Guest reviews about Help Yourself Hostels - Parede

had no problems

They don't pick up the phone, they pick up the porter, the location is not visible, there is no receptionist, when you make the reservation and pay you may not have a place to stay. HORRIBLE 0% RECOMMENDED

Of all

It is a hostel with very simple facilities, old and in need of some maintenance, and the spaces are small, both the rooms and the common spaces. There is no dishwasher and the stove is very old and has no power. Even frying an egg takes time. Old and rusty microwave. Refrigerator is very crowded, with several guests storing their food in supermarket bags inside the refrigerator. Part or all of the staff (I don't know) is resident and "volunteers". Almost all of them are very friendly and helpful, but two in particular feel or feel that you are staying in their home.

Everything could have been better. The manager Ana, bad management on her part. She never responds to messages, doesn't answer the phone, doesn't resolve any guest issues. She doesn't have the slightest consideration, she doesn't even have a word. She agreed with us on the amount of €650 / month for a couple, and ended the agreement because she wanted to double the amount. Since we were still in the same month. A real shame. €43 in a hostel? The same as you pay in a hotel? Shameful. Noise from guests, smell of drugs, music and loud singers from the bathroom at 2am, running down the stairs, guest meetings in the dining room until late, anyway. And no, it's not the employees' fault because they do what they can, with what they have at their disposal, which is practically nothing! Bathrooms that don't flush, guests in shared rooms want to shower in the same bathroom as those who pay for a private one, which is still funny. Shower room full of mold, mildew, and no, it's not the staff's fault. It is even the material that is old and needs to be replaced. A great shame indeed!

Terrible customer service at any of the units. We have 7 great Cape Verdean employees in the company and they have already kicked them out twice because of racism. The company paid for the accommodation like everyone else!!! Horrible. I never advise again!

From the lack of conditions

I didn't like anything

Rooms should not be mixed. Employees take advantage of not having a manager present and do as they see fit, then say it's the guest's fault. I spent a month in this place and I saw a lot of omissions happen because of the employees, they don't communicate the rules of the hostel, they don't change the sheets or towels, only when the guest changes, I spent a month and asked several times to change my bed set and always they played for each other. Several times I witnessed guests arriving from a trip, tired and after 00:00 hrs ringing the bell and the employees did not answer, I was moved once because they were with a child and I went to call someone to at least dismiss them and the employees were hidden behind the door saying they weren't going to pick it up because it was out of hours. They stayed almost an hour waiting at the door, I had to argue with them to be able to dismiss the guests, as they were out of check-in hours. I recently stayed another month at the hostel and there was no rule saying that I could not receive someone to sleep, since my reservation was in a private room and not shared. They stopped me in the corridor with the intention of embarrassing and called my attention saying that I would have to pay the additional €5 if the person wanted to sleep, as it was not allowed, the person himself said, “I pay for you? I don't want any problems” and the employee replied, today you don't need it, I'll let it go because you didn't know. Days after the incident, I tried to renew the stay and was told that I couldn't because the management was told that I had broken a hostel rule and didn't make the payment! The lack of professionalism is great and the way it is being managed is worse. Lose 650€ of accommodation because of an employee who lies about his job. Management must seriously open an eye and look at what is happening.

There was no shower gel.

relationship with my family. Constant reproaches towards my children

The shower we used was moderately clean (resin residue with stuck-on hairs). The room smelled a bit bad when we arrived.

When a hostel does not honor the reservation made several days before, after several attempts to contact them, they do not answer or return calls!! When arriving at the Hostel they say they are fully booked, they don't even warn, they don't even want to know!!! and we have to sleep in the car because almost midnight we can't find another accommodation I think that's all said about the terrible service they provided!!!!

there were no towels, they dried themselves with their T-shirt. The kitchen was declared, no one showed us where it is, we ourselves did not find it. As in a hostel, until 3 am the neighbors were very noisy, walking back and forth, turning on the light, talking loudly.

The place is very small, the rooms and the public areas. Showers with mold, those who clean are volunteers who live there, so the cleanliness is probably at the level of a shared apartment. You hear everything in the rooms (from the bathroom to the kitchen and the TV). The beds are three stories high, you can't even read a book in bed - tend to sleep. There was also no place to move in the room, everything was equipment because there is no organized place for it. The refrigerators are blown, in short it's a shared apartment.

difficulty finding free parking nearby

The top of the doors collects dust that has never been cleaned. Bathrooms were dirty. The facade is destroyed and in the photos of Booking it seems that it is new.

