Gorilla - Hostel

The pool and bar make it easy to meet people, and the breakfast is decent. Staff are friendly and helpful, too. It's a social hostel in a great part of Mendoza. I'd definitely recommend it.

The facilities are good, it was fairly clean, and the location is central. What let it down for me was the lack of evening events and no daytime activities either. It's an ideal place to run games or tournaments, so that's a shame. We were also told we had to buy a drink at the bar to play pool. I really didn't like that, especially since this isn't the cheapest hostel and you'd expect pool access to come with the price.

The rooms I stayed in were great, with curtains, power, and a light by the bed. Bathrooms and toilets were among the best I've seen in hostels, and the place itself was clean, tidy, and had good facilities. The staff, especially Valentino, were wonderful, cheerful, and always ready to help. I gave only two stars because check-in was very slow both times. They make you cancel your booking through Hostelworld or Booking.com, then insist on cash payment. For travellers, that can cost more because of fees and poor exchange rates, and it means having to find a cash machine. The owner seems to prefer this to avoid booking commissions and get a better rate in cash, which feels dishonest and makes the whole process harder. I haven't run into this in four months of travelling.

The price for the room wasn't great, but my stay was fine until checkout. On my last day, I wanted to say goodbye to friends I'd made at Aconcagua. There was no space in my six-bed room, so I'd checked out and was in the hostel common area. Staff singled me out and charged me 10000 pesos to stay there, even though I bought drinks and other people there weren't hostel guests either. I understand having a policy, but after sleeping there for three days, charging 8 usd just to use the lobby while I said my final goodbyes felt excessive and in poor taste. It left me with a bad impression of the hostel.