Hostal Mochiliers Bed & Breakfast — Hotel in Cuenca

We stayed here for one night on our way from Ecuador to Peru. We were getting the night bus from Cuenca to Mancora and needed somewhere to overnight beforehand. ||The hostel itself is well placed in the old part of town. It’s perfectly safe - or at least we got that vibe - around the hostel and there are plenty of places to eat and drink. The staff were friendly and our room was massive - probably the biggest room we’ve had on our travels in Ecuador to date. It was a double bed room and was clean and comfy. The shared bathrooms were fine - clean and showers had good hot water. ||The kitchen is basic but clean enough. The WiFi was very good and allowed us to plan a lot of our onward trip without issues. Likewise the communal areas were comfy. The staff also let us store our gear at the hostel and use the WiFi/amenities late into the next evening before our bus, which was very handy. ||Overall this sounds like a 5/5 review so far but we had one major issue which meant that we’d think twice about staying here again. The quiet hours in the hostel start at 11.30pm. This is the latest we’ve ever seen. When you add this to the fact that the design of the hostel is such that all the rooms are accessed via a raised walkway which is open down to the ground floor (where everyone comes and goes at all times of the night), you end up with one very, very noisy echo chamber. ||We could hear music blaring from downstairs until gone 11pm, and then at 4am we got woken up by 3 girls having a loud conversation downstairs (they were just arriving or leaving - but made an absolute racket laughing and joking). The noise echoes throughout the whole place and it’s no exaggeration to say that you will need earplugs to sleep here if you have the same experience as us. ||Finally, at 7am the next morning the cleaner decided to wax the floor outside our room. It wasn’t the noise that got us but the near fumigation of our room from the chemicals that she was using. They honestly smelt like petrol and it was so bad we had to leave our room. So overall we didn’t have the most tranquil of nights!||I’m sure you could stay here and have a 5/5 time and maybe we just got unlucky with some inconsiderate other guests, but earlier quiet hours and some simple soundproofing would have made this an...

Highly unprofessional and dishonest business conduct. My stay (around Sept 26-30, 2025) concluded with an unacceptable dispute over luggage storage fees during a personal emergency.||1. False Advertising & Undisclosed Service: The hostel explicitly lists "Baggage storage" on its Booking.com profile. Yet, the owner, Paola, later confirmed this service is not offered for long-term stays (Quote: "We don't give this service" - 10:44:41).||2. Unilateral and Retroactive Fees: Staff approved leaving my bags. The owner later tried to shift the blame to me for not specifying the duration, arguing the service is only for a few hours. However, they failed to notify me of the time limit OR the $6 USD fee until three days later (on 2/10/25). If the service is time-limited and costly, it is the property's duty to state it upfront.||3. Holding Property Until Payment (Proof Attached): I was dealing with an urgent passport emergency. When notified of the fee, I immediately sent a friend to pick up the luggage that same day. The owner explicitly stated that the belongings would not be released until the retroactive fee was paid: "Your friend has to pay 6 USD and carry your luggage." (Quote: 17:20).||This behavior—imposing a hidden charge, blaming the customer for their own lack of transparency, and then holding a guest's property until payment is made—is unethical and an abuse of power. Travelers should be...

This is a good hostel that could & should be great. The layout is fantastic. There are a lot of spaces to hang out. The dorm room is spacious. They provide free towels. They provide a small breakfast and the kitchen is huge. The nights were very quiet. Guido helped me a lot with blankets, a warm shower, etc. He is the only staff to speak some English. Great dude!

Things to improve on- only the shower in back will give you a mostly warm shower. It baffles me how accommodations can't provide hot water. You're profiting off of providing comfort to guests. Is a cold shower comfortable?

All of the doors are kept open during the morning and night. It's cold outside!

Only 2 bathrooms to share for many guests.

Need real curtains! The street lights out front are like the sun at night. I woke up many times thinking that it was daylight, only to find out that the street light woke me up. And when the sun really comes up in the morning you have no shot of sleeping unless you wear a mask.

Lastly, I was locked in the hostel when trying to leave early. Only then did I realize that I had to wait for reception at 7am! I missed my preferred bus & time. Yes, I know it's in the rules, but I have never been locked in...