El Josemari Youth Hostel — Hotel in Palma

Let me start by saying I have never ever given a bad review to a hostel, but this one was extremely disappointing. To be honest I’m kinda amazed that it has an 8.4 rating, because everyone I talked to at the hostel agreed that it’s far from good. I stayed in the female only/6pax room and this is the most expensive hostel I’ve ever stayed in, but I wanted to treat myself a little bit. The old door of my room (with 8 glass windows in it), was extremely noisy to open and close and there was no separate window. It would either be way too hot (AC turned off) or a bit too cold (AC turned on). There was no in between.

There are only 2 toilets on the first floor and 2 on the second floor (both 1 for men/1 for women). There are no toilets on the ground floor. This is far from enough. Also, the toilets are usually extremely dirty. Many times I noticed there was no toilet paper, sometimes the toilets wouldn’t even flush, because the hostel ran out of water for some reason. This was also an issue at the showers of course. I heard several stories of people taking a shower and the water would just stop running halfway through. Many of the shower heads are also broken, so you’d have to hold it while washing yourself.

The kitchen is also very unhygienic. Of course people should just clean up after themselves, but in the end the hostel is responsible for making sure the place stays clean. Threatening your guests with a note stating that there is a camera in the kitchen obviously isn’t working. At the end of the day SOMEONE needs to clean the mess that’s left behind. You can’t just leave it there. That’s what they did tho. The same dishes and food waste just stayed in the sink the entire time. There’s only one kitchen towel and during my entire it was only replaced once. The old one was disgusting! The 2 sponges haven’t even been replaced and those were practically falling apart. Also, there are no glasses, not enough utensils/plates and sometimes the bins just weren’t emptied. There is a seating area, but that’s also a bar. So when I wanted to drink my wine, that I bought at a bodega, I asked them for an empty wine glass, since there are no glasses in the kitchen. I was rudely told by the guy behind the bar that I can’t come into the bar with a bottle of alcohol and it’s illegal to drink my own alcohol in their seating area (even the smaller part that’s outside of the bar). This is literally the only seating area of the hostel! So I drank my expensive wine, from a plastic cup, in the park.

I only have 3 relatively minor positive notes: The capsules/bed were very comfortable, private, and the curtains block out any light. Most of the staff was friendly. The location is nice.

Definitely not worth the money tho. My advice: book another hostel. There are plenty better ones in...

I've stayed in a lot of hostels before, but something about this one just fit the bill perfectly. First off I thought my friend was taking me on a scenic route before inevitably driving me to a less picturesque area and pushing me out of his car. I was wrong. Got dropped off outside one of the most amazing stone cathedrals I've ever seen in my life, opposite a lovely square that played host to a fantastic free gig put on by the local cultural centre later on the Saturday: just what the doctor ordered! As I got out of the car a horse drawn carriage sauntered around the corner before revealing a cyclist centric coffee shop behind it (also lovely staff + great coffee at a fair price) and I knew I was somewhere special. I was immediately welcomed by the nicest staff I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. I will also say, considering how demanding I've seen some of the guests and local patrons be, they kept their cool at all hours, regardless of the sweltering heat. I don't know how they did it at points to be honest. I would've flipped my lid. It's nice to be nice and manners cost nothing. There's a great supermarket just round the corner. Loads of lovely bars and restaurants in the area. And if you really want to go owt out, there's an area down the seafront that will definitely cater to your needs. Not usually a fan of 128bpm four to the floor clubs, but you know what, I really enjoyed the one I went to - 2 female djs (which makes a bloody change) absolutely smashed it and even interacted with what turned out to be a surprisingly lovely crowd. And if you want a singalong, go to Shamrocks - great house cover band doing everything from Elvis Presley to Radiohead. The rooms themselves are in my opinion how a hostel should be set up. Why more places don't give you any privacy in a room of 20 people is beyond me. But here you basically have an enclosed wooden cubby hole (think IKEA but better) with a small safe, (the perfect amount of) shelves, hangers and an actual curtain to pull if you've just had enough of everyone. You're also allowed to use the lockers either side of your stay, which is how it should work everywhere. The food in the bar is great for what it is and while at first I was a bit perplexed by the lack of group activities (bar crawls and such), if you can't strike up a conversation with someone without downing a pint of bitter first, maybe hostels aren't for you. I'll be sad to go, but know I'll be back. My only regret is writing this review, as I don't want too any people discovering this absolute gem. All my love to the...

I had an overall great stay here (3 nights) and greatly recommend this place. Since many parts of this will be found in specific sections below I will just point out what was really good and what needs improvement here: Firstly, the 24h service is an extreme plus and works well. The service desk and employees were available whenever I needed them. They were really helpful and friendly. Mauro at the service desk was clearly a key to my successful vacation, as he went to great length to acommodate my needs and answer any and all questions I had. Every other employee I met (mostly cleaning staff) was also incredibly nice and accomodating. Pretty much everyone spoke english, though not perfectly.

What (in my opinion) could use improvement are the recommendation slides prepared by the hostel. They are meant to be a help/orientation about different activities and (importantly) restaurants. While the intention is very nice, those did not help me when looking for opportunities to eat out, as they did not offer any further information than a list of names of restaurants and the general cuisine offered there. I personally would have loved to get extra information like price ranges, short explanations on what is good/bad about the location and opening hours. The way it was now, I could just as well use google maps and type in whatever cuisine I was looking for.

Another important note (I will note it below as well) is that the close by cafe rents out city bikes for 10€/24 hours which was an absolutely VITAL INFORMATION to me. I would love to see a cooperation between the hostel and the cafe, as finding out about the offer and renting such a bike increased the quality of my stay tenfold. I spoke to other people staying there and most were surprised and would have loved to know that as well.

To put it in a nutshell - This hostel offers an amazing price for what you get and I can't recommend it enough. On the information front, improvements could be made but other than that there is not really anything I can complain about. The staff is really nice and professional. 9,5/10 should visit.

Greetings from Cologne to the whole team, especially to Mauro.

PS: As I did not know where to add this - there is a communal living room, which is spacious and allows to get to know other guests of the hostel or...