3 bunk beds that were hard to sit on and creaked constantly. It's very likely that there were bed bugs, because during the stay I had a lot of bites all over my body (there's no way I could have acquired them otherwise). Toilets with a shower, where there was no place to put washing utensils or a towel with clothes.

Nothing special everything went very well

The beds are covered with a waterproof coating which makes every movement very noisy at night.

Comfort, beds, filthy kitchen

of your hospitality

There was no tv in the room

It started with not answering the phone, small rooms for 6 people. Not to mention the smoker in the room. I booked 3 nights, I only spent two, because I couldn't take it anymore.

Check-in time 19:00

respect and peace

Form of payment

run! noisy dirty unfriendly staff manager missing overbooking

Very small rooms for 6 people. The first night we were in the same room with three drunkards, and the room smelled like shit all night. They came at night and left the bottles on the ground. Gross. The rooms are very rundown and there was a chair at the reception. One comes, but there is no waiting. They don't answer phone calls.

Starting with the introduction and presentation of the staff which was awful. I find it unacceptable to be in Portugal and no one speaks Portuguese! I had to speak Spanish and there were many situations where the staff were rude, obnoxious and not at all helpful. They ask for cash for the animal tax and municipal tax, so that they can then pay in the same money to employees who must even be illegal! They don't even give an invoice for the same money paid. There was a knock on the door at midnight and at 8 am in violation of all good privacy principles. Very bad. I do not advise!

The hostel was frequented by poorly cared for customers, looking bad, the rooms smelled of tobacco and not very clean.

Lack of hygiene in the room, such as chips under one of the beds, a plastic bag that was damaged inside the wardrobe, sheets with several dog footprints, sheets most of them all crumpled, the door of the room with a closed problem, you can see the people's legs passing through the room's corridor, bathrooms with a lot of lack of cleanliness, very bad...

Receptionists don't speak English. We booked a room for three, they gave us a room with six beds, and we hardly checked in at two, I can’t imagine six. One employee tells us that there are no 3-bed rooms in the structure, although we actually checked that they are. Dirty sheets and towels, we asked for obviously new gear, again dirty, justifying that they had problems with the washing machine. The cleaning of the bathroom is very poor, it is cleaned every two days. Such as in the kitchen, I make you imagine dirt. Strongly do not advise, do not get fooled by the price and photos.

Reception, presentation of the hostel, problem with the code to enter the hostel, young people hang out in the hostel until late at night, young people who stayed in the hostel without paying, lack of toilet paper for several days (need to buy it yourself), dirty showers, baths towels not provided, staff difficult to reach, etc. There was no one in the hostel area who could say anything positive about this hostel.

There were bed bugs and no compensation to the contrary despite discovering the fact that customers were still accepted until the last day of closing here I am very disappointed and my skin will remember this for a long time

I was bitten by bedbugs all over my body, very dirty and noisy

The walls in the room were covered with black mold. We, a family of 4, are infested with bed bugs. The whole house with roommates is more like a homeless shelter. They just screamed at night. There was a man in the hallway. Rotten clothes were in the lobby on the 2nd floor. Now that we're back in Huase, let's all go to the doctor.

We lost about twenty minutes to get our room key and they never gave us the entry code even though we asked for it several times. A closet door fell on me

It is acceptable

What happened to me and my partner in this hostel has no name. Both this hostel and others in the same house are ostensibly "pet friendly" and with this I will tell you about my experience. My name is Gabriela and I have a dog (Spanish Greyhound). On September 2nd very early in the morning I am going to look for two days' lodging near Cascais for me, my partner and our dog. This hostel appears in the search, and all those who belong to the same company with the filter "pets allowed". I am going to repeatedly call the agency to clarify whether I can go with the dog or not; No one picks up so I'm going to book two beds as there were only 3. We went to check to make sure at 5pm and when we arrived the receptionist told us he had no beds left. All this after I showed him my reservation number. In the end, he puts us two beds in different rooms and says that there is no problem, because the dog sleeps there after dizziness, we went to dinner, and when we returned, when we were ready to go to our rooms, people were sleeping there. our supposed beds ... I'm going to go to the volunteer who put us in the room where she slept after talking on the phone with her boss at 12 pm. After that, at this time of the night, it comes to us that the dog cannot sleep there, that the dog can only sleep in a separate room, and we - in the shared rooms, which is not indicated anywhere in Booking, and all this later, that the administrator told us in the afternoon that there was no problem with the dog.

The attention of the staff to certain things.

The bed mattress was infested with fleas / bed bugs resulting in pimples and sores on the skin all over the body.

By price

Doors creak.

Each room must have at least one TV.

