Not sure how Great Partners has such a high rating on hostelworld…. Google reviews mentioned canceled bookings post-stay for bad experiences so that might be it….
I’ll give them this: The staff were super kind and doing their best to be helpful, but the place / its linens / facilities as a whole are so run down that the poor accommodations outweighed personal interactions to an extreme. Not to mention the musty smell / possible mold and certain semi-misleading online profile claims.
I stayed 1 night, stored my bag for 2 days & came back for an additional night, each time checking in/out in under 12 hours. So while my stay wasn’t long, I got to experience 2 different rooms.
The “24 hour reception” claim is misleading. Even after reiterating that I would be checking out at 6:00am the next morning no one was there to assist / put my bag in storage for me. I left a note, my bags & the keys & heard back via WhatsApp around 7am which worked out fine. Though communication around no one being at the desk (either in person or online) would have been appreciated so that I could have made sure to store my luggage the night before for security.
The first room was musty & lacking ventilation, but no bugs & seemed base-level clean so I was satisfied there. (Though from what I saw the whole place needs repair or at the very least a deep clean & a lick of paint). The first gripe I had: I booked a private bathroom under the assumption that it would be en-suite, however it was not. Maybe I should have paid better attention to the listing online, but I would have made a different booking choice had I known.
I did have to exchange my towel at one point because there were stains on the clean one I was given.
When I returned after leaving my bags with them, I was happy to learn I’d been given a bit of an upgrade at no cost - a slightly separate 1bd1ba apartment unit with its own entrance. However the upgrade good news was accompanied by much worse news: no water. Apparently some street work caused a water shutdown, so the issue was out of their hands, though I do remember reading a review mentioning something similar so this might be a common issue for the property.
They let me know that it would be back on by 4am, so I resigned myself to just take a shower in the morning not realizing that while yes technically the water would be back on, there wouldn’t be ample time for the water pressure to reengage / let alone fill the tank so there was 0 hot water & what I could get was incredibly gentle to say the least.
A (HOPEFULLY!) not-so-common issue occurred to me just before leaving for the airport of an international flight: I got locked in the bathroom. I was able to call out for help and management quickly responded with keys trying to open the door, but no luck. I’m still not 100% sure what went wrong, but it seemed like the latch stuck & would not budge no matter how many keys / handel turns were tried. The staff enlisted the help of a fellow hostel occupant & after a half hour of trying to pry it open / take it off the hinges they hammered off/ completely removed the handle/lock but the bolt was still stuck in the door. They ended up having to literally kick down the door to get me out, by which point I was in a panic, not only from being locked in the space but also from concerned over potentially missing an international flight.
I do feel guilty over the damage done to the door, though it’s rather telling of the facilities as a whole. Also the way they were able to bust it down, it seemed to just need a new locking mechanism to be reinstalled, hopefully that’s the case cause without $$ to replace stained towels & threadbare linens, I doubt a new door is in the cards…
I feel bad leaving a 1 star review but it’s the only fit for the series of unfortunate events I went through. The staff was communicative via WhatsApp around taxi accommodations that I requested, and estimated check in times. But I still wouldn’t recommend staying here.
They graciously gave me a 1/2 hr leeway on checkout after the surprise cold shower morning I had. I was also provided a complimentary breakfast which was quite good, staff was accommodating to food allergies (lactose free & vegetarian options). I’m really trying to pull a silver lining here but overall this was the worst hostel I stayed at while in Peru.
