Nice Rooms and an Exceptional Value!
Written: Feb 05 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Clean, comfortable, modern rooms at rock bottom prices
Cons: Few amenities
The Bottom Line: If you don't need a hotel with a fancy lobby, meeting rooms, a swimming pool, and gym, then it's tough to beat comfortable rooms at $35/night!
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| mrkstvns's Full Review: Windsor Hotel, Quito |
Short of getting off a plane and doing some ground reconnaissance, I don't know how a traveler can possibly know about the very best hotel values in Quito. Take the Windsor Hotel, for example. Until I'd actually visited Quito, I had no idea the place even existed, much less that they were one of the truly outstanding hotel values in the downtown area.
While the Windsor Hotel most certainly does have a web site (www.windsorhotel.com.ec), they never showed up in my searches when I started researching hotel deals before heading south. I tried Travelocity, but when I search around Quito, I get only 13 hotels -- almost all of which are owned by big U.S. or European corporations and none of which offer true local charm at prices that are even close to what I'd consider reasonable for the Ecuadorean marketplace. $100 a night for properties like the Radisson or Four Points Sheraton? I don't think so! I tried other sites too, like www.1800usahotels.com, which has pointed me to good deals in the past, but not this time. Just 12 hotels, and pretty much the same ones that Travelocity knows about.
So what do I call "value" for this market?
Well, considering that many of the small bed and breakfast type hotels (called "hostals" in this part of the world) offer servicable rooms for less than $20 a night, and the most characterful seldom run more than $40, I'd have to consider anything over $50 to be pushing the limits. Sure, the rooms that you get for $100 at the big-brand hotels might be nice, but I'll bet you a grilled cuy that I can find a room that you like better for half the price. That's just the reality of the hotel scene in Quito.
If you're thinking of staying over in Quito, and you don't need a raft of big-hotel amenities, then I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a better value right now than the Windsor Hotel.
Rooms are running $35 a night, right now (and that's 2003 prices -- not a rate that's five years out of date, like you find in some print travel guides). $35, and that's not a misprint and the hotel is not a dive.
What the Rooms are Like...
I'd classify the room decor here as "early new milenium Drury Inn". It's very much a typical corporate feeling hotel with faux colonial style wood dressers and headboard and quilted style dark green bedspreads that kind of remind of the "better" brands sold at Wal-Marts and other fine retailers. There is nothing at all wrong with anything here -- everything is servicable and in good condition, but the rooms are basically unimaginitive in decor, but thankfully, the management isn't asking me to pay extra for imagination. The room feels like a lot of today's "extended stay suite" hotels, except that the Windsor has nicer bathrooms.
The bathrooms alone are worth everything you pay for the room. Each and every room in the hotel has a jacuzzi, so after a tough day of strolling around the historic old city, you can unwind with a cool bottle of brewski as you sink down into the warm suds and crank those jets a whirrin'....
Other than the jacuzzi though, there aren't a lot of bells and whistles to the room. It has a 19 inch color TV hanging off the ceiling, and over 70 cable channels (the latin music videos are on HTV). No coffee maker in the room, but at least there's plenty of coffee at the sidewalk cafe downstairs. No clock radio in the room either, though the cable box at least shows the time. No room safe either, but the hotel does have security boxes at the front desk, and there is no charge to use the lock boxes.
Around the Hotel...
You give up a few perks to stay at places like the Windsor Hotel, but you don't have to pay for them either. There's no pool, either indoor, outdoor, nor any other door. No gym either. No babysitting service, no concierge, no valets. Businessmen won't appreciate the spacious meeting rooms since there aren't any. No business center with free PCs and fax machines either. There is also no complimentary continental breakfast, so no cinnamon bagels, english muffins, cereal, nor tea (not that anybody I know actually drink tea, but I just thought I'd mention it for the sake of completeness).
That's not to say there are no amenities, oh no sirree! The hotel has a cozy little bar called Mario's that's affordable and that has a couple of nice, dark little corners where you can nurse a few brewskis while you plot insurrection (or whatever you happen to like doing in dark corners). The hotel imaginitively describes the bar as "english style decor". I describe it as "lions club modern". Check it out yourself and then tell me who wins the truth-in-advertising award!
There are a bunch of sidewalk cafes as you stroll along Avenida Amazonas, but the biggest is almost certainly the Cafe Amazonas, which is part of the Windsor Hotel. You can call downstairs from your room and they'll bring food up to you, but that kills all the joy of the sidewalk cafe. Better to just stroll downstairs (no elevators at this hotel, by the way) and pull up a plastic chair at one of the many tables and just watch the city pass you by.
I really like the Cafe Amazonas. It's casual and low-key, and the waiters don't hassle you if you feel like taking an hour or two to polish off one of the big 22-ounce bottles ("grande") of Pilsener beer that everyone orders. Yeah, sure you could order a Club or a Biela, or even a little 12-ounce bottle of Pilsener, but what's the point? When in Quito, do as the Quitenos, and the Quitenos drink Pilsener -- lots and lots of Pilsener.
I call myself the "World's Cheapest Traveler(tm)" and I earn it by eating and drinking at places like the Cafe Amazonas. A beer is only about a buck. A huge Cuban sub on a toasted baquette will run about $2. There are cheaper places to eat in Quito, but none with quite this kind of atmosphere.
This is a good hotel for a traveler just arriving in Quito for the first night. Not just because it's cheap, but also because it could make a good home base for trips to other parts of Ecuador. The hotel will store baggage for their guests who are heading off on jungle treks, mountain climbs, or Galapagos cruises, and if you are a procrastinator who hasn't already made all of your arrangements, the hotel also has a complete travel agency in the lobby right next to the front desk. Their Tropical Adventures staff can arrange just about any kind of adventure trip that you can dream of (and a lot that you probably never even imagined), plus they can book air fare for you much more efficiently than you could ever do from the U.S. (I'll bet you a dollar your web travel service can't book you on an Icaros flight, maybe not even on a TAME flight) Tropical Adventures can do it, plus they can hook you up with guides, etc. (By the way, Tropical Adventures has their own web site at www.tropicalecuador.com -- check it out if you want a taste of the kinds of tours that are available to you).
Location, Location...
It's hard to beat this location for convenience -- smack dab downtown on the corner of Avenida Amazonas and Roca, just two blocks from the Hilton and Parque el Ejido, and about five blocks from all the little cybercafes that dot the Gringolandia area (by the way, high speed internet access in Quito actually is fast -- unlike some places in Latin America). It's about a 4-block walk to the nearest Trole stop, and taxis are very plentiful in this area (which is also safer than many parts of Quito).
Highly Recommended...
I really can't say for sure where I'll be hanging my hat next time I visit Quito, but I can assure you that Windsor Hotel is definitely on my short list of places to call first. I find that I'm a far happier traveler when I take my own good advice, and my advice is definitely to take a look at the Windsor. It may not be the Ritz, but at $35 a night, it is a value that other Quito area hotels will find it very, very tough to beat!
Until next time, see you on the road. As always, I'll be trying to sniff out the biggest bang for my buck!
Recommended:
Yes
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