Arctic Rooms Hage

The managers, especially Muhammad, Murad and Abdullah, were kind and easy to approach, and the place was clean with the essentials. For the price, the rooms are good value, though this isn't a five-star hotel. My room had no mirror, but I had a compact one with me. The kitchen's roughly five pots and two pans could be short if lots of people are staying, and sound carries through the thin walls around the showers and toilets.

I only got a room at Arctic Rooms HAGE because it was the last one available that day, after our previous hotel was canceled. Although it was listed on Booking.com, it felt more like an Airbnb and seemed poorly organized about basic amenities. The advertised sofa bed turned out to be just a long sofa. We also had no towels, hairdryer, iron, or other basics you'd expect in a hotel room. In winter, not having a hairdryer was especially concerning for personal hygiene. I came away feeling the management was highly irresponsible.

I managed to sleep, all things considered. Noise from upstairs neighbors came through easily during the night, and the shower and toilet areas were divided by paper-thin walls. The room itself was okay, though it smelled a little until I opened the window. There were no sheets for the extra sofa bed. The corridors smelled bad at first, but by the next morning it wasn't as strong.

On my last night, a random man opened my door and walked into my room before noticing me. Later, when I opened the door, he was opening another one too. I assume he was looking for someone, since I heard him talking to someone in the next room throughout the night. I had been going in and out to the kitchen, so the door was temporarily unlocked. I contacted Hotels.com, where I booked, but the property manager told the agent it was my fault for leaving the door unlocked. There was no accountability from the hotel, just blame put on me in a situation that could have led to assault or worse. The lack of safety was insulting, and the blame was even more so. I originally picked the place because it was cheap and close to the city center. I would not recommend it to women or families with young children.