This hotel is in an old building that has been restored with beautifully detailed woodwork around covered courtyards. The rooms and beds were very comfortable, and each room was different. The location in the Ciudad Vieja was very convenient for exploring this World Heritage site. The staff were extremely helpful with maps, directions, suggestions for restaurants, and with getting us in and out.

Overall
Comfortable, clean and recommendable. Hotels in this part of Quito are all over the map in terms of quality and price, and there isn't much competition in the nice, small, 'moderately-priced' hotels category, but there is this niggling feeling that the rates are pitched higher than they need to be.

Location
The RdC is very conveniently located for visitors to Quito's centro historico, close to the main plazas and virtually next door to the converted Palacio del Arzobispo that houses a number of restaurants, bars and souvenir shops. All of the likely tourist targets are within easy walking distance.

Rooms
The hotel is housed in an historic building which has been heavily reconstructed. The rooms vary in size (we slept in two of them) but not in appearance. They are all over-furnished with reproduction 'colonial' furniture, nice, if you like that style. It isn't luxurious, but it certainly is comfortable, and quiet. Our first room had the smallest bathroom I can recall seeing in a hotel but, like the rest of the (small) room, it was spotless. The beds were comfortable. Our second room (43, I believe) was up on the top floor overlooking a romantic panorama of rooftops and churches. It was much larger (and more expensive) and the bathroom was larger. This is an old building after all. If you have the opportunity I would ask to see the full selection available.

Breakfast
Breakfast is included and served in a pleasant-enough little dining area off the lobby. The food was quite acceptable (rolls, juice, coffee, fruit, eggs or pancakes) but inexplicably repetitive for a country where there is clearly rich access to a wide range of food. I have to say that this was true of almost everywhere else we stayed, and I can't blame the RdC. I put it down to a different breakfast culture. If the idea of consuming the identical meal every morning bothers you, go out to eat - breakfast is cheap enough and there are lots of restaurants around.

Front Desk
Booking a room is a complicated affair, but few small hotels here have an efficient on-line reservations system. It took us several telephone calls and fund transfers to on-line providers to make it work. Reception was courteous and responsive (to a point) - but, opaque and so reserved as to seem intimidated. As with almost everywhere else we stayed over these two weeks, we needed to drag information from the front desk! Virtually nothing is volunteered (and this not about having a common language). So, my recommendation would be to ask numerous questions and to check the replies. Have a full conversation rather than ask a simple request: the clerks can relax and remember more bits of information you might find helpful.

Originally built as a home around 1720, this hotel is well situated on a busy street a few blocks from the cental square. The open courtyards have been covered over and most of the rooms face inward. Rooms vary in size and layout . Ask to see the room you are assigned. Some have small bathrooms with large steps. The rooms are spread out over 4 floors and there is no elevator. If you have coping with the altitude in Quito this could be a a problem. Staff were helpful but their English more limited than they let on. Breakfast was freshly cooked to order. They even served us an hour after the posted serving times.

Our double room was a twin on the second floor - it was extremely small and dark, with a single tiny skylight. The ensuite bathroom was also tiny (the shower was just 20inches wide). A small room would have been fine had there been comfortable places in the hotel to hang out - but there aren't. There is a "reading" area - with lovely (but uncomfortable) period furniture and a small patio space with similarly uncomfortable gargen furniture.

We complained (for an exceptionally long time!) about our room and were eventually moved to two single rooms which were more comfortable. The rooms weren't big (you wouldn't expect them to be in a colonial house) but they were adequate for one person.

Room service was hit and miss... Sometimes toilleteries and chocolates were fully replenished and other times not. The toilletries provided are obviously refills and the shampoo was like paint stripper!

Breakfast was adequate but it was the same menu each day (pastries, yoghurt, egg and sausage).

Free internet is available in the hotel but for some reason the computer didn't run Java.

Overall - this isn't what i'd expect from a 4* hotel - its overpriced for what you get.