Downtown Guesthouse Reykjavik - Reykjavík

Lucie S.

I strongly advise against this. The apartment was without heating, as were the kitchen and bathroom. I think when it feels like -15° outside, you can turn the heating up to at least 1 to welcome guests.
What's more, the kitchen was dirty. I wanted to make myself a coffee and to my great surprise, it was impossible. I enclose a photo. The bathroom leaked, and the tap was broken. In itself, it's not very serious as you can still use it, but it's a lot... to finish, the blind doesn't close all the way down, so all night long you have the lights from the street lamps outside... it's super.... !
Apart from the great location, I wouldn't recommend this accommodation for this price... it's better to pay a bit more but be well accommodated (I guarantee it).

Julie I. A. A. P. B.

On the downside, it's all pretty basic and the owners aren't very responsive - I had to email on the day of arrival to beg for the door code that should have been emailed more than 24 hours ago and despite warning them first when I booked and then again when I asked for the code that I'd be arriving around 2am (having previously stayed here and knowing the system), my room card had been removed from the key safe and the room put up for last minute availability - by pure luck, it hadn't been sold between me not arriving by 10pm and me arriving at 2.30am so I was able to identify my room and move in, and everything was fine. How they knew I hadn't arrived, I don't know - in the week I was there, I never once saw staff at reception.

On the other hand, you're not going to get a better location for the price, the kitchen has everything you could need and it's very warm. Tour/airport bus stop 3 is right outside, it's a five minute walk to Harpa and a two minute walk to the shopping street. You're not going to get any frills or fancies here but I've stayed twice and, knowing exactly what to expect, I'd stay again.

Fernando D.

The negative reviews are true. I booked a room for 1 night here on the day of.

When I arrived at the guesthouse, no one there to assist and owner was extremely slow to respond. Only wanted to communicate via text and not over voice call. The key that was supposed to be left for my room was nowhere to be found.

Had to end up canceling and finding a new spot.

Be aware that if you have issues checking in here then you are on your own. The service is below 1 star.

The guesthouse itself is also very rundown. Just from viewing the lobby and bathrooms I could tell that it would be an unpleasant stay. Very dirty and smelly. Location is the thing it has going for it.

Eduardo G.

Se pidió una habitación con baño privado y cobraron igual, pero nos dieron una habitación en pésimo estado y con baño compartido. El dueño no fue capaz de reconocerlo y devolver el dinero, es decir, el dueño se robó el dinero. Además, con los reclamos que se le hizo terminó ignorando y bloqueandonos, una pena de persona. NO LO RECOMIENDO. Psdt: al menos limpia la habitación antes de entregarla. Y no es para dañar su negocio, es porque yo estuve ahí y tuve que irme a otro hotel porque en el suyo no nos dieron lo que ofrecieron

Chrissy S.

