H S
May 2026
★★★★★
Positive : Good location rear shops/resturants.
Negatives : Where do I begin?
1) Poor wifi – don’t expect to work as a digital nomad here.
2) No indoor communal space. Just outdoor space, and it gets cold and wet in Bogota.
3) Poor kitchen – old and un-hygienic pots and pans which have no handles etc
4) Extremely bad attitude from the owner and his staff. I have never stayed in a hostel where the owner and staff look at guests with disgust and annoyance. Not once did I see any staff member smile at a guest as they walk past, let alone say ‘Hola’. It’s almost as if they’ve been told not to connect with guests, and not to befriend them. This poor attitude comes directly from the owner, who in the 2 months that I was here, never spoke to me till the very last day. He owns a restaurant linked to the hostel (called ‘Astuto’) and everyone focuses on the restaurant and the hostel guests are seen as a nuisance and an irritation. To give you an idea, they tell guests not to sit on the outdoor spaces during certain hours cos they are for the restaurant guests. And check this – they turn off the gas in the kitchen between 12:00 – 14:30. Why? Cos they don’t want hostel guests in view of any potential restaurant guests sitting in the patio, and also cos the owner thinks that if he stops hostel residents from cooking lunch, then they’ll buy it from the restaurant.
5) Unsafe – my laptop and phone were stolen during lunchtime one day when the staff were all present, as was the owner. Someone walked into the hostel, went upstairs and broke open the locked lockers and stole things and left. And guess what – none of the staff/owner questioned or stopped the guy. He was wearing a fake Gas Inspector uniform, and they let him in, even though he wore a full face mask and a cap – an obvious sign that he was concealing his identity, and yet none of the staff thought it was suspicious. It gets even worse – after the incident, the owner simply walked past me, and did not even bother to speak to me or the other victims, and ask how we were, and explain or apologise for our losses. Disgusting attitude. It’s truly shocking.
The lockers above the beds are wooden and many now have broken locks, so if you have valuables to store (laptop, phone, credit cards etc), this hostel doesn’t have the facility to do it.
6) It gets even worse – I decided to leave the hostel the next day due to safety concerns, and the awful treatment by staff, and I checked out at 11:00 and I’m sitting in the outdoor area for an hour, waiting to leave, and one of the staff members comes and tells me that I am not allowed to have my hand luggage with me – I have to put it in the storage room. Why? Cos they charge 4,000COP her hour for storing luggage! I refused. I was furious – rather than showing sympathy and understanding, these people are trying to extract every last cent from it’s guests, even those who have literally been robbed in broad daylight at the very hostel.
7) So, if it’s that bad, then why did I stay here for 2 months, you may ask? Well, cos the hostel has such negative and toxic energy, not many people stay here, and so, for most nights, I got a 6 bed dorm with an ensuite bathroom and terrace all to myself.
Be warned.
