Casa Zocalo Rooms

We stayed at Casa Zócalo and had one of the most disturbing experiences of our travels. We were paying each day as agreed, but staff suddenly claimed we hadn't paid and gave us no evidence. Then they called local police, who entered our private room without a court warrant, intimidated us, and made us leave in the rain late at night, without legal justification. We recorded everything. This felt like a violation of our human rights and legal protections, an abuse of power, and an entirely unsafe situation for foreign guests. No tourist, Canadian, Mexican, or from anywhere else, should be treated that way. We urge Booking.com and other platforms to act. As long as this property remains listed, other travelers could be at risk. Avoid booking it.

The cheap rooms aren't worth the risk. We were told by phone that arriving at 9pm or even 10pm would be fine, since our bus was due at 8:30pm. I had also called and emailed the day before. But when we arrived after 7pm, they cancelled our reservation and our room was gone. That cutoff isn't mentioned on booking websites. They arranged an Uber to another hotel they own, six blocks away, and said they'd pay. When the driver asked us for cash, that was the last straw. We couldn't trust the business. Very dodgy.

The showers were private, but lined up beside each other in a damp, enclosed area that smelled of mold. They had electric shower heads rather than water heaters, and didn't work well. In CDMX's cool to moderate climate, having to shower in room temperature water, when you got lucky, was awful. The private room itself was little more than a cubicle, with flimsy walls and open gaps at the top where windows should have been. The front desk guy lived on site and treated the place like his own in a bad way. He was loud and had friends over, so it was uncomfortable. I stayed there in July 2017 after booking through Hostel World. The place and front desk guy felt sketchy. They take a deposit that goes toward the balance, so I should have paid only the difference at the hostel. He kept insisting I hadn't paid a deposit and said I'd paid only a booking fee. He also tried to charge the in house rate instead of the price listed on Hostel World. Avoid this place.

The manager was really kind and helpful, and even paid for our Uber. But the hostel didn't have our room ready for us, and there were plenty of strange problems at Hostel Ciudad mx, where they sent us.