Hotel Carmel/Carlos was the worst hotel I have ever stayed in and it deserves to have its 3-star rating revisited.

The room was filthy. We complained the minute we got into the room about the musty damp smell in the entire room and the stench of urine. The front desk staff was extremely rude and wouldn't take the time to check out the room and refused to put us in another room as they said they were booked. So we decided to suck it up. What a terrible mistake.

When we pulled back the covers on the bed the linens had not been changed and there was hair from at least 5 different people. Long strands, curly strands, short straight strands, thick and thin. And then the most overpowering stench of urine came out from the bed and the hotel didn't even try to clean it up. After marching down to the front desk again and this time demanding someone check out the situation, they miraculously found an open room. The second room was just as dirty, but with clean sheets.

When the manager Ysreal, showed up the next morning, he refused to take any responsibility for the lack of cleanliness, nor for the inconsiderate staff, and absolutely refused to refund any money for room as we had prepaid. It has been 6 weeks they have been ignoring our phone calls and emails.

Beware -- there are plenty of nice places to stay in Miraflores. This hotel is not one of them. Run, run, far away from this hotel.

Hotel Carmel was the start/end point for our "comfort" class, 2 week tour with GAP Adventures. We booked a few extra days so we ended up staying at the Carmel for 4 nights total.

Pros: Very good location in Miraflores - close to shopping and food. (McD's is just around the corner if you're starting to get sick of the chicken and rice dishes.) Breakfast is decent - toast, yogurt, ham, cheese, fruit - better than some of the other hotels we stayed at. As far as noise goes - we were facing the street both times and ended up loathing Peruvian drivers and their fondness for honking... However I'm sure it could've been much worse had we stayed on the major streets. Staff is friendly and helpful (for the most part). Clean bathrooms. Effective A/C unit in each room. Free internet access.

Cons: Carpet is disgusting! Bed sheets are very thin and smelly. I think all rooms have been "smoking" at some point. If you can get over the smell and slightly cramped quarters of the regular rooms, then this is not a bad place at all.

My advice to you: Request any room that ends in "-01" - i.e. 401, 501 - that's the corner room facing the elevator - giving you a little more room to stretch out. Bathroom is 2x the size of a normal room.

What a great place. Hotel front desk was phenomenal. They know all the local bus routes and told me how to get to several places by combi! I had a wildly awesome time riding around. Location is the BEST. Miraflores is very safe, and you're a block from Mickey D's, Citibank, Dunkin Donuts, and any other comfort of home you can think of. Breakfast (eggs) was decent, coffee OK. Near several big supermarkets, for water and shopping and even dinner at a Whole Foods wannabe! Every bus stops at the Ovalo and just walking around Miraflores is a vacation. Easy to get downtown, by cab or combi. Room was very nice: new bathroom, comfy bed, very entertaining cable TV, safe in room, fridge. This place was home.

Stayed 4 nights and liked very much the service, quietness because is located in a low traffic street, but yet walking distance to main attractions. Hotel personnel very polite and always willing to help. Another feature very important to us is internet access, which was available at all time, no downtime,a router for each room.