Hotel Albemarle Galapagos Beachfront♡

Top stay in Galapagos

10.0

Absolutely beautiful hotel right on the beach in the heart of everything. The staff was outstanding, and as non-Spanish speakers we were able to communicate clearly. The woman working reception was beyond wonderful and helpful when we arrived - she walked us through all of the Dos and Don'ts of the area, and provided all necessary information for our stay upfront. (In contrast, we had to really dig deep for information throughout our Galapagos trip) Filtered water and coffee is plentiful in the main areas; pool is clean, perfect temp, and well-maintained with waterfall and greenery; room was spotless and very well lit and cooled with both AC and a large ceiling fan option. The bathroom had all toiletries we could've needed - a hair dryer may have been a nice addition! - with towels and robes. Laundry service was available but we did not need it for just three nights. Breakfast buffet was a great spread - about $13 USD per person - and the location is prime for good eating and local tours and shops. The surrounding beach is a wonderful place to spend the afternoon - Isabela felt small, but there was much to see and do. Don't forget to check the rooftop terrace at sunset, and drop off wet clothes on the drying racks! 10/10 stay - our favorite in Galapagos.

Great views, even better staff

8.0

We had a great stay at Albemarle, the staff was fantastic and the views amazing. Stayed there for three nights and four days, and loved the closenes to the ocean and the «city» center. Being able to just run over to the tour operators and book a last minute tour is great. Drawbacks: -One of the bathrooms had a distinct sewer smell -The wifi was slow when in worked, and it mostly didn’t work -The gluten free options were limited even though we told about this beforehand -The laundry service was very expensive The great staff and the amazing view lifts this from a 3 star to a 4 star rating!

Bug infested hostel masquerading as a nice hotel

2.0

I only leave negative feedback when I feel there’s a huge gap between what the hotel claims and delivers. The guidebook recommendation to stay here is outdated and inaccurate. They are charging three star prices for a bad hostel experience To start on a positive the location is excellent, the beach is right there, and the hotel staff (excluding the manager) were fantastic. The concierges were helpful and super kind. The negatives, however, vastly outweigh the positive. First, the hotel is infested with bugs. Our bed? Ants. The bedroom floor? Ants. The breakfast buffet…hope you like ants in your bowls and flies and gnats with your toast. I’m sure the manager will argue that it’s a rural hotel and so bugs are expected. The occasional bug absolutely, but this is an infestation. For example, we left a wet swimsuit for an hour on the bathroom counter and came back to it covered with thousands of ants. We stayed at other beach side hotels ON Galapagos with zero bug issues. The problem is with the hotel. The hotel lacks basic amenities one would see in a hostel. The ocean side view room doesn’t have any chairs to sit in to enjoy the view. Your options are the bed or floor. Good luck if you want to try to open your doors to admire the view or smell. The balconette doors are so rusty and unsafe to open it required the front desk to close. The hotel doesn’t offer any beach chairs or loungers like the other hotels do down the street. Can you rent a beach umbrella? Of course not. Why would a beach hotel offer basic beach amenities? Well at least I can get a peaceful night sleep right? Well, if ants in the bed don’t bother you, I hope you don’t need dark to sleep because you won’t have it. The curtains don’t fully cover the window and there are glaring Christmas lights right outside. Not to mention the lack of privacy. And this was one of the rooms we upgraded to. Our first room literally had no windows and looked and smelled like a jail cell. The WiFi is straight up unusable. Yes, it’s remote but the WiFi was better and fully functional on the shuttle boat in the middle of the ocean. We also had totally fine WiFi elsewhere on the island. The pool is decorative, unheated, and gross. They don’t lock the hotel and there is no one there overnight to ensure security. I don’t care how safe it is, the hotel should be locked at night. The decor and fixtures are dated to the 1970s. They make it look like there’s a restaurant on site. There isn’t. It’s a sister hotel you have to walk to. I’m pretty sure the breakfast buffer gave my wife food poisoning. Finally, when we left three days early the manager refused to refund our money as a normal hotel would. In short, if you plan on spending anytime on Isabella at your hotel relaxing or lounging at the beach stay somewhere else! This hotel gets every little thing horribly wrong.

Guest review

10.0

The hotel was very comfortable and clean. Great ocean view from my room. Would definitely stay here again.

Guest review

10.0

I really like this hotel, excellent location just by the beach, great breakfast and the employees very nice, polite and fantastic customer service also alot of restaurants very close. I will recommend all my family and friends to stay here.

Good locations, unacceptable room quality

4.0

My friend and I stayed here for two nights. The good parts about this hotel included the great location on the beach, and the staff was very helpful in planning tours in advance of our visit. However, the quality of the rooms was far lower than should be for the price we paid. The bathroom in our room was atrocious. There was mold all over the shower walls, rust all over the mirror and sinks, one of the sinks leaked on your feet when you ran it, and overall smelled very bad. We complained about these issues to the staff and got no apologies, a simple “would you like a different room”. We changed rooms and the new room had a broken toilet handle and the bathroom also smelled, though slightly better. Another thing to note is the noise from town carries very well into the hotel, so if you’re a light sleeper I might look somewhere else. This all was very unacceptable for the price we paid for the hotel.