Casa El colibri — Hotel in Municipio de Quetzaltenango

We booked three nights at Casa El Colibri. To be honest, I wouldn’t recommend this place, here’s why.

We’d probably have experienced a nicer stay if there were more hosts, it’s always a strange feeling to be (almost) the only one in a hostel, especially when even the staff is always gone ! We had several problems (no light, oven not working) and were obliged to call the owner so he could call the guys from the reception to help us... By the way, the owner, Carlos, is very friendly and speaks Spanish, English and French! Nevertheless, since the hostel was empty, we had an upgrade and benefited from a double room with private bathroom instead of having a shared bathroom.

The kitchen was a nightmare. It was really dirty and badly equipped. The bathroom wasn’t very clean either... It’s not nice to have some hair of previous hosts in the shower.

The staff was friendly and tried to help us by proposing to wash our clothes instead of advising us a “lavanderia”. Still, it was a bad idea to accept their 10 GTQ offer, because they lost some clothes. After asking three times for our missing clothes, we finally got them all: they were still humid and smelled cigaret.

Good point: the Wi-Fi was good.

In the end, we didn’t pay much (384 GTQ for three nights, for two people) but still, for this price we could at least...

We stayed at Casa el Colibri for two nights before doing the Xela to Lake Atitlan hike. When we arrived the place was a tip from the Independence Day celebrations - it looked like the owner/guy running it had had a week of partying and no cleaning. The kitchen was disgusting as was the communal area. However the next day cleaners came in and it was much better. ||Our room was very basic just a bed and dresser, the electric cables were hanging from the wall and badly needed painting. Also I'm sure I was bitten by bed bugs which given the overall cleanliness wasn't surprising. ||The guy running it was very friendly and helpful and also helped us do laundry it's just a shame the actual building and rooms need work. The kitchen once clean was ok but you'd struggle to cook a meal in there due to lack of equipment. ||Wifi was ok in main area and there are two showers and toilets with hot water. Only stay here if you want something...

I stayed 3 nights in El Colibri Hostal. The common areas are big, the kitchen is small but functional. The bathrooms and the dorms were clean. It can get really cold at night, but more than enough blankets are provided with each bed, and the beds are comfortable. The staff was really helpful and super nice. The owner, Carlos, is a sweet heart and he will be happy to serve you in French, in English or in Spanish.||||The hostel is just a 5 minute walk to the grocery store (with an ATM) and the central park (cathedral and museum).||||The place was super quiet at night, even when there was a lot of people.||There is a place to leave/take free food, and even a place to leave/take free clothes if you need some.||||The only bad thing is that the wifi was spotty in the dorm, and there is no really hot water.||||A great place overall, you will definitely...