Che Pampa's Hostel - Rosario, Argentina

Comment by Marc d'Entremont, USA

July 2009

A death trap
Che Pampas Hostel is a death trap, and that is just one of its many problems. The emergency exit information is to "use the windows." The hostel is housed in a late nineteenth century town house where the hostel is one floor up from the street via two very narrow flights of stairs. Anyone using the windows can look forward to a twelve-foot drop to the street below -- that is if your window opens onto the street below and not into the enclosed second floor courtyard where one would be surrounded by a burning building. Most fires begin in kitchens. The "premium" private double room with "en-suite bath" is above the kitchen up a narrow metal stair case that is accessed from within the kitchen. The one window in the medieval cell-sized room opens onto the courtyard. The only exit would then be to reenter the house and walk through a couple rooms and past the kitchen. The private "en-suite bath" is actually outside the cell-like room and does not include a sink. If you want to wash your hands or brush your teeth you either turn the shower on or walk down through the tiny kitchen, making your way through the very narrow spaces between the two inadequately sized tables, down a hallway to the shared bathrooms. The "double bed" is a thin mattress on a plywood box, with two one-inch-thick pillows, and there is not even one hook to hang anything, no less a closet. The plastic "shade" covering the window is broken. The kitchen has no storage for hostel guests to store food although it has a refrigerator. The counter space is not even large enough for one person to cook. The "TV" room -- the only space to relax, read and talk, is a small, narrow space with a projector that shows DVD's only. The "furniture" consists of a couple of bean-bag "chairs." One would think that a "hostel" such as this would be "dirt cheap," but no, not Che Pampas. It was actually one of the more expensive hostels of the fifteen I've stayed in Argentina. The "private double with en-suite bath" cost AR$135 (US35.00). To make matters worse, they were the only hostel to require a 50% of the total stay upfront to secure the reservation. The funds are to be personally deposited into the hostel's Banco Frances bank account, (I was currently in Buenos Aires with many bank branches, but if I'd been out in the country I would not have been able to make a reservation) and a copy of the bank receipt faxed to the Hostel -- that I refused to do -- or else you could mail a money order (and run the risk of it not being delivered by Argentina‘s privatized Correo). Not even when I rented an apartment for three weeks in Buenos Aires was the reservation process so complex or the deposit so large! The deposit was non-refundable. But what was really a shock was that once the reservation was made, I discovered that no changes were allowed. If you shortened your stay you were obligated to pay for the full reservation. My wife and I nearly walked out within hours after checking in, but decided to stay and give it one night. Sleep was impossible until sometime after 2 a.m. when the loud talking and smoking in the kitchen stopped -- "technically" smoking was not allowed in the hostel. The next morning not only were we not rested, but our clothing smelled of cigarettes. We checked out and were shocked to be charged for the three unused nights. There was no written policy stating this either on the reservation confirmation or in the hostel or upon checking-in. I was told it was a "well understood Argentine policy" which I know full well was not true. In preparation for a writing trip I do months of research on all aspects of the tourist industry. I have been traveling all over Argentina for three-and-a-half months and never had to make more than a 10% deposit a few times for a reservation. On three occasions I shortened my stay for a variety of reasons and was never charged for unused nights -- both in hostels and hotels. After much protest, the hostel agreed to refund each of two unused nights if the room was sold on those two nights. One night the room was sold, but then I was only refunded 50% of that night. That one night in the only miserable hostel in my three-and-a-half-month journey cost AR$503 (US$135) -- the most expensive single night by twice in my entire trip! I will say that the staff was nice and, through a couple conversations and emails I determined they were only "following orders" established by the absentee, European residing, owner. But they really should not work in such an establishment.