Inn at Loreto Bay

Loreto Bay hotel has a great location and plenty of potential, but poor maintenance and leadership are dragging it down. We had been looking forward to staying here, then quickly changed our minds about the place. The room was okay and the A/C worked, though it smelled musty at first. The bathroom soap was moldy, the shower water didn't drain properly, and although there was a window, it couldn't be opened for fresh air. We weren't told basic details about our stay, so we had to keep asking questions that should have been covered at check-in. We were also given the wrong bracelets and only went back to get them changed after someone pointed out they weren't the right ones. If breakfast is prepaid with your reservation, the only choices are eggs with ham or eggs with sausage. The food was good, thankfully, but the same breakfast for five days got old. Had I known, I wouldn't have paid for the included breakfast and would have ordered a la carte instead.

The first room we were given had an air conditioner that didn't work and a balcony door without a lock. Maintenance didn't show up or move us then. We called the front office again the next day, waited about 40 minutes, and finally had a maintenance worker suggest changing rooms. The bedding and towels weren't clean. Some still had stains after washing and smelled stale, and a few pillows were dirty and had no cases. The beach wasn't white sand, and the water wasn't clear enough to enjoy swimming in the sea. The pool also looked dirty and wasn't being cleaned properly. Service was especially bad at Catco restaurant. The website says it opens at 7, but food wasn't ready until 8 a.m. Waiters didn't greet us or smile, and the food was below average. Breakfast wasn't American style. You could go through the line just once, with a server putting food on your plate, and they tried to charge if you went back. Tamarind was the only juice. There were no bananas, oranges, or bagels. Every day it was beans and chips, cheap weiner sausage, and omelet, with no fried or boiled egg option. The waiters didn't ask about coffee refills. They were on their phones, drinking coffee, or chatting instead of serving customers.

There was no hot water at all during my stay, despite this being a place that calls itself a “Golf Resort & Spa.” I complained to the front desk more than once, but nothing was repaired and there was no meaningful response or effort to make things right. The billing issue was just as bad. I had booked five nights, then had to leave three days early because my work assignment changed. At checkout, the front desk acknowledged the early departure, said the bill would cover only the nights I had stayed, and gave me a corrected receipt. Later, the hotel charged my card for the full booking, including nights I never spent there. I disputed the charge through Citibank. The hotel submitted the original reservation documents but left out the corrected receipt and my early checkout. I provided the updated folio and proof of the shortened stay, yet they still refused to fix the charge and insisted I pay for unused nights. That goes beyond a simple oversight. Ignoring their own corrected bill in a dispute is deeply misleading and raises serious concerns about billing integrity. My work colleagues and I travel to this region often for official assignments, sometimes in large groups and for weeks at a time. Hotels that treat us well can become our regular choice, bringing meaningful repeat business. Because of how this was handled, none of my colleagues will stay at Loreto Bay Golf Resort & Spa again. A potential source of ongoing business has been lost because the hotel wouldn't correct an obvious billing problem and didn't provide basic amenities. This was one of the most frustrating and unprofessional hotel experiences I've had. They charged for nights I didn't stay, refused to honor their own corrected bill, submitted dispute documents that omitted key facts, provided no hot water, and showed little interest in resolving any of it. If honest billing, basic accountability, working amenities, or respect as a guest matter to you, consider staying elsewhere. There are better options in the area, and you won't be left fighting a billing dispute while taking cold showers.

Nice-looking hotel, and the beach has lounge chairs set in the sand, though they aren't beach beds. Bring bug spray: there were lots of mosquitoes, and I don't know when the grounds were last fumigated. The gym could use a cleanup too. The bike machine felt sticky, as if its plastic had started melting at some point over the summer. There was no A/C remote in the gym, so we worked out with just the fan.