Hotels with Rooms Blocked off for the Wedding

Below, I have listed a number of recommended hotels where I have blocked off rooms for the wedding guests. I have listed the regular prices, but many of the hotels have offered me a discount for blocking off the rooms. As a result, the rooms may be quite a bit cheaper. You should make reservations by e-mail or telephone. If you try to make reservations off of the hotel's website, then the hotel will probably tell you it is booked because of the blocked rooms. If you have any problems making your reservations, you can call me at home, (512) 371-7369, or my cell (512) 470-8815. Be sure to put that you are a guest for Javier Jara and Jane O'Brien's wedding so you can get the blocked rooms! Rooms have been blocked from Thursday, June 16th, 2005 through June 19th, 2005.

Hotel Mansion Alcazar
$100-150, Breakfast Included
http://www.mansionalcazar.com/
Calle Bolivar 12-55 y Tarqui
Cuenca, Ecuador
Telephone:
011-593-7-282-3918,
Fax: 011-593-7-282-3554
e-mail: info@mansionalcazar.com

Rated as a 5 star hotel in most guide books, the Mansion Alcazar offers supreme comfort in a renovated colonial mansion that once belonged to a former president of Ecuador. Some of the perks include scattered rose petals over complimentary bathrobes, a beautiful garden, a central patio with a fountain, a nice common television room with a vcr, cable television in every room, internet, friendly staff and a beautiful restaurant. The owner of the hotel likes to travel, and she has had replicas made of furniture and antiques that she has seen on her trips through Europe and Asia. Some of the furniture isn't my taste, such as the bed in the Royal room, but everyone has their own taste and all of the rooms are very nice. There are photographs of the rooms on the website. If you you don't stay here, you should at least stop by the store, because it offers a lot of the local artisan goods like alpaca sweaters and beautiful scarves. It is also worth taking a tour of the house. There are only 14 rooms in this hotel. The website doesn't have any photographs of their garden, so I took a photograph for you to see. Click to see a photograph of the garden and a larger photograph of the central courtyard above. To see more photos, be sure to go to their website. You should also inquire about the prices of the suites. I think that with the discount, the suites might not be that much more than the price of a regular room.

Hotel Santa Lucia
$50-$90, Breakfast Included
http://www.santaluciahotel.com/
Antonio Borrero 8-44 y Sucre
Cuenca, Ecuador
Telephone: 011-593-7-282-8000
e-mail: info@santaluciahotel.com

Once the governor of Azuay's house, Hotel Santa Lucia is typical of Cuenca's 19th century colonial architecture. In 1999, a prominant family in Cuenca undertook the challenge of renovating the house. The project took two and a half years, and my good friends Patricio Santa Cruz and Ernesto Galarza painted the murals and details. In 2002, the hotel received an award by the city for the best restoration of a historical building. To find out more about the hotel, you should visit their website. Photographs of the rooms are available under the Reservations section of the website. The hotel can be viewed by clicking on 'Areas Tour' on the website. If you don't have the opportunity to stay in this hotel, you should at least go by and visit. You will most definitely meet the artists at the wedding. The hotel has 20 comfortable rooms in all. This is probably my favorite hotel in Cuenca. To see a larger photograph of the living room, just click on the photo.

Hotel Carvallo
$45-$100, Breakfast Included
Click for photos of the hotel.
Gran Colombia 9-52 between Padre Aguirre and Benigno Malo
Telephone and Fax: 011-593-7-283-2063
e-mail: carvallo@etapaonline.net.ec

Yet another restored colonial mansion in Cuenca, Hotel Carvallo aims for modern elegance rather than old world charm. In design, I think the modern approach might have left the hotel lobby seeming a little cold, but the friendly staff more than makes up for any lack of warmth in decoration. I blocked off all the rooms on the third floor because many have views of the terracotta rooftops of the city. The suites and mini-suites, which are quite a deal for under 100 dollars with my discount, have down comforters and are very roomy. I've been given a 25% discount because one of my former English students from CEDEI, Xavier Carvallo, owns the hotel. He couldn't be any nicer or more helpful. They are currently redesigning their website, so I took a few photographs for you to see the hotel and rooms.  

Hotel Victoria
$35-$45, Breakfast Included
http://www.grupo-santaana.com/indexe.shtml
Calle Larga 6-93 and Borrero
Telephone: 011-593-7-283-0064, 011-593-7-283-1120;
Fax: 011-593-7-283-2340
e-mail:santaana@etapaonline.net.ec 

Hotel Victoria is a great deal. Located next to the river and one of my favorite parts of Cuenca, Hotel Victoria offers comfortable, clean rooms, a beautiful garden leading down to the river, a good Mediterranean restaurant, well-designed lobby and common spaces, an elevator and close proximity to many of the city's museums and restaurants. The attractive brick building offers another interesting example of colonial archictecture. If you choose to stay here, you should ask for a room with a view to the garden. The only thing I can see wrong with the rooms are the bedspreads. They are yellow with flowers. You can see them on the website. Other than that, this is really a great place to stay.

