Hotel Ciudad Real Palenque

The room had plenty of space, plus air conditioning and a balcony. A kettle would have been handy for coffee in the morning :)

We left after just one night and moved to another local hotel. The room itself was only so-so, but there was no Wi-Fi, no cell signal in the room, and the TV wouldn't work because the Wi-Fi was down. The pool area had no loungers, and the water was really dirty. They blamed the Wi-Fi on a citywide outage, though we're having no connection problems at the hotel we're in now. This is advertised as a four-star hotel with a 9.0 rating, which I don't understand. Nothing about our stay felt above two stars. We got no refund for the other three nights because they don't offer refunds.

The hotel is beautiful, which makes it a shame that I didn't stay long enough to enjoy it. I would've given it more stars if it actually had the amenities it advertises. There is no Wi-Fi in the rooms. You can only get online in the lobby, so if you need it for email or anything else, you're stuck leaving your room. The front desk kept saying it would be working in an hour and told us to be patient. I had the same experience at a hotel in Amman Jordan in October, and it feels awful to be told you have Wi-Fi when you don't. I was in the lobby with travelers from Germany, and none of us had Wi-Fi on our phones either. We were all being told the same thing. The restaurant staff were really rude to me because I'm not Latino. I used to work in service, and I tip for good service, not just because someone showed up. I won't tip when people are consistently rude to me before I've even tipped.

The only real drawback is the 15-minute walk into town along a busy road, so having a car would help. Otherwise, it was a peaceful, pleasant two-night stay. The room was nicely equipped, the bed was huge, and the shower was the best I've had so far. The pool was a good size, and the restaurant was quite decent. We had both breakfast and dinner there, with good service. It seemed like the hotel might usually have more people around. I hope it does.