FX Hostel — Hotel in Funchal

If I could give 0 stars, I would. Worst hostel experience ever.

We stayed at FX Pena in Funchal during our vacation in Madeira, and unfortunately, it was an absolute disaster from beginning to end.

The positive rating on Booking.com is not trustworthy. Negative reviews are deleted by the owner. In our case, they even canceled our booking after our stay just to prevent us from leaving an honest review.

Here a few points that are worth mentioning:

Before booking, I contacted them directly about two things: our late-night arrival/check-in and the bed size. Both turned out to be complete lies. We had a package trip, so we reasonably expected to check in after arrival at the airport. Instead, they refused to let us in. We had to book another place for the first night out of our own pocket. The next day, although the room was ready and paid for since the day before, they still refused to let us enter before 14:00. Their exact words: "we should be happy they even let us in." That set the tone for the whole stay.

The owner promised us a 2-meter king-size bed. What we got was a tiny 1.40m bed, dirty and uncomfortable. The pillow under the cover was yellowed with age and even had blood stains, completely unacceptable.

At least 12 guests share just 2 bathrooms. Because of constant use, the humidity is unbearable, mold is everywhere, and the small bathroom window opens directly into the kitchen, so you hear and smell everything. Disgusting.

Guests are expected to clean up after themselves, but many don’t or not enough. The oven did not work correctly, the fridge was moldy, and food kept disappearing. Strangely, only our food disappeared — very suspicious considering the owner had ongoing conflicts with us.

The website claimed laundry was possible, but when we asked, the staff flat-out lied and told us no. The next guests, however, were able to wash their clothes for €5. On top of that, our shampoo mysteriously disappeared.

We don’t have high demands when we travel, but the combination of filth, lies, missing items, and the sheer hostility of the staff made us feel completely unwelcome.

👉 We’ve stayed at many hostels and budget places before, but this was by far the worst experience. Between the dishonesty, the unfriendliness, and the unhygienic conditions, I strongly recommend avoiding FX Pena at all costs. Madeira is beautiful, but do yourself a favor and stay...

We stayed at FX Pena in Funchal during our vacation in Madeira, and unfortunately, it was an absolute disaster from beginning to end.|The positive rating on Booking.com is not trustworthy. Negative reviews are deleted by the owner. In our case, they even canceled our booking after our stay just to prevent us from leaving an honest review.|Here a few points that are worth mentioning:|- Before booking, I contacted them directly about two things: our late-night arrival/check-in and the bed size. Both turned out to be complete lies. We had a package trip, so we reasonably expected to check in after arrival at the airport. Instead, they refused to let us in. We had to book another place for the first night out of our own pocket. The next day, although the room was ready and paid for since the day before, they still refused to let us enter before 14:00. Their exact words: "we should be happy they even let us in." That set the tone for the whole stay.|- The owner promised us a 2-meter king-size bed. What we got was a tiny 1.40m bed, dirty and uncomfortable. The pillow under the cover was yellowed with age and even had blood stains, completely unacceptable.|- At least 12 guests share just 2 bathrooms. Because of constant use, the humidity is unbearable, mold is everywhere, and the small bathroom window opens directly into the kitchen, so you hear and smell everything. Disgusting.|- Guests are expected to clean up after themselves, but many don’t or not enough. The oven did not work correctly, the fridge was moldy, and food kept disappearing. Strangely, only our food disappeared — very suspicious considering the owner had ongoing conflicts with us.|- The website claimed laundry was possible, but when we asked, the staff flat-out lied and told us no. The next guests, however, were able to wash their clothes for €5. On top of that, our shampoo mysteriously disappeared.|We don’t have high demands when we travel, but the combination of filth, lies, missing items, and the sheer hostility of the staff made us feel completely unwelcome.|👉 We’ve stayed at many hostels and budget places before, but this was by far the worst experience. Between the dishonesty, the unfriendliness, and the unhygienic conditions, I strongly recommend avoiding FX Pena at all costs. Madeira is beautiful, but do yourself a favor and stay...

We made a reservation at this hostel in Funchal for the past three nights, but we were extremely relieved to leave finally. When we booked the room, we considered the availability of a washing machine, private shower, and shared bathroom nearby (see a screenshot today showing a shower and a dryer). However, we never anticipated that we would be entering a student hostel with minimal amenities, outdated equipment, and an incredibly impolite owner.

It was evident to us that the girls working at the hostel were not in a friendly working environment, constantly under the watchful eye of their boss. When we tried to communicate with one of the girls, the owner completely disregarded us, speaking only in Portuguese to her as if we weren't even there. Despite his ability to speak English, he chose to be exceedingly rude.

The owner removed the mention of a washing machine from the advertisement after I had already booked the room, presumably due to past guest issues and charging for its use. It is absurd to charge for a service that is advertised as included. We had been in Madeira for two weeks and looked forward to washing our clothes. However, upon loading our laundry into the machine, we were unexpectedly asked to pay for its use and also charged extra for the dryer. Reluctantly, we paid the fee. To our dismay, the washing machine, set on an eco-program as is customary, was abruptly switched to a super quick program without any notice because the boss said an eco-program was too expensive. As a result, our clothes were left damp and inadequately cleaned.

Furthermore, our sleep quality was absolutely dreadful throughout our stay. The rooms were extremely noisy and unbearably hot, without any air conditioning. The only available option was a small, antiquated fan that emitted a deafening sound reminiscent of a loud vacuum cleaner. The heat was so unbearable that we resorted to keeping the fan on during the night, which caused us to wake up multiple times due to its disruptive noise.

We would strongly suggest against...