Hotel San Francisco

There's an elevator and a staircase to reach the second and third floors. The walls are badly deteriorated, and the rooms are very small. Parking is shared with the Panorama's hotel, which is 10 blocks away, though they do offer valet service.

The building is lovely and the location is excellent. My tiny balcony was a favorite, and the bathrooms were very nice, with good towels and hot water. The rooms felt commercial, like a motel or cheap office, and had no personality. Traffic noise, including music, went on until early morning, so I needed earplugs to sleep. Rain left the lobby carpets soaked from leaks, and the lobby wasn't a cozy place to hang out anyway. The whole hotel was nice, but not welcoming. The desk staff were pretty snooty all five days, though a very nice young man showed me to my room when I arrived. Maybe it's a good place for SLP, but places in Zacatecas, Guanajuato and elsewhere are much nicer for less. The breakfast buffet included in the price was terrible, really terrible. The food was limited, cold, unappetizing, and poor quality, and sometimes half the dishes were empty. There was no bread or tortillas the first day. Later, the bread was obviously from the day before. It's easy and cheap to get a decent breakfast, so I suspect the restaurant is generally a waste of time and money. Nearby, 50-70p will get you a hot, fresh breakfast.

My reservation was canceled without proper notice, leaving us scrambling to find a hotel somewhere other than where we'd planned. It was a bad start to our family vacation.

The staff were very helpful and nice, though only a few spoke English. The location is central, and the rooms are cheap and fairly big. You get what you pay for, though: our room had no windows or air-conditioning, and it was quite noisy.