Hotels Near Gunnarshús in Reykjavik

A successful attempt to blend a hostel and hotel together, this place has touchless check in and processing. I loved being able to get in the door with a code, get my key card with a code and go directly to my room. Do I worry they never change the codes and one day that might be a security risk? Yes. But I accepted it. The rooms are small with not great sound proofing, but private, cozy, functional, and bathrooms are small and worked. I would like at least one more hook for wet stuff but more importantly- the rainshower head was not working for us and the water spills everywhere in the bathroom. You can see the damage on the wood door already. Also- no washcloths. I had brought my own but be aware. I also couldn't really figure out the towel warmer/heater thing. The vending machines, free coffee, basic plates/cutlery/snack drawer were perfect when you need them. I could not figure out breakfast- one morning there was a huge delicious spread. Other mornings, nothing! Was it one big group that set it up? Who knows!! Expect nothing. Leaving luggage was easy, elevators worked fine, everything seemed very clean and kept up. If your priority is to save a chunk of money on hotel and you are ok with a car or bus tours, this will be a good choice since it's easy to get to and there are grocery/restaurants around. For a first trip with no car though, I would say it's worth a bit more money to get a center city hotel. The buses and taxi systems just aren't secure enough for foreigners to rely on and it's so much time/energy getting to and from without a car.

Overall the hotel location and food is fine. Service is not very friendly though…. Coffee corner ran out of water, coffee and hot water. The front desk lady was quite helpful when I have enquiries.

Kex… Ugh such a frustrating review to write. I really wanted to like the Kex hostel it has its good points, but overall was the worst hostel stay I have had in Iceland. I’ll give you my very detailed opinion. The Bad… -Lacking in the toilet paper department!!! We were on floor 4 there were several private bathrooms with showers and also separate locker room style bathrooms. At 7:30 AM I ran to the bathroom after finishing my business realized there was no TP! Ugh. Anyway afterwards I looked through the different open stalls with toilets. Only 3 toilets on the whole 4th floor had TP! To me having adequate TP is an essential thing. The bathrooms weren’t restocked until 10AM ish. And we aren’t even in peak tourist season. We mentioned the issue to the staff and they said “just call next time you need something” kinda hard to “just call” when you have already done your business in the bathroom and you need something to wipe with! They need to have staff check the bathrooms more frequently. -The kitchen is sad in the “equipment” department. One of the reasons we stay at hostels is to cook our own food. Maybe they are trying to push buying food from their restaurant. I get that they get a lot of traffic. But the cooking pan selection is -Terrible- nasty old pans that the thrift shop would discard. Janky handles, and interior coating mega gouged out. Don’t come here expecting to cook at least on level 4. -No way to make coffee!!! Again they probably want you to pay for their breakfast. But there is no option to make coffee. No coffee pot, machine, or way to make a filter pour over etc. Don’t bring coffee grounds expecting to make your morning brew. There was an electric kettle, but again no way to make coffee unless you brought instant. -The showers need a good bleach and scrub. The walls had black mold growing on them. Considering the fact that Kex was our most expensive hostel in Iceland (we paid 20,906 for a private double, with linens, and shared bathrooms…or $153 US) compare Kex to the Svjarborg in Stykkisholmer $90 US or Halfdan HI Hostel $63 US ( in both we had a private double & shared bath) but both were awesome and had a fully equipped kitchen with decent quality pots, options to make coffee, and plenty of toilet paper. I understand that being in the city we can expect to pay more. BUT I expect that price to include: -enough toilet paper -a means to make coffee -decent cookware. The good… -The location is great. Easy walking distance to the main shops/streets. And the ocean right across the highway. -Awesome “vibe” cool decor, lots of couches/lounge areas. -Entertaining/Social. In the evening there was group song trivia in the main area, and in another a live band. -Our room a private double with shared bathroom was large, and we slept well. (Note: I have never stayed in a “quiet” hostel so I always travel with a sleep soundtrack on my phone and a melatonin) -The staff was all polite In conclusion, I have traveled on 4 contine

This one is somewhat tough to review. Service was 1-star. We received no instructions to enter and had to spend a fair amount of time on the phone (at costly international rates) to receive instructions. The instructions we received were not detailed enough. They did not mention entering through the restaurant to get to the first-floor rooms. Rooms on the second floor do not have to do this. The room itself was okay to decent. The kitchenette was nice, but the dishes were in the dishwasher when we arrived. The room lacked commonplace security features like an interior deadbolt, security chain, or a peephole. Combined with the strange way to enter the ”hotel” this made us feel uneasy. The fact that this hotel is not staffed and entry is through code would have been fine if detailed instructions were provided. Plenty of AirBnBs do this well. For the price, this would be much better value if they had better customer service and detailed instructions along with some additional security features. As it is I wouldn't recommend.

