Hi there,
We spent 9 nights in Cusco and decided to book with Airbnb because we thought we might need the kitchen. When we chatted through Airbnb chat, we were told that we could check in at 8 AM and check out in the afternoon; In addition, they confirmed that we would have heating. (In Cusco accommodations on Airbnb don’t have heating and charge it separately)
The day before we arrived, a lady wrote to us on WhatsApp, and she had no idea about the information we were previously given. The accommodation was managed by an agency, and they had not informed her of anything.
We arrived at the property, which was a house in very poor condition on the outskirts of Cusco. The kitchen was dirty, the couch was gross with goop of various kinds and there weren’t even extra sheets to cover it; there were also no blankets.
The house was poorly insulated, and it was almost colder inside than outside. The lady also did not know that we had been told that the heating was included and intended to charge for it separately. When she finally brought the stove and after spending 20 minutes to turn it on, she told us that when the gas ran out, we would have to buy it ourselves.
With that stove it was impossible to heat the entire house.
Then we realized that the door to the room was a glass that was broken and therefore the “door” could not be closed. The way she explained how to use the shower made us understand that the hot water probably wouldn’t even come out.
After seeing that the accommodation was a disaster, I told the lady that we were going to a hotel and that they had to return the money of the reservation. She was so ashamed because she had been reporting the terrible conditions of the accommodation with the agency for years and they had never paid attention to her. She behaved very well and immediately managed everything for our refund.
The funniest thing is that Airbnb did not return the money of the fees because in theory they charge you fees even when the reservations are cancelled, so we had to make a claim to have it returned.
We immediately booked the Hotel Torre Dorada through booking.com, which was our favorite of all the ones we had seen on that platform.
They let us check in at 9 AM and saved our day.
The room was clean, the bathroom was spacious, the bed was huge and super comfortable (which was a big change from our accommodation in Lima) and there was enough furniture to put our things. Also, there was heating.
I summarize the evaluation of the hotel:
Pros
- Peaceful and quiet. There was no noise at all in the rooms. We slept wonderfully and more coming from the traffic scandal of Lima.
- Good cleaning.
- Good quality sheets and towels.
- Wonderful bed.
- Heating.
- Friendly and competent staff. Karina, the lady who prepared breakfast for us, was a sweetheart.
Cons
- The internet does not reach all the rooms.
- Water pressure is not good in all rooms.
- The breakfast that they prepare to take away when you must leave very early is extremely poor. They only give you a half empty sandwich with water.
- We paid the late check-out, and they didn’t clean the room, they didn’t change the towels and they didn’t even put toilet paper. This kind of spoiled the whole experience for us.
Bellow you can find the links to my YouTube channel:
Airbnb accommodation link:
https://www.airbnb.com.pe/rooms/47509018?source_impression_id=p3_1647970586_SpIjWZjr%2FzsXFyXD
Torre Dorada Hotel link:
https://www.booking.com/hotel/pe/torre-dorada-residencial.es.htm