Watch out for your valuables - even the less obvious ones (Hotel Quito - Ecuador)

Member Name: koshkha

Product:	Hotel Quito - Ecuador
Date:	12/10/06 (146 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great views

Disadvantages: Disinterested staff and thefts from rooms

When we stayed
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I stayed at the Hotel Quito in October 2004 so this opinion is based on an experience nearly two years ago. Since that time I believe they have opened a Casino but quite honestly that wouldn’t attract me any more than my past experience. My husband and I were part of a tour group doing a 3 weeks trip around of Peru, Ecuador and Galapagos and we stayed at the Hotel Quito twice - one night before and two nights after the Galapagos leg of our journey.

Prices
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Checking various websites you should be able to get a room for between $50 and $100. Our rooms were part of our tour so I don’t know how much was paid.

Traumas getting there
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Getting to Quito had been an ordeal and we’d been through a bit of a hairy time in the Peruvian rain forest. Our flight out of Porto Maldonado, a one-horse gold-mining town, had been cancelled due to rain (it’s a rain forest, you’d think they’d be used to it) and we’d been stranded in the only scummy hotel in a bandit town that had any rooms. They only had rooms because the hotel was closed for decorating and renovations. Imagine a hotel full of pissed off Japanese and Brits going crazy with the sound of drilling and banging and getting very stressed about how long it would take to get out. Then when the airline was bullied into putting on a ‘rescue’ flight we flew to Lima in the wee small hours to spend a couple of hours in a hotel before flying on to Quito. As you can imagine, by the time we got to Quito we were all bit jaded and fed up.

The bus transfer from the airport took about 30 minutes. The first thing that will hit you on arriving in Quito is the altitude. We thought we’d be acclimatised because we’d been at similar altitude in our first week in Peru but the time in the rainforest had knocked that out of us. Take everything slowly or you’ll pay for it later with nausea, sleep problems and sickness.

Where is it?
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To tell the truth, I’m not too sure. It’s not really in the middle of anything much – a business and shop district, the sort of place that countries have their embassies. There’s nothing particularly notable on the door step. It’s about 10 minutes by cab from the more funky backpacker district and 20-30 (depending on traffic) from historic old Quito. The hotel is on top of a hill with great views and you shouldn’t have any problems walking around the hotel area during the day – maybe not such a good idea (anywhere in Quito) after dark. There is a small craft market just down the hill from the hotel looking into the valley. You can buy knitted clothes, paintings and other curios. Taxis are not expensive – although you should check the price before you agree to go anywhere – so it isn’t too important where you are in Quito.

First impressions
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When we arrived at the Hotel Quito we were very surprised. After staying in an ‘eco-lodge’ (compost toilets and lots of bugs) and a flea-pit zero star hotel this seemed like a bit of a treat. The hotel is described as being Art Deco in style – I think that’s rather a generous assessment. Architecturally it’s ‘high 1960s’ with a bit of a soviet block look to it. However the lobby is stunning.

As you walk in the hotel looks incredibly grand. In the centre of the lobby there’s a large table with a fantastic flower displays several feet wide filled with beautiful fragrant roses. Here’s a bit of trivia for you – Ecuador is one of the world’s major exporters of flowers (and frozen prawns!). The lobby has dozens of sofas and arm chairs and is two storeys high with a mezzanine swooping around. The main draw is the window – an enormous floor to ceiling view out over the valley beneath with snow capped mountains behind.

Apparently the hotel was built as a ‘convention resort’ for an ‘Inter-American Convention’. It was probably very impressive and state of the art when it opened. Sadly now it’s just a bit sad and jaded. Over the decades it has passed through the hands of various hotel groups including Intercontinental and is currently part of Compass Hotels. It’s quite a landmark in the city and is best known for the views. However, that doesn’t mean it’s a great hotel.

Checking in
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As part of a group we sipped our cold ‘welcome’ drinks whilst looking out of the windows. We filled in some registration forms and were handed our keys. My husband began his regular battle to get our valuables into the safe deposit box and several of the group tried unsuccessfully to get some money exchanged.

