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My Honest Selina Review: What Can You Expect From This Hostel?
The day had finally come, as a self-proclaimed digital nomad (although I currently live and pay rent in Mexico) I had always wanted to go to a Selina hostel. The company markets itself as the hotspot for digital nomads, and I have wanted to see if it can live up to its expectations for the past 4 years, ever since I started being a digital nomad.
When my fiancé and I booked a trip to Lake Atitlan, in Guatemala, we could finally see why this is one of the most popular hostel chains in the world. However, is it worth the hype? In this detailed review, I am going to give my honest opinion about Selina.
What is a Selina Hostel?
Selina markets themselves as the number one hostel for digital nomads and millennials. Most Selina hostels host activities, and tours and have a coworking space. The one we were staying at even had a tattoo artist for a couple of days. Unfortunately, we had already gotten a tattoo from a random guy on the street in Guatemala City, which is a great story for another time, otherwise, we might have gotten a tattoo from the tattoo artist in our Selina. Furthermore, some of them have pools and they are mostly pet-friendly. They also have a restaurant, a bar, and a shop. There are Selina locations all around the world.
Are Selina Hostels worth it?
Now you know what a Selina hostel is, it’s also important to know if they are worth it. Well, it depends, the ones we stayed at in Antigua and Atitlán, are pricier than an average Airbnb, but cheaper than most hotels on Booking.com. Besides that, they are also often in the center which is a huge plus when you are traveling to a pretty city such as Antigua. In general, I do think that Selina hostels are worth it especially if you do the colive experience, which I will come back to later in this article.
Selina tours
The Selina tours are one of the few experiences hosted by Selina which we didn’t participate in. This was mostly because they seemed highly overpriced. When we were at the Selina in Antigua, some walking tours cost more than 40 USD. Which in my opinion is quite overpriced, especially since Antigua is a small and compact city that is very walkable, and there are a lot of free walking tours available in Antigua.
Selina activities
The activities that Selina hosts are fun and there is a variety of them. When we were staying at the Selinas in Guatemala, there were pub crawls, michelada workshops, wine and painting classes, and many more. All the activities ranged in price from 5 to 10 dollars. The pub crawl also included around 6 shots of alcohol, and a lot of deals for cheaper prices that Selina had negotiated at the different pubs. The activities that Selina hosts themselves are way more worth it than the tours that they offer. Besides that, on a pub crawl, you also make some great friends and unforgettable stories, or in Letisha’s (co-founder of the blog, and my fiancé) case, she forgets all the stories.
Selina Coworking
When booking Selina, one of the major advantages for me was that they have a coworking space. Although going to Guatemala was a little holiday, it was still important for me to at least finish a bit of my work. The coworking spaces were good, clean, and quiet. The internet is great, and all coworking spaces have small booths and meeting rooms. When you book a private room at a Selina, a coworking space is usually included. If you are not staying at a Selina, the coworking space can be quite pricey. You pay 20 USD for using the meeting room for an hour, and 8 USD for using a desk. However, people use the meeting room when no one is in there, but you didn’t hear that from me.
Selina Amenities
The amenities in both of the Selinas that we stayed in were great. There were pools, good showers, a ping pong table, and a pool table. Furthermore, there was great internet across the whole terrain, and you could even do your laundry. Most Selina’s have a common kitchen, library, and a cinema room as well. The amenities were well taken care of, and there were enough things to do.
Selina restaurant and bar
Although there are a lot of negative reviews (such as this one https://www.halfhalftravel.com/travel-guides/selina-chicago-review.html) about the Selina bar and restaurant being overpriced and the food being bad, we had a pleasant experience. The food in both of the Selina’s was okay, and having breakfast included in the price was a huge help. We had some breakfast tacos, hamburgers, and shrimp. All and all most of the food was good, with some negative outliers. The drinks were quite expensive, but every Selina has special deals every day, making the drinks way cheaper, or special 2-for-1 discounts.
Selina Colive Review
Although we didn’t do Selina’s colive program ourselves, we did speak with a couple of people who had participated in this program to ask them how it was. Diego was a freelance videographer from Switzerland, who was at the Selina in Atitlán to make marketing videos for the hostel chain. He said that he enjoyed the colive program and the money that you spent, especially for the colive in Central and South America, was worth it. You get discounts on drinks and food, you can switch up to 3 times within a month between locations, and the coworking space is included. The colive program in South and Central America averages around 1100 USD per month. When talking to the people who had done this program, they all said it was worth it.
Selina Review: Final Thoughts
I had an absolute blast at both Selinas we stayed at, and it doesn’t deserve the bad press it sometimes gets from other travelers. Yes, there are maybe some better and nicer independent hostels, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that staying at a Selina can give a lot of convenience. You can find them in almost every country in Latin America, and they make finding a reliable hostel with reliable internet very easy. We have already booked our Selina Hostel in Mexico City for Christmas and New Year’s. You can expect a review from the Mexico City Selina hostel as well next month. My experience at the Selina Hostel was great, so I recommend you book a stay!
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