Hostal Café Tiana — Hotel in Latacunga

After a fine experience at Hostal Tiana, our check-out was so bad we definitely wouldn’t recommend this hostel. The evening before we had a 5 AM bus to catch, we checked with the reception to make sure someone would be there early in the morning, so we could pay for the room and have a taxi called. We were assured by two different employees that the reception is staffed 24/7. At 4:30 the next morning, we went downstairs to check out. All the lights were off so we had the flashlight on our phone on, and no one was to be found. We rang the bell on the counter. Out came Mr. Grinch of one of the rooms and angrily said “Turn off the light” to which I responded, “we can’t see anything without the light.” He began shaking his head and sighing under his breath. Then, I asked him if we could have a taxi to the terminal called and pay for our 2 night stay. He went off on a rant about how we needed to pay them still (weird, since we already asked if we could pay) to which I responded by asking why he was being so rude to us. He responded “no es mi culpa” (it’s not my fault) to which I responded “of course it isn’t, no one said it was.” He called us a taxi and began lecturing us about how we needed to arrive at the terminal 30 mins early (which we already were). We went to leave and he yelled over that we couldn’t leave without the key and irritatedly came to unlock it for us. All in all, we left speechless. The only reason I can think of for treating us this way is that he didn’t want to be up yet and get his fair amount of beauty sleep. Hostal Tiana, perhaps you should find a different employee to staff your reception in the morning, as Mr. Grinch clearly doesn’t want to be working and has no idea what basic kindness means, let alone customer service. Avoid a stay at Hostal Tiana, and especially an early morning departure because Mr. Grinch stole our...

Cafe Tiana is just ok, but avoid it if you can.||1) worst bedding we’ve had in our 2-3 months trip in South America: ||- the pillows were really not ok, we are not fussy, but these were like a cut off block of bad foam, the most uncomfortable I think I’ve ever experienced.||- the sheet was for a small bed instead of a double bed||- the undersheet was constantly coming off, leaving us on the raw mattress. ||2) laundry service was a rip off. I think the hostel milks the fact that many travellers are desperate for laundry before starting the 3-day Quilotoa loop, so they charge $2.5 a kilo which is about a dollar more than what we’ve previously experienced. Also they don’t fold your laundry, which is ok in theory but every other cheaper places we’ve been had folded it (our clothes came totally tangled up). Seems quite outrageous to pay $17.5 to have our clothes put from bag to washing machine to dryer straight back into bag.||3) breakfast was the “least good” we’ve had in our trip. Even cheaper places we’ve been to (throughout Colombia and Ecuador), have always had eggs, at least some fruit salad and/or some yoghurt and granola. Cafe Tiana will offer you 2 croissants style bread (quite yummy) but with a jam that is really cheap (pure sugar with no fruit taste), a banana and a really cheap juice (again super sweet with a vague taste of pineapple). Really poor compared to other hostals.||4) bathroom was dirty. We may have been unlucky on this one (ie a dirty guest happened to use the bathroom right before us), but we’ve experienced a blocked sink filled with clipped hair, and a toilet blocked with poo.||5) they make you pay 50cents to refill your 1L water bottle. Other places we’ve been to offer free drinking water, given tap water is not safe in Ecuador.||||So really, avoid it, plenty of better...

I was travelling with my sister, who booked thru booking.com, this hostel, months prior to Dec 13, 2018, on our way to Quilotoa. Per receptionist, per their computer, our reservation is a day prior and we didn't showed up. My sister asked for the wifi connection so that she can check it in her email. Per booking.com, our reservation is Dec. 13 and my sister showed this to the receptionist. The receptionist speaks Spanish and so is my sister. The receptionist don't want to acknowledge that we have the reservation that day per booking.com as shown in my sister's iphone. She then clearly told us that we might have changed the reservation right there and clearly called us liars. She keeps on insisting that they can't help us and that is not their fault because in their system, it shows that we should have been there a day prior. She keeps on referring us into their computer screen with EXCEL program. I pointed out to her that their system could be wrong and the entry in the excel could be done manually. She said that they still can't help us and it's not their fault that we didn't showed up a day prior. We asked to speak to the manager @ this time and she claimed that their manager is not there. After we asked to speak to the manager, the receptionist kind of mellowed down and showed us a room.||||Just a note to the management: I think that particular female receptionist that afternoon needs more training in customer service and educate her not to call ANY customer, liars.||||By the way, the trail information is...