Hostal Providencia — Hotel in Providencia

I was disappointed with this hostel. The location is in a good area and the rooms are quite spacious, but the beds are very old, basic and noisy when you move around. They need replacing. There is no soundproofing - you hear everything in the hostel, especially the cleaners at 8am talking loudly to each other right outside the room.

At first I did not get a warm shower and was told there was a 'water pressure issue' due to the hostel being old. The hostel has a nice vibe, it feels like a giant squat. There are lots of different rooms and common areas which are good to relax in and explore.

No free water is provided which is unusual for a hostel. Some of the staff - e.g Mario and Muriel - were great but some were unfriendly and seemed to hate working there, for example a short guy wearing glasses. They accept USD as well as pesos. One day I wanted to buy an apple and a yoghurt which came to just over $1. To my amazement I was charged $6 so refused, saying the conversion was wrong. The guy said he 'knew it was wrong' but it 'was on the system' and he had to follow it. I hate it when people do not use common sense and blame the system. Apparently 'the manager knows this is wrong' but won't do anything about it. Thankfully I could pay on card, although surely taking $1 cash is easier?!

There are a lot of silly things like this with organisation and common sense. For example, a Christmas meal and lunch was offered for $15. As it was advertised as a Christmas meal, myself and other guests assumed it was on 25 December. We found out it was 24 December when stumbling across the barbecue and food being prepared. I have worked in communications and events for over 10 years and know that the most basic things any event poster should have is information such as a date and a time! This poster did not have any information on it whatsoever. And - bizarrely in this case - it was slightly cheaper to pay in USD than in pesos?! The same dinner also offered postres and a free shot but they were not offered to anyone, you had to ask about them and then go to a different bar to get them. Thankfully Muriel sorted us out.

We were also meant to go to a club at 11pm which changed to 11.30, 12, 12.30 and then 1am, at which point about 20 people who were waiting has gone to bed. It was a '10 minute walk away' but was actually 20, and then we had to queue for 20 minutes as it wasn't open yet. Very strange.

Hopefully management will improve and staff will get better morale. With some proper organisation and communication (and new beds and free water!) this place could be...

I regret choosing this hostel. I should have walked out the door when they presented the list of rules for signature. Despite being a lovely old building, it is completely devoid of atmosphere. One of their rules is NO ALCOHOL from outside as they have their own bar. But the bar is CLOSED! This makes it very hard to meet any other travellers. Staff are only interested in enforcing the rules and not on the guest experience. It makes for a miserable, killjoy prison camp. There's no music, no activities, no socialising. I asked if I could cancel my second night and get a refund. They said no, it is against the rules without 48hr notice, despite Booking.com saying it was acceptable. I decided to stay the second night since I had already paid and went out for the day. When I returned to my room at 10pm to take a shower, all my clothes, towel, washbag etc were missing from my bed, yet my rucksack was still next to it! They had also removed my name label from the bunk. Quite annoyed, I went to reception to ask where my things were. One guy was particularly arrogant, shouting at me "why would we take your things? It must be somebody in your room that has stolen them". He refused to help sort out the problem, suggesting I speak to the cleaners at 11am; I was getting a bus at 8am! Another guy, Gonzo was actually helpful, he checked the system and somebody had checked me out.. For some reason thinking I had left despite the fact ALL MY THINGS WERE IN THE ROOM. Who checks out leaving their stuff behind? After a search around the hostel and a call to the manager, my missing things were found locked in a locker in my dorm finally...

It is a big, charming building. The location is perfect, near a lot of restaurants and supermarkets and a walking distance from the main neighbours if you're planning to visit the city. We barely used public transportation. With safe surroundings, we felt comfortable walking around any time of the day (and night). Super well organized regarding the sharing areas like the kitchen, bathrooms and co-work space. Quite good and stable internet connection to work. They have a good shared kitchen with everything you need to cook - although I miss a toaster. While the first bedroom was bigger, I enjoyed the last night in the second bedroom since it was quiet and newer, with better facilities and better illumination.

There was some miscommunication because we had two different bookings (I got less one night and it was cheaper to book another night than extend our stay in the original booking) that force us to change rooms. During check-in, they update the system and assured us we didn't need to change the room during our stay but we needed to afterwards. It is ok, but I didn't' love the fact that they forget to tell us upfront and knocked at our door at 11h30 sharp to request the checkout and free the room. The building of the first part of the stay is quite old so you can hear people walking around the entire night. Same for the people that stay in the garden until late - one night, the noise in the garden lasts until 6 am. You can't bring alcohol to the hostel but their options at the bar are not very attractive (regarding of offer...