Nena Hostel Berlin

Remarkable stay for only 22€ per night !!!! Big pillows, quiet neighbourhood, helpful and hardworking staff, plates and utensils can be borrowed from reception. Rooms are spacious. No parties, I have seen only people sipping wine and browsing through web.

I have stayed in two rooms in this establishment: a single room and a family room. Overnight stay in a single room was ok. There were blood or tomato stains on the wall, but this didn’t bother me whatsoever. On the other hand, the planned one week stay in the family room went horribly wrong, and let me explain why. The heating in the family room was not working, since we had checked in. I reported the issue to the reception right away. The first day - I was just told to wait. On the second day - they acknowledged that something was wrong, but also that they would not be able to resolve it on the same day. So two nights with no heating in the room at all, and we are talking about the last week of October. To add insult to injury - there was a huge water spill in the middle of the room when we returned from a walk on the second day. What was that? A punishment for kindly asking to fix the heating or was it just the way how cleaning is done in the establishment? This remains a mystery. (The spill was not even near the heater, so that was not a sign of a repair, unfortunately). On the third day, the manager appeared on the premises, and I had a chance to talk with him. He said that he asked someone to look into this. When we returned to the hostel the same evening I asked the reception regarding the heater issue. Been told that everything is fixed. But, in reality, after checking the heater in the room - nothing was done. I asked the receptionist for the phone number to reach the manager, but the manager told her not to give it to me. We were also told to wait, and that it is not that cold outside. What a service! Upon mentioning contacting booking support, we were offered moving into a six bed dormitory room or the refund for the rest of the night. The six bed room is a different price category, so a refund was the only option. We had to find a new place to stay ASAP the same night. Out of four receptionists, with whom I discussed the heating issue, only one was really kind and genuinely trying to help. I don’t know your name, but thank you! Others didn’t care at all, and just wanted me to leave them alone. I really feel bad for the only good one working in that toxic environment. Dear manager Mike, it appears that you might be very confused at this job. You are not the owner of the hotel, neither are you a warden in a correctional facility, you are just a hostel manager. You are supposed to help people to have a great stay. Not demonstrate your authority and power. This is perhaps something for you and your supervisors to consider. Checking other reviews - I am not the only one with heating problems in family rooms. So, this problem must be known. It doesn’t look like the staff cares about it. People will be booking those family rooms anyway, isn’t that right? Positive things: - I got a refund for five nights, even though they said it would be for six. But oh well. At this point, I am happy that I got my money back at all. It really didn’t feel that I was dealing with a legitimate business here. - The hostel has fast internet and comfortable mattresses, but this doesn’t really help much if your room is ice cold. Other fun details: - If you are booking the family room, you still have to pay for the towels. - The place is relatively new, but things are falling apart and no one is fixing them (please see the attached pictures for reference). All in all, I am utterly surprised that such an approach of doing business exists in Germany, and there are no regulations here that are protecting the customers from the hotel/hostel playing false, as well as from plain rudeness of the staff themselves. At the end of the day, they really succeeded in making us feel unsafe and absolutely helpless in this situation.