Forenom Hostel Espoo Otaniemi

The building is about a 10-minute walk from Aalto University and offers a cheap place to stay in Otaniemi for a short or medium-length visit. Showers and toilets are shared, with separate shower floors for men and women. The men’s showers were clean, but the single toilet on each floor, shared by everyone, was very dirty. There’s no staff in the building apart from the cleaning crew. Forenom handled problems very badly, especially when I had an issue with a neighbour. Drunk Russians were often wandering the corridors after 11 am.

The place smelled strongly of spices, and the noise was awful. Music blasted from 2 am until 6 am, so I couldn’t sleep all night. A terrible stay.

The air was awful, maybe from an old air conditioner or something else, and the shower had no curtain. Some wires were leaking. The photos were heavily edited and gave a misleading idea of the hostel. It was REALLY loud. The door codes have five digits, each with a loud beep, day and night. Every time anyone on the floor opened a door, went to the toilet or kitchen, or left, I woke up. The locks clunk loudly, and the doors slam shut automatically, making the other doors bang from the vibration. I could barely get uninterrupted sleep. I contacted customer service about the noise and a leaking bidet. The bidet was fixed, thanks, so I didn’t have to stand in a puddle to wash my hands. But the customer service assistant said I’d chosen the cheapest option, so what did I expect? That left an extra bad impression. Are people who can only afford the cheapest place supposed to accept sleep deprivation as part of the deal? The other guests weren’t being inconsiderate, the noise comes from how the building is designed. If you can, stay elsewhere and pay a company that treats customers with some respect.

Bugs and bug larvae were on the bed, and customer service was rude. They wouldn’t move me to another room. The worst place to stay.