Socialtel Medellin — Hotel in Medellín

Unhelpful, unprofessional and rude front desk "Supervisor"!

Booked a stay at this Hostel for 4 nights.On check in day Jan 1st 2019 at 2;00pm on Tuesday I was treated so badly that I decide to look for another Hostel and stay some place else...I arrived in the afternoon at 2:00pm and asked if I could check in an hour earlier since I had 11 hours long international flight, plus 6 hours delay which is all together total of 17 hours! I did NOT think that I asked for to much or something unreasonable at all. The answer I get was "check in is at 3:00pm" I mentioned how tired I was and asked if they could accommodate me and let me into the room an hour before check-in time. Now this time the answer was short and straight to the point! "to bad but that is not our problem that is your problem Sir and besides that the room is not ready anyways"! I was simply speechless by respond and asked to talk to Hostel Management. To my surprise she ( extremely rude and unprofessional girl at the front-desk/reception) told me that I am already talking to the Hostel Management and introduce herself as a Angela Front Desk -Supervisor- Manager!?!? I have no idea how she managed to get a job in a Customer Service industry at all , because of her attitude and unprofessional behavior.. Whilst I understand hostels may have certain policies, there is certainly no need to be rude and condescending over it. In my whole life this was the only instance I met with this kind of rudeness. I had really polite and great service from other hostels around the World, except for this one. I was simply to tired to look for another place to stay right away and decided to wait another 45 min go into my private room get some rest first and then do search for another Hostel in the area...Before entering my room on the 6th floor I saw housekeeping lady and asked her if she was the one who cleaned my room. She was very nice , said yes and asked if everything is ok ...At this point I didn't care much about room just wanted to know if room was ready (clean) at 2:00pm. She said: "definitely actually even before 2:00pm Sir your room was clean and ready, enjoy your stay at the Selina Hostel "!!! This shows that Angela (so called front desk Supervisor) didn't even bother to check if room was ready, while she was busy checking messages on her cell phone and texting.... She was so unhelpful and just plain rude to me. Fist impressions are everything and I just wish never booked to stay here. I left hostel earlier. I payed entire stay up front and didn't even asked for my money back. I was just so happy to leave! I will certainly never be returning to this hostel. There is simply no relation-ship with a basic service! Service standards are important for customers, potential customers, employees and management of a business. They help to define what a customer can expect and to remind management and employees of the challenge and obligations that they face. Person that has a leading or Supervising position should be a role model for the rest of the team and should also represent company that you are working for in the best possible light (in this case Hostel Selina) and not your own rudeness and nastiness. When rudeness and nastiness spreads creates a unpleasant climate that doesn't benefit anyone, hope this will be helpful to the owner to be able to make better decision in...

After two great stays at the Selina Hostels in Bogota (La Candelaria) and Filandia in the Eje Cafetero, I wanted to stay at the Selina Hostel in Medellin as well, as the rooms usually are quite functional (curtains, mostly with direct bathroom, lockers - although not the biggest) and Selina usually provides a good atmosphere and makes it super easy to meet other travellers.

The hostel is located in the El Poblado neighbourhood towards the mountain, very close to many restaurants and a well-known nightlife and bar street of El Poblado (2 blocks away).

The hostel has a coffee shop and a large restaurant/bar area where there is a happy hour on various drinks and food from time to time. There is also an evening programme (DJs, etc.), although the music is sometimes a bit loud for my taste and for 6/7 o'clock in the evening, but the atmosphere is good!

However, during my stay, there were a few small misunderstandings, which the team solved very well. Unfortunately, I didn't realise and nobody told me beforehand that the yoga sessions in this Selina cost money (14.000 COP which is actually an extremely good price for the quality they deliver! Moreover, it takes place on the breathtaking "yoga deck" (you look directly onto a forest with a river below). However, I would have preferred to know the price beforehand when booking and not after the class. There was also a misunderstanding with the happy hour - according to the hostel WhatsApp group, it was supposed to last until 10 o'clock, but after 9 o'clock we were told it was over - although the waitress was extremely friendly and gave us the happy hour prices anyway, although different prices were charged twice for the same drink (once the service charge was forgotten). And another piece of advice: it happened to me that the cleaning lady took my flipflops from the room because she thought I had already left - however, the excitement was in vain as they were able to give them back to me at reception.

I reported these problems to Selina by email as I was a bit disappointed by the "Selina Experience" I usually had. Even though these were minor issues, I still expected something more. And then came the big surprise: I received a reply within a few hours with a request for a conversation where they apologised for the misunderstandings and promised to take the feedback seriously in order to avoid such things to happen in the future. In addition, breakfast the next day was on the house and I received a voucher for consumption at the bar. The management took the feedback very seriously and presented me with a more than satisfactory solution that I had not expected! Many thanks for that!

All in all, I can definitely recommend the Selina in Medellin! Even though it is a somewhat larger Selina Hostel and the hostel does not feel quite as familiar as Filandia or La Candelaria, you are still offered a personal and friendly service. The food is good and there is a happy hour every now and then. Typical for Selina, it's easy to get into conversation with other travellers (also thanks to the free welcome drink). Renovation work is currently taking place in the hostel on the room floors, but this has not led to any loud noises at all. There is also a large co-working space, which I...

WORST HOSTEL IN SOUTH AMERICA!! I stayed at this chain during my backpacking trip through Colombia. I stayed at the Cartagena, Bogota & Medellin locations, I would say all of them have unfriendly and unhelpful staff but this by far is one of the worst hostels I have ever stayed at. I booked a 3 day stay at Selina Medellin and upon arrival, the sad excuse for a customer service worker by the name of “Santiago” was at the front desk. He did not greet me nor did he smile or have an inviting personality, he simply asked if I had a reservation, that was already off putting. Santiago seemed miserable at life and like he hated his job and had no education whatsoever in customer service or how to interact with humans. First thing he told me was “you can’t check in till 3pm!” I began explain that every hostel allows guests to check in a little early if the bed is ready, mind you it was only an hour and a half till 3pm. He refused and so I asked for a manager, He stated he called one but o never saw him so much as pick up a phone. I waited nearly an hour and the manager never came down. Already a sour taste in mouth and I had just arrived. So I waited another hour and asked if I could at least do the paper work, Santiago rudely replied, “you still can’t check in!” Mind you at this point it was a half hour till the check in time and they still refused to check me in. I filled out the paperwork and continued to wait till I was able to check in. The manager never came to even check if I was okay because after all, the management, like the low level staff at this location, are all trash at best!

The final straw was when I and a few other of my roommates, who were friends by this point, slept past our checkout by mistake only by an hour. Santiago and an ARMED security guard entered our room so loudly and then literally began to violently bang on each of our beds in the most obnoxious fashion to wake us up and tell us we missed checkout and had to go downstairs. After they woke us up they stood in the room and watched us pack our belongings trying to intimidate and belittle us paying guests. The armed security guard stood right next to Santiago and watched us with his arms across his chest and his gun at his side. This was beyond uncalled for as we were all paying guests not criminals. I became very upset at this point at the absolute lunacy and blatant disrespect I had received throughout my entire stay all leading up to this. I exclaimed, “How dare you treat us like criminals when we are paying guests and how dare you have an armed security guard sit here and watch us. Santiago literally said, “he just goes in rooms and checks on guests.”

Finally the manager came up, mind you he never showed his face when I needed help, now he shows face and is unapologetic about the whole scenario and allows us to be watched and treated criminally.

I left that day and stayed else where. I cannot believe any hostel would allow their guests to be treated so horrifically when GUESTS are the reason they even have a job. I am disgusted with...