The Rooms
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We trekked off to our room - the corridors were plush with deep carpets and the rooms had a complex double door system to keep the corridor noise to a minimum – a little pointless with a busy road outside and a location under the flight path to the airport but it’s the thought that counts.

After the opulent lobby it was a bit of a surprise to find that the rooms were reminiscent of a 1980s Travellodge – adequate but entirely forgettable. We were on the road side of the hotel both times we stayed so we had a view over some unexciting gardens. Others in the party had hillside rooms with views of the mountains and the pool. The rooms were large with two beds, a desk, a TV, cupboards and everything you’d expect but nothing that you wouldn’t. Our ground floor rooms had doors that opened onto the garden – not that it was the kind of garden you’d want to sit out on unless you like watching the traffic.

The bathrooms had plenty of hot water (which was our main priority) but were otherwise unmemorable – bath, shower, loo, sink. What did you expect? International cable TV was available but we didn’t use it as was in room internet access. Not something we tried but I’ve seen reviews suggesting that it was very expensive. Some of our group used the business centre to access the internet but we found it easier and cheaper to use the ‘backpacker’ internet cafes in the touristy district.

The Bar and Restaurants
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Included in the deal was a 'welcome' cocktail up in the penthouse bar with spectacular views over the city. We went up for our free Cuba Libres (as far as I can make out that’s just Rum and Coke, but please feel free to correct me). Prices were not cheap but were fair for a hotel of this standard and I really recommend visitors use the bar for the views. Next to the bar is the Techo del Mundo restaurant which offers international cuisine of a good standard at not-too-frightening prices.

In addition to the penthouse bar and restaurant, you can get drinks and snacks at the poolside and there’s another bar called the Havana Cigar Club – not being a smoker, I can’t tell you anything about that.

During our first visit, we left very early before breakfast service started. However, the hotel did a good job of laying on a small buffet service in the mezzanine of the lobby which did the job. On our return, we had the full breakfast up on the top floor which had a very wide choice of food and was of very good quality.

Other facilities
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There’s a very nice outdoor pool which we didn’t use because it was raining and because doing anything very active at that altitude isn’t wise until you’ve got used to the thin air. There’s also a gym – same logic would apply. The hotel has lots of meeting rooms and convention facilities which won’t interest you as a tourist.

OK, now onto the trouble!
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We spent one night in the Hotel Quito and then packed up all our excess belongings and put them into storage. We were about to fly to Galapagos and the airlines are really strict about weight limits - and the small boat we were using to tour the islands had very restricted space. We left one bag - locked up - in the store. On getting to Galapagos I gave my poor husband a real ear-bashing for stupidly forgetting to pack the binoculars - two pairs. I also sulked at myself for the stupidity of forgetting to bring my trainers. On returning to the hotel we found that the binoculars weren't in the bag we had left and neither were my trainers.

We are pretty nice folk and we hate to get hotel staff into trouble so when we realised that the lost items must have gone astray before we left the hotel (the bags were locked during the flight so the items must have disappeared during our first hotel stay) we reported the items to the front desk and asked them to check lost property. We didn’t accuse anyone but we returned to the reception several times repeatedly asking them to check the lost property.

At the airport when we were leaving, we discovered that another member of our party had also lost a pair of trainers as well as an expensive pair of prescription bi-focal glasses. In fact, the poor chap had spent a week in Galapagos unable to see anything very clearly. On the first visit, he'd been in the room adjacent to ours and it seemed that he had also been the victim of some wandering fingers. We both reported the incident to the tour company on return but with no joy.

We always put our valuables in hotel safe-deposit boxes but nothing would have prepared us for the idea that our shoes and binoculars needed to be locked up as well.

Recommendation?
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I wouldn't say don't stay at the Hotel Quito - but I would advise you not to unpack your suitcase and if you have a lockable case, leave everything that could tempt a thief, inside your case.

Summary: Not one I'd use another time. There are better hotels to choose from.