Lazy Bones in Leon is Crap

Service can be an issue in Nicaragua and once or twice I have been tempted to give an organisation a slagging on here.  But if you travel in developing countries you have to expect a few quirks here and there.

 Then again sometimes you just have to stick the boot in…

Can I just say that Lazy Bones Hostel in Leon was woeful.  At $25 for a room which had the only the redeeming quality of a private bathroom, with coldwater shower, it was overpriced.   At breakfast (which was, of course, extra) the next day, they replaced tortillas with dry, un buttered cheap sliced bread.  When we complained they said they had run out. Because, of course, there is a shortage of tortillas in Nicaragua.

Honestly, in any street in Nicaragua even I could find them in 20 seconds.

The coffee was undrinkable, they’d run out of juice, the eggs were salted to within an inch of their lives and the cheese was stale, unfried and prepared, only in the sense that it was sliced (brown rind included) straight onto my plate.

Later I offered to pay for one of our breakfasts but I was buggered if I was paying for both. To her great credit the fabulous receptionist sympathised but explained she had to call the manager.  The gringo queso grande arrived and then left us hanging as he chatted instead to buddies he met on his way over.

The receptionist was mortified and made “I feel your pain” eyes at us.  Ten minutes later we thought sod this, plonked down what we owed, minus the breakfast and walked out. The receptionist apologised again. The manager didn’t even notice us go.

I honestly wouldn’t have written this if he had been bothered to hear our gripe.  But seeing as he was so incredibly rude I thought I would instead write this and send it to him.

By contrast we visited fellow Leon Hostel, Big Foot. It wasn’t hard to see why it was so full while Lazy Bones was empty.  It was far cheaper too and so much more friendly. The food was great, the mojitos were fabulous and at the atmopshere was buzzing Their volcano surfing trip was incredible. See our pics here.

In the end though we thought we’d go a little upscale.  For $35, ie a mere $5 extra per per person, compared to Lazy Bones prices, we stayed in the Hotel Real – for that we got an edible breakfast, cable tv, air con and hot water showers.  We also got another great receptionist who couldn’t do enough to make our stay pleasurable

Kudos to the Real Hotel, and to Big Foot. As far as Lazybones goes…. well, they live up to their name if nothing else. Utter crap.

Comments

[Adam Garrett-Clark]

Mr. Jackson,

I'd like to personally apologize for not being there soon enough to hear your complaints in person. Feel assured that I and the rest of the LazyBones team were made aware of your concerns with breakfast after you left and have been working hard to improve since. Unfortunately, you caught us in the pilot week of our new breakfast program. We are learning from experience and we appreciate your suggestions.
Again, I'm sorry the hostel didn't meet your expectations and I hope you enjoyed the rest of your stay in Leon.

Sincerely,
Adam Garrett-Clark, LazyBones Manager

[minxlj]

Is the previous comment genuine?

Anyway, well done you for complaining, it's about time business owners stopped hiding behind excuses. If you're charging money for a service, provide it!! After an awful stay at a Travelodge in London, when I complained I was told it's 'cheap and cheerful', as if that means we should put up with utter crap? It certainly wasn't cheap of cheerful, and I don't see the excuse, frankly. Needless to say I won't be staying there again, especially after they didn't even have the courtesy to apologise. I've stayed in bottom dollar hotels across Europe and had great service, polite staff and great breakfasts, so why it can't be done in Britain I don't know.

I'm glad you managed to find another place worth staying at. I'm just off to look through your intriguing 'volcano surfing' pics!

[dave]

lazybones rules!
i love it i stay there all the time even on weekends when i can go home.
i think you are silly for writing that.
dave

[Pleenky]

I really like your blog. It's the closest I can get to traveling right now.

[Nick]

The following is an e-mail I sent to the management of Lazy Bones after I had my major items of value stolen from my locker in Lazy Bones Hostel. I have not received a response.

--------------------------------------------

I got your e-mail from the owner of Big Foot Hostel, he informed that you are the owners of Lazy Bones Hostel in Leon. I stayed at your hostel for two nights, the last one being on October 17, 2007. It was on this night that my back pack was stolen out of my locker. That night I went out with the only other two girls staying in my room at 7pm and when I returned around 11:45pm locker 4 was open and my bag was missing. There was an orange and blue bag that looked suspicious on another bed in the dorm room. Upon inspecting this bag, we found that it only contained two old shirts and a pair of pants. This was the decoy bag that was used to enter the hostel by the alleged thief.

I went and confronted the "night security guard", he was not of much help as he was hesitant to call the police. Oddly enough he seemed to know who had taken the bag and at what time the theft occur, 9pm. According to him it was an Salvadoran guy in a yellow shirt that never showed ID, but was somehow allowed to enter the gated hostel. After getting nowhere with him, I waited until the morning to speak with the manager. We waited for Carolina Rubio Gutierrez to arrive because she was the one on duty at 9pm and let the man in question in the hostel. She ended up taking me to the Police Station to report the crime and get a police statement, which I needed to be issued a new passport.

Her side of the story is the she allowed him in without checking ID and that he said he was going to put his bag down and return with ID. She then claims to have never seen him leave. This is all relatively unbelievable knowing the lay out of your hostel. It is gated and if she was at the front desk it would be very difficult not to see him leave. Plus the question arises as to why the man without ID was allowed to enter in the first place.

The whole thing stinks of an inside job. From the nonchalant attitudes over the whole incident, to the knowledge of Carolina and the night security guard as to who had taken the bag. It should be the hostels responsibility for items that are stolen if someone is allowed to enter without showing ID.

I lost about $900 in possessions including a back pack, camera, phone, MP3 player, passport, credit card, cash, etc. I had to return to the States two weeks early because of this incident and borrow money from some kind English girls to pay for my nights at the hostel. I am hoping that you can take the appropriate measures to rectify this situation and make sure that this doesn't happen to future guests at your hostel.

I am looking forward to your response,

p.s. I attached a copy of the police report, which Carolina translated for me because my Spanish is very limited.

[Thuy]

don't you missed Vietnam?

[Echo Palmer]

Lazy Bones is the nicest hostel in central america! I've stayed there every time I've passed thru the area, even making trips out of the way from Managua a few times. From the excellent service and kind staff to the beautiful layout and architecture, I wouldn't trade it for Big Foot for any reason. Can't wait to get back. And the manager you mentioned was incredibly gracious and helpful in all my visits this summer. You ought to give the Bones another try!!

[D Fran]

When I was at Lazy Bones in March 2007, two lockers were broken into by a supposedly non-registered guest. I see a disturbing pattern here. I think I will try Big Foot next time I am in Leon.

[bex]

we stayed at lazybones last year, it was one of the best hostels we stayed at throughout central and south America. We found all the staff including the managers to be very nice, helpful and willing to help. and if you wanna spend $25 on a private room then more fool you, as dorms were on $6 to us being english thats dead cheap.. i rate Lazy bones five stars... dont be put off by random blogs from ppl who could spend there $25 on a more upmarket hostel.

[Wayne]

My friend stayed at Bigfoot and got serious food poisoning at their "Italian" restaurant eating carbonara. Apparently the fridge had been left off a few days but I guess that's Nicaragua...