Hotel Gil-Mar

The location is only okay if you want to be in the center and can put up with noise. For a quiet rest, this place is a definite no. We’ve visited Teco many times, but we’ll never stay here again. It was a terrible experience, especially since there are more comfortable places nearby at similar or lower prices that offer better value. We’d booked two rooms ahead of time, but on arrival they didn’t even know how much deposit we’d paid. When we tried to pay the balance by transfer, the owner’s response was no, only by card, so she could collect her “commission.” She was incredibly rude. The staff attitude was apathetic and despotic, and the facilities felt neglected and dilapidated. One bathroom was dirty and had no towels. The beds were extremely uncomfortable, there was no hot water in either shower, and one only had a trickle. When we reported the problem, they insisted there was hot water because someone had showered earlier. They said they’d check the heater, but it never got hot. The sink faucet smelled awful, the shower faucets were broken, and you could hear everything between rooms. The Wi-Fi kept dropping, there was no cable TV, and the remotes didn’t work. One room got just one channel, the other only three free-to-air channels. During the day, they wouldn’t let us use the air conditioning unless we paid extra. There was never anyone available when we needed help, and when we asked, someone nearby answered rudely.

My family and I had stayed here for years, including this year, but the rooms were in such poor shape that the visit was stressful instead of relaxing. They smelled terrible, the bathrooms were filthy, the cleaning was poor, the mattresses were awful, and the water from both the showers and sinks was salty. The owner's daughter, Elizabeth, who also owns the Hotel Catedral, was especially difficult to deal with. She was rude, arrogant, and domineering, and even small problems led to yelling. I’d recommend Hotel Plaza instead. They may be related, but it’s a completely different experience there: much cleaner, better maintained, and with excellent service. If you can book Hotel Gil-mar, I’d look elsewhere for a more pleasant stay.

What stood out in a good way was the central location, the large pool, and that some staff members were helpful. The rooms were horrible, though. People in our tour group found bed bugs in their beds, one room had no shower, and the ground floor bathrooms had a strong sewage smell. Air conditioning was only available from 9 pm to 8 am.

The price is reasonable if you need somewhere central and cheap, but the place has gone downhill. We first started coming about 10 years ago, when everything was great. Lately there have been lots of issues with both the rooms and service. They advertise Wi-Fi, but there isn’t any; the TV gets one channel, and the room has a strong sewage smell from the bathroom.