La Chimba Hostel — Hotel in Recoleta

One of my worst experiences with a hostel. The moment we walked in, we could hear loud music blasting. Which was welcome, since it was only 9pm. However, after noticing that we could still hear the music from our room quite well, we asked the staff when quiet hours were. They laughed and told us the music would stop when the bar closed, around 2am. We asked if the bar had the same hours every day, as we had an early flight the day after, and were told yes. On top of that, the bathrooms were dirty and the showers flooded. When we walked downstairs at around 11pm, with music still blasting, we noticed that the only people partying at the “party hostel” were the staff, who were playing beer pong on the clock. We asked for a refund or partial refund for our second night at the hostel, since we decided to stay somewhere else to get enough sleep, but were told “it’s not happening,” which we thought unfair since there was no mention of the music playing until 2am on HostelWorld. He then offered to move us to a potentially quieter part of the hostel, however, it seemed like there was no guarantee, since there was a club next door. We hadn’t been offered a different room the night before, when we asked about the quiet hours. We were talked to in a patronizing way by multiple men in the staff, who told us it was a party hostel and brushed us off. However, again, no one was partying besides the staff, since it was a Wednesday. To top it all off, the front desk lady was racist towards one of us. She told us the neighborhood around the hostel was sketchy, but “you would know, since you are from Brazil”. Overall, terrible experience with the staff, would not recommend to anyone who wants sleep, especially for...

We arrived to La Chimba at approximately 3am after a long travel day. When we arrived, the music was still playing at full blast, despite there only being 4 people in the bar/reception, two of which were volunteers who checked us in. We were told the music would go off in ten minutes. When we went down to ask for it to be turned off/down, they turned it off as we were approaching and tried to pretend it wasn’t their music. It finally went off at 4:10am. The music then turned on again at 8:15am. Our room was directly above the speaker so this was not ideal.

When we asked for a refund the next morning for the remaining nights we’d paid for, we were told this was not allowed. Instead, they moved us to a supposedly quieter room. Although slightly better, the music on Friday night was still extremely loud from this room and played again until 4am, making it very difficult to sleep. On hostelworld, it is not clear that this is a party hostel. To avoid future disappointed guests, the hostel should be more clear about what kind of hostel it is. Especially as the volunteers told us it was a party hostel when we asked for the music to be turned down (as if this was a known fact). This would therefore attract people who would actually enjoy the hostel, especially as the facilities were quite good.

There also appeared to be no members of staff who were on a salary, only volunteers. This made it difficult to sort the issues as it felt like there was no one on site who could make a final decision. Furthermore, the volunteers were often the ones partying until the early hours of...

I have backpacked through 30 countries, and this hostel easily comes at the very bottom of the list. The only good thing about this hostel is the location - other than that, it wasn't good at all. Coordinating the airport transfer, as I landed past midnight, was a lot more difficult than it should have been - so the organization wasn't the best. The hostel itself is freezing, rundown, dated, and just dirty. I was taken to a room that was practically outdoors - it was warmer outside than in the room. There were no heaters and we din't have light. There were only two bathrooms, which we absolutely repulsive, that I had to go outside for. The breakfast is an embarrassment. It is from 8-10, and "first come, first serve," meaning that they don't re-stock. The breakfast is bread, butter, jam, and cereal with coffee or tea. And if you come later, well, if that. I asked to be moved to another room after the first night, and I was put into a decent room, that actually had a lock on the door (first room didn't). This room was warmer, but it still boggles my mind that a hostel that supposedly won awards cannot invest in heaters for the winter months. This room was absolutely tiny - 2 people can't be standing at the same time. The bed sheets have also seen better days. The bathrooms upstairs were gross too. I wish this hostel would invest in the hostel, rather than paying random graffiti artists to come and paint random walls...