Maki Hostel Valparaiso

The common space is huge, with areas indoors and out, and the kitchen has everything you need. Our room was spacious and cozy too. There are plenty of shared bathrooms, all clean, with hot showers. Great location and friendly staff. A great hostel!

The location and staff were both great, and I liked the layout, especially the rooftop terrace, kitchen, and patio seating. But the place needs a lot of cleaning and care. There were dead plants and cigarette butts all over the rooftop garden. Our ensuite room was pretty grim, with stains on the walls, no windows facing outside, and a musty smell from the bathroom's poor ventilation. This place could be so much better.

The dorm was cozy and the mattress was super comfortable, with an individual light, plug, and locker. The rooftop was nice, the showers had good hot water, and the place stayed clean thanks to the cleaning team being around often. Maki, the friendly hostel cat, is cute and likes playing with strings. The receptionist was friendly too, and the wifi worked well. It was really cold in the room, and the hostel felt a bit empty, so the vibe was off. Bed curtains would have added privacy and made it perfect. Still, I felt comfortable enough to extend my stay, and I'd definitely come back. Highly recommend.

I spent about two weeks at Maki. At first I liked the place, enjoyed the atmosphere, and got on well with the staff. Then, about a week in, things changed after dinner. There was some confusion over cleaning the dishes, and I accept some blame for that. But instead of a polite reminder, a hostel volunteer verbally berated me and another guest, then gestured with a knife while threatening one of us. Other volunteers had to hold him back from fighting with someone there. I didn't report it right away because he was a volunteer and we'd been friends before I was a guest. I didn't want him kicked out. We thought he might have taken drugs the day before and would be back to normal after coming down. I'd also heard he planned to leave in a few days, so I decided to wait. But over the next few days he kept making snide comments and verbally attacking me, even when I was just sitting in the common areas. Eventually I told the administration, “enough is enough, either he goes, or I do.” Some recent reviews seem to describe problems with the same person. The place's “rigorous customer service training, including advanced classes in politeness and courtesy” clearly hadn't worked. The administration said they already knew about the incidents and had told him to leave on Sunday, even though he'd planned to stay much longer. I don't understand why someone considered too unsafe to stay for months could be allowed a few more days. I felt the staff were putting a volunteer ahead of guest safety, even though his behavior seemed aggressive and out of control. It made no sense and showed disregard for guests' safety and comfort. Once I raised the issue, staff who'd been friendly with me suddenly went cold. Their only offer was to move me to another room, since I shared a dorm with him. I said I was leaving that day and would write a review. While he was cursing me out, staff told me, “well make sure you tell the whole truth of when we were nice to you.” My reply was, “it doesn't really matter how many beers you share with me, if you don't care about my safety, it negates it all”. I moved to Casa Chaman, 10 meters up the hill, where the atmosphere was much better and, luckily, there were no lunatics. Maybe Maki is better now that he's gone, maybe not, but I'd spend my money somewhere that cares more about guest safety. Also, there were confirmed bed bugs, though they may have fumigated since.