Santuario Getsemani Hostel

I've been @ Santuario much longer than planned due to some health issue. So, I had the time to highly appreciate not only the hostel itself, the great vibe and atmosphere, the fantastic beds setup where you have plenty of space (!) plus an unusual total privacy, like you have a mini room inside a room, but especially the people: staff is great and really cares the guest, while sick I had a family like surveillance, especially Stefy "la chica del bar", Kathy (cleaning & kitchen) and Jose (maintenance) never missed supporting me and asking genuinely interested how I was feeling doing their best to help. In a difficult moment, I was in the right place, thanks them! One only thing disturbing me was, the aircon management: ok it was on only evening and night, quite usual, problem was a person feeling cold was enough to shut down the aircon for everyone... and it was hot then... i love freezing, ok, but a correct balance would be the best, suggesting who's cold to wear a t-shirt should work, and others won't sweat ;-)

Nice hostel in Getsemaní área, arrived after 11 pm and was pleasantly surprised, that reception was opened and I was able to do check in. Breakfast is included, had fruit bowl and toasts with butter/jam, if you want to add eggs you have to pay 10000 COP for it. Coffee/tea is self served and you can order juice for extra payment. Sleeping area is big, air conditioning is working over night, you have to bring your own lock. There is a space to put luggage under the bed, what was a bit dusty and dirty and a small shelf near the bed. Hostel offers some activities, but I wasn't able to check them out. Overall good experience

We had booked a 4 bed mixed room via Hostelworld. We arrived around 8PM at the hostel and checked in, paid and shown to our room. However the room was a 10 person mixed dorm which was not we paid for and we paid double for the four man. The staff were not helpful and said that 4 bed mixed dorms do not exist and are female only. He insisted that we booked wrong despite showing him the Hostelworld listing. He was rude, laughing and created quite unfriendly atmosphere. He made no effort to rectify the situation or apologise. As a result of this we cancelled the booking and got refunded by the hostel however we have lost money to Hostelworld which we are not happy about. See images of listing. Hopefully the hostel rectifies this ASAP. This is false advertising and hopefully other travellers don’t fall into this trap.

Bed capsule felt very spacious and private, not too loud from other guests in the room. Noise from street was extreme but stops about 0100-0200. Not much in the way of other facilities - looks much nicer in the photos. Pool is tiny. Boiling hot - no AC until certain hours. However very good location - easy walk to Old Town, port, nearby gym, and right on the edge of Getsemani. Felt safe enough.

Pros: kitchen was well-equipped, the salsa class on Thursday was so fun (!!), hostel felt secure and people (both staff and travellers) were warm and friendly, felt completely fine walking to and from the hostel at night even though it’s right on the edge of Getsemaní & the more tourist friendly historic centre. The one con: we got bedbugs from there. It happens when you travel, what can ya do! If that is something that is a big no for you, keep that in mind. If not, wash your clothes & shoes and throw them in the dryer at your next spot and you’ll be good :)