@olivermeakings

Note: noma did give me a full refund for the cost of the stay.

**Buyer beware**

From the moment I arrived, everything that could go wrong, did.

Ultimately you're trusting Noma to make good decisions for you - where you stay, the events they plan, the day-to-day admin and communication - don't.

If you have any real experience as a nomad, this will not work well for you. Ignore the fancy marketing.

Just a few of the issues I faced in the 7 days before I left the experience early:

- It's expensive. Like 3 x more than booking accommodation direct. Which means the community and facilities should be awesome, they are not.

- Internet didn't work properly for 3.5 days, for me and other guests, so had to re-pack and change rooms. Every single page on the Noma website talks about high-speed internet, but on reporting immediate issues I was met with total incompetence. I was told they had tested the internet performance, but this must've been a lie as they didn't know the Wi-Fi passwords at that point and had to get them from the building owners.

- We weren't given the *full* building address, and the street name existed in two places in the city, so I was stranded 10miles from the accommodation on my first night. Partly on me, but they reacted with a total lack of empathy.

- Apartment details only supplied an hour before landing - critical info for passing through security.

- 1 host didn't show up at all, one was different to listed and one was barely present. We were on a queer experience expecting queer hosts. The change wasn't communicated to us, and I was lied to by the sales person when asking about this "they were never meant to host".

- The hosts were meant to be local but there was no local knowledge of basic things like good cafes, recommendations for gyms, or things to do other than party.

- The hosts seem more interested in partying than helping, they are terribly organised. Great, fun people but badly suited for actually organising events for groups and often uncontactable.

- In fact in our first 3 days 2 hosts were not there and one was sick so we were left mostly on our own.

- Some of the guests made it clear they had no intent to work despite this supposedly being a critical requirement of attending

- No one was there to greet us or show us around the hotel. Someone from a nearby collective showed up but didn't know the hotel, the wifi or the building.

- The hotel was EXTREMELY noisy, both the road 24/7, and building itself (thin walls, noisy hallways, slamming doors). It looks good in the photos but it was actually very budget and the area is terrible. Please try and avoid staying in this area for your own safety.

- The hotel pool was tiny and the roof terrace space totally neglected. This was advertised a key selling point, but it was just horrible and no-one used it.

- The hotel had maybe 50 rooms over 9 floors. Do not expect boutique accommodation.

- The hotel had one washing machine, which was poorly maintained and made my clothes dirtier when I used it

- The events calendar from the website was ignored. So was the different events calendar we were sent. We were meant to receive this 2 weeks before travelling but got it 2 days before. No yoga or fitness events, no 'knowledge sharing', lots of last-minute plans, not enough space at meals. We were meant to be having local cultural experiences but were taken to sushi restaurants and suggested film evenings?

- The support when complaining was combative and unhelpful - lots of "I'm sorry you feel that way" and very little actually done eg I was told "sorry about the internet not working but it's only the second day"

- Constant promises from the CEO to address things, encouraging me to stay on, but nothing actually changing

The concept is amazing, and I will say that other people who attended were more laidback about the issues. Set your expectations low and don't rely on the hosts, and you may enjoy the experience,

Please do your research before booking. In my opinion for the same price you can have a much better experience.