When you first walk into the hotel, it's lovely! The hotel has a modern feel to it, then you walk a little past the small reception area and you have some of the rooms. At this point, it resembles a typical hostel where they could offer shared beds.
You can hear everything from the lobby inside your room and have little privacy as the reception area is a few steps outside your door.
Then upon entering the room, I was shocked at how TINY it was (really tiny) and how expensive it was (we paid about 100 USD per night). When I walked/stepped into the bathroom I couldn't believe how tight it was either! I sat on the toilet seat and my knees were pressed up against the walls (I'm 5'6") - so we asked for a different room. While they were checking their reservations, we were online checking other options. The hotels and apartments are actually all quite expensive in Valparaiso, so we thought to stay just 1 night and spend some time checking out other properties for the remaining nights.
We were offered a more spacious room (it was a connecting room with shared toilet but there were no reservations for the other room) so we had more room to ourselves. Our new room was downstairs near the computer area. Much more private and quieter. It would've been a good room if the stinky carpet wasn't on the floor!!! It just smelled awful and you were reminded of the stench every time you entered the room. We decided that because they were kind enough to accommodate us by moving us to a different room, we would just deal with it and stay the entire time.
The location was spot on! Perfect and fantastic to walk around and get lost and repeat! We couldn't stop taking pictures of the amazing graffiti all over the city. We LOVED the cafes and restaurants and I can go on forever about Valparaiso.
I did find a different hotel so that I could recommend it as my alternative, but I haven't been able to find the business card yet! If you walk around, you will see a grand-ish kind of mansiony hotel on a hill with a very large terrace. It is a bit heavy with the decorations (antique -y dark wood and floral printed drapes) but I loved it. I thought it was charming and it was much bigger, same price and a much better value (my husband thought the decor was a bit stuffy). I believe the house was orangy/yellowish - so sorry to be vague (but I'm almost sure that the picture I have below is it - it is located in Cerro Concepción or above it).
Hotel Latitud 33 Sur is better suited for backpackers but not at their rates.
