Jonathan House Hostel

The rooms were clean, and there’s a nice balcony to sit on after a long day exploring. Staff were very welcoming too. The location works well for visiting Palermo, right at the edge of the old town and only a 3 minute walk from Stazionne Central.

Jonathan’s guesthouse felt like home, or like staying at a close friend’s place, which was exactly what I wanted in Palermo. I loved my stay and would love to find more places like it. I’ll come back whenever I’m in Sicilia. I checked in quite early and they gave me a room right away, after a quick, nice tour of the floor. The staff were all kind and helpful, always ready to do what they could. Everything was immaculate: the sheets smelled really good, floors and surfaces were clean everywhere, and there was all the practical stuff I needed, from soap and little hand towels to cups and plates for eating properly.

It was a cosy, nice place, but really small. The location is okay, about a 15-minute walk from the nice city centre. The people working there are volunteers from workaway, which is nice, though your experience may vary because the people make the place. The terrible part was breakfast: white bread and Coco does not make a breakfast.

In the morning, after one night here, we found huge bed bugs crawling on the pillow. We showed the manager one we’d found and killed, with blood splatter all over the pillow, but she kept saying it might have been our fault. She wouldn’t take responsibility for bugs in the bed and only said she’d clean the sheets. Bed bugs live in the mattress, so if that’s how the hostel handles it, no wonder there are bed bugs here. We understand a guest may have brought them in, but a business providing accommodation needs to take responsibility and offer a suitable solution. We were very unimpressed with how the manager handled this.