Don't stay here. 1) They lie about the availability of basic services. 2) It's way overpriced. 3) There's a half dozen small problems with the hostel.
I was attracted to this place because I was trying to recover from pneumonia and had some work to do. I wanted hot showers and wifi, that's it. Those seem like basics, right? And the people at the front desk, if you call or ask them in person, will tell you that both are available 24/7. So I figured that, if I'd been staying in a single room at a hostel in Guadalupe for $400 (pesos)/night, and that hostel had wifi in my room and a hot shower once a day, and this hostel charged $750/night for a single, it must have nice services.
It turns out that the wifi doesn't reach anyone's room, so you have to go down to the common area to use it. Even then, the staff explained that the internet doesn't really work during "peak times," which I guess is like 11am to 5pm. But the staff hogged the wifi by playing internet radio Top 40 hits, and then told me there was nothing they could do about the wifi. Really? So for my skype calls I walked into the city center with a headache and painful chills, breathing lots more cold dry air, and used the free wifi there. Guess what? My pneumonia got worse.
What about the hot showers? On the evening of my arrival I tried to take a shower and the water remained lukewarm for 15 minutes until I gave up and tried to warm myself in the bed. Guess what? My pneumonia got worse. The water pressure was worse than at the hostel in Guadalupe, by the way - $400/night - and the weak drizzle of sometimes-steamy water did little to relieve the awfulness in my lungs and sinuses. Then, around 8am the next morning, I woke up with pockets of fluid and phlegm resting in my esophagus. It was incredibly uncomfortable. This is what pneumonia is like for me and hot showers help, so I tried to take a shower again. The water never got warmer than tepid, so after 15 minutes of running it I gave up, tried to warm myself, and waited around. I couldn't get warm after 20 minutes, so I went to the front desk, and asked them if I could get hot water in my room. I went back to my room and tried the water again, for 20 minutes. It did not get warmer. So at that point I gave up and just dry-hacked the phlegm, which hurt very much. This is an extremely unpleasant activity which I only wanted to do with the help of a hot shower, which is why I specifically booked a place that advertised "24/7 hot showers."
Other minor things: the drainage in the bathroom sucks so shower water just pools on the floor, around the toilet, and under the sink. The light in my room was painfully yellow (I didn't even know that was possible). There's a terrace but it's the smallest, most awkward terrace I've ever seen, with seating space for maybe 3 people in a hostel that holds 20-30 people. The entire hostel feels like an engine of gentrification, which it is, and supporting it feels disgusting, which it should.
Oh, and this gem: when I first called the desk on the phone and asked for the price for a single, the person at the desk said "$350/night." I asked them to put it aside for me and they took down my credit card number. I didn't have the expiration date or CVV to the card at that time, so I said I'd call back. I did about an hour later and when I asked about the room for $350/night the answer was simply "no." No explanation, no clarification, nothing, just a "no." "Ok," I asked, "so what's the cheapest single you have?" "$750/night." Fine, I thought, at least I'll get a hot shower. (This was where they first lied to me, I now realize - they just dropped my reservation. They dropped it. Wow.) I asked if they had my name or credit card information because I'd called just an hour before. "No." No explanation, no clarification. Great customer service, guys.
One more customer service story: after the whole shower episode in the morning of my checkout I complained to the person at the front desk and asked for a refund. She put me on the phone with a loud man who kept talking over me. He insisted that the water was hot 24/7, and that the wifi was available 24/7, and that there might be some times where the wifi and hot water weren't as strong, but it was all 24/7. But it wasn't, I said. I didn't have wifi access for at least 4 hours of the day, and I didn't have hot water for at least one hour of the day, so how can that be "24/7"? He refused to even hear my complaints or apologize in the slightest.
I don't have the space here to describe everything that went wrong. Staying at this hostel made my life worse. I would give it 0 stars if I could. I could've recovered entirely from the pneumonia had I had constant warmth and hot showers, as advertised, but instead I got to be sick for another day or two. This was the worst purchase I made in Mexico and I bought an entire bag of bootleg fireworks that I forgot at another hostel. Don't stay here. read more
