Hobu Hostal — Hotel in Bogota, Capital District

Disappointed. I booked the hostel through hostelbookers and from the description, it looked great. But my stay wasn't extraordinary, on one hand, due to the quality of the hostel and hostel staff, on the other, due to the behavior of other guests. Indeed, my first night, one guy in my room was watching videos with the sound on at midnight, and the other was calling his girlfriend. IN A 5 PEOPLE ROOM!! I asked one of them to go outside, and he told me "it's not me, it's him". They didn't want me to open the windows, so when we woke up, i could barely breath in the room. It got worse with the breakfast. The lady that prepares it is inefficient (i went to the kitchen at 8AM, got served at 9AM) and RUDE!! The portion (barely one egg, one sandwich, one cafe and one fake orange juice) wouldn't feed a 5 year old. I cannot eat gluten so i asked to have a bit more eggs and no sandwish....she answered no in a really rude manner. My last day, i had to take the plane at 9AM and therefore woke up early. The breakfast starts at 6h30 and at 6h25, i explained i had to take the plane and ask her if it was possible to have my breakfast now, she said "breakfast starts at 6h30". In reality, she asked me for what i wanted at exactly 6h37.... The breakfast is a joke, i wouldn't recommend it. Make your own really.

I wanted to visit the salt cathedral, the most famous monument of Colombia and the staff didn't know how to get there!!! When i asked them, they went on google (thank you, i can do that myself) and simply told me the same unclear info i had found 10 minutes earlier on the web. Very helpful...(take a bus to Portal Norte, then take an inter-municipality bus for Zipa and tell the driver you're going to the cathedral. It costs 5700 cop and will take between 35 and 1h20 min, depending on the traffic, from portal norte)

Finally, the bathroom. There is no privacy, with transparent shower curtains and the room that is next to an inside courtyard with windows without curtains, so if anyone go there, they can just see you undressing. Second, they were building new showers in the bathroom, so the smell of chemical products was intoxicating. Finally, my last day, they just closed the men bathroom and told me to go to the ladies bathroom. While i don't mind, i realize it's not cool for the girls.

The positive points are the following: the location and some guys from the staff were really friendly. But for the rest, you really wonder if they are self-aware of the poor quality they give. I've been to cheaper hostels with a much higher quality. Until they fix the problems highlighted above, i'd avoid going...

DO NOT STAY HERE! ||||We booked this hostel through hostelworld and it was the highest rated in the area for the price. Upon arrival we quickly realised it was not as it looked online. Usually if that’s the case and it’s not as expected I am within my rights if I don’t feel safe to leave without any questioning this happened within 10 minutes especially as a female traveller in a different country so I went to speak to the girl representing the reception and explained the hostel was unclean, uninviting, smelly and unfortunately not somewhere I was willing to stay, I paid a small deposit before arriving and was willing to lose this however I was not willing to pay anymore as I was going to need to find an alternative place to stay which was stressful enough- after explaining this in a polite and calm way (she could see I was distressed) she said she needed to speak to the manager which took a long time, after a lot of conversation she told us he said NO and we must pay. How can someone tell me where I have to stay? That’s completely unacceptable. She told us ‘she would have to pay for it if we refused to pay’ which tells me the manager is extremely unprofessional and doesn’t care for his employees. Whilst it wasn’t her fault she was the face we met therefore needs to represent the company and she chose to keep the door locked the whole time as a female herself I feel this is completely disgraceful. ||||We were kept in the hostel against our WILL!! LOCKED IN and HOSTAGES whilst we demanded they unlocked the big bolted door. This was terrifying and I was extremely scared. This door (which may usually be for safety in the hostel) was instead being used to keep us in the premises whilst the girl called the manager. Finally she opened the door after a lot of hesitation she told us a message from the manager which was a THREAT! ‘I will find you I have your passport information and you will pay for this stay’ EVEN though we didn’t stay at the hostel due to the above factors. As a female in a foreign country I am disgusted by this whole fiasco and feel a hostel like this shouldn’t be allowed to advertise on popular websites. This review is to warn anyone going there!!!!!. Do not give money to...

Hobu Hostel’s greatest strength could well be the handsome brick building in which it’s housed. Dark wood interiors, art deco tiles, stained glass, dimpled leather couches and shuttered windows lend it an old-world aesthetic, like sleeping over in a wealthy long-lost relative’s house. That’s not to suggest it’s neglected or outdated though. It has modern flourishes in all the right places such as the immaculate silver kitchen, numerous spotless toilets and strong showers, and airy dining area where the complimentary fruit, eggs, bread and hot drinks are served daily.||||The receptionists, Juan and Andres, couldn’t be nicer. They’ll order taxis (important to do around here using a particular app), help plan activities accommodate requests and let you in-and-out as you please, since for added safety is fenced in with a high spiked gate. Not sure whether this is true, but we read at the time that armed raids had taken place in hostels in the La Candelaria area and security was a concern. Juan also told us what places were OK to go to in the evening and the best way to get to each. ||||Location-wise, the hostel is two blocks from two main streets and near a supermarket and a couple restaurants. It costs between €3 – €6 to catch a taxi downtown, which is where the main attractions are – the Gold Museum, Le Candelaria, cable car – and around €12 to the airport. One dishonest taxi driver tried to do the old Bait and Switch routine, claiming I’d given him a 1000 note and not a 10,000, which I did. Receptionist Juan came to our aid but it’s best to count notes aloud as you hand them over to avoid this.||||Though Hobu’s building makes it charming it’s also responsible for its greatest weakness – noise. Sound travels through the doors, windows and walls, staircases and Floorboards groan, and rooms rattle when inconsiderate guests stomp around. Completely depends on the other guests, obviously. We had a few nights where we kept waking up to shouting, slamming doors, music – but that was only three in six nights, so. Overall we loved it here, and consider it one of the best places we booked on our four-month trip through Central and...