Hilton Colon Guayaquil - A Convenient Hotel in Ecuador's Largest City
Written: Jan 08 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great location, nice amenities, nice room
Cons: Expensive, expensive food
The Bottom Line: The Hilton Colon Guayaquil is in a great location, with plenty of amenities, but is also expensive with expensive food. Overall, a nice gateway to the Galapagos.
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| Javelina's Full Review: Colon Guayaquil Hilton, Ecuador |
Before flying to the Galapagos Islands, we flew into mainland Ecuador to the airport in Guayaquil (Simon Bolivar Airport). This is the largest city in Ecuador - with a total of more than 2.4 million people - and a main hub for flights into the Galapagos Islands. We were traveling with a group, and our tour operator, Lindblad Expeditions, booked the Hilton Colon Guayaquil for our group to stay in the night before going to the Galapagos. We purposefully arrived a day early as we did not want to run the risk of missing our cruise, so we stayed a total of two nights.
Location & Hotel
The Hilton Colon Guayaquil is located about 5 minutes from the airport, making it very convenient for our stay. The hotel itself is not really near anything in close walking distance, but it is a very short ride from things like the Malecon 2000 (a brand new waterfront), a downtown area, and other important parts of the city.
The lobby is fairly impressive, as the front of the building is sort of an atrium that stretches up to the top story. The elevators are glass and you can see them traveling back and forth between the levels, which all have balconies. There are close to 300 rooms, so this is a fairly sizable hotel.
The front of the hotel has a covered area which allows for parking and loading/unloading. We were also able to catch a taxi right from the front of the hotel. There is a concierge available to help you with any travel needs.
Check-In
Check-In is 2pm. We literally arrived at the hotel at 2am (thanks to all kinds of snafus at the Miami airport!). We were greeted with drinks and hot washcloths, which was very refreshing after spending over 16 hours traveling. Check-in was a very easy process and we were happy to be on our way to our room. Although Linblad Expeditions handled our bags from the airport to the hotel, our bags arrived at our room very quickly thanks to the hotel staff.
The Rooms
Our room cost about $150 per night. This was arranged through our tour operator, Lindblad Expeditions. You can also book through the internet, either on the Hilton website, or other travel sites (like Travelocity). I think we could have done better booking on our own on the internet, because we got great internet rates when we booked the Hilton in Quito (Hotel Hilton Colon), even by booking the Executive Floor, which is a nice upgrade.
The room was a decent size and comfortable. The view from the room is very nice, looking out over the city. The views are great, as you can see way out to the waterfront. Right outside the hotel, in the few blocks right in front of us, there was not much to see (empty lots), but otherwise the view was very nice.
The room amenities seemed pretty standard. We had a desk, television, and guide books to Ecuador. There are plenty of English channels to choose from, so it’s easy to get your MTV fix or whatever suits you. The television was somewhat old, so although well-maintained, it was an indication that this hotel had been around for a while and/or needed some updates.
The bathroom was nice, and had some pretty granite/marble surfaces. The bathroom was well-stocked with supplies – soaps, shampoo (mango!), conditioner, bath gel, shaving gel with razor, toothbrush and toothpaste, etc. We also had some bottled water, a must for staying in Ecuador. Do not drink the water in Ecuador, even in the big cities! I appreciated the supplies, especially when it’s such a pain to drag things like toiletries so long distance.
We had internet access in our room. You go to a specific Hilton website and are directed to choose between several plans. We chose the 24-hour plan for $14. This was great because it was the fastest and probably cheapest way to get in touch with the people back home. We were able to let all our friends and family know that we had arrived safely, and even provided a few photos.
In the Hotel Hilton Colon in Quito, we stayed in the Executive Suites. I didn’t know about it when we were in Guayaquil, but after staying on the Executive Floor in Quito, I assume the approximately $20 is worth it - our room was quite sizable, there were computers for our use, cocktail hour, and more.
Check-out
Check-out is 12pm. We left very early in the morning, and we were able to settle our room bill very quickly and check out.
Dining
Breakfast was included with our stay and we had breakfast on both mornings. It is your typical sort of South American cuisine – meaty breakfast foods like chorizos (sausage), fruits and fruit drinks, cheeses, breads, etc. It wasn’t bad and I love the white pineapple they have in Ecuador.
Being that there wasn’t much in walking distance from the hotel, we decided to have dinner at the Hilton. There are several restaurants to choose from, and we chose "Kioto", a Japanese restaurant. I am a vegetarian and it was the best choice in terms of menu options. The food was good and I was even able to special order a plain avocado roll with my limited Spanish skills. However, the prices were a little high, and you get hit with a service tax. Just remember – don’t tip in addition to the service tax – it pretty much is already a tip, so unless you’re feeling overly generous and can afford it, don’t tip more than what you’re taxed.
We also had the lunch buffet at the hotel. I was just going to get a soup or something small from the regular menu, but the buffet looked interesting, so I figured why not. The food was decent, but the shock came when we got our bill – the buffet was $19 per person! I thought that was too high, and I was irritated, especially since the food wasn’t very good, there weren’t many vegetarian items, and the service slow. We had to wait an eternity for the bill, to the point where we had to ask for it. After the lunch buffet, we decided not to eat at the hotel again.
We ended up spending a ton of money on food, which I wasn’t too happy about. I tend to think that hotels charge more than they need to because they know it is convenient. We weren’t about to traipse around Guayaquil the night before our trip to the Galapagos, so we were definitely limited in options. I enjoyed the food but it was certainly pricey. Taxis seem to be really cheap in Ecuador, so despite my thinking it would be annoying to leave the hotel, it probably would have been cheap and quick.
Other Thoughts
There was a pool and some small shops attached to the hotel. I visited the gift shop and it actually had some decent items for sale. They have an ATM, car rental desk, even an airlines desk – lots of resources for visitors.
Although we did not use it on this trip, the hotel has a luggage hold. If you were traveling to the Galapagos round-trip out of Guayaquil, you could leave behind any extra luggage you didn’t need (which is what we did in the Hilton Colon in Quito).
There were English-speaking staff at the hotel, but don’t count on it for traveling around Ecuador. Know at least some basic Spanish for getting around.
Overall
The Hilton Colon Guayaquil was a nice place to stay, especially for our first nights in Ecuador. The location is pretty nice, and is very convenient for getting to and from the airport. The price for the room seemed a little high (considering it’s that much in the U.S. for a hotel room), as well as the eateries, but we had an enjoyable stay.
I have lots of photos from my trip, including photos of our room at the hotel, the Galapagos and our other destinations in Ecuador. If you are interested in photos or have any questions, please e-mail me! My e-mail is EpinionsJavelina@Hotmail.com - please put “Ecuador” in the subject line so it does not get mixed in with junk mail.
Hilton: http://www.hilton.com/
Hilton Colon Guayaquil
Av. Francisco de Orellana Mz. 111, Guayaquil, Ecuador
Tel: +593-4-2689000 Fax: +593-4-2689149
My other related reviews:
Galapagos Islands
Hotel Hilton Colon, Quito, Ecuador
Black Sheep Inn, Chugchilan, Ecuador
Hacienda San Agustin de Callo, Cotopaxi, Ecuador
Lindblad Expeditions (to the Galapagos)
TAME (the airline of Ecuador)
Coming soon: Guayaquil, Quito, Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve
Recommended:
Yes
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