You have to pay a commission upon arrival, the location is not very good, there are not many shops. There was a fight between people who drank, and a lot of noises were heard. This is not a place for minors.

The staff didn't know English, they wanted me on the phone and check-in is only possible in the evening from 19:00, the room was not very clean and drunk people.

very dirty toilet Room without trash can Disinfectant only at the entrance to the hostel no towels

Compliance with COVID 19 hygiene rules. Room size and amenities.

Solving inherent problems is very slow, over * night * remains a real hell, problems related to security, privacy and tranquility are far from what they should in a hostel, respect for others is very important in a hostel

Poorly clean accommodation, too much noise, not enough toilets for so many guests, lack of care for COVID standards.

Some confusion when checking booking.

We arrived at 12.10. all closed. Nobody called us to tell us if we arrived on time. Had to buy another reservation. Terrible. This has never happened to me in my life! We called immediately and it was turned off. The attention is terrible.

The presence of tropical cockroaches. The kitchen is large, but the dining area is small, so you have to change your meals if you want to be able to comfortably dine or dine. The acoustics are bad, but everything is fine when there are no noisy neighbors or a warm couple.

Small kitchen and nowhere to put our food. The oven did not work well and there were few cooking utensils. But Gonzalez helped us by giving us what we needed. The terrace and outside space is a little dirty and ugly with a view of the outside terraces.

The staff member seemed surprised when we arrived and completely ignored the estimated arrival / departure time that I indicated in the application, as there was no one at the front desk at the time. Very disorganized and also lacking in cleanliness.

Lack of organization

The quality of the mattress, sheets and toilet hygiene.

As we all know, for thirty euros you cannot ask for much, unfortunately I paid for a double bed and we had to sleep in a single bed because the mattress on the double bed was torn and full of holes, so when we lay down the springs felt myself horribly I think disrespectful.

I stayed 2 days and only saw someone at the front desk when I arrived. Then, until it was time to leave, I didn't see anyone else.

The mattress on the bed was very uncomfortable.

Liked the price, location and accommodation. Very cool.

WiFi not working Dirty room and bathrooms We didn’t have a welcome item, a bottle of water They asked us for a deposit of € 10 for a key, which should not be requested as it is only one night and € 3 per person due to local tax when it is 2 euros. We had to leave him the internet on our mobiles to check the booking we made a few months ago.

The kitchen is not always cleaned, the bathroom is cleaned by the hostel staff when it is most needed. The front desk is only open from 11:00, so it was not possible to check out earlier. At the front desk, they have a weird habit of taking photographs of an ID card to send to the hostel host.

The kitchen was very dirty including the fridge.

Parking is prohibited except for 3 parking spaces. Paid, which are located opposite the station and are busy. Tourist tax of EUR 2 per person regardless of the age of children or adults. The bedroom doors have glass doors on top, so light enters the bedroom to sleep. A security deposit of EUR 10 for the room key, which can only be returned from 11 am to midnight.

The hostel is very noisy, I didn't feel rested.

The rest of the guests were careless about personal items that cause discomfort, namely, poorly disinfected shoes. There should be an inspection of the room and a warning about the need to wear shoes on the balconies so as not to disturb other guests with an unpleasant smell.

possibly a second refrigerator, more cutlery

pillows and blanket

Everything

And even more that they charged a fee per person!!

The rooms were not very clean.

The smell of tobacco in the room, mattresses in poor condition, cleaning toilets

The rooms are small, and 6 people are too much for space, especially with bags. The common areas were somewhat dirty at night and in the morning, but this is the responsibility of those who use

Arriving at the hotel at about 19.00, we had to ring the bell 3 times, as a result of which we waited almost 3 minutes, we called the phone number twice without answering. Then there was an employee with a Brazilian accent who seemed to wake up at that moment. More seriously, he checked in without asking for ID, which could have implications for security and rule duration. Already at checkout, the same would have worked for almost 5 stars. The bed linen was clean but not ironed (No details). The mattress is too hard for our taste.

The kitchen was very dirty at times.

I do not recommend for extended stays because we ended up in a very small room that became uninhabitable. The kitchen was very dirty and one kitchen was not enough for the whole hostel. My food was stolen from the refrigerator several times!

Good location and hostel would be nice, too bad the kitchen was very dirty and they didn't see our booking so we weren't allocated a room. But the problem was not that, but that in order to correct the mistake in a hurry, we were allocated a room with dirty sheets (with obvious stains, we didn't even want to think about what they might be) and there were two boxes over the cabinet ... with pizza inside, one almost whole, which was not removed. We had to ask for clean sheets and bring pizza boxes to the front desk. Unfortunately none of this affected my stay at the hotel.