ION City Hotel a Member of Design Hotels

This is a great hotel right on the main shopping road. The staff was extremely helpful and kind to us. We had a medical emergency and the staff was fantastic. They called an ambulance for us. They let us store our luggage there while I was in the hospital and my wife had to find another hotel. They were full and we needed to stay an extra night. When we come back to Iceland, we will stay here. Thank you for being so kind and understanding to a couple of scared American people.

I booked this room through Marriott, as I am a loyal customer with Titanium Elite status, but I soon came to find out that means nothing at this hotel. I will start by saying, the location is very central and lively, situated on a popular pedestrian street with bars, restaurants and shopping. Now, having said that - being a pedestrian street, we had to find paid street parking nearby (about 2-3 blocks) and schlep our luggage to the hotel - there was no bellman or any assistance at all. Another note about the parking - between 0900-2100 it’s paid parking for 3 hours max before you have to move your car. Each 3hr chunk was about $15. It was only my daughter and I with 2 large and 2 small suitcases in total and we could barely fit inside the room. We had to use the shower for suitcase storage. As you would expect in most European places there is no AC, but we happened to be there on the most beautiful July day and it was literally 80*F outside, so we had the 1 tiny window open as much as it could (only a few inches). We could hear the loud music and reveling Icelanders until about 2am, and then after that, the trash cleanup crew until about 3am. The noise is not the hotels fault, but I wish I had known about this potential issue. We had an early wake up for a flight, and essentially got no sleep, despite the bed being extremely comfortable. Unfortunately, I don’t think I would choose to stay here again.

Booked this hotel in the Marriott app for $400 USD a night. Got there and found out it was not a Marriott, only “Marriott affiliated”. 🚫 NO free breakfast (or breakfast at all) 🚫 NO amenities (no gym, no pool, barely even a sitting area in the entrance) 🚫 NO lounge Biggest catfish of my Iceland trip. Staff was nice but the room was tiny, and I felt claustrophobic since it felt more like a bed and breakfast type of place where the only area you have is your room (except as stated, no breakfast lol) and the walls are super thin. Honestly aside from location, I don’t understand why anyone would pay that price to stay here. No bad blood with the hotel, just want others to know what they are signing up for…