Hostel Review: Amos Hostel El Nido
I have mixed feelings about my stay at Amos Hostel in El Nido. I suppose that compares well with the mixed reviews I read online before booking my stay here.
I had a glimmer of hope seeing the hostel was only a year and a half old and thought people were just being too hard on it.
Let’s start with the pros and work our way to the cons. The best thing about this place is the staff. They work with smiles, are genuinely happy to see you and do their best to accommodate.
During my visit in the middle of rainy season, an afternoon thunderstorm rolled in. I made my way back to the hostel at the beginning of it and decided to take a nap as it passed by. When I woke up, I walked out to the front patio area and was surprised to see the street was flooded. There was a good 3-4 inches of water surrounding the entrance of the hostel. Instead of going out to find some food, I stood at the steps in awe of the tricycles and other vehicles going by trudging through it. It was pure entertainment for me.
After standing there for a few minutes, the staff called me out by name to hand me shoes to cross the water. I told them I was really just enjoying the view for now, but I thought it was a kind gesture. We talked for a bit and they offered a few recommendations, even after learning I was vegetarian.
While the hostel says they offer free wifi, a page for their internet provider (Smart) came up alerting me that their wifi data limit has been overused for the billing cycle, and unless someone pays for an upgrade, you can only visit that page. Was it a huge deal? Not really. A bit of an inconvenience, but not the end of the world. Wifi in El Nido is already spotty and I had figured what internet connection I had would be slow. I also look at it as a blessing as well because it forced me to get out and about.
Part of the reason I booked my stay here was because it was the cheapest I found online. The bed in my hostel cost me about $9 USD a night for 3 nights ($1350 PHP on booking.com). While I had booked a bed in an 8 bunk room, I was put in a 6 bunk room and I was the only one in there my entire stay so that in some aspects was a bonus.
Now I understand, it’s a hostel, so I try not to expect a whole lot. But like I said earlier, the hostel was just only a year and a half old. My room seemed much older than that. Curtains lined a portion of each bunk, held up by thick fishing line. It’s a bit cheap looking, but again this is a hostel, not the Ritz.
However, there were a number of bugs and mosquitos in the room. I won’t dock this entirely from the hostel itself though because we are on an island, and I feel like lots of places have this issue. But it would be nice to have mosquito nets surrounding each of the beds in addition to the curtains. For me, I just sprayed some bug spray on before bed.
My biggest gripe is the shower area. It was just simply gross and dirty. There were large dust and dirt bunnies all over the piping. It was something I feel like could be cleaned up by the staff at the hostel. While they are friendly, most of the time they are just watching tv on the front patio.
I had to keep reminding myself this is a hostel and I just needed it as a place to sleep. That made things a little bit better.
Would I stay here again or recommend it to anyone else? Probably not. I’ll pay a few extra bucks to sleep somewhere else next time.
2/5 stars