Eco-Lodge El Andinista — Hotel in San Pedro de Atacama

German||||My friends left your lodge yesterday but were definitely not happy. They found it highly strange that you would come to see them only a few times over the four-day stay. You never asked how things were and it they needed anything. They found the room hot and thought you might offer them a fan. You didn't. In fact it was Rene, your staff who took care of my friends. They never did get a fan. One day Rene had to clean up a very large brown, wet spot where the rain had come through the ceiling combined with the dust and dirt from the ceiling. You know the ceiling is straw? Because there was no one around to ask for help, the woman went to your open air area where my friends had breakfast to get some pots and pans to collect the water. The water just missed her baggage. Rene was very good helping my friends, but you, the owner, were nowhere to be found. And then yesterday when my friends checked out, you were no where to be found again, and after talking to Ricardo, my guide, who phoned you, you said you were on vacation. You weren't even around to discuss the problems. Ricardo told you the problems over the phone and you said you would call back after talking to Rene to confirm the problems and thinking about a reduction. You never called. We had to leave to get to the airport. In fact, we now don't believe you were away on vacation but rather did not want to see us.||||You know the access to your hotel is difficult having to cross a dry riverbed which we had to negotiate at night when we arrived not knowing where we were going. You never gave us any instructions how to get to your lodge prior to our arrival. It was only after about an hour and using Google that we found the lodge. And by then it was around 10 p.m. or so. And then when the rains came and the river swelled 2 days later, we had to ask in the town how to find another way to get to your hotel. As you know, Ricardo and I where in a small bungalow across the river. We spent 30 minutes each way getting to our friends the long way around. You never told us what to do it the river swelled. You gave us no map guiding us to your lodge. In fact you left my friends on their own except for Rene. You did give Ricardo a map of Chile for the sites but that was all. To find your lodge both when crossing the dry riverbed and going the long way around when the river swelled was river told to us. In fact you never told us about the situation crossing a dry riverbed when we set out to find your lodge. And we had to negotiate at night.||||I also now understand why Ricardo and I couldn't stay in your other small rooms when we arrived late on February 13 after driving from Calama and asking you if we could stay. We hadn't found rooms yet. You said your rooms were full and yet we never saw any other guests when I came each day to get my friends and noone else ate breakfast. In fact the only time I saw you over the 4 days was when I saw you lifting plastic sheets over the roofs of the small rooms. I didn't know it then but I now know you felt there was a good chance of rain which it did later. In other words, the rooms leaked. You were not honest with us. And my friends room leaked as well. You had to know this and as you know, the ceiling / roof is grass and branches.||||With all the problems, my friends stuck it out at your lodge which you know is remote, hard to get to and badly constructed. They stayed the 4 nights only because I had already paid and they knew it would be difficult to find another room as this is the high season for tourists. It was also because of Rene, your staff member. He tried everything to make them more comfortable including breakfasts and you were not even around for breakfasts. ||||I have talked with my credit card company. I told them that any charge you make for the room will be disputed. If you had been fair and at least phoned Ricardo back to see what you could offer as a reduction I would not have had to contact the credit card company. As well, we are tourists and as such pay no tax but you did not tell us this. I will be disputing the entire cost you charged me. It is total misrepresentation what you state on your website and the actual situation you put my friends in. I ask that you cancel the entire costs you charged me but I'm afraid I know your character now. You put the minimum in your lodge, which really consists of only one room where my friends stayed and 4 small rooms which are not habitable. The photos you put up on your web are truely misleading.||||As well, we will all be filing complaints with TripAdvisor. Others must know about your lodge and your character. We have taken photos of the room....

Unfortunately, i will not go into the details of how nice the place is. I am sure there are enough post about that. Mostly true, except for cleaningness of the swimming pool which was unusable during our visit. One of our group member had a serious family problem and wanted to cancel his trip, with over 10 days advance. The owner told us it shall not be a problem and that they would repay us on the spot. Furthermore, he had already rented out this cancelled unit. There are only 3 units to be rented out which is nice.||||Arriving with 1 hour advance on our schedule and with one sick passenger, we asked for an early check in. As they are no reception and there was nobody on the spot, we called the owner who after much needed convincing ask someone to open us. He was clearly not happy and afterwards claimed that we gave him extra work and that it is not like that an Eco Lodge work. We are not his favorite clients and therefore we better find more “traditional” accommodation next time.||||The daughter of the owner was not better. She promised 6 times in less than 6 hours that we would gave us our cancelation money back, but she had to wait that other clients would pay her before. That of course never happen. She promised us one last time that she would come before our checkout the next early morning to handover the money. Of course the next morning she was out of sight and with closed phone. We had to leave without our money….. It then took us 3 reminding emails to the owner to ask for our refund, which he finally did reluctantly taking out all kind of bank costs.||||Travelling over 20 years in over 100 countries, I never encountered such rude (and dishonest) behavior by a ecolodge owner.|| ||What a pitty for this nice place, but you would expect much better service if you pay over 120 USD/night. Internet was also barely working. For that price, I would have expect better, especially than in san pedro a good internet is easily found.||||Last but not least, the place is 25 min by foot from the center and not the 10 minutes like the...

Maybe I misunderstood what they meanr by "Lodge".||We got to the hotel arround 1 a.m. after a 4 hour delayed flight, and Ignacio was there to let us in and greet us - which was great - but that was the last time we saw him. The hotel has no Reception/Front Desk of any kind, and so if you need to talk to someone there is a phone you can use - that didn't work when we needed it. Wifi is terrible, practically non-existant so dont count on it. The bed was made every day but the room was not cleaned - super dusty - and the towels were not changed. We ran out of soap and asked for it, didn't get it the next day and asked for it again, only to hear that they ran out of it and that unfortunately there was nothing they could do.|Although we were not counting on it, the pool was filthy and definetely useless. Plenty of bugs in our room - flies, mosquitoes, spiders - that we had to hunt before going to bed every night.||On the upside, the room was spacious and the shower was great.||Location is not that bad - an easy 20 min walk from San Pedro de Atacama center, but you have to cross over a river to do so, and when the rivrr floods you cant go over it with a car, so cars have to take a long detour to get there. Our airport shuttle was 40 min late due to this - and again, this is where it would be nice to have someone at the front desk to help or a decent wofi connection|||Again, maybe I misunderstood what they meant by Lodge, but it is definitely overpriced for waht...