Our stay at Downtown Guesthouse was complex, so I want to give it a careful and considered review. The TL;DR/ short version: don’t expect any support if you have trouble checking in, or any other issues. The place is an okay place to stay, at best - 4 of 10 stars. Management and hosts are non-existent. Make sure you get an emailed code sent to you before arrival: I still don’t have one - more on that later.
-- Before the “host” can respond to this review, let me point out, they trash anyone who writes this type of review as if it is the guest's fault they did not receive a code. Since the automated system through Expedia must be flawless, the guest is lying if they say they did not receive it. (See reviews from March 12 and March 6, 2024. )
I called the property contact number - could not even leave a message. I messaged via Expedia, I texted the property directly. Expedia is not the organization that never responded to me, a stranded traveler outside their establishment. That non-response rests squarely on the shoulders of Floki and Delve - the apparent hosts.
-- Our overall stay was fine. I mean it is essentially a bed and a shower, right? So how much is there to review? “Guesthouse” implies you are a guest. And as a guest, I expected some form of “host”, Please know. There is no host here. Even Hostels have more support for travelers than this “guesthouse “
I would say the best part about the “Guesthouse” was that I could discern no bedbugs with my standard blacklight bedbug check. But that was after I was able to help release my husband from the bathroom. He became stuck when the door did not slide on the track correctly, so rather than just slide the door open, one has to (from the interior of the bathroom) lift the door to get the track to engage again.
Here is the annotated details of my star rating:
1. Price: * 5 out of 10 stars. Reykjavik is simply the most expensive city I have ever been in. So the price was lower than most others, however the value was exponentially lower. If you think the cost of visiting Iceland on a long lay-over is worth it, then do yourself a favor and spend the extra. $125 -$200 (17.000 to 27.500 ISK at the time of this review) for a real hotel.
2. Location —- no rating. There are a lot of hotels in this area, so location is not a relevant rating.
3. Amenities and facilities. 2 of 10 stars. We had an en suite bathroom, thank goodness. It was well worn. The shower head leaked and gave a maddening drip drip. But by laying the shower head in the drain we eliminated the noise.  The room itself was basically the two economy bed frames with a foam topper on each, two cafe chairs and a shower.  Not too much to get excited about. But as to the shared kitchen? Meh. Fridge with other people’s food, and a kind of make-your- way-to-your-own-cup-of- coffee vibe. Guests were considerate and there was no mess from other tenants/ guests.
4. Cleanliness: 8 of 10 stars. Shout out to the sweet woman doing housekeeping. The room, as spare as it was, had very clean sheets and well made beds. The bathroom is worn, but I believed it to be clean.
5. Communication, check-in and management: multiple negative stars.
I thought that for $410 for two nights we would expect to have access to a code to let us into the host-free building. Or to have the phone call answered when we called the property to get instructions to access the building. Or to have my emailed message replied to, or when receiving a text finally from the property, to have it say more than “please text me”. And when I do text said number, I would expect a reply. Any reply. Like “hello” or “sorry for the trouble, here is the code to get in” or “kiss my a, or “go to h*)
Instead: crickets.

Pavan P. M.

ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE. PLEASE DO NOT VISIT THIS EVER. If there was a way i could give it 0.0001, I would
Firstly, I tried to enter the pin they provided and the main doors wouldn't open. I tried multiple times before contacting the owner and the owners took their own time to respond by when I had left. The owners responded saying that I had to push the door hard.

I returned later at night to check in again , there was a key on the key stand with my name on it. I went into the room and to my horror, I found the room uncleaned after the previous set of people left. The mattress was crumpled and there was a slightly wet used towel thrown on the table and used tissues were thrown about in the bathroom.
There was nobody in the reception and I messaged the owners again but like always, they were unresponsive. I asked for a refund and they didn't care to even respond. I sent photos of the room too
I had to find another apartment at 10:30 PM hoping they will have decency to respond in the morning but they didn't. I messaged again in the morning asking if I could check in and again, no response.
I tried my luck in the afternoon and the same hard door was a problem but somehow managed to get in but surprise, surprise, the state of the room was how it was 18 hours ago and nobody in the reception and the owners are unresponsive.

I booked the room for 3 nights and paid close to 450 euros when I never spent more than a minute in the room.
I don't know if I am going to get a refund from these guys but I hope this review hurts them enough.

Edit: I never got the refund and I see that the owners reek of extreme arrogance and you can see from their responses to all the negative reviews.

César S.

El guesthouse está muy anticuado y necesita una reforma. Aunque en las fotos parecía decente, y eso esperábamos, las habitaciones dejaban mucho que desear y no eran nada acogedoras. La cama y almohadas eran muy incómodas, las sábanas eran muy viejas, había un olor a humedad permanente que no se iba aunque abriéramos las ventanas, probablemente por la moqueta. El baño muy anticuado y también con malos olores, parecía que venían de las cañerías. La ducha daba asco, el surtidor de agua estaba totalmente oxidado y sucio, preferí no ducharme.
Eso sí, la ubicación era buena, muy céntrico.

Álvaro F. R.

El mejor alojamiento en el centro de Reykjavik. Se encuentra en pleno centro, con todas las atracciones, comercios y restaurantes a mano y a un precio realmente económico. Tiene buena zona para aparcar, pero has de tener en cuenta que se trata de la zona P1 (la más cara). Muy tranquilo, con unas habitaciones bien cuidadas y cómodas (unas con baño privado y otras no). Dispone de una cocina compartida muy bien equipada, ideal para preparar los aperitivos para las exursiones. Muy recomendable. La recepción está solo por las mañanas, pero en caso de llegar fuera de hora, facilitan el código de acceso y te dejan la llave en su casillero.