Ace Hostel, Prague > Reviews > Ace!

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money	Excellent
Quality of Rooms	Good
Standard of Service	Excellent
Quality of Food & Drink	Average
Cleanliness	Excellent

Advantages:	cheap, good location, friendly staff
Disadvantages:	minimal kitchen facilities, no big socialising area

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Upon a recent visit to Prague, seven friends and I stayed in the Ace hostel. I believe we chose this particular establishment based primarily on price and location.

I've stayed in several hostels in the last year or so, ranging from inner-city youth hostels to mountain huts, and I must say that Ace hostel is nothing whatsoever like anything I've stayed in before.
I am used to hostels operating similar to an actual hotel, with a reception opening right off the main street, and being in quite a big building with lots of rooms, a bar, a left luggage room etc.
Ace hostel was different to this.
The clue to Ace's location was a sign sticking out of the building, as is usual, but then you had to select 'Ace' from a series of doorbells/buzzers to get the outer gate open. Once through this outer gate, you proceed along a tunnel, and up some stairs, past other businesses or residences. On the first floor is the door to Ace itself. This is opened almost immediately by the owner, a very friendly middle-aged Czech man.
We walk through the front door onto the main room. This is a fairly small room, say 5m x 5m, and has a dining room table and a couple of sofas, as well as a television. Part of the room is walled off to be the manager's office, complete with serving hatch. Off this room are bedrooms 1-4, and a corridor to the kitchen, another dining room, a smoking room/conservatory (all fairly small too), and rooms 5 and 6.
6 of us had the dormitory style bedroom, with was a nine bed room, whilst the other 2 of us had a double bedroom. The dormitory was very big, with all beds being singles (no bunkbeds) with ample room around them. These beds open up to become lockers (you lift the mattress and underneath is a cavity), which can be locked with a padlock that they provide. The beds aren't the comfiest, but they're certainly nothing to complain about, and a duvet and pillow are provided. The double room also was very large, with a couple of armchairs and a table and wardrobe.

The facilities include two WCs and two showers, (all side by side, in separate cubicles), along with some complementary toileteries (left by previous guests). The kitchen facilities are quite sparse, just having two small hobs (no microwave, grill or oven).
We asked if we could leave our luggage there after we checked out ('czech'-out is at 9.30), and the owner happily obliged, although the facilities he offered were a small cupboard and a locked-off toilet..

The location of Ace is very good, being very near the Powder Tower (on the same street as), and near the Ibis Hotel (Prague Old Town branch), so it's very easy to walk to anywhere in the city in a short space of time.
The price is also very good, we paid just over ten pounds a night. This felt almost too cheap, I felt like we'd ripped off the owner!

A couple of downsides of the hostel is that there's no really spacious communal area, and no bar or anywhere in which to socialise, especially as it is quiet time from 10pm-10am. Eating with all eight of us in the first dining room it felt like were too much in the way and being too noisy. However, as Prague is so cheap to go out at night (at least if you just want to get a beer), I guess one can just go out!

I'd recommend Ace hostel, but be prepared for something a bit out of the ordinary! I think it would be a good place to meet fellow travellers should you be in a significantly smaller group than mine, and the owner is a legend.