Balarm - Hostel and Bar

Prima di tutto, vorrei condividere la mia esperienza con Polina, la proprietaria dell'ostello Balarm a Palermo, in Sicilia. Attraverso Worldpackers sono stato scelto per fare volontariato in questo ostello e in cambio ho ricevuto un alloggio gratuito. Ore prima dell'arrivo, Polina mi ha detto che non poteva fare volontariato perché erano in costruzione (non è molto professionale da parte sua avvisare una persona che ha già acquistato i voli e i test PCR effettuati ore prima), ma il proprietario offre io resto una settimana libera per cercare nel frattempo qualcos'altro (che bello!). Quando sono arrivato all'ostello, tutto era abbandonato, sporco, faceva molto freddo. Le ho parlato e le ho parlato della situazione e lei ha riso, invece di darmi una soluzione. Polina mi sembra una persona maleducata, poco professionale e irresponsabile. Non ti consiglio di soggiornare in questo ostello perché è molto sporco, fa freddo e il capo lascia molto a desiderare. La pulizia brilla per la sua assenza! Adriano Merino

I have never taken the time to leave a bad review before but this is the WORST HOSTEL EVER. I have stayed in over 15 hostels and have nothing bad to say about any other ones I have stayed in compared to this one. Staying with Balarm was a nightmare. When we showed up at 10 pm to check in we were told the all female dorm (the dorm we paid to stay in) was full and we would have to stay in the mixed dorm. The worker told us there were no men in our room so we were fine with it. The next morning, multiple men arrived in our room and when asking the front desk staff they said there was nothing they could do since it is a mixed dorm even though they lied and told us there were only girls that would be staying there. We then called the owner (he hung up multiple times and told us to text him) where he repeatedly told us there is nothing they can do and they could give us a refund for our second night if we want to leave (we booked this hostel 2 months in advance and didn’t have a backup plan as nothing like this has ever happened before). After texting the owner back and forth for around 15 minutes, he said his manager can deal with it and BLOCKED us. We decided to bite the bullet and stay in a hotel the second night we were supposed to stay in Balarm because we had such a miserable experience. After talking to a worker when getting our refund for the second night, we learned that this has happened before and it isn’t uncommon. If you are booking an all female dorm, STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE. This is seriously unbelievable and unacceptable and nobody should have to deal with this, especially knowing they do this purposefully. I wish I could give lower than a 1 star.