Majority of the staffs were friendly and tried to be helpful, the room equipped with the cookware, flatware, mini fridge and a 5 gallon purified water dispenser. I booked a room for 7 days for 4 people. It was not a 5-or 3-stars hotel so I didn’t set too much expectation. Staffs at front desk ( daytime) knows English but the rest of staffs don’t. My standard for hotel is to have a clean room - that's it. Other reviews mentioned the place is dated; it's fine with me. The staffs are trying their best to keep it up, however:
The staircases were not safe for young children, there were trails but the gaps were very big; kids could climb out or fall off from there, so be aware.
Wifi was slow, as the rest of Sayulita. Do not expect to come here to work remotely if your work requires good bandwidth.
The A/C (heat pump unit) in my room was not working at the night of day 3. It dripped water for like 30 mins then making noises for another 30 mins - alternating between water dripping and noise making for the rest of the time from 2 am until the next day. I reached (8ish am) out the front desk for help. After a staff fixed it, the A/C was not able to be turned on with the universal remote control on the evening, probably it was reset, not sure. I was desperate because it was like 38C even at night time, tried to ask the front desk but no one was there except the security guard. He was not able to help because he didn’t speak English. Thus, I returned back to room and tried to figure out what was going on. Then, I realized that the remote control was out of sync/reset. There was no English instruction manual found online for that brand - only Spanish. Good thing was the remote worked the same way as most of the other universal remote control. Checking some YouTube videos for the setup helped and also figured the “channel” code of the A/C brand from the Spanish instruction manual (mirage brand - code 027 or 028) to sync it back then it worked properly.
Starting on day 4, the room was not provided enough bath towels :( - some reviews mentioned that too. I had 4 people but only 2 towels provided. I went to ask the front desk (around 8ish pm) but there was no one except the security guard again. So I tried to talk with him using google translate. After he understood my intention, he was so nice that he went out to another staff’s house for asking help. That staff, who was mainly responsible for maintenance/repair, was already done for his day and I believe he lives close by the hotel since they both came back within 5 mins) He was able to give me extra towels I needed . Sadly, I still didn’t get enough towels again for day 5. I didn’t want to bother asking for help again. Every time that I found out the missing towels was already in the evening and the poor security guard couldn’t help much besides asking another staff for help. Also it wasn’t his fault. I think it is some thing that the cleaning staffs should be aware of - attention to the detail.
The pool itself doesn’t look that clean, there were debris (like plants, bugs, etc.). I saw the staffs sprinkled chlorine powder in the pool once. The water was not so clear which could be told by the water color. It feels like the pool needs a few maintenance - water refresh , fixing the missing or cracked tiles on the pool. In certain part of the pool, you may be able to smell strong paint smell, which I believe (just my assumption) that the room’s floor may be painted every time a guest is checked out from a room since the floor of my room had 0 scratches on day 1 but as long as someone opened the patio door, the door will definitely scratch easily the floor.
Some reviews mentioned that the bathroom smelled like sewage. It was unpleasant, I tried to avoid it propagating out of the bathroom by closing the toilet lid and close the shower door accordingly.
Hot water in shower will run out after 2 people took shower in a row ( max 10 mins) but it will come back after waiting like 10-15 mins, so plan the time accordingly. Good thing is in the middle of the summer so i didn’t mind to take cold shower.
I would like to give a good review, among all the points I brought up above I could handle them, not a big deal… However, the only one thing that was unbearable was bug. The room itself has a lot of tiny bugs (grain of sand sized, looks like ant but not sure) crawling everywhere ( on the kitchen counter, floor, behind the couch, closet, coffee table etc.) l completely understood that the weather was hot and having bugs was unavoidable, but the amount I saw in the room made me very uncomfortable. The patio doors and the unit door had no seal. Basically there were gaps on the top and bottom of the door could let any bugs come in. There were also a gecko and a beetle visiting the room once. I didn’t dare to touch anything or leave anything on anywhere because of those tiny little bugs. Also I prohibited anyone ate in the unit to attract more bugs to come. When I left an item on the table I had to shake violently it a lot to make sure no more bugs. When I packed my luggages, I had to empty them all and make sure I didn’t bring any bug around.
After 5 nights of stay, I decided to leave the hotel, I did not want to make a fuss. The place was cheap but I rather paid a bit more to stay in another hotel so that I could end well my vacation for the last 2 nights. I didn’t ask for a refund for the rest of 2 nights. I understand life is hard, especially after COVID happened and everyone should show sympathy. I just don’t want to make a big deal out of it because it was not the staffs’ fault. However, I would like others know what they are signing up for. Everyone has different tolerance on different things, this hotel may work for some but not others.
