I deliberated for days about whether or not to write this review. My personal guidelines are to only post either excellent reviews as top recommendations, or terrible reviews as warnings to other travelers.

So here I am with a warning about our terrible experience with Abraspunga Hotel.

We booked our entire trip through an excellent and very high end travel agency, and we paid well in advance, guaranteeing our reservation for two nights. The plan was to stay two nights, one day to visit Baños about 1.5 hours away, and the next day to get an early start to reach Alausí and catch the train to Devil's Nose.

The day before we were to arrive at Abraspungo our travel agent called quite upset and embarrassed to break the news that Abraspungo had "overbooked" the hotel for our first night and that they would move us to another hotel at an equivalent level.

The trouble is that there is no such hotel in the area. After bouncing us around between two hotels, we finally had to settle for a hotel located 45 minutes away. We ended up arriving late at night, and since they were not expecting us we had to spend the night in an unheated room, which at that elevation in the Andes is unacceptable. But we were nonetheless grateful to the charming staff at this hotel for their efforts in helping us out at the last minute.

When we originally arrived at Abraspungo, we were met at the reception desk by a gentleman named Carlos who identified himself as the hotel manager. He nervously broke the news to me that he had no where for us to stay even though he acknowledged that we had a guaranteed reservation.

His story changed a couple of times while we discussed how to best resolve the situation, but by this time I had discovered that the real story was that a large group staying at the hotel needed an extra room. We were bumped out of our room to accommodate the large group! Carlos tried to explain with yet another story but by that point I just wanted to get out of there and find a place to stay, it was already getting late.

In the end we spent several hours trying to find another hotel, twice bumped by Carlos and the Abraspunga staff to 1 or 2 star alternatives, and for which we would not be credited the price difference.

The hotel did offer dinner as compensation for our troubles, but we declined as we could not stand to be there even for a free meal --not to mention that by this time we were tired, concerned about where we would be spending the night and thus "underwhelmed" by the gesture. There was also no other alternative for that city without compromising comfort and safety and thankfully, our driver and guide for the trip, Patricio Vallejo, insisted on contacting a particular hotel. They would take us and even though the accommodations there were not good (leaking water from the ceilings, no heat, etc...) we were still very grateful!

As an aside, we selected Abraspungo because on the website it appeared to be in the country, but in reality, it is located in a suburban subdivision and no where near the countryside.

Riobamba itself is a bustling large town, with noise and traffic as would be expected, but we failed to find much charm. The real attraction is Chimborazo volcano, which is surprisingly nearby (30 km) and spectacular! We even saw a beautiful inn but did not catch the name, should have stayed there...

For those taking the train to the Devil's Nose, which I recommend, there is unfortunately no where to stay in Alausí, where the train station is located. My suggestion would be to stay in Baños and get a very early start or go to Cuenca and double back. Alausí is a lovely town with small cafés and a lively market, it's worth spending a little time there.

If you do select staying at Abraspungo, just know that a prepaid, guaranteed reservation means nothing to them in the face of bumping you off for a better deal.