Hotel Real Antigua

Breakfast was included and homemade, and you get your own room with a bathroom and fan. The kitchen and living room are shared, so it turned out to be a shared house. There’s no AC, and parking is far from the hotel. Based on the photos, I thought it was a private house. The bed sheets had stains.

There are bedbugs in multiple rooms, so don’t book here. When I tried to cancel because of them, the man at reception could barely speak English and said he couldn’t find my Booking.com reservation, even though I had it. He told me I could leave and that nothing else needed to happen. Later, they messaged me on Booking.com saying they welcomed me and that I had supposedly never been there. That’s a straight-up lie. Bedbugs and unfriendly staff.

I was there for three nights in February 2025 and never saw another guest. I was in Guatemala for work and usually stay at the Posada San Sebastian, but it was occupied the whole month. The first room, number 5, was a shoebox with nowhere to put clothes or my suitcase except the floor. They moved me to a larger room the next day, which was better, but then I found the pillow and mattress smelled like cigarettes and something else. The sheets were clean. The internet didn’t work, and when I asked the front desk guy in Spanish, he just shrugged.

The terrace was the best part for me, with beautiful views of the volcanoes and la merced. The location is really convenient, near everything, and the place was very quiet. The staff were helpful and informative, and the internet was okay. Breakfast was a good tipic meal with eggs made to order, beans, and fried plantains. My wife and I have strict diets, so I asked for hard-boiled eggs. They accommodated that request, even though I know it was a bit inconvenient. The sheets were clean, too. But we didn’t sleep well because the double bed was old and sagged in the middle, so we kept rolling into each other. The room for three was tiny, with a double bed, a twin, a TV, and little else. There’s one bathroom and shower for five upstairs rooms. It had no toilet paper when we arrived, though they brought some pretty quickly, and the shower curtain doesn’t reach the floor, so water gets onto the bathroom floor. I forgot my toothpaste, and there wasn’t any at the front desk. I paid 87 USD for one night. I’ve stayed at several Antigua hotels, and this is at the bottom of my list. Last year, I paid 65 USD for a much nicer room near the Arch with its own bathroom. I like old colonial buildings for their character, but this one leaves a lot to be desired.