Socialtel Atitlan

Terrible customer service, and I wouldn't recommend staying here. We paid extra for a private room with a private bathroom, but the water wasn't working when we arrived. The shower wouldn't run, and when it did, there was no hot water. We asked for maintenance at 3 pm on day one, but nobody came. At 8pm a security guard jiggled a knob and fixed nothing. The next day we requested another room, which they reluctantly gave us late in the day. We asked for a discount down to the shared-bathroom room rate, since that's essentially what we'd been given, and they said they could do it, then avoided us for the rest of our stay. The manager said the refund had to be in cash, and we arranged a specific meeting time days ahead, which he confirmed. We showed up, but it was his scheduled day off. He then said he'd return it to our card, but a week later still won't send any confirmation. The private bathrooms were also super dirty.

The rooms were very clean, the staff were amazing and helpful, and the activities they offer were great. I'm glad I chose this place and definitely recommend it. The only small drawback is the beach area is open only Thursday to Saturday, from 5pm to 1am. Otherwise, it was amazing.

The basics let this place down, even though it has lovely decor, a beautiful pool, and a really good deep tissue massage. Hot water swings from scalding to unavailable, and only lasts for about a minute when you can get it. There were no towels in the room, and none offered at check-in. Check-in itself took nearly 30 minutes, including the wait behind people in line. The music in the "library" was way too loud for reading, and I couldn't find anywhere to sit and read away from it. Still, it may be better than other places in town that draw a much younger, rowdier crowd.

Bus trouble meant I didn't get into town until 11pm, but a last second booking let us make it here just in time. We got a spacious, well maintained private room. The breakfast choices were fresh and lovely. The location, pool, and dining area all looked great. I'm a fan, even though this place wasn't in our original plan.