Hostal Rosa Mar — Hotel in Manta

We stayed here for 2 nights, on our way in and out of Manta. The family who runs this hostel are very friendly. The rooms were an OK size and the beds pretty comfortable. There was actually a window unit air conditioner, which was really nice since the weather in Manta is very hot and muggy. However, there were no blankets on the beds (only top sheets), so if we ran the air conditioner at night we got too cold. During our second stay there were no sheets at all on the bed. We notified the staff and then went out to get dinner, and forgot to leave the room key at the front desk. When we came back they said they weren't able to put sheets on the bed because we had the key, and there was no other copy (really??). They handed us the sheets to make up the bed ourselves.||||The real reason not to stay here is the location. It is not close to anything -- not the airport, not the bus station, not the beach. There are no restaurants nearby, which is an issue because this hotel does not serve breakfast. There is a small adjoining cafe that doesn't open until 9am, which is way too late for us to eat (we are traveling with 2 kids). On our first morning it was pouring rain, and the management was kind enough to take pity on us and open up the cafe to make us coffee and hot milk, and we ended up eating granola bars for breakfast that I happened to have brought from the US.||||I have stayed in much better places in Ecuador for the money. Unfortunately I would not go back to this...

One of those places that don't exactly catch your eye when you drive past, in fact, my taxi driver told me he didn't even know there was a hostal in this area. Once inside though and taken to my room, my jaw just dropped! ||Everything was really, clean and had a pleasant feel to it.||I'd booked a dormitory bed but ended up getting a massive double room. WOW! and it was really nice with a good bathroom.||Downstairs the family that own it sell a variety of little snacks like empanadas etc etc and the locals were queuing for a place and waiting for orders. I tried the empanadas, they were super delicious!!||The hostal is within walking distance to the nearby plaza/mall and then also about 2 blocks away is a place that sells roasted chicken. The chicken is really delicious (or maybe even more so because I was so hungry) and only $6 for a half chicken and about a ton of fries.||Going through Manta and not stopping to do much, then this is the place away from it all, yet close enough too for taxis not to...

The Hostal Rosa Mar is a little family run Hotel in Manta. The rooms are nice and well decorated, and the bathrooms are quite modern and spacious. So as far as value for money goes, it was good. The things that we didn't like is that the front door is always double locked and no matter what time of the day or night, you must ring a bell and wait for someone to let you out of the building. The reason for this is that the hotel is situated in a not very safe part f Manta, way out in the suburbs away from the beach. There are also no restaurants or eateries in the direct vicinity so you have to go for miles for all of your meals. Taxi rides to and from the beach are...