Hotel & Hostal Corvatsch — Hotel in San Pedro de Atacama

The actual physical building will amaze you when you walk in. Half of this building is a hotel. The other half is hostal. ||The washrooms are very modern and they have an excellent kitchen.||One thing you'll notice is that no matter where you look you'll see signs for all of the various rules they have. No biggie, rules are rules but it does take away from the experience of just relaxing.||There was no soap in the men's washroom. On day one that was pointed out to the staff. On the third day when we left there was still no soap. Also not a big deal but I'm sure I broke one of the rules by using soap in the woman's washroom.||Three of us were staying at the hostal but our friend checked out first as his bus was leaving at 6pm. My wife and I were staying an extra night and leaving the next morning. |We were playing cards in the kitchen as we had previously done when a staff member came up to us and asked us all our names. ||This seemed weird as we had all talked to this lady several times previously. We told her that we are still registered and our friend checked out and was just waiting for his bus. She said this was against he rules but said she will let it slide. She did also apologize for embarrassing us in front of two other guests but we felt it was unnecessary to say anything as there was plenty of room. It wasn't like there was a shortage of space.||That said, there was a grumpy older man and this woman who ruined our experience but there was also an English speaking lady and a Spanish speaking lady who were very nice to us. I should have asked their names.||If you are a traveler staying in the hostal you may feel like the staff only cares about the hotel visitors. Rather than feel like a second class person I suggest just staying somewhere else. There are plenty of other great options.||Try The Green House. It's a 10-15 min walk and you feel like your staying at a friends place....

This hostel had the best WiFi I’ve had throughout my 5 weeks in Chile and Argentina, but that’s the only good thing I can say about this place.||They have rules posted everywhere with conflicting checkout times. One of the rules is that you cannot stay after checkout time nor leave your bags there, otherwise you have to pay for another night, which I find to be ridiculous because every other hostel I’ve stayed at was super welcoming and didn’t mind if you hung out after checking out if you needed to wait for a bus/flight. And they didn’t care if you left your bags for the day or even a few days (if you were going hiking), so this “rule” was actually very disappointing and quite rude. ||The staff wasn’t the friendliest and breakfast was not included if you’re in the hostel (the other half of the building is considered a hotel). How can you not provide breakfast to hostel guests? I ate anyway and just paid the 5000 CLP so I wouldn’t have to go elsewhere, but the lady serving breakfast sort of made a big deal about it because I wasn’t a “hotel guest.” ||One night I did an Astro tour and stayed out until about 1:30am. This night was particularly cold and when I came back I just couldn’t get warm, which resulted in getting no sleep at all. I was freezing, so I slept with leggings, socks and a long sleeve. Still couldn’t get warm. I can understand not having AC, but not having a heater on those cold desert nights really sucks. Also, the walls are super thin. I could hear everything from people walking by, kids playing, people talking, starting cars, barking dogs, music playing, you name it. Don’t bother sleeping in because the bright sun shines though and there’s no curtains to close to make it dark.||The place is clean, but I would never...

Positives: The hostal itself was really beautiful and is very centrically located and pretty quiet. Its location made me feel pretty safe--it's very close to the main road and the street is well lit. The shared bathrooms were cleaned at least once a day which was good as well considering Covid. The staff was very friendly and always willing to help. In addition, it gets cold at night in San Pedro and although there was no heat, the bed did have 3 very warm blankets and it was enough for me (someone who feels cold all the time). Lastly, the shared showers are pretty nice. There are two for women, and I imagine 2 for men. They have doors on them so you have privacy and a place to hang your clothes. Also, there is hot water.||||Negatives: The things I didn't like were minor... there was no trash can in the room. Also the room was very small. For me it was okay, but for someone else they might expect a larger room. There were no paper towels in the shared bathrooms so drying your hands was basically impossible unless you brought your own towel with you every time you went to the bathroom. At check-in, it wasn't explained that they close the gate in the evening and to get in, you have to ring the door bell. You figure it out, but it would be nice to get the heads up before you are in the situation. Lastly, when I was paying, I was told that their credit card machine was broken and I either needed to pay in cash or via bank transfer. I imagine this might be quite inconvenient for some people, so I thought it might be good to mention it. ||||Overall I would consider this a nice place and a...