Roomy Hostel

Based on the very good reviews I had seen before on different booking portals as well as on the pictures, I was very much looking forward to my stay at Roomy Hostel. Very conveniently located in the city center, I thought that the hostel would provide a good starting point for exploring Yekaterinburg. As I arrived, I barely found the hostel as it is in the 7th floor of an unremarkable building that had lots of people storming in and out, and there were no signs or other indicators. Also, I had the feeling that whoever wanted could just walk in. Then at the reception, I experienced a shock. The girl at the reception (who did not speak English) wanted to see our travel documents. I showed her my valid passport as well as my valid student visa that proved I had permission to stay until the end of the month. She however only wanted to see the entry document issued at the airport. As I am a foreign exchange student, this document was expired and replaced with a student visa. The visa office of my university as well as several articles on the internet confirmed that it is not possible to extend this card, but as I have my valid student ID, that is not a problem. However, the extremely rude girl refused to let me check in because of this and simply told me that they could not accommodate me without offering any apologies or an explanation. I showed her several types of prove that she was in the wrong and even had some Russian friends discussing with her but she did not give in. I asked to speak to a superior manager or other staff members but she simply ignored me and hoped for the "problem" to go away (which I eventually did). Thus, I warn all foreign exchange students or people in a similar visa situation to strictly avoid this place. Generally, the atmosphere seemed also very unpleasant and instead of a youthful hostel vibe, the lobby area appeared more like a waiting area of a train station, full of men with an assumed age of 35-55 years.