Selina Secret Garden & Cowork

For three nights here, I couldn’t take a shower because the water was always cold—there was no hot water. Other hostels offer hot water for the same price. I stayed here one year ago and two years ago, and it was the same problem. A hot shower is one of the most basic necessities in a hotel in Europe.

Such a beautiful place to stay in Lisbon! You only have to be as social as you want but if you’re looking to meet fellow travelers this is a great place to start. The beds have very private curtains if you choose the bunks. They’ll hold your luggage for you if you’re in town before check in or if you need to explore before it’s time to leave. The pool and rooftop bar are absolutely stunning. Very safe and close to everything. With tourism increasing in Lisbon this is a great and sustainable way to explore the city. Highly recommend!

Great location, quiet but walkable. That's about the only pro of this place. I stayed in a private room and it's massively overpriced for what it is; you could easily find a hotel for less that would be far nicer. I picked Selina over staying in a hotel for the social aspect, but there was basically no one around and no social life to speak of – maybe it was just off-season but that really negated any benefit of choosing this place. I also think it's a bit ridiculous to be charging those paying for a private room (over 150€ a night) for a towel – okay in dorms but at that price, a towel should be included. Bathroom amenities were massively random: liquid soap (okay), bath foam (for what bath???), and conditioner (usually you need shampoo first for that). It felt like some staff member had just brought whatever products they had left at home and stuck them there. Rooms are clean but basic; contrary to some other recent reviews, my room was far too hot but the window can't be left open so you can only air it in short bursts. But worst part of all is that the walls are paper-thin; I could hear every single detail of what was happening in my neighbours' room, and I wish I hadn't. In short: fine for dorms, probably, but otherwise save your money, stay at a nice hotel, and find social activities through walking tours, pub crawls, etc. around the city.

I stayed at this hotel in December, and while there were some positives, I was disappointed with a few key aspects of my stay. The interior and location of the hotel are great, and the cleanliness was up to standard. The kitchen was well-equipped and allowed us to prepare our own breakfast, which was a nice touch. However, the biggest issue was the temperature in the rooms. The rooms were extremely cold, which was quite uncomfortable, especially during winter. Warmth is a basic expectation for any hotel, and we were surprised that this wasn’t properly addressed. We even had to go to the supermarket to buy water bottles, heat them, and place them in our beds just to stay warm. This was not what we expected from a 4-star hotel. The rooms were quite noisy. Our room was directly under the bar, and we could hear people talking and music playing until 11 PM, which made it difficult to relax in the evening.

On our first night we received a text from reception threatening us with a fine (??? what are you, the police?) because allegedly we were making noise, although we were sleeping at 3 in the morning. Either way, I do not think it is normal to be threatened to be fined while we are on vacation. Maybe you should’ve invested in real concrete walls instead of plasterboard, because yes, you could hear all through the rooms even how other guests BREATHE. We received a different room than the one we booked - we booked private bathroom and inside our bathroom we found out it was shared, with another door inside. We had to always be on guard in case the door to the other room would suddenly open while showering. Thankfully, the other room stayed empty, but we had no certainty of it at any point. The light in our bathroom worked just the first few hours of our first day, the rest of the time we had to improvise with a bedside lamp. The worst of it, there was no heating source! No AC or radiator. We had 2 rainy cold nights and we had to sleep with 2 (two!) sweaters and wake up cold and stiff and left the accomodation with a cold and really bad cough. The room itself was not clean and, the worst, the bedsheets were stained with god knows what. The service at the restaurant makes you regret you dared be a guest at their place and the food and organisation could be well improved. I think it was better if they offered us the option to cook it ourselves, not pay for such fails.