Alston Inn Hotel

What People are saying

Great location, value, and staff

damax55on 21/10/2016 18:03

A very reasonably priced hotel that is clean, secure, well-located, excellent value -- and with a wonderful owner-manager (Johnny Gomez Janine) who is fluent in English and friendly/helpful for information and assistance for tours/transfers/local information.

Basic, but lovely staff. Avoid room 22!

PuravidaPlayaon 28/10/2014 23:10

The hotel is on a one-way street and the sign not very obvious - our taxi driver nearly missed it, but it is actually quite conveniently situated for getting to most places. The building is old, with the advantage that it has large rooms, but the stairs can be a drag if you have a lot of luggage.
Front desk staff are very helpful, especially Sandra, who was on duty in the afternoon. She helped us way beyond expectations in dealing with a damaged luggage claim and getting our case replaced. The hotel was booked by an overland tour operator (so cheap is an important criterion for them), but I would have preferred a place which also offered breakfast (the coffee shop a few doors down is incredibly over-priced; we found another good place on our second day, but opening times are very "Latin American": we intended to return there on day 3 but the bar was still closed at 8.15, despite having told us they would open before 7.30.... it was a long walk to find anywhere acceptable open before 8.30 or 9. Another problem we had was the noise: our room (n.22) was on the first floor, overlooking the busy main road, which was very noisy by day. But at night, the porter evidently had all his friends round to visit every night, because there were always outsiders sitting on the sofas in reception, just below our room, chatting and laughing loudly until very late at night. I didn't visit other hotels in Quito, but I think we could have done better even on a limited budget

Generally good

Cpalmiteron 30/01/2014 21:23

The Alston Inn was very good. The people at the front desk are pleasant and helping. They regularly clean the rooms and have free wifi. There was no food available a the hotel, but plenty of small restaurants in the area for a good price. The hotel was also a short walk from shopping and bars, which are decent. I would definitely suggest the Alston for those in Quito.

LOVED my stay

Gigikins07on 26/01/2014 04:07

I don't know if it's just because I loved Quito so much, but I thought this was a fantastic place to stay. Great location (10 minute trole ride to Old Town, 5 minute walk to Plaza Foch), very clean, hot showers, extremely kind staff, good internet, perfect temperature rooms, etc. Very enjoyable.

Good for tight backpacker budget

jcanberraon 24/09/2013 20:06

No frills, not maintained very well and not very clean. I would have rated just a bit higher if I did not find hair through out the room/bathroom and the spots on the walls. The sheets were clean, the front desk staff very friendly and helpful, and it is a non-smoking hotel (which is why I booked it) but beyond these 3 important items, (they do provide soap and shampoo) the rest is down hill. The furniture is basic, very old, needs cleaned real bad and the comforter and blanket needs burned. See picture of the blanket - this is supposed to be white and the fuzz has all balled up so bad it looks like some type of pattern. I can forgive old, but not cleanliness and there was no reason to have hair, old blankets, dirty furniture and walls. The bathroom fixtures are old, small round bowl, and you have to hold the handle to get the toilet to flush right.

They also have free wifi which is a plus but signal was very spotty in our room and the intermittent connection was not worth the hassle. Great signal in the lobby, and our room was not far from the lobby, I just think it was the concrete structure. They had two wifi channels, but room reception issues need addressed.

Last problem was the hot water, yes very very hot. You have to constantly monitor the cold feed to keep from being scalded. If someone in another room flushes a toilet, watch out, cold is gone and you get scorching hot water. This is a real problem and again, unacceptable. It must be an unfixable problem with an old building unless there is a major remodel. Regardless, beware.

Now, this is a low budget hotel. I get that. But that is no excuse for being dirty. I stayed for the two nights I booked because I at least had the clean sheets, private room (although noisy) with private bath.

You should also be aware that it is in the older part of the city. During the day it felt safe, no issues. At night we were told to be careful. They call the area the "Pink District" because there are a lot of night clubs among other things. I had no problems with the location, but it is not next to the historic center. A cab to the historic center is about $3 or 4 dollars. To Telerifico is $5, The center of the world (Equator at 0.0.0) was $40 rt, and the airport is $26 to $30 each way. The airport btw is a hour drive.

In sum, I would not stay there again. If you are on a tight budget and need spacious rooms somewhat near the historical center and can handle some cleanliness issues, then you will probably do ok.