Blue Almond Hostel — Hotel in Saint Andrew

I'm not one to typically leave reviews, but this was the worst hostel experience of our 7+ month trip.

Our flight arrived at 6am and we arrived to Blue Almond around 7 with our booking being for the that night and the next 4 days. On the way to the hostel, our taxi driver warned us repeatedly about this being a sketchy neighborhood, and when we arrived he refused to leave us there until someone answered the door.

It took 15 minutes of knocking and our taxi driver honking to finally get someone to answer the front door, and during this time we found another solo female guest hiding in the bushes out of fear for her safety (seriously!! -as no one had answered her knocks!!). When the disgruntled owner finally answered the door, he initially refused to even let us into the hostel as "check-in wasn't until 11". After a couple minutes of heated discussion, he finally allowed us into the foyer. There, he said that if we didn't want to pay for an additional night that we couldn't be on the property until 11. This included him refusing to even let us leave our bags in storage on the property. When we asked him where we could go, he said we'd have to take our backpacks and go to the beach (keep in mind that it is still pitch dark and that we had just been warned of it being a sketchy neighborhood).

After pleading with him politely for around 10 minutes to let us sit on the couch until it was at least daylight and we could go to a cafe, he continued to be extremely rude and refused any options that involved us or our belongings remaining on the property prior to 11am. Finally, he appeared to relent and grunted and began checking us in and eventually showed us to some bunks (which were available the entire time!!) without speaking to us further. This entire process left my G/F extremely shaken due to the owners abrasiveness and rudeness.

Later on that day, when we went to ask how to get to the supermarket, the owner said that he had decided to charge us for an extra extra night and that we would need to pay for it immediately. Having no options, we were forced to pay despite him not actually telling us that morning when this whole ordeal was unfolding. Long and short of it, we were so rattled by this experience that we were willing to leave and book another hostel even if it involved us forfeiting the remaining 4 nights of our booking. Eventually we were able to get a refund of 2 of our nights and we bee-lined it to another hostel.

Morale of the story: I'm in awe by some of the other positive reviews as they are the complete opposite of our experience. Having already traveled for 7 months, this was a negative shock to the system -and something that we had never experienced before in our travels.

In general -outside of the terrible ownership/service -the hostel seemed medicore at best. The common area and rooms were definitely dated and small, but manageable, although there seemed to be a lot of garbage general clutter on the property which made finding a spot to even sit down somewhat difficult. Rooms were quite hot even with the provided fans.

As aside: the owner also claimed that this was only the 3rd time in 8 years that someone had shown up at this time in the morning. This is despite the fact that there is a daily 6am flight from Bogota, and that on the one day that we showed up, there was a separate traveler (the one hiding in the bushes), that was in the same situation. Seemed to us like clear BS! You've been warned!

Comments to address the claims below: Our flight didn't land until 5:45 + bag claim + security + taxi = 7 (maybe 6:45). Still dark out then. You wouldn't know she was hiding in the bushes because you didn't answer the door for her. I think your general demeanor and disgruntled-ness is evident in your response. You did. Multiple times. 6-8. All we wanted was a place to leave our bags and sit for an hour until it was light out and a cafe opened. No life hack uncovered there - just crappy customer service on your end!

Unfortunate the footage isn't available - might have jogged...

En blue almond me hospedé en mi primer viaje sola y mi primera vez en San Andres. Esperaba buena calidad y tenia expectativas altas y Blue almond supo superarlas. Es el día de hoy que luego de haber recorrido medio mundo aseguro que es el mejor hostel en el que me hospedé. Juan y Jenny me hicieron sentir comoda desde el primer momento: Juan la primer noche nos llevo a comer a todos y luego fuimos a bailar... para dar la bienvenida a los 3 nuevos que llegamos esa noche...así empezó mi aventura. ||||A blue almond si llegas solo te vas con un grupo de amigos (o mas) llevados en el corazon.||||Yo me hospede en 3 de las habitaciones ( es decir casi todas) jaja por no haber reservado con tiempo por lo que conozco todo el hostel y aseguro que es comodo LIMPIO y seguro. Las habitaciones tienen locker con enchufe dentro. La realidad es que es un hostel chico y te conoces con todos.. muy dificil que te roben algo. Yo personalmente recomiendo la habitacion de 5 por relacion calidad comodidad y precio. La de 10 no me gustó porque justo el dia que me quede habia dos españolas "Ayudando" en los baños de alli que eran los suficientes como para estar siempre limpios y no lo estaban del todo... ademas llegaron a tratarme mal y decirme que era una "choni" que lo tuve que googlear para saber que era.... yo jamas les hice nada aclaro. Unas maleducadas viviendo de arriba al hostel sin colaborar.||||En la esquina hay un almacen por lo que nunca te faltará nada. Recomiendo ir a las 9 am que la señora del almacen vende deditos de queso.||||Recomiendo que sepan hablar ingles ya que la mayoria de los que se hospedan son europeos... al menos que esten en temporada de brasileños donde abunda el portugues. Yo no hablé nada de portugues pero no deje de pasear comer bailar beber con ellos!. (Si sos argentina no caigas en las garras de ninguno de esos benditos)||||Si bien en la isla tienen problemas con el agua y el wifi. Yo en blue almond no tuve jamas jamas problemas ni con el agua ni con el wifi que no es poco decir en una isla. Solo tuve problemas contomar mucho acohol aunque el "Aguila" es solo cerveza rebajada con agua jajaj||||A blue almond le falta un buen desayuno. Sin el tienes que rebuscartelas como yo y encontrarte una amiga colombiana que te cocine con el calor de su corazon un arepahuevo con cafe por la mañana.||||A bailar y a los restaurantes del centro ibamos Caminando ida y vuelta super tranquilos. A rocky cay si me iba en mototaxi y volvia rogando encontrar mototaxi en hora pico de vuelta.||||Mi primer noche en cocoloco mi tarjeta de credito voló al mar. Pero Jenny me ayudo a llamar a visa y juan recibio mi tarjeta de repuesto mientras yo estaba en la playa.||||Yo fui y volvi a San andres desde colombia continental y en ese periodo en el hostel me cuidaron una valija llena con compras muy amablemente. los dueños Son gente con MUY buena predisposicion y serviciales.||||Lo bueno de Blue almond ademas es que no tiene bichitos... como supe que chicos del hostel grande del centro tenian y les salian grandes urticarias en el torso.||||A la noche si queres rumba te vas a cocoloco pero si te quedas en blue almond es para dormir tranquilo o charlar birra tranqui||||No se cuanto mas contar sin aburrir. No me queda mas que decir que Mis amigos cercanos se fueron hospedando todos despues que yo. Lo voy a seguir recomendando siempre y lo voy a llevar tambien siempre...

Juan and Alejandro are very nice and helpfull. The hostel is located 20min from the main beach and 2min from a little supermarket. I arrived around 9pm and had new friends at 9.30pm, the guests were very easy going and we went out almost every day. It is kind of a party hostel and Juan and Alejandro joined us some times, they wanna make sure that everyone feels welcome and a part of the family. For me it was perfect except of the bed, had better but when you‘re drunk you dont care anyways!:-D it was clean and the dorm was nice, no bunk beds and enough space. The shower is the worst compare to european standard but as you‘re travelling you‘re used to it and it‘s an island so you should know better. Stay in a 4star hotel if you cant deal with this. :-) I think it‘s important that the bathroom door is closed from the bottom to the top, it has some open space at the top. Shaggy(dog) is so cute but dont try to pet the cat, she‘s a little...