Royal Galápagos Inn

Honest review! Could have been three or four stars but owner tried to screw us around. Travelling with my wife, three-year-old and Mom. Booked a three bed room, and even called a month earlier to clarify for sure the booking was for a room with three beds and he said yes. After paying for the room, where he seemed to not know how to use his credit card machine (telling me that he uses the tap function for $1000 transactions)…… and I had to help him by showing him how to insert the card??? Should’ve been the first hint….. He took us up to the room, opened the door, put some of our luggage in there and showed me the room with two beds….. I said to him, we are supposed to have three beds, and he responded, and I quote “you can accommodate can’t you”…… and he went on to say it’s not that big of a deal. I couldn’t even believe it….. after he charged us for our triple room price, which was substantially more than the double room. I said to him, you charged us for a three bed room, that is what we paid for, we will NOT accommodate for you. After he saw that we would not accommodate his request he showed us the room next to it, which was ready to go and had three beds and was much bigger! He completely tried to give us the wrong room and resell the more expensive triple room, not cool! It was obvious to us that he had done this to others before and gotten away with it. Beware of this guy.

Honest review! Could have been three or four stars but owner tried to screw us around. Travelling with my wife, three-year-old and Mom. Booked a three bed room, and even called a month earlier to clarify for sure the booking was for a room with three beds and he said yes. After paying for the room, where he seemed to not know how to use his credit card machine (telling me that he uses the tap function for $1000+ transactions)…… and I had to help him by showing him how to insert the card??? Should’ve been the first hint….. He took us up to the room, opened the door, put some of our luggage in there and showed me the room with two beds….. I said to him, we are supposed to have three beds, and he responded, and I quote “you can accommodate can’t you”…… and he went on to say it’s not that big of a deal. I couldn’t even believe it….. after he charged us for our triple room price, which was substantially more than the double room. I said to him, you charged us for a three bed room, that is what we paid for, we will NOT accommodate for you. After he saw that we would not accommodate his request he showed us the room next to it, which was ready to go and had three beds and was much bigger! He completely tried to give us the wrong room and resell the more expensive triple room, not cool! It was obvious to us that he had done this to others before and gotten away with it. Of course after I called him out on it, he more or less gave us the cold shoulder for our five days there…… Beware of this guy! There were other positives and negatives with this place, but once someone tries to pull an action like this, that’s it for me. If I could give it a zero I would, hopefully he’s sees this and thinks twice before trying to take advantage of any more guests in the future.

The staff is very friendly, even though I could not understand much in spanish, we were able to use Google translate to communicate. The accommodations are really nice for a great price, and all the rooms have a nice view and are walkable to the main street with food and shops.

While we had a great stay at the Royal Galapagos, I would not book on ******* again with them. Upon arrival they did not have our reservation written in their paper booking system and we had to have the front desk worker call the owner to discuss the problem. Luckily he spoke decent English and we could get to the bottom of it. They had an extra room or we may have been in a really tough situation. Overall, the property is very safe, breakfast was delicious, and it is convenient to everything you will need.

Interesting to read the reviews as I have has the same experience. A four day trip from the UK to be told that the 3 rooms booked were unavailable. No help or assistance to look for alternative accommodation. I started to look online and yes, the rooms were showing for about $US120 more. I didn't even query it. I got such a frosty arrogant welcome, I did myself a favour and left promptly. I have booked these rooms months in advance and potentially could've ruined a trip of a lifetime. I have filed an official complaint to the website of this horrendous practice which isn't a one off looking below. Be warned.