Walk On The Favela Hostel

First of all, the hostel has a beautiful view with a nice terrasse. The girls from Chile working in the hostel in particular were extremely nice and helpful. Even though it is located in a favela, I always felt quite safe there. The downside is the steep stairs that you have to walk up to get there and it was difficult to get Ubers to pick you up in front of the stairs; you usually had to walk down to Siqueira Campos metro station. Hostel wasn’t too far from the metro station, Siqueira Campos and Copacobana beach, which was a plus.

The first view days, the hostel was well maintained but during the carnival and afterwards, it was obvious that staff didn’t clean the hostel properly. To say it directly, the hygiene in the bathrooms, rooms and kitchen was really disgusting. Although you’d see staff come in there everyday to clean, they didn’t do a proper job. The cat there pooped on the floor which was there for 2 days... The same dirt that had accumulated from different people in the corner of the bathroom was there for up to a week. The lights in the bathroom go out after 30 seconds, and you have to constantly move and wave your arms to get it back on. I understand that they try to save money, but this is a bit extreme. We tried to explain the issue with the hygiene to the manager Ray and kindly asked for a refund for the last two nights in order to move to a different hotel, because one of us had been sick and the poor hygiene didn’t help on this problem. He started getting very defensive and offensive and said some very, very nasty and personal things to me and my friend. We found him extremely disrespectful, rude and unprofessional, because even if a refund is not possible, this is not how you should treat your guests. Especially since we calmly tried to explain to him that hygiene is a basic thing in a hostel and we simply ASKED if it’s possible to get the refund in order to move somewhere more clean. He claimed he can’t lose money because of a ”personal problem“, but considering we had stayed there for 17 nights, paid for drinks, towels and other stuff at the hostel during that time, I believe he’s already made a good amount of money from both us and all the other guests at the carnival. We spoke to several other guests in the hostel, who decided to leave the next day or even the same day because they had a similar issue with the hygiene. The manager said it was due to them being afraid of living in the Favela, but having personally spoken to many, it was because it was disgusting.

The hostel was cheap considering it was carnival during our stay.

Cleanliness: - The hostel was very dirty throughout the entire week of our stay. It was never cleaned, only mopped with a dirty mop that was spreading hair around the room. Water occasionally didn't work in the toilets which meant we had to wait a few times for it to be fixed. The cat (although cute) done its business in the girls showers which was not pretty to find nor was it cleaned up. Facilities: - There was a kitchen to use but it looked gross so we decided to eat out the whole time. Breakfast was simple: melon with ham and cheese toastie. - We wasn't aware that the rooms aircon was only operational between 10pm and 6am as it did not state this is the booking. - Computer worked during one day of our stay but it was out of use for the rest of the stay and considering how bad the WIFI was we weren't able to get internet in the hostel for 90% of the time that we were there. - Socialising area at the top of the hostel was good and they had BBQ nights for food and socialising. - Bathrooms - only one lock on one of two toilets and one of two showers worked, always dirty and no hot/warm water. Toilet roll was never replaced so constantly had to keep asking reception - Location: Ubers/Taxis wont go the this hostel as they hear the word Favella and instantly refuse. However we found a company called 99 that will take you to this hostel and they were cheaper than Uber anyway. The walk is not far to the beach/shops etc but its the steps back to the hostel that are a killer. We decided to cut our stay at the hostel by 3 nights (despite paying for it) and found an apartment elsewhere. Overall, not a very clean place the only benefit was the price during the carnival period. Travelling as a group of 4 girls we did not feel unsafe when travelling to and from this hostel, even during the night.

Nice group of people during my stay- good area on roof to socialise

Not easy to find when we arrived late at night. Our transfer bus didn’t know the name of the hostel and when we eventually managed to direct him the directions up the hill were unclear. Luckily someone staying at the hostel was on the way up and directed us. Upon arrival we found our beds to have no pillow on and the staff were very unhelpful in finding one for us. The beds and pillows are very uncomfortable and covered in plastic. The bed frames are unstable and very noisy so was disturbed a lot in the nights. The hostel was not kept clean. I appreciate that during carnival it is busy but the bathrooms were disgusting. I also saw the cat wee in the shower and poo in the bathroom. Taxis and Uber’s do not go up the hill to the hostel which was annoying. Overall wouldn’t recommend but it was cheap for carnival time.