Hostería La Condesa — Hotel in El Tambo

As we wanted to visit Ingapirca, we were looking for a place to stay. This Hosteria we found via booking.com. It looked brandnew on the pictuers, no references, but it was the only affordable place to stay we could find. When we arrived in El Tambo by bus, we immediately gor picked up by a local who took us to the hotel. It was beautifull. The location in amazing, a little out of town, between farms, incredible landscape. The buildings are incredible, new, spotless, wit a hint of the authentic buildings that used to be there. It is huge, it has about 20 rooms. There are suites, but also regular rooms which cost $ 35, which is really good. The staff was friendly, they arranged someone to take us to the Banos del Inca (15 minutes walk) and a driver for Ingapirca and Cuenca at a good rate ($ 30 for both). ||There is a restaurant, and even though we were the only guests, we could have dinner there if we ordered in advance. Now comes the average part - the dining hall was huge, and incredibly cold. No heating at all. The lady cooking and serving was friendly, but had no feeling for it at all ... no drinks, desert, coffee/tea was offered. The food was good though! Next morning breakfast really disappointed us. Two eggs and a bun ... that was all. After we visited Ingapirca the hotel would arrange lunch ... but they forgot so we got two buns with a little pices of cheese and no butter and they charged us $ 3 for it.||||Having said all this: it has the potential to be an amazing hotel. It has the atmosphere, the surroundings, the buildings ... it really has everything. It is lacking service and the homely feel though ... even though staff is friendly and will do everything for you ... but maybe this will come when they have...

. ⚠️ ALERT ⚠️ . Paul (pronounced: pah-ool), the onsite/live-in manager, was pleasant, polite, and accommodating; although clearly overworked as he's the only employee at this location, charged with check-in/outs, and housekeeping; not to mention shopping for and supplying its kitchen, as well as planning and preparing all breakfast meals. . Poor Paul! . It's obvious the owner of this "Hostería La Condesa" [some big-wig ex-politician] has little regard for his employees, and even less regard for the comfort and enjoyment of his patrons. . . ⚠️ WARNING ⚠️ . BRING YOUR OWN SPACE HEATER: • Nights are brutally cold and there is no central heating. • Fireplaces are out of service due to beehive infestations within its chimneys, and there's no one to clear them without harming the bees. . FYI: There are only two space heaters for entire facility, oh, and, hot water for showering is only available upon request, as they shut-off the water boiler/heater regularly, reminiscent of NYC slumlords, whose only legacy are 311 complaints by disgruntled tenants. . The reason given for no heat and hot water? You guessed it, COVID-19! . . ⚠️ PRAISE ⚠️ . The population is warm and welcoming; views are amazing; air quality, pristine. . Life's stressors are simply non-existent! . Time seems to slow down and the grazing cows and sheep on its cliffs and mountain sides seem, at times, picturesquely motionless. . If there's a heaven on earth, I'm now convinced it's got to be located in "El...

This hacienda looked beautiful, a convenient location for visiting Ingapirca, and two thirds cheaper than the Posada Ingapirca! We booked through Booking.com and received an email asking for our expected time of arrival which we told the,.||When we arrived at 4pm, the place seemed very quiet. So quiet that everything was locked, there was even a padlock across Reception!||Finally a man arrived who looked like a farmer, complete with welly boots, told us someone would come soon,and let us into the Reception to wait. He came back a bit later and scrabbled around for some room keys and showed us to our room.||The lady who ran the place eventually arrived at 5:45, and didn't really apologie, she just said they thought they had no bookings that day.||Anyway, dinner was a quiet affair, they obviously had to bring in the chef just to cook for us!||This place is beautiful, with amazing views and a great location. The rooms are nicely decorated, and the reception and dining rooms too.||However, to be the only ones staying was strange, and a real shame, as we can imagine the atmosphere would be lovely if there were a few more people!||Other improvement would be to have heaters in the bedroom,and turn them on in the dining room, we...