Hotel Finlandia

We were given an English menu for dinner, and the Ecuadorian dishes on it felt overpriced and not traditional or authentic. I noticed another family had a completely different menu. Please let guests choose, instead of assuming what they want.

The rooms are good, the location is great, and I liked the bar, restaurant, and food. Breakfast was good too. My only gripe is that there was no tea kettle or iron in the room, things I think are common in hotels. I enjoyed staying here.

There’s plenty to reach on foot from the hotel: Inaquito metro station, Quicentro shopping mall, Supercines, and Megamaxi with its food court are all within a five-minute walk. La Carolina park is close too, and the area feels safe and well lit at night, with people out jogging and walking dogs. I had a rental car and got free basement parking, though I had to contact reception to have them open the gate whenever I entered or left. My room was clean and comfortable, with fast Wi-Fi. Breakfast was included, with a small range of hot choices like rice, meat, and eggs, plus bread, ham, and cheese. I also enjoyed the ice cream at the ground-floor cafe and used my free welcome drink at the cosy hotel bar. The 1 p.m. late checkout was handy. I could explore in the morning, come back around noon to wash up and pack, and not feel rushed. I had a great stay.

I’d been a happy guest at Hotel Finlandia and its restaurant on many of my trips to Ecuador over the years, and I’ve visited at least 30 times. That changed during my recent stay. We had just arrived in Quito and hadn’t gone anywhere else to shop or eat, so we had a late dinner at the bar and restaurant. After paying by card and returning to our room, several fraudulent charges for food and similar local purchases in Quito appeared on that same card within 20 minutes. We locked the card, downloaded the evidence, and gave management the charges from that day, including the restaurant payment and our front-desk incidentals receipt. We later met with the manager in person to go over everything and ask for some resolution. Given the timing and how the card was used, we felt someone on his staff was responsible for the compromise. I left my contact details, cancelled the rest of our stay, and moved to a nearby hotel right away. We never got an apology or compensation, and nothing was done to resolve it.