Hostal Casa Del Barranco

The room was comfortable, the location is good, and the price is reasonable. But one employee turned this into the worst lodging experience I've had in Cuenca across 14 visits over nearly twenty years. I won't stay here again. Cuenca has plenty of vibrant new hotels, hostels, and AirBnBs, and now I understand why this place struggles to attract guests. Stay away. It's not worth dealing with such petty, unprofessional service. A manager was professional and gave me two extra keys on my first day in case I came back late. He explained the hotel doors locked at 10pm on weekdays and 1am on weekends, but didn't mention the entire hotel was locked on Sunday afternoons. I went to lunch with my girlfriend carrying only my room key, not the hotel keys. When we got back, I was locked out in the rain. No one answered the bell for fifteen minutes, then a short, chubby young man with glasses finally opened the door lazily. I told him I was frustrated that no one had told me I'd need the hotel keys in the middle of Sunday afternoon. He then scolded my girlfriend in the lobby, saying she couldn't go to my room with me. No other hotel in Cuenca has stopped her from visiting me where I'm staying. He was petty and sensitive, saying he didn't like me 'yelling' at him, though apparently any firm expression of frustration counted as yelling to him. He said I was the only guest, as if that justified his lazy, petty service. A few nights later, she dropped me at the hotel in heavy rain, and I invited her up until it let up. After an hour or two she tried to leave, but the same employee wouldn't unlock the door and told her to call me so I could come down and let her out. On the last night, she dropped me off late in heavy rain. Instead of having her drive back across town in it, she came up and we fell asleep. At checkout I was charged another $40 for an extra guest. Apparently this employee decided to call his mommy to get extra charges imposed out of bitterness. Whatever. $40 was worth it to me to give my girlfriend a safe, comfortable night in a pinch. This employee was especially petty, lazy, and unprofessional. On my final night, I looked forward to seeing a new, better hotel in its place in the near future.

The rooftop view was nice, but the food was bad across the board. We ordered several dishes, including locro de papas, an Ecuadorian soup, and some extras. The soup had no flavor. The pesto and mushroom pasta was stuck together like it had been sitting after cooking, and had no flavor either. I added what felt like a whole tablespoon of salt and still couldn't enjoy it. The beer was warm, and the extras were absurdly priced: $2 for one slice of bacon and $1.50 for three tiny avocado slices. If just one dish had been bad, it wouldn't have been such a big deal. When I told the waiter in fluent Spanish, he just said “okay” and walked away.

What could have been a nightmare became a moving experience of the Ecuadorian people's care and compassion. When my husband became ill and had to be hospitalized, co-owners Olmedo and Diego stepped in to help me with all the many details. We were fortunate to find Casa Barranco. Our room had a delightful patio overlooking the river, and both the room and hotel were spotless and beautifully decorated. The staff were helpful and capable. We had breakfast, dinner, and snacks there, and every meal was delicious. Hats off to the chef!

Please be careful and avoid this place at all costs. After we returned with the Police, three people were sitting there laughing, and the waiter who took the video kept frantically doing things on his phone, his hands shaking badly. The manager hadn't cared until we came back with the Police. The matter is with Police, and if you've been here or stayed here, you may have been secretly recorded. We'd gone up for one beer to see the view. As we were leaving, the waiter asked whether we wanted to use the bathroom. I used the men's room, then he asked my wife, and she said yes. He said he needed to clean it quickly. While she was washing her hands, she noticed a towel in the corner. He had gone in and set up his phone wrapped in a towel with only the camera lens showing, and recorded her using the bathroom. He denied it was his phone, then admitted it was and said he'd dropped it. He had an encrypted video taken while she was in the bathroom.