The Cranky Croc Hostel — Hotel in Bogota, Capital District

It’s a solid place in a central location. Walking distance to key areas of interest. Would definitely stay here again if I were to come visit the city again.

PRIVATE ROOM: I stayed in a private room with bathroom. It was a clean room. Everything was working. Very happy with it. I checked in 7am and they had my room available and were able to check me in early for a fee equivalent to half of the price per night. (Their normal check in is at 2pm).

(NOTE: The pictures were taken after I had been in the room, so that’s why the sheets are skewed, don’t worry, they gave the room in a clean condition)

RESTAURANT: There is a restaurant in the hostel / hotel and it tastes great. The staff working in the kitchen are amazing! The breakfast is great - I tried their Rancheros Eggs and Colombian Breakfast (without beef). The only thing is, their prices are higher than the surrounding places (ie Di Amato café is a cafe I tried for breakfast that’s literally a 2-3 mins walk from the hostel). But honestly it’s such a convenience and worth it. But if you’re tight on cash, then there’s plenty of options super close by.

VIBE: Overall there’s a cool vibe and nice plants around the place.

But I think I must’ve gone in their slow season because it was wasn’t too busy during the weekdays. If you really want to meet people, you can definitely try. But it’s not really their fault if it’s slow season. But just something to keep in mind if you’re looking to connect with other travellers.

ACTIVITIES: They do have multiple tours leaving everyday, so that’s really convenient. I tried their walking tour, which was $50,000 COP. It was about 2 hours, and I got to try some local fruits, donut, and hot chocolate with cheese - all included.

If you don’t want to go with their tours. There’s walking tours (Beyond Colombia), and Graffiti Tours that meet in front of the Gold Museum and it’s usually bigger groups. And it’s pay by donation. (But their recommended tip is $50,000 COP/person - so basically the same as the one I paid through the hostel).

ASSISTANCE: If you have questions you can likely ask their staff. They sell physical SIM cards on site, which you have to load money on to yourself. I didn’t end up getting one. But it’s an option.

They also were able to keep my suitcase in a locked room and gave me the keys. The storage was free and very...

Pros||- Great location in the heart of La Candelario with great restaurants nearby||- Many tours leave from this location||- Clean and updated facilities||- Wonderful cleaning staff and Kitchen staff - Cheers to Ingrid, Douglas, and Rafa for their hospitality||- Great food in their bar area||||Cons||- Rude & unwelcoming reception staff ||- Beds are really hard and stiff||- Shared bathrooms are not cleaned as often as needed||- Poor Hospititality and helpfulness of front desk (specifically Robert and Carmella) ||||I stayed at Cranky Croc for 8 nights. The first 4 nights were in one of the pods and the next 4 nights were in one of the private rooms with a private bathroom. The pods are extremely small...smaller than pictured on website. If you are over 5'10" you may not be able to stand fully in one of the pods. Also, if you are claustrophobic, I would not recommend you stay in them. ||||A few days after my arrival at Cranky Croc, I was diagnosed with Covid. Before knowing I had Covid, I requested to be transferred to my own private room. The staff I informed, spread the news like gossip. Instead of offering compassion, kindness, or lend a helping hand, they gossiped and demonstrated indifference, avoidance, and coldness. Camilla, the front desk receptionist, demonstrated avoidance and unhelpfulness when it was time for me to transfer rooms. She left me to find the room and move my luggage on my own (before the Covid diagnosis.) Normally I would expect any hotel /hostel to offer assistance with luggage. Being that I had a weakened immune system with extreme body aches & pain, the direction to my room or even offer to help with my luggage would have been greatly appreciated. On several occasions, the other front desk receptionist, Robert, demonstrated coldness and rudeness when I asked for assistance and direction to nearby resources or in answering questions about my booking. The way I was treated by the front desk made my overall experience at Cranky Croc very disappointing and sad. Being that I was extremely weak and trying to maneaver through a new country alone, I would have hoped to at least receive kindness or compassion or helpfulness. Very...

I did not have a great experience, but I did get eaten alive by BED BUGS!!! I stayed here with my brother in a private room with a private bathroom, and for the first 2 nights it was great. Nice placec and comfortable beds. We were then told that they had double booked our room by mistake, and even though we had checked in first, we were being moved to a different room and it would be a shared bathroom. Turns out the people they put in our room were an older american couple, so they obviously didn't want to piss them off. The room we were put into was FULL OF MASSIVE BED BUGS!!! They were so big it was obvious they'd been there a while. When I went out at about 1:30am to tell the girl on reception that I was being bitten by BED BUGS, she told me to move to the top bunk and gave me bug spray. That, of course, was completely pointless, and I spent the entire night wide awake being bitten all over by the BED BUGS. By about 4:30, my brother and I had to leave the room, and I was covered in bites all over my arms, back, neck and face!!! I ended up having an allergic reaction to the bites and both my arms were swollen, itchy and burning. In the morning they organise to switch us to a new room and wash everything from our bags, and also that our night would be free. They didn't tell us that the room they were putting us in was a dorm room for our last night. The next morning, we were checking out and my brother said that we had originally booked a private room with a private bath, so we would not be paying for the night spent in the dorm room as well as the night we were eaten alive by MASSIVE BED BUGS. The receptionist threaten to call the manager and the police, and ended up calling the police, making us pay for the night in the dorm room and got the police to kick us out with all our bags and nowhere to go!! FIND SOMEWHERE...