“Los Angeles visitors giving mad happy shouts. Would love to return!”

Same as my "Travel Experience" I typed above. Here... I've cut & pasted it: Cruised around Ecuador for the holiday season and stayed in Guayaquil for a few days including New Years. ALL the people who work at The Manso went out of their way to make sure our stay was perfect. Surprisingly, being right on the Malecon it was not too noisy. We had a wonderful large room which was excellent. All the food we ordered there was made fresh and with care. The young man who is the chef there explained he just finished culinary school and his food was excellent. I bet in a couple years he will only become better. One of our hosts Priscilla was fabulous as well. She spent extra time giving us pointers on what to do and where to go. So nice and friendly as well. I would recommend this place to any one of my friends and if I do return to Guayaquil I will make sure I stay at The Manso again.

“Unusual alternative for your stay at Guayaquil”

Hostel, situated in the 1st floor of an old building. Negative aspects: is situated in a main street with 24 h heavy traffic, so rooms are not as quiet as some would expect; cashier open only till 9pm, so you have to settle yr account if you are leaving early (e.g., for taking an early morning flight) Freee WiFi. Positive aspects: Helprful and capable staff; recently renovated rooms, restaurant and common areas, everything with good taste and following green/ecological motifs. For me, food was OK in the cafeteria style restaurant. Note: I stayed in the "White Room", one of the two large and best equipped rooms. Other accomodations at the hostel are very, very spartan, but at much lower prices. You get what you pay.

“Good Locale, good service”

Overall we were very satisfied with our stay. Staff was friendly and addressed any concerns we had. On a clear morning have breakfast on the balcony. The location was right in front of "Malecon 2000" which provided a venue for riverfront walking and relaxing. For typical Ecuadorian eats walk across the street, make a right on the Malecon and wak to the end. There's food vendors offering just about everything.

“Good value, clean, safe and friendly.”

A real suprise to find a cheap, friendly hostal in the centre of Guayaquil. The reception staff were very helpful and booked us a safe and secure cab to the airport at 4am! The location is great too, you literally walk out of the front door and are on the riverfront walkway. We will definitely be back...

“Great Hostel in Great Location”

Stayed here and Suites Madrid. Manso had a great restaurant and they took credit card which was great. No AC in the room we stayed in (Blue Room) but still had a fan but it was still warm. Showers were warm. They have TVs in each room, which is nice and they have DVDs that are free to watch. We were there on a rainy day so that was really nice. I'm a vegetarian so the meals were perfect for me. The best part of the Manso is the location, its right across the street from the Malecon and a short was to las presas area so we felt safe and close and it was much more welcoming. Would definitely recommend. Only thing better about SM would be the air conditioning. Missed the Manso while at SM.

“Very Accomodating”

The Manso is very convenient, safe, and accomodating. Food was good, wait staff were kind, and location is excellent.

“Great Location, good value”

The best thing going for this place is the location--right across from the Malecon, within walking distance of a lot of places. It is not a 5 star hotel, but has a lot of character, represents great value for its location, and the staff for the most part was friendly. We arrived very early in the day to the Manso Boutique, prior to check in. The owner was very responsive and accommodating and gave us another spacious room, Mystic River suite, that was ready on the fourth floor (no elevator, but not a problem for us). This room is in the front part of the building, adjacent to a very busy street below, so was very noisy, even into the night. Their lunch menu was a very good value. The facial and "aromatherapy" massage that I arranged were also a great value, but don't expect a massage that you might experience elsewhere. The massage table had no hole in it for my head when facing down, and so I had to twist my neck, which was not very enjoyable. Otherwise, it was a pleasant way to spend the morning. I would definitely stay there again, and would recommend to folks who do not require ritzy accommodations. However, I would make sure to get a quieter room in the back.

“A great place to stay just about 3 easy walking blocks from old town.”

We had a very nice room. Not too much of a view but we didn't come to Cuenca to hang out in our room. The room was really nice except for one thing which was that someone had been smoking in it before we got there. Very few things are more uninviting than a smelly smokers room. The first thing we did was go over to the Super Maxi about two blocks away and bought some air freshner. After a couple of applications the smell went away. Big problem solved. Another problem is that the very nice staff was not too informative about the amenities of the hotel. We didn't figure out until the last day that they offered umbrellas. No one showed us about the place, explaining about the breakfast room, the outside sitting room, etc. Every other place we stayed in Ecuador had a very acommodating staff. These problems aside, we would not hesitate staying here again nor would we hesitate recommending Manso House to anyone.