Hostal Shalom, Puerto Escondido

Dirty, dangerous!

We got there, at 5 a.m. and got charged for the prior day, and the day ahead!, so we said nothing. Got some beers down the road, and got yelled at by owner for drinking it while sitting in chairs of common area. yet he did not mind the others smoking (stuff we can't say) in the common area. so we left, and got charged for leaving the bags behind for one hour at the front cash!

If you like sweatbox rooms and rude staff, this is the place for you!

We paid a ridiculous amount for a private room, which we had to pay for in advance by depositing money in the hostel owner's bank account. After arriving after a twelve-hour bus ride, we got to the hostel and the lady at the counter had no idea who we were and didn't have our reservation. After showing her the receipt for the bank transaction she mumbled something and made us stand around for fifteen minutes with all our bags while she figured out what to do with us. Finally we were lead to a room that she'd found for us, which was just horrible. I've stayed in plenty of hostels and cannot say I've been more disappointed in what I saw, especially considering we were paying about 50 US per night. There were no windows and a bed with a dirty sheet and pillows that felt like they were made out of wood. What's more, due to the fact that there's no ventilation the room was about 40 degrees celsius. Not a good first impression. Other notable memories from the hostel include having a bucket of dirty water pushed under our door (wetting all our bags) by the cleaning staff who were washing down the tiled floor outside our room (when complaining about this to the front desk staff, they merely shrugged their shoulders -- we asked for a towel to mop up the water and they were almost going to charge us for it). The bathrooms were filthy -- the toilets were generally always clogged and surrounded by garbage because they didn't have a basket for any used toilet paper. We had to buy our own toilet paper because we couldn't find it in any of the bathrooms. There were nights where music from the front desk would be played until 3 or 4 a.m. (at full volume) which meant no sleep (although this wasn't really happening due to the heat inside the room). Fair enough, it's a party hostel, but playing music so loudly at 4 a.m. in the morning is a bit much. The staff in general were just rude and disinterested. If guests are paying premium prices they should at least be treated with some respect and common courtesy. Any problem was too big to handle and they refused to give us a refund when we wanted to change hostels because of the problems we were having. I've traveled quite a lot and stayed in good hostels and bad over the world. This by far was up there with the worst. I wish we'd had a more pleasant stay because I'd expected good things from Shalom but unfortunately this wasn't the case.

Very nice hotel for a low price. Nice people and beautiful beaches of puerto escondido.

Ok, so I have been at the hostel for a while and I get that some people don't like it and why. Like all of Mexico it's running on antiquated technology. Really the nearest color printshop is nine hours away. Now the good things, the ownership has changed, the sheets are clean, the staff is friendly and helpful, the beaches are close, there is a pool, and birds and an ocelot in a giant cage. It's walking distance to everything, it's being remodeled, repainted, cleaned up even more and generally getting an overhaul. Also it's a tropical freaking paradise where you can sleep in a hammock under the stars, and if, while doing so, you get bitten by mosquitos, then you probably should be smart enough to be traveling with mosquito spray if you want to sleep outdoors. As for the prices, I only know of one place cheaper in the whole town, and it's way off the main drag and not convenient to anything. Now, I do have to say that Shalom, which means Peace, is not necessarily the best name for this place because there have been some really wild parties, but most people don't complain and those who do need to pull the sticks out of their butts and realize that they are on vacation at a youth hostel. As for the no outside alcohol policy, well sory kids, but business is business. And if you aren't sensible enough to take your cheap beer to the back where you're allowed to have it in the off season than you probably have some growing up and learning to do before you are old enough to be drinking.

Awesome hostel, with a really cool vibe, nice staff and party atmosphere in the bar in the evenings. It's also close to some nice cafes, etc. I love Hotel Shalom!!

This hostel was great. There is such an awesome atmosphere about the place, and stuff is always going on. The surf is great, best I've seen, and the beaches are fantastic. The locals are great, really friendly and the workers at the hostel are fantastic. I'm wondering how I could go about getting a job there myself. I can't wait to go back.

Close access to the beach. The staff were really helpful and the atmosphere was really cool. I spent Christmas there and it was an awesome experience. It has close access to everything a backpacker would need.

I think this is the best hostel I've ever been to. It had everything I wanted. My boyfriend and I spent the most romantic and perfect moments here. It's expensive indeed, but it is definitely worth it!