Marmaya (Rancho Carillo) — Hotel in Escuintla

I visited marmaya in september of 2012 with my family and a friends family. we live in guatemala so we have a frame of reference for comparing. the location of this hotel is beautiful. the beach is gorgeous and the waves were not too much so our kids could still play on the shore....although the black sand gets hot during the day. we spent most of our time in the pools. there were five (i think) pools most with uv netting above them and all VERY clean. the water was warm and perfect for the kids to play in for hours. the restaurant sits right on the beach overlooking the ocean and there were hammocks for relaxing in as well. the food was mediocre and the service was terrible. i stayed in a private room and my friend in one of the bungalows. the rooms were just okay. the AC in mine wasn't working and it took them about 5 hours to get it fixed. the rooms were a bit stuffy because the windows didn't open. although, i think that some of the older rooms have windows that open. my friends bungalow was very small and rather dark. there were no windows in either of the bedrooms. there was also a very noisy pump that ran at all hours of the day and night used to fill the pools right outside my friend's bungalow. needless to say it was quite annoying when they got woken up at 4am by all the noise...and actually had to request that they turn it off so that their son could take a nap. i would probably go back to this place because the beach was really nice and clean and the pools were beautiful but the people who worked here with the exception of one young man were rude and very unhelpful esp. considering we were two families traveling with...

So far this our favorite beach in Guatemala. The beach is secluded and gorgeous. Perfect for families. Very clean. You take a quick lancha from town (they have their own secure parking lot) and arrive at MarMaya. ||||I read the other reviews that remarked about the poor service. We did not encounter that BUT we pretty much brought our own food so we probably avoided this. We did eat one meal in the restaurant and while it was not the best, it was nothing I'd complain about. ||||We rented a room with a kitchen. It had all of the basics (note: it did not have an oven) and we prepared our own meals with ease.||||The resort is clean and well maintained. Initially the AC in our room was not working well and they fixed it within an hour.||||The resort has 5 salt water fed pools, a game room with ping pong, pool, foosball (there is an additional charge to play these) and a restaurant/bar with limited hours. They do not have Internet. We spent our time bouncing back and fourth between the beach and the pools for four days and it was incredible. Could not have been a better getaway. ||||If you are going to stay here I'd recommend you bring everything food/drink with you that you are going to need because the resort does not sell any staples. If you need eggs, milk, bread, beer, etc. bring it with you or be prepared to take a lancha back to...

We arrived at the hotel to find a very uninterested receptionist. For 400 Q the room was very overpriced if you consider there was a normal bed, an AC and a sandy floor. There was one single window in the room that wasn't letting too much light in. After we stayed at the beach for a while (which is really beautiful and clean) we decided to cancel the second night we had booked and already paid becuade we were the only guests next to a family. Wr actually got back our money. So later that evening we ordered dinner which was OK. We went to bed like every other evening too but then I started feeling sick.. I stayed up all night sitting in the very small bathroom, my knees touching the wall as I was sitting on the toilet, being sick and having diarrhea. |Glad to have canceled the second night, we left as soon as possible.||No no...