Hotel Playa Caracol

Getting to the beach is easy, and the hotel's first views are lovely. The location and scenery are the main reasons I'd give it three stars. We met a few great staff members, but often it felt like we were inconveniencing people when asking for help. Service could be slow and sometimes rude. The food is delicious, but lunch took 50-75 minutes after ordering, so don't come here if you're very hungry. Breakfast service was much better. The swim-up bar shown in the photos is falling apart and partly empty, and the gym equipment is rusting, with pieces literally coming off their hinges. The place has deteriorating amenities and a ridiculous number of rules. One that bothered me was having to wear a paper sticker wristband throughout the whole stay, even inside the hotel, not just at the pool or beach. It tells everyone where you're staying, which I don't like for safety reasons, and staff make a fuss if you remove it. It's a beautiful hotel, but the rules and requests, along with the generally bad attitude toward guests, overshadow it.

I'm really upset about the terrible customer service. I called the front desk about 20 times, but nobody answered, and they didn't come to clean our room or replace the towels today. Since they refuse to pick up the phone, I have to walk to the front desk. It's ridiculous.

We came as a family of four with two children, hoping for a nice holiday, and never expected to lose sleep. Nobody told us when booking that a very loud event would run late, and they put us right beside the noise. Staff agreed to move us, but the new room was just as bad, and we still couldn't sleep. It felt like they were offering a service they wouldn't actually provide. Our room was dirty too, with garbage on the terrace and a filthy toilet. We complained, but staff kept saying the managers and bosses were away. We'll never come back.

We arrived Friday, May 27, and had a terrible stay. There was no electricity, air conditioning, Wi-Fi, TV, or water in the bathroom.