The clean and well maintained Oro Verde hotel in Cuenca which is part of a Ecuadorian hotel chain is located somewhat peripheral to the downtown Barrio Historico. It takes you about 20 minutes to walk from the hotel to the central square. (This walk will be initially unpleasantly leading along a major thoroughfare, and turns upon entering into the fabric of the historic part of town into a pleasant stroll where you can discover many sights and details of the town which you would miss while traveling by car. ) The walk is only recommended to the adventurous and young-at-heart since you need to cross a large round-about which hosts a portion of Cuenca’s daily 24 Hours-of-Le-Mans car race. The taxi fare for the same distance is a mere $2 (and like always, negotiates first). The staff is very helpful and friendly (I arrived without my luggage), provides no-cost shuttle service back and fro the airport, free vouchers for many items, such as the (good) breakfast buffet, ironing of jackets and pants, and welcome drinks. Architecturally speaking, the hotel is a mix-and-match assembly of different buildings, some under construction (the noise starts reliably at 8 a.m.). The rooms are very nicely furnished; they also contain the ubiquitous Latin American 1’ step between the room and the bathroom due to either the lack or the interest to architectural detailing. It is for that reason, and others, that the hotel is unfortunately completely inaccessible for ADA. Fast wireless internet service throughout the hotel is provided. The room lok out to the nice river, the opposite street-oriented side is very noisy. Take the five-star rating with a grain of salt.

Overall- not a bad place. I had a problem. There were NO lights near or around the mirror in the bathroom. If it were dark outside you couldnt shave and women could not put on makeup. I complained and they tried putting a small flouresent desk light on the wall. The next day while I was out, they had a crew come in and install three lamp fixtures above the mirror. Made all the difference in the world. I cant help wonder how long that problem existed and why no one else had ever brought it to managements attention.

After staying at hotel Masion Alcazar, my husband and I decided to stay one more day in Cuenca.
Mansion Alcazar was all booked so my husband decided to book us a room at the Oro Verde (5 star hotel????). We visited the hotel 10 yrs. ago and have nice memories of their lake and nice pond by the elegant restaurant. Lake is GONE,pond and garden GONE instead of the gorgeous garden views is a view of a parking lot proyect. ugly and dusty!!!
Wish we would it readed the reviews here and save the inconvinience of asking our money back. They were tough, very understanding about the nature of our desappointment. They should upgrade their pictures on their web. My recomendation: Stay close to the old town: Masion Alcazar is the best, Hotel Santa Lucia is also good (both restored 1800 mansions) and hotel El Dorado is a nice choice if youlook for something more modern and clean lines.

We decided to stay at this hotel due a friend's recommendation. Oro Verde hotels are considered the best in Ecuador. But there is always an exception. The pictures you see of the hotel with the beautiful lake is no longer there. The water has been drained to make space for a parking lot and meeting rooms. Construction just began and can't imagine living there when construction fully starts. This hotel is one of the most expensive hotels in Cuenca, but the rooms are just not up to the standards. The room was small and the bathroom was the smallest I have ever seen. There wasn't any space to place your personal toiletries. The shower door was broken which resulted in a flooded bathroom floor. My cable box was broken during my entire stay. They told me the cable operator doesn't work on weekends. (They knew of this problem before I got there since the cable box was missing when I checked in). A simple solution would have been to take a cable box from another room. But I guess that was too technical for them to do. The carpet, like the other reviewer said, nasty. These are just a few of the problems I had during my stay. Truly disappointed.