This hostel has a practical and functional location only. The only reason to stay here is for it’s convenient pickup and drop off stop for tours and the airport. The room was a 4 bed dorm and was stark. Located opposite the kitchen and above the main entrance meant it was quite noisy too. The bunks are very, very basic. There aren’t charging points at each bed in this particular dorm (3) and the blanket provided is a decorative throw. The cleaning left a lot to be desired. Regularly had to ask reception for hand soap in the toilet, paper towels and toilet paper. The Wi-Fi is non-existent and the reception staff are totally ambivalent; they are pleasant but absolutely no desire to help. Plausible deniability comes to mind. You only stay here for the location that allows you access to all that Iceland has to offer.

The guesthouse itself was nice enough. Note that if you stay in one of the economy rooms, you will only have access to one bathroom per 5 rooms (unless you are willing to walk back to the main house and use one of the bathrooms there). This was not an issue during my stay, but I woke up super early to avoid it becoming an issue. The real issue for me was the lack of communication. I ended up needing to spend an extra 50 dollars on long distance calls because this business failed to check their email or Facebook messages. On top of that, I had to call twice because I was given incorrect information the first time. Note that booking this property is a risk if you book through a third party (Expedia etc) because you may not receive the email with instructions on how to check in (this is why I had to call repeatedly after they failed to answer my emails).

We were initially allocated 331 which was in another block and had twin beds, so we swapped to room 301 which was double and we weren't disappointed. It was a clean and spacious, comfy bed .Great to have a ettle, fridge and coffee machine :-) Large walk in shower with constant hot water. Large wardrobe, plenty of storage. We had a 2nd door onto a corridor to other rooms, there was windows in this wall but by opening curtains people on corridor could look in. Only downside no natural light. Relatives across corridor in room 305 had full wall of windows for day light. Breakfast was good choice and plentiful. Reception staff friendly and helpful. Located with walking access to everything. Would stay here again and recommend

From the moment we walked in this stay was a great experience. The staff was friendly and accommodating, the views were spectacular, and the food in their restaurant was amazing. This will definitely be our first choice next time we come back to Iceland.

I would probably give this hotel 3.5 as it was a little hostelly but the quirkiness kind of made up for it. After reading previous reviews I was actually expecting the rooms to be smaller. They were small but perfectly adequate for single rooms. My son and I had a room each at ground level. If I went again I'd go for a higher floor as had to shut the curtains when people used the hot tub outside the window. Also we were woken by the laundry a few times in rooms 28 and 29. Although the rooms weren't cheap, they were very reasonable by Icelandic standards and I liked being out of town with the harbour, the elf park and the wonderful restaurant ”Krydd” nearby. It was easy to get into Reykjavik on the no 1 bus and some of the tours pick you up at the hotel. The tour desk were very good for organising our trips (link provided by the hotel) and Gatway to Iceland run a brilliant Golden Circle tour - reviewed separately. Also it was a great perk that the Flybus to and from the airport stops there. I enjoyed breakfast- a cold buffet with porridge and waffles. Many hotels in the capital don't offer breakfast at all or charge an awful lot for it so it was very welcome. The fish and chips, fish soup and burgers at the restaurant were very good and I liked the people there. It wasn't luxury but it made for a great Iceland experience.

The # of stars rating for this hotel is irrelevant. My wife and I have never experienced such kindness and curtesy well beyond and above the call of duty. Stranded in Iceland due to weather, not an uncommon winter event, and stranded by the poor response and complete lack of service from hotels.com, the front desk staff here jiggered the ir rooms, and found us one. All flights had been cancelled; we thought we had booked, thru htelos.com-they failed, Hotel Vellir came through with flying colors. while waiting in the lobby to see what they could do for us, we were served coffee! When has that niceness been shown to any of us weary travelers recently? The hotel is clean;+ comfortable, with a sports bar attached serving food on a Sunday eve-again no small feat. Breakfast too the next morning-and then kindly called us a taxi. Such hospitality in the hospitality industry- many could observe and learn from the staff here. The Hotel Vellir staff are ambassadors for Iceland- and deserve all the kudos one can muster. (Btw , you've never really lived until you've watch a football/i.e. soccer match called in Icelandic! So cool!) Thank you Hotel Vellir- you helped make what could have been a disaster into a warm and welcoming experience!