La Isla Huatulco

A guard dog bit me. They wouldn't tell me whether it might have rabies, so I can't rule that out. There may be cartel involvement. Stay away.

I paid for a reservation, but they said the hotel was double-booked and gave the room to a local tourist coordinator instead. I had to find somewhere else to stay. The manager, a woman, was very rude and didn't care that they hadn't honored my booking. The staff wouldn't give me their names and seemed not to care either. It felt fraudulent to take my money and then rent the room to someone else, leaving me on my own. I'd advise visitors from Mexico and abroad to avoid this hotel. This was my first time using it, and I'll never come back. It was my only bad experience in Huatulco. :(

The room had a damaged TV, a showerhead spraying sideways with water that wouldn't get hot, and a bathroom sink where turning the tap brought no water. The soap and its box were moldy, there were no hand towels or face cloths, and the bath towels had holes. The complimentary bikes were in awful shape too, with crooked handlebars and a seat that came off while I was riding. I was surprised by how poor the quality was. At first the front desk service wasn't good, and not speaking Spanish seemed to affect how the staff treated me. They wouldn't take American money. That wasn't a big deal by itself, but the hotel isn't in town, so I had to ride one of the bikes to find somewhere to exchange money before I could eat at the hotel restaurant. The next day was much better. The front desk woman spoke English, was helpful, and called someone right away when I mentioned the shower. Having the right staff makes all the difference. They replaced the showerhead with a nice, big rain shower, but then cockroaches started coming out from under the beds while we watched TV.

I had a nice stay, and I wouldn't call the hotel terrible. It's a good-looking place, and the restaurant serves very good food, though most of it is seafood and the prices are too high. I'd rate it 8.5 out of 10. There are a few things that could be better. The TV had only three poor-quality national channels. Even though people come to Huatulco for the beach, I don't always want to be at the shore or pool, and if the hotel says it has cable, I expect at least 40 channels. On the west side, pumps ran at night and were annoying. Sometimes the water pressure was low, and bad smells came from the drains.