English version
The customers say it without hesitation: “Hotel Villonaco is like a home to us when we travel to Loja“.
Indeed, at Villonaco, located in the heart of the city of Loja in Ecuador, just a short stroll from the central square, the hospitality, care and comfort, the kindness, trust and warmth that are offered to the guests make a real difference.
The name “Villonaco” is inspired from the name of a tall hill in Loja where wind generator turbines have recently been built supplying a large proportion of the city’s requirements in electricity.
The owner, Mrs. Diana Torres, is an entrepreneur woman who works hard every day to fulfill the dreams she had together with her now deceased husband Fabricio. Life goes on and she strives with all her heart to make Fabricio’s greatest dreams great realities. And she is doing really well with just a team of 3 (not including the staff in charge of preparing the breakfast):
- Veronica, the receptionist, or better said the “Guest Service Agent (GSA)”.
She welcomes the guests, registers them, assigns guest rooms and rates, check’s them out and answers a myriad of questions about the hotel and the surround community. For many guests the front office IS the hotel. And she does speak some English too. She loves to be of assistance and be a guide for the tourists. - Nelson and Juan Pablo, uniformed service, door persons, valets, cafeteria waiters and much more … are always available with a good heart and a spirit of collaboration.
The hotel mission is to offer a service of very high quality at an affordable price: more or less $15 per person including a solid breakfast. Beat that !!
Wi-fi is available for free, all rooms are equipped with a recently refurbished private bathroom with hot water. There is a tea / coffee lounge downstairs.
There is parking space at the ground floor. In fact as the following photo shows it is one of the few hotels I could ride my motorbike all the way to the front desk. This is extremely convenient for local people who travel with bulky merchandise as they can have a room right next to their car on the ground floor. The other rooms are upstairs and there is a separate entrance for pedestrians.
The beds are excellent, in fact “one of the best bed I have known in a long time” says Pat Williams, globe-trotter, motorcyclist extraordinaire who we met and interviewed during our filming. Check out our documentary on bbxmusic.com and Pat’s blog for more.
Breakfast is an important time at hotel Villonaco. As Diana tells us “a well fed person has all the necessary energy that his day will later require“. This was her husband’s motto.
The couple also own The Galtor, a mini-market in central Loja, calle 18 de Noviembre y Rocafuerte, where excellent service at competitive prices is provided according to the same philosophy.
All in all, we found Hotel Villonaco to be a winner, not a 5 star hotel, but certainly a “5 star welcome and 5 star service” at a price which is definitely not a 5 star price.
Check it out next time you visit Loja.
Contacts: 072-570199 – 0958968132
Email: hotelvillonacoloja@gmail.com
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