Manso Boutique Guesthouse — Hotel in Guayaquil

Very little negative is to be said regarding our experience with El Manso Boutique in Guayaquil. We are both in agreement that this was the best hostel we stayed at in Ecuador. So let’s just start with the only, minor negative, and get it out of the way. Like most hostels, there just has to be some malfunction with the shower. In this case, the shower curtain was too short, resulting in a wet [and could be] slippery floor -although only minor, much better than most. That’s it. From the very beginning, this time making a few reservations before embarking on our travels, our experience with El Manso Boutique Hostal was positive. Their website is informative, with pictures and videos, and offers a discount for booking on-line. However the on-line booking could not be completed. For reservations El Manso Boutique’s site includes a few telephone numbers, including a US based number, a Skype number, and local number. Easy to reach. We called, spoke with Emiko, who took the reservation over the phone and immediately followed up with e-mail confirmation, including the dates, breakdown of price, name and description of the room. Check in was easy, our room was clean, and the cool, fresh pitcher of water was a welcomed touch after a long evening of traveling. The design and decor of our room at El Manso was much more modern with better detail in the construction than most hostels. Our particular room had a large window facing east across Simon Bolivar to the Malecón 2,000 (boardwalk and river). The hallways were clean with comfortable (not worn out) furniture, with plenty of chairs, and hammocks by the hallway balconies. Wifi routers were located on each floor (the wifi was a bit slow in the room, but fine in the hallway). The hostel location is great, within walking distance to the colonial streets of Las Peñas and the Cerro Santa Ana viewpoint at the north end of Malecón 2,000, and only a few short blocks to historic plazas, churches, and monuments behind it to the west. While awaiting our taxi to the airport on our day of departure, Emiko was working and asked where we were going. I told her to Loja and Vilcabamba, and had casually mentioned it was a bit challenging to find many lodging options in Loja to review on the internet. A few minutes later, on her own accord, she handed us a paper with recommendations in Loja. Location, price, staff and room were all good – a step above the rest. El Manso Boutique Hostal lands on the recommended list of lodging in Guayaquil. El Manso is located at: Malecón 1406 y Aguirre,...

Beware do not stay here, I arrived at the hotel on 06/17 at around 3p my room was not ready and the front desk girl i recall her nsme was Angie told me there was a storage room avilable and I can keep my luggage there. All my suitcases had TSA approved locks and since I was going to leave the hotel I took my daughter suitcase lock off to place it on my carry on back pack . So we decided to leave the luggage in the storage room, when I arrived back to the hotel later thay eveing , my family luggage was placed in my room but a staff member at the hotel changed my daughter's suitcase, the suitcase they place in my room had no airport tag, how ironic is that? I spoke with the property manager Ricardo over the phone and he tried to tell me my suitcase was switch at the airport. Well no that was not the case. Per Angie she and the housekeeper had access to the keys in the storage room but the housekeeper was not avilable. I contacted the police and informed them what had occurred and they themselves informed me to speak with property manager in person since there was no CCTV in the storage room and the hotel is a not providing good business. I checked out on 06/18, and was not able to speak to Ricardo in person besides via whatsapp and was told I would recieved a refund which I did not. Long story short do not stay at this hotel, the staff pretend to be nice but either Angie or the housekeeper is a theif since they have access to the stirage keys! Beware! If you see hiking backpacks in the storage room be careful they make it seem like they are holding luggage and are just placed there for show and tell. I should have not remove the lock from my daughter's suitcase but who would have thought they will take a child suitcase. Nothing...

We stayed here on the recommendation of our travel book and the positive reviews online. What a huge mistake. First, they made us pay in full for our whole stay of two nights up front. This is probably because when people see their rooms they run away and want their money back. This is what we did. After about 20 minutes we left and checked in at a hotel for roughly the same price as we paid here. We received much higher value at our new accommodations.||Our room at Manso was an interior room with private bath. It smelled dank and old. The sheets were covered in stains. The whole floor had 20 year old backpackers passed out on couches which were also covered in stains. We are in our mid 30s and don’t mind staying at modest accommodations, but this place is misrepresenting itself. We have stayed in other Ecuadorian hostals which were incredible. This place calls itself “hostal” when it really is a “hostel” despite what Manso says in replies to comments here. The rooms are way overpriced compared to what we paid elsewhere in the country and in Guayaquil itself.||The Wifi was basically non-existent and could not load a basic webpage within 5 minutes. The “free” breakfast is a banana and some white bread. Anything more requires payment. Laundry was overpriced and they did not fold our clothes or even turn them right side out. Basically stuffed everything back in a small bag. Bathroom door did not latch closed. Lunch was delicious but overpriced for what we have eaten elsewhere. Most of the staff at the front desk were too busy texting on their phones they or kissing their boyfriends to pay any attention to guests. ||Only good thing about this place is the location, working AC,...