Hostal La Selva San Pancho

The family who lives next door owns this hostel, and I think they do a great job looking after everyone. It’s well cared for, and they make breakfast every day. There are lots of cute dogs running around. Across the street you’ll find a great community gym, theatre, Pilates, and little stores, and the beach is within walking distance.

The hostel has a great vibe, though the shared bathroom for men and women was in one room. I found that a bit awkward but kind of funny. It wasn’t a dealbreaker for me, but I can imagine it might be for some people. I left belongings worth 3000 pesos (US $150.00) at the hostel. They found them and kept them for a while, but when I came to collect them, they no longer had them. A reasonable person would expect valuable items in lost and found to be looked after, but that didn’t happen here. A volunteer had been managing them. After that volunteer left, they wouldn’t contact him to ask where he’d put my things. The volunteer was Marcelino. The owner blamed the volunteers working at the hostel for the missing items and thought one of them had probably taken them. If management contacts me and makes a real effort to find my things, such as getting in touch with Marcelino, I’d consider changing this review. If you’re still reading, it’s because they don’t care about improving their service.

The location was perfect for me, but there was no hand soap in the bathroom. Breakfast was advertised as included, yet it was provided some days and missing on others. The light stayed on at night.

I spent about three weeks here. It’s an okay, inexpensive hostel, though upkeep isn’t great. I got fond of the owner’s two-year-old daughter, let her cuddle beside me in the dorm some mornings, and bought her sweets. I also helped with check-ins when the owner vanished for hours, and did a bit of cleaning out of habit from working in hostels. Things turned sour when a friend who’d stayed one night was told, rudely, to leave right at 11 a.m. I understand checkout times, but eight beds were empty and there were no other guests. The owner said she thought my friend might steal if she stayed later, which felt completely baseless. I was asked to pay for the next night every day, often before I was ready to get up. Locals have also told me stories of her being unkind and dishonest. I won’t stay again or recommend the place. The couple of other people who sometimes covered the desk were nice, though they seemed not to care much about guests’ welfare. By the end, I felt the owner was rude, ungrateful, and disrespectful to guests.