Hotel Diana

The front desk staff were polite and very helpful. The room was large, but it would be better with a chair or a small table.

There was hair in the beds and the sheets were dirty. They wouldn’t offer us a different room or even change the bedding.

The rooms looked like they had working air conditioning, with new-looking thermostats, but the AC failed in all three rooms we tried. After a hot afternoon touring, cycling in the sun, and traveling in hot transport, we got back to a stuffy room with no windows that opened. It was even hotter an hour later. Our polite request was met with surliness; when we asked to move, we were told there were no other rooms. Only after we complained to the tour organizers did staff reluctantly show us two more rooms. Their AC didn’t work either, but one had proper windows, and by then it had cooled outside. The staff then told the organizers a different story and made us out to be the problem. Be aware that you might be promised working AC and still get a room where it doesn’t work. In this hotel and other old buildings, some rooms have no exterior windows or only tiny ones. Puebla’s high elevation means evenings can cool down, so I’d ask for a room with a proper opening window and forget the AC. Other nice hotels in Puebla may not have AC at all, which can be fine if they have windows opening to the outside, not onto an air shaft or a stifling inner courtyard. The hotel itself looks modern and nice, but management is stingy with basic things: no shampoo, no tissues, one cheap bar of soap, and just two towels. They don’t want to give you a second “EXTRA” room card, and guard the TV remote as if you might steal it. Wi-Fi works, but they give no instructions. The lobby cafe looks nice, though it feels more for show, as if they don’t want it getting dirty. Breakfast isn’t included, and the place was understaffed when we were there. At first glance this looks like a four-star hotel, but it’s a two-star experience. We got the sense that the people who designed it and the people running it were disconnected. The staff seemed not to like guests much. We nicknamed the fix-it guy Lurch. They treated the place a bit like a Mexican bathroom where you pay to use it and get a small handful of toilet paper because they’re afraid you’ll steal a whole roll. Two stars.

The restaurant service was excellent, with good prices and good hospitality. It’s right in the center of everything. The rooms were okay, though the floor was a little dusty; the bathrooms were clean.