Corujinha Hostel

Getting around was easy, with metro stations nearby, including Saldanha, so Corujinha Hostel is a good base for seeing Lisbon. Thiago at reception gave us a warm welcome and excellent service. Our stay was otherwise very positive, but the shower area in the bathroom looked dirty and had visible mold, which was unpleasant. Better shower cleanliness would make this a much better stay.

I’d read the reviews below, and it seems about 80% of those issues have been fixed. The place is clean and nice, with clear hostel signs and labelled doorbells, so I found it easily. The mold in the rooms has clearly been dealt with and redone, and the shower too. The bathroom is a bit cramped, but for the price I thought it was good value.

We couldn’t sleep because the traffic was so loud. The place itself felt cramped and dirty, and the sitting room wasn’t inviting, with some broken chairs. The whole floor was dirty enough that slippers felt essential. The bins were full, and there was no soap in the bathrooms or toilets. The receptionist seemed very disinterested. It was hard to find the hostel: there was no clear sign, and the doorbell wasn’t labelled. We had to walk around and ask several times before finding it. The room had too many beds and a low ceiling, so it was easy to bump your head getting up. The beds squeaked when you turned, and the mattresses were uncomfortable. The bathrooms were extremely tight. The toilet area was about 70 X 70 cm with no privacy, and there was nowhere to put clothes, toiletries or towels. There was barely room to turn around. A thin plastic folding door separated the toilet from the shower. There was black mold in the bathroom, and the drain was blocked. The lockers were too small for even a small suitcase because space is so limited, though you can leave suitcases at reception. There was no kettle in the kitchen, so you had to heat water in the microwave. There weren’t any towels in the kitchen or toilets either.

Three of us arrived one after another at 10 pm and were told there was no bed because of an overbooking, with staff saying many others had turned up before us with the same problem. They blamed Booking.com, and although they apologized, it didn’t feel sincere. One staff member even smiled at me in what seemed like a mocking way. We were left to find somewhere else at the last minute, when most places were full, and they wouldn’t cancel the reservation so we could get our money back. I don’t recommend this place because of the service. The staff didn’t seem able to handle the conflict or communicate well with customers. Maybe it was a language barrier, but that’s unacceptable when running a business.