MAMA GREEN EcoLodge & Permaculture Farm — Hotel in Urubamba

Never before has my experience been so bad compared to the expectations I had based on online reviews.

To start with the good: Bed and shower are good Coffee at breakfast is nice. Wifi is good. Nice little courtyard. Everything is rather new and in good state.

Disappointing: Despite it's name it not a lodge, neither a farm or ecological. It's just a regular hostel with a small courtyard with some plants. The owner has a farm but it is somewhere else. I haven't figured out the ecological part. E.g. if you want drinking water, you need to buy plastic bottles in a shop, there is no solar power, natural gas is used. Rooms are very small and have a low, unpainted ceiling. The ones with bathroom are not more than 9 sq. m. The superior has a king size bed, leaving just enough space to walk around it, but there is hardly any space to put your luggage. The rooms without attached bathroom are on the ground floor, but the bathroom is on the 2nd floor. The location is in a residential area without any restaurant facilities nearby. As the "lodge" does not serve food except for breakfast, you need to take a mototaxi to get to restaurants. If that would mean I would stay in a peaceful area, I would not mind bu there is a lot of noise: the neighbour is doing construction work and is having the radio on very loud all day. Even with my earplugs in, the radio woke my up at 6.15am. After I complained with the manager, it was better the next day. At night there was a lot of noise from parties around us. I could hear every word the people in the room next to me were saying and they were not speaking extremely loud. The breakfast is "organic" but is very spartan: only bread, a bit of salad (lettuce, cherry tomatoes and avocado) and local cheese plus coffee/tea. There is no butter/spread, fruit, juice or marmelade. You can order eggs for 1 Sol (which is not a lot of money, but a bit pathetic it is charged at all if you charge 29USD for a room). The photo with this review is the entire breakfast plus bread and coffee/tea). Staff is not very proactive and/or hospitality minded. E.g. Breakfast is from 8 to 10 am, when we came at 8.15am half of the buffet was finished and not (proactively) refilled. Same for the tea jars. Waste bin for toilet paper is bathroom is fully open, but not emptied daily.

Really bad: This all would still be acceptable if it was not that the hostel provides misleading information about the room- and hotel facilities (e.g. a room size of 20 sq. metres) and is fraudulently influencing its rating on a well-known booking site (Booking).

When we checked-out we gave some feedback about how we experienced our stay and suggestions for improvement (e.g. providing correct information about the room). The response was "so you did not like your stay" and the feedback was not appreciated . Shortly after we left, I received a message from the booking site we used that our reservation was reported as a no-show. This way the hostel tried to prevent we could leave a negative review.

We have been travelling for two months in Peru and this was easily the worst...

Never before has my experience been so bad compared to the expectations I had based on the google reviews.||||To start with the good:||- Bed and shower are good||- Coffee at breakfast is nice.||- Wifi is good.||- Nice little courtyard.||- Everything is rather new and in good state.||||Disappointing:||- Despite it's name it not a lodge, neither a farm or ecological. It's just a regular hostel with a small courtyard with some plants. The owner has a farm but it is somewhere else. I haven't figured out the ecological part. E.g. if you want drinking water, you need to buy plastic bottles in a shop.||- Rooms are very small. The ones with bathroom are not more than 9 sq. m. The superior has a king size bed, leaving just enough space to walk around it, but there is hardly any space to put your luggage. The rooms without attached bathroom are on the ground floor, but the bathroom is on the 2nd floor.||- The location is in a residential area without any restaurant facilities nearby. As the "lodge" does not serve food except for breakfast, you need to take a mototaxi to get to restaurants. If that would mean I would stay in a peaceful - There is a lot of noise: the neighbour is doing construction work and is having the radio on VERY LOUD ALL DAY. Even with my earplugs in, the radio woke my up at 6.15am. After I complained with the manager, it was better the next day. At night there was a lot of noise from parties around us. I could hear every word the people in the room next to me were saying and they were not speaking extremely loud.||- The breakfast is "organic" but is very spartan" only bread, a bit of salad (lettuce, cherry tomatoes and avocado) and local cheese plus coffee/tea. There is no butter/spread, fruit, juice or marmelade. You can order eggs for 1 Sol (which is not a lot of money, but a bit pathetic it is charged at all if you charge 29USD for a room). The photo with this review is the entire breakfast plus bread and coffee/tea).||- Staff is not very proactive and/or hospitality minded. E.g. Breakfast is from 8 to 10 am, when we came at 8.15am half of the buffet was finished and not (proactively) refilled. Same for the tea jars. Waste bin for toilet paper is bathroom is fully open, but not emptied daily.||||This all would still result in a 3 star review if it was not that the hostel provides MISLEADING information, is DISHONEST and is FRAUDULENTLY INFLUENCING ITS BOOKING.COM RATING.||- The information about the room- and hostel facilities is for a significant part incorrect. E.g. room size is sold as 20 sq. m.||- When we checked-out we gave some feedback about how we experienced our stay and suggestions for improvement. The response was "so you did not like your stay". Shortly after we left, I received a message from Booking that our reservation was reported as a no-show in order to prevent us from leaving a review on Booking.||||We have been travelling for two months in Peru and this was easily the worst...

I visited Urubamba, Peru for a few weeks and planned to stay in several places while I was there. However, after a few days staying at Mama Green - I didn't look further!

I took a tuk tuk to Mama Green and met Darghen, the owner. He was extremely accommodating (on my VERY short notice of needing a room). The rooms were very clean and tidied up daily! Plenty of space for my luggage and small reading lights by the bed frame. The shower had endless hot water and a lovely waterfall shower head. My room had a beautiful view of a garden. There is an adorable black kitten who lives there, Garras, and he would greet me at the door and nap on my lap while I ate breakfast. The food is fresh, vegetarian/vegan, and delicious! Darghen prepares it fresh every morning. I met other nice travelers while eating breakfast and hanging out in the common area. The wifi worked very well for my remote work on my laptop. I texted Darghen anytime I needed something (bottled water, toilet paper, clothes washed, etc.) and he was very quick to respond, or leave by the common area for me.

During my stay, I asked Darghen for recommendations on activities in the area. There was a very nice lady who came to my room to give me a 60 minute massage. I also did a horse back riding day trip with Frontier Lab - a woman owned business. I walked about 30 minutes to their location and made friends with the owner and employees who led the trip through the mountains. We hiked up the mountains of the Sacred Valley to practice yoga, rented bikes to ride to the neighboring city of Ollantaytambo, ate ice cream in the plaza, and ate lots of yummy Peruvian cuisine right down the road from the hostel! I walked about 15-20 minutes down to the main plaza almost every day - very peaceful and beautiful view of the mountains on the way.

Overall, I HIGHLY recommend Mama Green to any travelers staying in Urubamba, Peru. As a young, solo female traveler, I felt incredibly safe here. Darghen is a very friendly, funny, respectable, and smart businessman. He speaks English very well. The price to stay here is amazing for what you get in return. It's possible I visit...