To see photographs of the rooms and hotel, click on Hotel Victoria, then click on either presentation and services. Strangely enough, the photographs of the rooms are not available under the Gallery of Photographs. In addition, please overlook the English gramatical errors. It doesn't reflect the quality of the hotel.  

Other Hotels You Might Want to Check Out

Hotel Crespo
$60-$80, Breakfast Included
http://www.hotelcrespo.com/
Calle Larga 7-93
Cuenca, Ecuador
Telephone: 011-593-7-284-2571; 011-593-7-283-9473
e-mail: info@hotelcrespo.com 

Located on Calle Larga, next to Hotel Victoria, Hotel Crespo is a nice hotel with comfortable beds, heating and air-conditioning, sound-proof glass and good sized bathrooms. Usually, I would recommend this hotel along with the others, but when I visited the hotel last summer, I noticed that it has started to look just a little bit dated. Still, it's a very nice hotel right in the center of Cuenca. I even blocked off a couple of rooms. If you elect for this hotel, you should ask for a room with a view of the river. To see photos of the rooms, just go to the website, click on services and click on rooms.  

Hotel Mercure Dorado
$80-$200, Breakfast and Welcome Cocktail Included
http://www.mercure.com/mercure/fichehotel/gb/mer/5113/fiche_hotel.shtml
Gran Colombia 787 and Luis Cordero
Cuenca, Azuay
Telephone: 011-593-7-283-1390; Fax l-593-7-283-1663
e-mail: eldorado@cue.satnet.net

Hotel Mercure Dorado is considered to be a four star or five star hotel, depending on the website or guidebook. I could call this hotel any hotel USA as it resembles any franchise hotel chain in the United States. Rooms are clean and the bathrooms are nice, even though the rooms are not as spatious as the hotels I listed above. It is also more expensive. However, this hotel has exercize machines and is located in the center of town. The restaurant has a great view of the city. For more information, feel free to visit the website. However, the pictures don't really work, so click here for a website where you can see more photos. Basically, if you want to have a hotel like the United States, this is a much better bet and location than the Oro Verde.

Hotel Oro Verde
$95-$160
http://www.oroverdehotels.com/ingles/cuenca/index.htm
Avenida Ordonez Lazo S/N
Cuenca, Ecuador
Telephone: 011-593-7-283-1200; Fax: 011-593-7-283-2849
e-mail: ov_cue@oroverdehotels.com 

I feel like I have to mention the Hotel Oro Verde, only because many travel agents send tourists to this hotel and it's considered to be one of the most luxurious in Cuenca. While the lobby and reception are very fancy, I don't think the rooms match up. Plus, I think the rooms in many of the other hotels are just as nice. It's also located a little far from the center of the city, so you would have take a cab every where. However, if you want to check it out the hotel, they have a great website. They also have a very friendly staff. They have a gym and a turkish bath.

Budget 

Hostal Macondo
$8-$16 (+ 12%tax), Breakfast Included
http://www.hostalmacondo.com/
Tarqui 11-64 y Mariscal Lamar
Cuenca, Ecuador
Telephone: 011-593-7-284-0697; Fax: 011-593-7-284-0697
e-mail: info@hostalmacondo.com

For Budget travelers, Hostal Macondo just might fit the bill. It's located in an old colonial house in the center of the city. The rooms are clean and surround a pleasant courtyard. Only two of the rooms have private bathrooms. For the rest of the hostal, frequently cleaned bathrooms are shared by two people. The hostal offers a kitchen and a delicious breakfast. For more information, you should check the website. Rooms cost between $8-16 a night plus 12% tax. I've stayed here before, and I was very comfortable. 

Hostal Colonial
$16-$25, Breakfast Included
Click for photos of the Hostal Colonial
Gran Colombia 11-15 and General Torres
Telephone: 011-593-7-282-3793; Fax: 011-593-7-284-1644
e-mail: hcolonial@cue.satnet.net 

This used to be my favorite place to stay in Cuenca, because it's located in a neat colonial house, has skeleton keys for the oversized doors, comfortable beds and private bathrooms for an inexpensive price. However, the hotel recently got a facelift that didn't work well with its colonial charm. The owner hired a unskilled muralist to paint flowers and ferns over the whitewashed walls. The murals look childish and make the hotel's central patio look a little dingy. Still, if you're looking for budget accomodations with private bathrooms. This might be the place to stay. Luckily, the rooms don't have any murals and many have balconies overlooking the street.

If you look in a guidebook, you can probably find cheaper places to stay, I just thought I would recommend a couple where I've stayed.