Gualaceo Hotels & Accommodations

The hotel is exquisite and elegant, the room is small, but it makes people feel comfortable. The location is in the center of the old city and it is convenient to go anywhere. It fits the city atmosphere of Cuenca!

Left Zahir hotel just a few hours after checking in. The staff although friendly and smiley, even hospitable, is absolutely abandoned by management and let them to tackle maintenance issues improvising and making up excuses for the collapsing infrastructure of the hotel. NO HOT or even Warm water!!! That’s right l, the 4 star hotel had issues with their water heating systems and for a couple hours they were givings a run a round and not directly telling us that we checked in for our 13 night stay at a hotel advertised as one if the best, which really deliver one of the worst. Again, the staff tried their best, I must mention Santiago, who when out if his way to make our family comfortable, and yet, in the absence of a manager on duty, at a hotel occupied to full capacity, NO MANAGER or duty. Do not pay Zahir this much money for even a night. You will be sorry.

A stay at Venue Batán Hotel & Suites places you in the heart of Cuenca, within a 10-minute walk of University of Cuenca's Orchid Garden and Museum of Extreme Art. This spa hotel is 0.5 mi (0.9 km) from Museum of Modern Art and 0.8 mi (1.2 km) from Casa de los Arcos Art Museum.Relax at the full-service spa, where you can enjoy massages, body treatments, and facials. Additional amenities at this hotel include complimentary wireless internet access, gift shops/newsstands, and a hair salon.Enjoy a meal at the restaurant or snacks in the coffee shop/cafe. The hotel also offers room service (during limited hours). Quench your thirst with your favorite drink at the bar/lounge. A complimentary buffet breakfast is served daily from 7:00 AM to 10:00 AM.Featured amenities include dry cleaning/laundry services, a 24-hour front desk, and luggage storage. Free self parking is available onsite.Make yourself at home in one of the 15 individually decorated guestrooms, featuring kitchenettes with stovetops and microwaves. Your pillowtop bed comes with down comforters and Egyptian cotton sheets. Rooms have private balconies. Complimentary wireless internet access keeps you connected, and cable programming is available for your entertainment. Private bathrooms with separate bathtubs and showers feature deep soaking bathtubs and rainfall showerheads.

Aleros is situated in the historic center of Cuenca, so you can reach most interesting places on foot. There is a beautiful patio in the building, and the rooms are spacious and cozy. The staff is very helpful and friendly. They serve a simple, but good breakfast. Although it was written on the website, there was a laundry service available, that was not the case. But there’s a laundry place just down the street, so no problem.

We picked this hotel for the location and great reviews. The location is good, but the customer service at the front desk is very bad. First, at checkin they could not find my reservation until I provided a printed copy. Then the person replies “Oh, you booked thru the website.” Like that’s different from the usual way??? I don’t know. We go to our room, it’s nice, but the lamp on one side only works if you find the correct position for the cord. We see a bracket on the ceiling for a smoke alarm, but no smoke alarm. The safe in the closet is locked. On our way out to dinner, we stop at the front desk and ask them to unlock the safe while we are out to dinner. He says he will do it ‘right away’. I also ask about laundry service, and the front desk person says there is a price sheet in the closet. We thank them and leave for dinner. We return to our room after dinner. Safe is still locked. The guy at the front desk sees us return, and suddenly remembers he was going to unlock our safe “right away.” He comes up, unlocks the safe and leaves. There are no instructions to set a code, and setting a code is different from safes I’ve used in other hotels. I look for the laundry price list. Nope, nowhere in the closet. I hike back down to the front desk and try to explain there is no laundry price sheet in the closet. He follows me back up to the room, looks in every drawer in the closet. No price sheet. He tracks one down for me. Yes, these are minor inconveniences, and they were addressed (finally) but at unnecessary inconvenience to us. Thus the 3 star review. Hope other guests have a better experience than I did in my first two hours at this hotel.