Hotel Isla Verde — Hotel in Sololá

If you know what you're getting into and you decide it's what you want, it can be a good experience. If not, it will be a bad experience. And it's hard to know what you're getting into because the website doesn't contain a lot of information, and, as others have said, if you email the staff ahead of time, they won't tell you much. Here's my attempt to tell you what you need to know, both pro and con.||Pros:|- It's in a beautiful location and has great views.|- The staff is very friendly and welcoming and tries to be as accommodating as they can, including with dietary restrictions and any other request the guests have.|- They make three fresh meals a day and have some snacks and drinks available, and everything seems to be well-made and tasty.|- The rooms are clean and the beds were pretty decent.|- They offer yoga, massages, etc. (for a price), which can be relaxing.||Cons||- It's pretty isolated. You have to take a boat to get most places (i.e., other towns on the lake that you may need to get to or may want to visit for fun), or you can walk 15 minutes down a janky path to the nearest bar/restaurant and from there also take a tuk-tuk up a hill to a mini-town. (And because it's so isolated, you can't buy your own bottled water, food, snacks, toiletries, etc. easily because nothing is really nearby.) If you like to have convenience/accessibility, this is not the place for you.||- It's very easy to get sick. They bring in filtered water everyday (in giant water cooler bottles delivered by boat) and they both serve that in the common areas and provide that to everyone for their own use. And they seem to keep things clean in their kitchen and bar (as noted, they cook all day, every day). But in a country where the tap water is not potable, water and food-borne illness is prevalent. Several people in our group had some diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, etc. -- even those who were being very careful, i.e., brushing teeth only with filtered water, only eating cooked food (rather than salads), etc. So if you don't have a strong stomach and a strong constitution, I would not recommend going.||- The whole eco lodge (and note that it is an eco lodge, not a hotel or resort, by any stretch) is built into a hillside, and you have to climb lots of uneven stone steps (many without hand railings) to get to your room. We were only halfway up the hill, and we had to climb 60+ steps to get to our room; people at the top of the hill had to climb way more. (We didn't have to carry our luggage up and down though, as the staff does that for you.) Also, there is not enough lighting on the steps, especially at night, so we often used our cell phone flashlights to try to see where we were going. And keep in mind that you're at elevation, so if you normally live closer to sea level, you'll feel less in shape up there. If you're not physically fit and prepared to do lots of stairs, this is not the place for you.||- There's no true indoor area and there are a lot of bugs. One person in our group got a scorpion sting when she was running her hand along the stone wall next to steps for balance (as noted, there are no hand railings in some places). The common areas are all open air, and the rooms and other buildings are not built to be airtight. I heard that some of the rooms don't even have glass/plastic on the windows; ours did, but there were countless cracks and openings above and around the doors, walls, etc. So lots of insects come inside the rooms and bathrooms. We found two scorpions in our room (and several spiders and ants). I brought a pop-up netted tent for my bed and slept inside that, which was helpful. But if you're bothered by the elements or by bugs, I would not recommend going.||- The showers generally had low water pressure and lukewarm water. I was told the pressure was worse at the top of the hill, but it was bad even halfway down, where we were. If good water pressure and temperature are important to you, I would not recommend going.||Conclusion: The folks who run this place seem like good people and I really appreciate what they're trying to do. But there are some serious limitations to be aware of. I think that there are certain people for whom this can be a great getaway. But if you're not one of those people, it won't be a good experience. It...

maybe this is nice for lake atilan standards, but i really find it hard to believe how many good reviews it has received. much more like a hostel than a hotel. the landscaping is beautiful, and the staff seem to genuinely care, and the food is better than decent, but everything else is awful. the hike to the cabins is significant. and there are no hand rails or lighting, so it is dangerous at night, and not for anyone who isn't accustomed to hiking high elevations. the beds are ancient- the coils of the springs were literally poking out through the sheets. the sheets- i have never seen anything so cheap, and same for the towels. scorpions and spiders everywhere. there was no hot water. wild pack of dogs that barked all day and all night. the staff is very present, but has no evident experience of service. for example, we were there for a week, 3 meals a day, and EVERY time we had to ask for hot sauce. so easy to put on the table when setting, but they didn't have that foresight. our group would fill up water before yoga, emptying the container, and after yoga, we ALWAYS had to ask to replenish, same with coffee. it seemed like they used "eco" as an excuse for cheap. the hot tub looked dirty and didn;t work consistently. the lighting in the room was terrible- you couldn't see at night to read or write, it was so dark. not much to do outside of the location. i can see that this has opportunity, but it fell very short of meeting my low expectations. i feel like lake atilan as a whole can be done...

Beautiful place. Really disappointing service.

We arrived and a guy from the US brought us to our room, said nothing, and left. We arrived for dinner and he was more interested in socializing with some other girls who were obviously volunteers in the area or something... barely any acknowledgement, no information on the meal or times for breakfast ... definitely couldn’t speak a word of Spanish (fine for me, annoying for my colombian boyfriend - aren’t we in Guatemala???) - pretty lame guy who let the Guatemalan who was cooking delicious food also handle the serving and cleaning so he could chill. It was just a huge bummer to have this incompetent American brat hanging w friends and eating huge portions of the food we ordered in front of us (our portions tiny) - really just gave it a hostel vibe for a hotel price.

Too bad they choose to have foreign volunteers run the place and not speak Spanish or have any hospitality experience. I’ll recommend places that staff locals or experienced hotel management in the future.

Pretty cabins (GORGEOUS) with old pilly sheets with holes. Come on. Step it up you have so...