Gran Hotel de Merida

The building has been beautifully restored, and the hotel is in a superb location with a good price. But the rooms are very basic. Ours was large, though the bathroom was tiny, the shower door grimy, and the floor under the beds dirty. It all needed a proper spring clean. Street noise woke us very early, and this was the only hotel we've stayed at in Mexico that didn't leave bottled water in the room. We felt a bit neglected.

The service, atmosphere, beauty, and location were all just what we wanted, and we'd highly recommend it. The entrance is stunning, with lavish stairs and hallways and furnishings that make it feel like stepping back in time. Some things may be a little dated, so it's not the place if you want everything to be perfect. For authentic charm, though, this is it.

The staff were great, and the daily cleaning service was really wonderful. The hotel itself is very cool, with fantastic details, comfortable beds, adorable balconies, two coffee shops inside, and restaurants all around. It's a hotel built in 1901, so expect a few quirks: hot water takes ages, the bathroom has a step you need to watch for when half asleep, and there's no balcony furniture. We used the luggage racks instead. The real problem for us was the surroundings. The streets are extremely busy and loud, and you smell exhaust much of the time. Across the square, a second-floor DJ blasts techno and dubstep toward the hotel until 1-2 am nightly. There's no escaping the noise. Parking is off site and not far, but you can't get your vehicle overnight until it opens at 730 am. We wouldn't stay again, though we're glad we got to experience the hotel once.

The room was poor as well. There were so many mosquitoes we had to sleep with repellent, the shower was clogged and in terrible shape, and the towels were so worn you could see through them. There were plenty of other unpleasant details, but these give the idea of how bad our stay at the Gran Hotel was. Free parking wasn't included on 25th and 26th December, despite what Booking.com said. When we arrived at 2 p.m. on 24 December, the receptionist said we could use a public car park that worked with the hotel, but could only take the car out before 6:30 p.m. that day. It would then be closed until 7:30 a.m. on the 26th. When I explained we needed the car on the 25th, he said we could use private parking, but the hotel wouldn't pay. I pointed out this wasn't mentioned anywhere, either on Booking or their website, and he told me to go elsewhere. That would've been impossible and very expensive, so we had no choice but to pay for private parking.