Hotel Kimal — Hotel in San Pedro de Atacama

My first impression of this hotel was very poor as after travelling to get to the hotel for 32 hours i was greeted with "you are not in this hotel, you are in the hotel across the road". I duly produced my booking details which clearly showed i had booked the Poblado Kimal and not the Kimal but was then told with a shrug of the shoulder "it's fully booked" - not the best greeting from reception. Eventually, after 45 minutes of me refusing to stay in the Kimal hotel and many calls to the manager, we were given our own bungalow (aka mud hut). Later on when i went back to reception i encountered 2 other couples travelling together having a problem with their rooms when they came to check in too - they had booked the Kimal hotel and were put into the Poblado Kimal instead, one couple with a standard mud hut and another couple with a superior mud hut but both had paid the same price!! These people were not happy either as one lady was disabled and the walkways are uneven at the Poblado Kimal. It seems the hotel needs to improve the bookings as we were not the only ones that were booked into the wrong hotel!||||The mud hut was spacious, quiet and clean with double bed, mini bar, fan, desk, chair and bathroom (no hairdryer). The bathroom really needed some TLC: the window latch was broken, the grout in the tiles on the floor was almost none existent so when you walked on the tiles they moved and the grout in the shower really needed cleaning. The hut would have benefited from a safe and a door that properly fit the hut as there was about a 1 inch gap at the top of the door - we had to use a folded up towel on the top of the door to prevent mosquito's etc. entering the bedroom. ||Note, the rooms can get very hot with the climate and there is no air conditioning, we managed ok with the fan but it was noisy.||||The hotel is in an excellent location, being about 30 seconds off the end of the main street (Caracoles street) so it is really easy to go out for food but the hotel itself remains very quiet. Other hotels with higher ratings on trip advisor are about 15 minutes on foot away, which is normally fine but the high altitude (2,400 metres) makes walking an effort - trust me! ||||The breakfast was a mixed bag, some days great, other days poor but that depended on what you did/did not like. I found that the days i didn't like the breakfast were when they put lots of nut foods out and a lot of the food did not have labels so many things were a complete surprise (good and bad). Breakfast is served across the road in the sister hotel the Kimal hotel as there is no restaurant on the Kimal side. Breakfast usually consisted of bread, jam, cheeses, meats, various teas, fruit juices and cakes.||I did not eat at the hotels restaurant for lunch or evening meal as i thought that the prices were expensive, compared to the abundant local restaurants/cafes close by.||||I did not book any of the hotels excursions as i used Cosmo Andino who have an excellent reputation, which i must say is well deserved.||||We were allowed access to both pools from both hotels but the bigger and more private pool is in the Poblado Kimal hotel so we only went to that one. The pool was a bit cold for me but very pleasant to sit with my legs in to cool down. There are around 8-10 sun loungers around the pool and the cushions are very comfortable - there is shelter if you require it. There are also a few chairs and tables around the pool too.||||Overall, after the exceptionally bad check in i enjoyed my stay at the hotel. I particularly liked the quietness of the hotel, even though it is really close to the main street (which is a bonus at high altitude). I would recommend because of the quietness and location but be warned about the...

Stayed here for 2 nights and the was the worst hotel we ever stayed due to the bad attitude of the owner. Here is the summary||1. Attitude of the owner on |-the bathroom toilet issues:|Issue: We arrived at the hotel in the evening after a long day from Punta Arenas and they assign us room 8. the toilet bowl does not work. they mentioned they will send somebody. 30 minutes later nothing. the guy arrives after repeated follow ups and then says he cannot fix it since there is a power outage and no water. I got to the reception to change the room, ||Response: |-the staff says he can give another room but i have to move back to this room the next day and then transfers the phone to the owner. She is so rude and says she cannot do anything since the hotel is sold out.. with full of attitude as if she was doing us a favor for letting us stay there and we have to understand the problem instead of the other way round. ||- On top of that their generator was not working. No apologies whatsoever. She told me that we can go and find another hotel since it is not her problem since there is a power outage and they cannot fix the toilet till it comes. Nor can she give us another room for 2 nights. ||Resolution: after a long argument, I disconnected the phone and spoke to the staff at the reception and he reluctantly gave us a room for a day. we did not move to the new one however since it looked even more gloomier but instead called one of the staff to fix it and they temporarily fixed it but not the cistern which is the main issue. we landed up using the toilet next to the restaurant during the 2 days.. unbelievable. ||2 Rooms: the ventilation is very poor with one window and no AC. It made me sick all the time we were in the room. Had to keep the doors and window open if we needed to breathe. There is something wrong with the air quality inside the rooms. ||3. Property: pretty good and the pictures are accurate. The staff was polite and happy. The hotel seems to have power outages but the generator is mostly busted which means no power or water.||4. Service: Awful|-Airport Taxi. on the last day evening we requested them to book a taxi for getting back to Calama for next morning 8am and they called after 10 minutes and said they cannot find a taxi. This is unbelievable. Luckily, we had the number of our airport taxi guy and he came early morning to drop us.||-house keeping: They have a policy of house keeping only until 12 noon. we called them at 12:15 and they said no housekeeping for rest of the day. but saw the staff cleaning other rooms./ they did come later and cleaned the room.||- I think, the attitude is dont serve. Say a NO first and then figure out.||I would highly recommend to stay away from this property. It is the worst of service we ever experienced. There are a lot of good properties around here and you should have a great time if you...

We had the worst experience in this hotel. We book a room with garden view and a terrace at Poblado Kimal hotel, but when we arrive, they tell us that the hotel was overbooked and they forced us to went to Kimal Hotel, other building from the same owner, located across the street, but it was older and in worst condition.|The experience there was really awful. Our room was very dark and had just a tiny window.|In the morning we had problems with the hot water in the shower. They explain us it was because we take the shower too early in the morning!!! It was around 7 AM and of course, It was early but most of the tourist have the same schedules in San Pedro, because the trips to the attractions starts very early in the morning.|When we ask for a new room, the just left us waiting and nothing happen.|Also, the reception staff gave us very poor advice and tips for took special tours in the area|The worst part of our stay at Kimal Hotel came just at the end when they removed our stuffs from the room before checkout hour and without our authorization. |In summary, according to our experience, Poblado Kimal and Kimal hotels offer an expensive and poor quality service. There are better options for less...