This hostel is 'decent but not spectacular' in arguably the most important areas, namely:
Bed comfort, dorm spaciousness, bathrooms (quality and number) and kitchen (size and eating area). The location is also pretty good - in a nice part of town and not too far from anything, although equally, there didn't seem to be anything useful or interesting within a stone's throw of the building.

Where the hostel excels is the fact that breakfast lasts until 11:30am - in a city like Argentina, where the average bedtime (particular of people staying in hostels, i.e. holidaymakers) seems to be about 3 or 4am, I find it very puzzling that nearly all hostels have breakfast and checkout at 10am. But Reina Madre is different in that respect.

There is a computer but the WiFi is quite slow. The common area is nice. I was quite excited at the fact that they had Pro-Evo computer game, but later rather wished they didn't: I was barely through one game when a couple of other residents sat down beside 'waiting' to use it, and then promptly didn't get off it all evening, dominating the lounge in the process!

This is one of the drawbacks of the hostel, there seem to be a lot of long-stay guests, and whilst I was there none of them made any effort to be sociable (whether this was because they didn't speak any English, I'm not sure).

However, the main reason I am writing a review here, is that I was disappointed with the attitude of Lucas, one of the staff members. When I arrived at 10pm, I was feeling a bit under the weather, and looking forward to some sleep. I was told that there had been a mix up and that my bed had been double booked. I thought it strange that they waited until now to tell me, even though I had booked 2 days earlier.

The hostel had reserved a room at the hostel opposite for me instead for the first night. This was good of them, and I went to check it out. The other hostel was horrible, and I returned to Reina Madre to ask if there was anything else nearby. This was met by a series of huffs, telling me that the hostel opposite was the easiest option, it worked out cheaper for me anyway etc. I wasn't making a fuss, simply asking if I had any other choice, but in the end decided to suck it up and stay in the place opposite.

Before I left the hostel I made the mistake of writing a review, which was positive, but owing to a few of the above facts, a little short of 5-star. Before I checked out Lucas had read my review and made a comment about it as I was paying. He then incorrectly calculated my fee, and when I debated it, he kicked up more of a fuss and started questioning my 'principles' at squabbling over a small amount.

At no point did I make life difficult for the people at the hostel, and any problems which they created for me, I tried to go with the flow, and yet my thanks for having to stay elsewhere for a night, was to be moaned at and overcharged! I need somewhere to stay in BA later in the month, but thanks to the attitude of 'Lucas' here, I will be looking elsewhere. It might only be a hostel, but guests should still be treated as such.