Trent S.
The welcoming staff were helpful, and the inside and outside of the building look nice. The view is pretty too, so I’m giving it three stars instead of two. But our room, #2204, didn’t feel like a four-star stay. Maybe I expected too much from my first hotel/apartment in Mexico City, though I’ve stayed at an advertised four-star place in Turkey by the Mediterranean that was maybe one and a half stars at best. Our Mexican friends were surprised by the furniture quality, upkeep, and construction, including some plywood. I’d call this closer to two and a half or three stars, even by Mexican standards. We paid for a king bed and got two uncomfortable twin mattresses pushed together under king bedding. The join felt like a mountain ridge. The bedroom chair was actually the most comfortable piece of furniture, since the living room seating was so uncomfortable. There were two spare pillows in a closet but no pillowcases, and only two towels for the two of us. There’s an in-room washer and dryer, but I wasn’t going to buy laundry supplies for a four-night stay. There was no room service either. We couldn’t get Gabriela to answer our WhatsApp question about how clean we were expected to leave the unit. The welcoming staff or security told us just to take out the garbage bags. I’ve never been asked to do that in a hotel apartment. The maintenance problems were everywhere: burnt-out bulbs over the dining area, a big crack in the bathroom sink counter, gaps in the shower grout, and a bathroom door splitting from moisture. There were dents in several walls and tile problems in the half bath. Both toilets had trouble flushing. Kitchen cabinets sagged and rubbed against each other and the microwave, the garbage can had no lid, the shower shelf drooped, and the fridge’s water dispenser didn’t work. The wood-look floor was peeling and separating at some joints. The toilet paper was painfully rough, and the plastic dishes had what looked like burn marks. The kitchen cabinets were so high you’d need a stool or step ladder, but none was provided. The pendant lights hung at different heights, as if nobody had measured. Above the TV, the soffit gap changed from around one and a half inches to about three, very noticeable from bed, where we spent much of our time. The climate control was a standing unit in the living room corner. There were two irons and two hair dryers, one of each still in its box, I assume. I assume the owner doesn’t know about all the maintenance issues in such a large hotel/apartment complex. A few suggestions from me, free of charge: add inexpensive bidet attachments to the toilets, since Mexico City is cosmopolitan and some of us expect them. A reverse-osmosis water dispenser, perhaps with paid access by code, would help longer-stay guests avoid hauling jugs from stores and worrying about running out. And the flooring crew should trim the door jambs, because the job looks hacked up to most people used to decent housing back home.
