon channel. This seemed to be a hostel management policy...'.this is the music that these people like and they love watching the cartoon channel' . Maybe if you're 16 years old, but really who decides these things.

I remember a particulary bizarre incident, I was sitting in the lounge area..Nice and quiet music, I'm the only one. A female staff member comes into the room and decides that she'll put some music on.

Why did she do this? Is this a management directive? Super impolite. She didn't think I was happy with no music? She didn't think at all. All she understood was that there was no music and that according to the instructions she's been given in her hostel 'training', there must always be playing some irritating pop/rock music...This creates a good hostel...

(Stayed in May 2017)

It was my first time staying in a hostel and I'm glad it was at the Mosquito Hostel. It was like staying at a hotel; the facility was organized, tidy and clean. The location of the hostel is convenient. It is within 10 minute walk to the Kraków Główny central train station, which you can take to/from the airport. A grocery store and 24hr liquor store is located in front of the building, and there is a nice bakery next door (Nakielny kawiarnia) to grab a snack. It is located on the edge of the Old Town. It is within 5 min walk to the Kraków Barbican (gate), which is the beginning of the "Royal Walk" towards Rynek Główny main square and St. Mary's Basilica (10 min walk), and ends at Wawel Castle. The Kazimierz (Jewish District) was a further walk than I expected (25-30 min).

The staff is friendly. They host events every evening and sometimes cooked dinner in the common room, which allowed me to meet a lot of other solo travellers. If you want to continue to party, the staff offered to take you to Krakow's local bars every evening. I enjoyed the fact that this hostel wasn't entirely a party hostel. There were fun activities and drinking, but I was also able to get rest every night.

There is an added BONUS of free laundry service and breakfast every day. Breakfast consisted of tea/coffee, cereal, yogurt, fruit, bread, cold cut meats and cheese. They also offer to store your luggage prior to check-in and after you check-out if you want to sightsee before leaving.

Communication with the hostel was great! They have a 24/7 reception, so someone will promptly answer any questions you have before and during your stay. The check-in procedure went smoothly. I reserved through their website, which was cheaper than third party websites and more flexible with selecting rooms. You need to provide a non-refundable deposit of 6 PLN and pay the remaining amount upon arrival. When you arrive, you are given a tour of the facilities and are provided with a map of the city and recommendations for where to eat and what to see. They also provide tours to Auschwitz Concentration Camp and the Wieliczka Salt Mines. Bring your student card for a discount! I highly recommend booking a tour to Auschwitz with them because it includes transportation (private shuttle) and a guided tour of Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II (Birkenau) camps.

I stayed in a "Private Double Bed Room with a Shared Bathroom" for one night. The room was simple, with a small table for a lamp, a large shelf for storage, and several outlets to charge electronics. The room was a decent size for 1-2 people; there was enough room to move around and open my suitcase. The beds were fairly comfortable and are an actual North American sized double bed. The pillows were too thin for me. The only CON is that the room is next to the entrance and reception so you can easily hear people enter/exit the hostel or talk in the hallway. Definitely bring earplugs!

The shared female bathrooms had two showers and three toilets, each in a private stall. There is another single shower and toilet available for use. The bathroom was thoroughly cleaned every morning and was well maintained throughout the day. I didn't have any issues using the bathroom because everyone had different showering schedules.

I also stayed in a "Private Double Bed Room with a Private Bathroom" for one night. The room was similar to the "Private Double Bed Room without a Bathroom". It was spacious for 1-2 people, with lots of storage space, outlets, and there was even room for a small couch and table to do work on. The private bathroom had a large shower and was clean. Once again, the only CON is that it is located next to the hallway so you can hear people's footsteps or talking. Bring earplugs!

Overall, I highly recommend booking the Mosquito Hostel because it is a great value for the location, cleanliness and...

READ BEFORE BOOKING If you need a quick night for an affordable price in quite a good spot this might be the hostel for you BUT for much longer than a night I would not recommend at all and this is why

-No physical staff/receptionist, quite confusing checkin and nobody to ask for help or provide any direction. Honestly made me feel a little unsafe in the building. -The building and hostel itself felt a little sketchy to us, dark hallways and old appliances and bathroom. A little creepy especially at night if you need to use the bathroom or kitchen -The bathroom specifically the women’s was quite bad, the shower drain was clogged and it would start flooding within a minute or two so you had to shower fast. No towels/hand towels/bath mats/soap anything provided. -privacy was a huge issue for me personally in the bathroom as there was just a shower curtain no door or lock so anybody could walk in or pull the curtain open during showering -the hostel itself was quite dirty as well, if you walked on the ground barefoot your feet would be black, I’m not really sure the common spaces got cleaned at all. -not a fault of the hostel but it seemed to attract some strange people and loud people as well. Some Super inconsiderate people in the dorms and the walls are paper thin so it was very bothersome trying to sleep.

All in all I would not recommend this hostel, the owners need to put more work into making it liveable I can’t even believe they charge much at all to stay here without any effort into...