Urbana Hostel — Hotel in Bogota, Capital District

This is a small-ish hostel located in the heart of Bogotá's Zona Rosa, which I think is a better place for tourists to stay than La Candelaria -- you can hang out with real Colombians and you can also walk around safely at night. If you want to visit other parts of the city, take an Uber. Beds are okay by hostel standards, but could be improved by removing the cheap plastic mattress covers -- they make you sweat -- and replaced with fabric mattress covers that would just have to be washed and replaced a bit more often. Colorful linens should be replaced with crisp white linens. Most rooms have zero natural light or ventilation, so good luck if you're staying with someone who smells or you're a bit claustrophobic. WiFi works well enough and the rooftop terrace is pleasant. Breakfast is just white bread, sugary cereal, and some saltine crackers. Staff is helpful, but I heard one staff member talking on the phone about increasing the size of the hostel's commission for tours, so I wouldn't suggest booking a tour through this hostel. Hostel staff will summon an Uber for you and then you can pay the driver the fare in cash, which is a nice amenity. Showers are a nightmare -- hot water, cold water, super hot water, super cold water, hot water -- at worst dangerous (the hot water could scold you) and at best annoying (it's a game to find a water you can actually comfortably shower with). Given Bogotá is a chilly city and this is a modern hostel in the modern Zona Rosa district, there's no excuse for the showers not having proper hot water. When my friend complained, one staff member responded "pobrecita" -- okay, hot water isn't everything, but you're running a hostel and you can try to be accommodating, yes? Other guests were friendly and respectful. You could do worse, but you could also do a lot better. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of budget options in this part...

The only good thing about this hostel is its location. Nothing else. I would NOT recommend this hostel. TOTAL DISAPPOINTMENT. Staff hostile, terrible infrastructure.

1st thing we saw when we arrived to the room: a chewing gum sticked to the wall right next to the pillows in the bed the "double bed" was not remotely a double bed, we could barely fit 2 people -the rooms have either tiny windows looking at the hallway inside or no windows at all

first and second day, no water was coming from the taps and the shower did not have hot water (some showers didn't even had functioning taps) -our room had literally a piece of plastic as a part of the roof -when they were fixing the hot water tank in the roof, water started to get into the room through that plastic. I told the staff about it and they just gave me an attitude and told me "they were working". They offered me to change rooms only in that same second but I had a tour waiting outside so I couldn't do it and they didn't offer me to do it in another time. Zero flexibility -then they fixed the hot water but the next day was raining and when we came back to the room, it was fuuuulll of water since they didn't fix that plastic. All our things were wet. Then they offered us to change room again, also with a terrible attitude and this time we did it , and we got a room with an actual double bed but no windows

Also, the employee tried to blame me saying that it was my fault that I didn't move rooms the first time they asked me when I had a car waiting outside to go for a tour and they didn't offered me to do it maybe at another time like in the afternoon or something like that

If the employees at least would have cared that would have made the difference Because the hostel has a good location...

Hostal is very well located, right next to Zona T. The rooms are just as described. Wifi throughout the hostal is good. The staff is very friendly. I was unlucky and had room 3 which is at the street side of the hostal and beneath there is a restaurant which grills and fries food so all the smoke goes straight into the room and pretty much the whole hostal making it a bit smelly at certain times. The toilets and showers could get cleaned more often, shower has hot and cold water but hot water is not always 100% reliable. When it rains outside you might find it raining inside the hostal too at certain spots. The breakfast from 7-10 is OK, nothing special...i was missing some eggs and some wholegrain bread instead of white bread which is very unhealthy. The rooms are simple, mattress is a little hard in my opinion. I did not like that you cant bring visitors into your room, even though they would leave after and not stay the night. You get charged 2000 COP if you use their towels which in my opinion should be included in the service...