El Carmelo Hotel & Hacienda

I called reception at 2:30 pm to ask about a room. They took my ID number to make a reservation and said they'd message me later, but never did. When I arrived at 5 pm, two and a half hours later, they said they hadn't received my call and had no rooms. They made me wait and took no responsibility. I felt really bad and would never return. The receptionist also said they require money to reserve, which I've never encountered at other Ica hotels that look much better and are much better. I didn't stay, but I was able to see the rooms, and they weren't worth it. Terrible!

The service was mediocre, and even a two star hotel with international standards is much better. I don't blame the workers, but the management, who probably inherited the business from grandpa and never studied anything beyond high school. The pool was dirty, though cleaning it once a day with a net costs nothing. The bread at breakfast was cold. My room wasn't ready at 2 pm, so I waited 20 minutes even though they'd said it would be ready at 1 pm. The receptionist was awfully unhelpful and seemed too lazy to think for herself. I also felt scammed over two pisco sours at the restaurant. The menu didn't show a price, so I asked the waiter, then asked twice more because the price sounded too low for an expensive restaurant. At checkout the next morning, the receptionist charged 50% more than the waiter had told me. In any normal hotel, a receptionist would say, 'sorry for the mistake, please accept the drinks as an apology.' Instead, this lady said, 'yes, that's the price, sorry, you have to pay that amount.' Even her boss seemed more concerned with getting the extra 2 EUR than with having me leave as a happy customer. I left feeling disrespected and scammed.

The room felt plain and lacked the character of the rest of the hotel. Noise carried a long way through the hallways, and Wi-Fi was only available in the lobby. The architecture is beautiful, though, and the patio is a great place to spend time during the day or evening.

There’s plenty of room to relax around the pool, and the restaurant has a good range of tasty food at fair prices. Our room was clean and nicely designed. The staff were friendly and helpful, and I liked the old hacienda style of the hotel. I’d recommend staying here.