CHAKRA RUNA BACKPACKERS - CAJAMARCA — Hotel in Cajamarca

Chakra Runa Backpackers seemed like a really nice place when we checked in. The kitchen is nice and the hang out room is nice. There is hot water and good WiFi.

However after a few days we began to feel less and less comfortable staying in the hostel. First of all, different people are charged different prices for the same room without reason. When we asked the owner, Herbert , he blamed this on one of the volunteers who gave a cheaper price to another couple. However when we asked the couple of this was true, they said that no, Herbert was the one who offered the lower price. Herbert also said that longer stays get a discount. This is also not true and we were never offered a discount for a longer stay.

Three times there was no toilet paper in the bathroom. One night the gas for the stove ran out while we were cooking. When we called Herbert about this he simply said “sorry” and did nothing to help or compensate.

Herbert’s father entered the hostal several times to clean and remove trash. Every time he was rude and did not respect personal space. He also entered private rooms without permission. The day we left we noticed that our portable charger was missing and the only explanation is that someone in Herbert’s family entered the room when we were not there and took it. Not to mention, Herbert’s father stole a necklace from our friend’s room while they were out and the door was locked. When we addressed these issues with Herbert and his wife we were given a multitude of excuses and no apologies. It is a shame that we had such a negative experience. We do not recommend staying in this hostal as the owners cannot be trusted and the...

I do not recommend this hostel due to the poor management and bad behavior of the owner and his family. Although the matrimonial room, kitchen, and common areas were decent, we didn’t appreciate the fact that the owner charged us S/10 more than our South American friends - it was just another case of Peruvians taking advantage of gringos. When we asked about the difference in price, the owner gave us three different lies as explanations. First, he said that the volunteer set the price for our friends. Second, he said that it had to do with the length of the stay. Lastly, his wife lied and said that the room is usually S/50 and that they had already lowered it to S/40 for us (our friends paid S/30). On top of this, the cleaning was inconsistent. When the owner, Herbert, cleaned, the hostel was impeccable. But when his rude father cleaned, he treated the guests poorly and didn’t do a thorough job. The father was incredibly disrespectful to the guests, and even entered peoples’ rooms without permission, leaving various items unaccounted for. He stole a necklace from our friends and took our portable phone charger when we weren’t in our room. Other inconveniences included bathrooms with no toilet paper on 3 out of 7 days that we stayed there and the gas going out in the middle of cooking dinner one night. Herbert offered no solution when we called, and offered the simple explanation “you aren’t in the US;...

We had a double room which was available when we arrived at 6am and we were allowed check-in which was nice. Friendly staff, they give information about the local area. The bed was comfortable, the room was spacious and clean. The bathroom was reasonably clean, but the showers weren't great. They are electric and you do get hot water, but not great pressure and there's no where to hang the shower head. It would be nice to have more hooks for hanging clothes. The hostel is a small house and the owners live on the next street. There is no reception area, if you want anything you have to walk over to the next street and ring a bell. The laundry service was good, and the wifi was good when it worked. The kitchen was adequate. There were not many people there at the time but it would get quite crowded if the hostel was full. Location is good, quiet but near a market and not far...