Suites Valentina

The room itself was clean and pleasant, and being close to the beach was a plus. That’s why I’m giving it two stars. We booked three nights for nearly $400 Canadian, but left after just one. My sister was so upset she wanted to sleep in the car. We’d spent hours choosing this place and had high hopes, but the experience was awful. The listing didn’t make clear that this “hotel” is above a fish restaurant. To reach the room, you walk through the dining and cooking area, then across a sandy yard, carrying sand and garbage up with you. The building looks ramshackle and obscures where you’re meant to check in. Once there, the owner said anything beyond the bed costs extra: $300 pesos for an extra towel, and another $300 pesos to have the sand from the restaurant swept up. Things most hotels provide were charged separately. The door lock barely worked, and the safe was unusable because it had no batteries. The smell of fish and frying oil rises to the rooms after a day at the beach. It stays around all day, and late at night you can smell fish guts and rancid oil coming up the stairs. You’d only learn you were staying over a restaurant by digging through reviews. Music starts at 2pm and runs until closing, which varies from 8pm to midnight depending on the restaurant’s guests. The speaker points straight at the suites. The patio door didn’t lock either. The only thing to secure the sliding door was a clothes rack wedged against it, and my suite shared a balcony with the room next door. The street gate was flimsy, didn’t close fully, and couldn’t lock. At night you have to cross the dark restaurant area, where empty beer bottles, plates, and half-eaten food are left on the floor after closing. In the morning, a local beach dweller with a large machete comes by to take the bottles for whatever cash he can get. Cats howl and fight stray dogs over scraps overnight, and you have to walk through the mess in the morning, with the rancid oil and fish smell still there at 8AM. One or two staff came early to clean up, playing music full blast while guests upstairs were trying to sleep. My sister and I felt it was so easy to break in that we carried all our money and passports everywhere during the 24 hours we were stuck there. The owner seemed oblivious to these problems, and I felt the place was misleading at best, possibly a scam. I can’t recommend it.

We spent a week here in early March and will be back. The management team was easy to reach, and the staff were friendly. If you want a relaxing trip with lots of beach time and delicious restaurants, this worked really well for us.

I’d happily stay here again. The rooftop deck and soaking pool were a nice bonus, and the rooms are clean and charming, though basic. There aren’t services or amenities, which suited my needs, but the lack of a real front desk and cleaning, laundry, or maintenance crew may not work for everyone. It’s a small hotel above La Pepita Restaurant. Parking just meant being told to leave the car on the street, with space for only one or two cars in front of the restaurant. In Puerto Morelos, you’re probably better off without a car anyway.

We were traveling around Mexico and planned to spend one night in Puerto Morelos. We booked Villas Valentina, but this turned into a terrible experience and I wouldn’t recommend it. When we arrived, they said our room wasn’t ready because the previous guest had left their luggage there, and they didn’t know when that guest would return. Later, the receptionist offered another room. The price was 300 Pesos above what we’d agreed, and she said paying by card would cost even more. We accepted, then went to the room. Ten minutes later, while we were getting luggage from the car, the receptionist stopped us. She said the room was meant for another guest and told us our money would be returned within a week. Our reservation was in their system, but apparently there’d been some kind of error. We asked for our money back and found somewhere else to stay. The receptionist was completely incompetent and didn’t speak English. We spent an hour trying to sort things out and got no compensation for the canceled reservation. The waiter was the only person who tried to help, by translating. Nobody from management came to deal with the problem or even apologize.