Desert Nights Hostel — Hotel in Ica

Our friends stayed here for a night, we joined for a visit during the day and we had a meal on the rooftop.

As soon as I entered, I headed to the male bathroom on the ground floor. The first toilet had a massive excrement in it, that was disgusting. The second one was fine, but the smell was not. The sinks had no water, so I changed to the handicapped bathroom to try to wash my hands. That one had water and a paper towel dispenser with paper inside. However, the machine did not connect the paper well and it was not usable. Bad first impression.

The resto-bar on top is nice though subjected to direct sunlight. The nicest tables are by the balcony edge which have umbrellas (very necessary). One table had a couple with an umbrella opened in diagonal to cover them well from the sun. Unfortunately, every other umbrella on the remaining 3 tables were broken and they could open them but not change the angle, so we were still under the strong sun.

The food was fine, nothing exceptional and the price on the touristic side was a bit high for what you get. There were 2 waiters. The one who waited on us was polite enough, just not enthusiastic nor friendly, he seemed bored. He did the job correctly, so that's ok. At some point I came to the bar to ask for a menu, the barman called the 2nd waiter to give me one clearly saying "la carta". The 2nd waiter was confused in front of me and I ask again "la carta, por favor" (I'm Peruvian and fluent), I asked twice as he was not understanding. Finally I saw the menus behind him, so I just went and grabbed one. Overall it is an average service with average food, and the cleaning should be a lot more careful not to leave a bathroom that...

Mostly good, until the actual construction at 2:30am.

Desert Nights started off as a good hostel. Rooms and bathrooms are clean and comfortable, and the music cuts out at a reasonable time. Location is fantastic in relation to the lagoon, and the staff are absolutely DELIGHTFUL. They let us check in at 6:30am after a horrible night bus, which meant we could shower and sleep- we are incredible grateful for this!!

Unfortunately we had the front, ground floor room and the front of the hostel seems to be the meeting place for the entire town. The entry to the dunes for the buggie and sand boarding is right out the front and it’s where a lot of tuk tuks drop off and wait for customers. There was yelling and hollering from before 7am, so a sleep in even with ear plugs is impossible.

The water takes about 10 minutes to become even luke warm, and the water pressure is a trickle. The gym is also not available for public use.

Then, on our last night, there was full blown construction going on at 10:30pm, including angle grinders, and hammering tiles off the walls. When I went out and requested the construction cease, they just moved on to re-tiling, which we could hear through the walls. They then resumed banging at 2:30am, until I went out AGAIN, as I was woken up, to which the guy just told me they were finished, as if this were sufficient. Throwing of bags of concrete in the ground recommenced at 6:30am. If you want to do construction at 10:30pm and 2:30am, close the hostel. Don’t have paying customers on...

Unreliable and unwelcoming!!! Arrived in the morning, after I booked on booking for 1 night. Asked the receptionist, who seemed very disinterested/tired/exhausted/bored in/of her job, if I could stay 2 nights which she said yes to (nice). I was welcome to hang out in the hostel until check-in at 15:00 (nice). At check-in the same receptionist told me I couldn't stay the 2 nights because somebody else booked the bed since we last talked (not so nice). Even after questioning her why she didn't reserve the 2nd night for me, she was unable to admit that she made a mistake (not so nice). She proceeded to show me the room without explaining what the wifi-password is, where the bathrooms are and what other services the hostel includes (I read some other guests could use the neighbour's pool?!). It's hard to understand why someone so unmotivated works in tourism.

Huacachina itself is nice for a short visit. However it is overrun, noisy and people leave their trash in the sand dunes..which is incredibly sad. Pachamama is worth...