Lodge Altitud — Hotel in San Pedro de Atacama

My wife and I stayed here end of March 2019 for 3 nights. The owner/manager, Alvaro, was happy to book tours for a commission but otherwise seemed quite unhappy to have to deal with his guests. By the way we have travelled S.America for three months, are pretty easy to deal with, and have never left a review like this one.||Alvaro, is rarely at the property and there’s is no one else to ask questions of or address issues with. He does leave his Whatsapp contact for you. Our “welcome” felt very unwelcoming and we were shocked at the sight of the property which in no way matches the current photos on booking sites. The eating area, inside and out, is very dirty (all the time) and dead flies litter the window sills. This is the desert and surely a tough place to keep clean but clearly no attempt had been made on the filth in the eating area windows for sometime. ||Warning: when we left we paid Alvaro in cash, he will tell you that is the only way to avoid high Chilean taxes which is not true. A few days later we noticed he had also charged our credit card for our stay. When we contacted him and began a Whatsapp communication, he seemed angry with us but said he’d look into it. He acknowledged that an “error” had been made, blamed his “accountant” and said he would reimburse us. He eventually mentioned the negative review we’d left on another Booking site and told us to “be patient”. To date we have not been reimbursed and Alvaro has stopped responding to us. ||If you read through other reviews, you will see this type of business practice is not unusual at this establishment. We have travelled for months through S. America and never left a negative review like this. We had excellent experiences during our trip and wrote many great reviews about the wonderful people who run hostels and hotels.||Lodge Altitud is dirty and Alvaro is not trustworthy. If you end up here and pay in cash, get a receipt and good luck to you....

Set on the edge of town (10 mins walk) , quite near the river and surrounded by hills. The lodge is in a very large plot, with plenty of space to explore and have a good walk around, and sunny first thing in the morning. Rooms are quite small, but very well equipped with good linens, towels and a room gas heater when cold. Shower was warm and powerful, although it does go cold briefly after 10 mins. There is a firepit with plenty of wood available, as well as a bbq. A small swimming pool and decking with sunloungers available, but not very well maintained. The owner and staff are lovely, and very friendly. |The two dogs on site are great company (if you like dogs) . Laundry for 7000 available. A pretty good breakfast, with eggs and fresh rolls included . Trips are also available. WIFI is pretty good before 7. 30am, but with staff and their friends using it after that time, makes the signal pretty useless (which is frustrating if you need to book onward travel). Tax is not added if you pay in $us cash. Overall although a bit dated and unmaintained, we loved this place and it was very good value compared to other accommodation...

After asking us to pay in cash when we got there Alvaro overcharged our credit card before we arrived. We arrived a little late due to hiway construction. We had trouble getting to the lodge as we had to drive our rental car thru a river. Alvaro was nice at first but when we asked about the return of our overpayment he advised we would have to pay $180 USD cash then he would refund our credit card, and it could take up to 5 days to get it. We asked that he refund our card then recharge the proper amount or refund the overcharge in cash. He refused. We did not trust him enough to pay again.||The lodge itself was probably nice 10 years ago. We moved a large rock/door stop in our cabana to find cat food. The window in our cabana had leaked at some time and stained the curtains and wall. Used appliances were left lying in the yard as a eyesore.||The route to town involves crossing a river . ||Overall not happy with the property...