After the hotel we booked, Reykjavík Downtown Hotel, was closed due to human trafficking, we had to quickly rebook a hotel, just two weeks before our trip. We booked Hotel Aska as the price was reasonable, and it looked like a very nice hotel (yes, the photos are accurate!).

There were many great things about the hotel:

1) The staff were fantastic and very helpful when we had various issues, such as our room flooding (more about that later) and panicking when our bus to the hotel didn't show up. Also, to our surprise, when we arrived at 8am, the employee working that morning was able to find an available room so we could check in immediately -- I was not expecting to be checked in until that afternoon. We really appreciated that. Five stars for the staff!

2) The rooms were clean and a reasonable size.

3) There was a fridge and a kettle in the room (but no microwave).

4) Very comfortable bed with excellent pillows, and I loved how there were two single duvets for the double bed (at home, my husband and I each sleep with our own duvet).

5) A quiet location, and an easy 20 minute walk to downtown. There's also a grocery store a block away.

6) Good WiFi

Now the cons:

The shower stall (at least in room 304) didn't have a shower door, and the glass wall did not extend far enough, so water would get all over the bathroom floor. Extremely poor design. On our first morning (second day) at the hotel, I took a 15 minute shower, and when I got out, the bathroom floor was flooded and there was no drain, so I was kicking as much water as I could back into the shower stall. I then opened the bathroom door and saw that our hotel room had also flooded! It was a huge hassle having to move rooms but thankfully the staff were helpful and able to move us immediately. We were moved to room 401 and the shower had a proper door that fully closed and there was no further flooding.

Despite the flooding, I would give the hotel four stars, but the reason for the two stars (and it's only two stars because of the staff, or I would give it one star) is that I was not able to get a good night's sleep the entire duration of my trip (three nights).

The room was too hot, and despite turning off the heat and having the windows open the entire time, it was sweltering. And in room 401, the WiFi router or something was behind the flatscreen TV, and the entire wall lit up with flashing lights from all the electronics. I had to stuff towels over the lights to try and dim them.

Aska is a lovely hotel, but if you can't sleep in hot rooms with flashing lights, I would suggest elsewhere.

The hotel appears to be quite new, as there was a slight smell of fresh paint. The reception staff were friendly, and spoke good English. The hotel layout is a bit odd, we stayed on the second floor, which meant you left reception and into a corridor outside, back into the building for the lifts and stairs, we walked to the second floor, then outside again along a corridor, then back into the building, up another flight of stairs and into the block where our room was. The room view was the carpark, the room was compact, and the toilet/shower very small. The beds were very comfortable and the the room was clean, the room had a TV which had some English channels and a kettle and fridge. The room did not have a hair dryer, and when we asked for one the staff were unable to locate one. There is no ironing board/Iron in the room. The room lighting was very poor. The hotel does not have a restaurant or bar, however there is a Cafe across the road which is open from 7.30am, and has free refills of coffee. The walk into town is around 30 minutes, or a cab will cost you around £14. Having said all of that, it was a great basic but clean base to stay.