Open Hostel Madrid

The location was a 10/10, and the staff were pleasant whenever I dealt with them, despite some reviews I'd seen beforehand. There's also a little terrace where you can sit and have drinks, which is nice. The place was fine as a home base for a few days, but the rooms are very small and cramped. If you're in the bottom bunk, you can't sit up straight without hitting your head. The bathrooms were okay and decently clean.

The room was what I'd expect from a hostel, and the place is nice and very central. The terrace has a nice view, and the staff I met were all kind and helpful. Communication before the stay was more difficult. I booked three nights, then my flights changed, so I asked several days ahead if I could shorten the booking to two nights. The chat on the booking website told me it wasn't possible but gave no explanation, so I paid for a night I didn't stay. More flexibility would've been great. Replies sometimes took several days, and people on the phone often didn't speak English.

I'm not satisfied with the hostel or the service. This is my response to the owner's reply on Booking, since the app doesn't let me write back. It wasn't okay to send me that message when I was only sharing my honest opinion about what happened. I don't understand why you think I secretly wanted to stay an extra night. That's not true. I only put my bag with the most important things on her bed so nothing would happen to it. My suitcase was still in the hallway because I planned to take my things to my next destination at the end of the afternoon. How could I secretly stay another night when the place was fully booked? The mold in the shower is visible. The handle has actually fallen off several times, and several people have had it happen. You can see that on the cameras. You know that's true, since you say later in your reply that it has been fixed.

The terrace and the space were genuinely lovely, and bed bugs can happen anywhere. But once the problem in my room got worse, I left a day early and asked staff for a refund. What followed was the worst travel experience I’ve had: they blamed me for the bites, called me a scammer several times, and were rude and hostile in every email. They also misled me about who handles email, then ignored me for three weeks until I involved Hostelworld. I wouldn’t recommend staying here because of how badly staff and management treated me.