Onai Hostel

After a day of ski touring, Onai was a great place to unwind. The hostel has a social feel that's good for cooking and spending time together, and the views and atmosphere are world class. Thanks, Onai. We look forward to bringing our clients here in the future!

We booked a week at Onai Hostel for the Chilean National Ski Races, two weeks ahead, and paid a 50% deposit. We never received an official confirmation. When we called to check, the reservationist seemed constantly confused, changed our dates and rooms at random, so we called again and reconfirmed everything. We arrived at 9:30 PM to find no receptionist, staff, or owner there. A guest said the owner was at a party and told him we had arrived. The owner then called my wife and immediately berated and insulted her, saying, “we don’t need you, we have a waiting list and you don’t have a room and we don’t need or want people like your family.” For the record, we had never met or dealt with him. Our only contact was booking through his receptionist and wiring him several hundred dollars. At 10:00 PM, on one of the busiest nights of the year, we had nowhere to stay. We found rooms at the clean, professional “Borde Andino” and later “ Las Bravas”. Once my family was settled, I called the owner to understand what had happened. He was at a loud party and first accused me of booking incorrectly. That was a blatant lie. We'd confirmed it three times. He then said I wasn't allowed to stay there and that he didn't like me or my wife, despite having had no interaction with us. I said he could at least have told us he was cancelling before taking our money and before we arrived late at night, especially with a national competition the next day in a remote area. Apparently, saying he should take responsibility for his business and actions was a serious insult. He started screaming, swearing, and insulting me, so I hung up. For context, I ran a tourism company in Chile for 17 years, and I understand that problems can happen. This service was unacceptable, even for Chile. My company never had a problem like this, or handled one this way. The owner is a somewhat famous Chilean snowboarder. If you know the third-world Latin mentality, you'll understand the overriding importance of ego in every interaction. On a positive note, I do appreciate that he returned our deposit. There are plenty of good lodging alternatives. Get your reservation in writing directly from the hotel, not through a booking agent who may be giving false information. Get a front desk number and call the place the day before to confirm the name of the receptionist or owner. The area is beautiful, so make sure you enjoy it.

Really nice place, comfortable and clean. The staff are lovely.

Such a warm, welcoming place. Really cozy too.