Hostal Almenas — Hotel in Providencia

I spent 4 nights in this Hostal during Easter 2018. When I arrived, I was poorly greeted by a lady (I think her name was Nicole) who did not even bother to tell me that there was a terrace in the place nor about the times it was open, nor the time of breakfast. I had to ask everything as Time went by during my stay. ||At check in, I wanted to pay in dollars (cash) as all hotels in Chile must be paid in US dollars to avoid VAT, but they did not accept them. My cash card was not working so THE LADY agreed that I could pay at check out (my reserve was guaranteed with a credit card from a booking site, plus Nicole had wrongfully requested my cc number as she alleged my cc was not coming through in the booking website). Then the night before check out the same lady who has told me I could pay at check out, rudely told me they could no longer wait for me and I had to pay straight away. I felt they were treating me like a thief! Horrible behavior.||But the real icing on the cake was the rude behavior of the receptionists and the breakfast ladies very early in the morning (6-6,30 am), every day during my stay, they were gossiping and laughing like shallow high school girls in front of my room (I mean 1 meter away from my door). The last day I could no longer take it as I needed to rest as I had to travel, they started laughing and giggling at 5,45 am, until at 6,30 am I got up and screamed against them that they needed to be silent. They did not even apologize or anything. Nor felt any shame...||They were horrible girls, seemed very fed up with their jobs and looked like they did not want to be there, and really spoiled my trip to Santiago, which without them would have been perfect. Very unprofessional and rude behavior, you don’t go around laughing and gossiping at 6 in the morning in front of guests’ doors....

All the girls working in this hostal are extremely friendly, always with a smile on.||It's an old house that offers 19 bedrooms, in the middle you have a little enclosed patio||THe beds are pretty confy, you can use the kitchen which is always clean and well furnished||The showers have a lot of pressure and always hot water||The bedrooms tend to be small but practical||The only negative point is that it is pretty noisy as it's an old house you can hear everything||But you can easily meet other travellers, the atmosphere is really nice and it is very well situated, real close to the center but situated in a very quiet neighborhood, so you never hear cars.||There's also a good supermarket two...

We really enjoyed our stay at hostal almenas which has much more of a b&b feel than a hostel. The staff was very friendly and helpful, breakfast was good (coffee, cereal, scrambled eggs, fruit, rolls & jam), and the rooms were nice with comfy beds and hot showers. A kitchen is also available for common use. The location was in a pretty nice area near barrio Italia and the buquedano metro stop and only about 15 min walking from the center. Our only small complaint was that when we added an extra night in person, the price was higher than when we booked originally on booking.com (we found this is often true for other hostels as well but were unaware...