Crime in Manta, Ecuador

I visited Manta, Ecuador around June 2019. I had my camera phone and Chromebook stolen from my hotel room on a Sunday morning while I was at breakfast in the hotel. It happened all in less than an hour while I was out of my room. I was in the hotel for less than 10 hours in total. I just need a place to sleep for a couple of hours before catching a bus to the next city.

If I could go back I would have just called an Uber or Taxi and stayed at the bus station until morning. I was actually at a decent hotel that I had booked on the Booking website, but I decided to stay a day longer but because I did not have enough cash I had to choose a random place further down the road that was not on Booking but less expensive. It seemed very safer when I arrived with a security guard when I went to sleep but in the morning super insecure. In hindsight, I should have just collected my things from my other hotel instead of looking for new accommodations. I could have just called an Uber and went to the bus station in Manta and I probably would have been better off. It is generally much safer with police and security presence. I probably could have spent the night there while waiting for an earlier bus departure.

My recommendation for Manta is to booking something on a booking website at a hotel that accepts credit cards. The problem is it is hard to find that in Manta. Normally I prefer to stay at chain hotels like Best Western, Marriott, Hilton or even a good backpackers hostel but there are none in Manta. There is not a single HOSTEL or chain hotel in the city. They have something called a hostal but it's pretty much just a bed and breakfast. Overall I had a safer time and experience in Guayaquil than I did in Manta. I stayed some nights in Guayaquil in a real backpacker hostel and other nights at the Marriott branded hotels. Overall I would say Manta is not very foreigner-friendly, it's a place that Ecuadorian families go to have a short vacation. If you have the cash there are some OK and better options in Manta than what I found but I had just come from Peru with very little USD and expected more places to accept credit cards. There are a few places that accepted credit cards but the price was heavily marked up and not worth the value for what I was getting in return or so I thought.

Overall I had a decent experience with the police in Manta, they were quick to respond and helped investigate the hotel. Unfortunately, we did not find my missing items but I was left with a good impression of their police force compared to experiences that I have had in other cities and countries when trying to report a crime. As a foreigner, I felt safer in Guayaquil and Quito than I did in Manta.