Up Barrio Norte

We booked three nights for the end of December, but left after one. On the first evening, there was a foul smell from the bathroom drain, and I spotted ants on the floor. Housekeeping sprayed and cleaned after I mentioned them the next morning. Later, more ants were on my things on the side table. Staff cleaned again but couldn’t find where they were coming from, despite cracks throughout the room, and the ants returned. They offered another room. I checked it and found a small crawling bug under the sheets on the mattress. A Google image search suggested it was a bed bug. The hotel acted as if we were lying and insisted this “never happens,” asking for photos as proof. I had one and showed it to reception. They offered yet another room, so we asked to inspect it first. The housekeeper showed us in, and bugs were crawling all over the bed. We pointed them out, and she took photos herself. The hotel offered a fourth room, but we declined and found somewhere else. The company has other hotels in the area, but after this we wouldn’t consider any of them. This hotel is infested, and there are lots of other options nearby. Stay elsewhere!

On our last day, we checked out and left our bag in the hotel’s supposedly secure luggage room. We went for a walk and came back shortly afterward, but the bag was gone. The receptionist searched without finding it. There was an AirTag inside. Its location history shows the bag moving about 6 km from the hotel soon after we left. That strongly suggests somebody with access to the storage took it during the short period when they knew we’d checked out and probably wouldn’t stay to pursue a lengthy investigation. We gave the hotel the removal time indicated by the AirTag and asked them to check the security cameras. Although cameras cover the property, all we got was “we will look into it,” with no meaningful follow-up. We kept calling, but later messages got the same vague replies, and eventually they stopped responding altogether. Avoid this hotel. Given the sequence of events and the hotel’s response, we’re confident a staff member stole the bag and other staff helped cover it up.

Sound insulation is very poor, and hot water takes 3-5 minutes to come through the shower, which seems like a huge waste. The iron they provide is very old and ineffective, and there’s no ironing service, so you can’t properly iron your clothes. The reception staff barely speak English. They seem to try to be nice and helpful, but communication is difficult. I stayed for a week. On day five I woke up very itchy, and later noticed several bites on my stomach and back. The timing and pattern seemed consistent with bed bugs, and in my view showed they came from this hotel rather than somewhere I’d stayed before. Reactions often appear 24-72 hours after bites, not necessarily on the first night. I told the hotel, but they didn’t acknowledge the issue. They offered only a room change and said, “We don’t have bed bugs. If it were bed bugs, you would have bites on the first day and all over your body.” That isn’t true. They didn’t really help or reassure me that the problem was limited to one room or properly dealt with. It was stressful and unpleasant, and I’d be very cautious about staying here. The hotel’s overall quality is questionable.

We booked a double room with a patio for three nights around New Year’s Eve, but at check-in the front desk told us only a downgrade without a patio was available. When we asked what had happened, he said our original room “had a clog” and the hotel was full, with just one room left. He offered free breakfast, which we declined because the price difference between the rooms was much greater. After some discussion, we were told we could request a refund for that difference. After travelling more than 12 hours, we were exhausted and went to the smaller room. It was rundown, with stained, scratched and damaged walls, water damage, hair on the floor and bed, and mold in the refrigerator. Since it was late, we cleaned as best we could with what we had. The next morning we found bugs in the bathroom and reported them. A housekeeper came with spray. After a walking tour, we returned to find more by a nightstand. We reported those too; the same housekeeper sprayed again and took photos. Since there were bugs in two different places, we checked the bed. Under the mattress cover were several crawling bugs unlike the ones by the nightstand. A reverse Google image search identified them as bed bug nymphs. We went straight to the desk. Juan’s dismissive response made things worse. He said we had to photograph the bugs and email them to the hotel manager, Edgardo, who wasn’t there, because he “did not believe it.” I worried that they wouldn’t believe guests, especially since their own housekeeper had taken photos. Still, we sent photos and videos as instructed. The desk tried to move us, but we had to change rooms twice more because every bed we inspected with the housekeeper had bugs. The front desk person went to check yet another room and came back saying “it wouldn’t be acceptable,” so didn’t show it to us. Even staff seemed to acknowledge the rooms weren’t up to standard. After spending most of the day hauling our things from room to room, we’d had enough. With such an obvious cleanliness issue, we didn’t feel comfortable staying. We asked to cancel the remaining two nights and refund the first night’s downgraded room. For hours, we had to sit in the tiny, uncomfortable lobby while staff messaged and called the manager, offering excuse after excuse for not documenting what happened or the downgrade. The front desk insisted a receipt showing the price difference would be emailed automatically and that he couldn’t give us a simple receipt before we left. As expected, we’re now back in the U.S. and still haven’t received it. The manager is also refusing to honor the refund staff promised. We had to pay an exorbitant amount for a replacement hotel the day before NYE. The hotel offered a partial refund but won’t provide a receipt with the nightly breakdown, so we can’t confirm how much of the total is being reimbursed. We booked a hotel and flight package. It’s unprofessional and unethical. We tried to be patient and hoped they’d do the right thing, but instead we were taken advantage of. Hotel management is despicable.