Hostal Los Faroles — Hotel in Potosí

The price is very deceiving when you book in advance. The Booking.com price was for US$ 72. We got there and the receptionist demanded we pay in dollars or else it was 612 BOB, which they said was a discount because normally they charge 780 BOB. The official exchange rate was at 500 BOB, and Booking.com uses the official exchange rate. They purposely don't accept card so if you don't have USD cash on you, you have to pay the excessive exchange rate they propose. I understand that the exchange rate in a 'Casa de Cambio' is a lot higher at 11BOB to 1USD, however this is a hostel, and Booking.com uses the official bank exchange rates. This place, even though it is nice to stay in, is a scam and the prices are deliberately put in USD so they can rip you off you when you arrive. Not to mention the prices are already quite highfor Bolivia.

To make things worse when leaving a review about this on Booking.com the owner then starts sending messages on my private number about my review.

My advice is to go somewhere else where the price is clear and the owners are honest.

Aside from that everything was clean, tidy and well maintained. The breakfast was...

We couldn't have been happier and grateful for having found that gem of an accomodation in the heart of the city. Our twin room was spacious, warm and comfortable, several towels and blankets are provided. It's absolutely quite as the actual building housing the dining hall and bedrooms is located in the second row of the main street. The breakfast comes in a huge variety of 5 dishes you can choose from plus juice, coffee and tea. There is an inhouse laundry that we thankfully used. Upon checkout were allowed to store the bags safely behind the counter of the reception. Also were we served an early breakfast as we took an morning tour to the mine. The tours with the most popular operator can be booked in the hostel itself. For ~190 BOB we pay per night for the twin room, there really is nothing more you can wish for as a backpacker. Thank you socmuch...

DO NOT Book in advance If you book from a plateforme such as Booking.comb they will ask you to pay the listed price in USD, they do not accept Credit Card, if you don’t have USD cash with you they will exchange Bolivianos at the parallel market exchange rate, about 11/1 as of Dec 2024. However if you do not have a reservation they will accept that you pay in Bolivianos at the official exchange, less than 7. In other words, having a reservation will cost you almost the double. Because of this they usually cancel the reservation but then they will charge you for the reservation cancelation process. This said this hostal is very pleasant, very clean, good hot showers, daily laundry service, decent breakfast and friendly young Cecilio the 2 months old...