Hostal Estrella de Mar

This is an old hotel and basic hostal, but if you get an ocean view, it makes up for it since it is a very picturesque view with sea lions right below your doorway. The bed and shower were ok. The road to get there was a long dusty gravel entranceway. When the taxi dropped us off, he backed down the road and there was barely any room to get out of our doors because the alleyway was so narrow. It's right next to the police station, so felt very safe! They offered airport pickup- which is the reason that I booked it (for some reason I thought it would be difficult to get a decent ride --I was wrong about that!). I sent all my flight information to the hotel so that they could arrange pickup. The night before our arrival, I messaged them to ask for a whatsapp contact so that I could send a message when we arrived. The driver then contacted me and asked for payment (yes, he wanted payment for the transfer that was supposed to be included in the hotel rate) and he AGAIN asked for my flight information so that they could arrange transport, so I sent it again. The driver ended up showing up to pick us up at our departure time instead of our arrival time and was really mad at us for wasting his time. It was a very uncomfortable, silent and LONG ride to the hotel. We really felt like we inconvenienced him and I am sorry that I booked this hotel with the transfer when I could have just picked a friendlier taxi driver that would have given us a pleasant ride.

Great stop off for before we joined our cruise. Centrally located, value for money. We had a sea view which was lovely. It’s basic but the beds were comfy.

I loved a lot of things about this motel (hostal in Spanish). The property and our front bedroom overlooked the water right near the main part of Puerto Ayora. The owners and workers were all friendly and welcoming. Check-in was easy with our prepaid third-party booking. The room was clean, and the shower had very hot water. The property is simple and not fancy. The Internet is minimal and often non-existent. Our main issues were that we reserved a family room, and there was only air conditioning (A.C.) in the room with the two single beds. There was no A.C. or fan in the room with the one bigger bed, and, as it was hot and humid outside, we could not close the door between the two bedrooms or it would be way too hot in the room with the one bigger bed. Neither could we leave the windows open at night, because it was too hot and humid out. The other issue was a foul smell from the toilet when we would leave the lid open, so we had to constantly remind the kids to close the toilet lid. If there had been AC or a fan in the main bedroom, as we expected there would be, I would probably re-reserve this no-frills motel for a group of one to four people. However, without AC or a fan in the main bedroom, I would strongly consider staying at other properties in the area.