Hotel Mirador — Hotel in Chihuahua

I wanted to love this place. It was supposed to be the highlight of our travels through the Copper Canyon. We felt like a cash-grab from the moment we arrived, until we finally escaped. To pay such an exorbitant amount of money meant this was a big-time treat to ourselves, thinking it would be a luxurious anniversary experience. It was everything but.||||1). The room was $320 USD a night. We booked it almost one year in advance, and requested a KING size bed. When we arrived, we were given a room with two doubles, and told there were no kings available and that it was "first come first serve." Unacceptable, especially considering our confirmation stated we had a KING size bed. We are big people, and a double is simply not what we have been used to for the past 30+ years. To pay $320 US per night, to sleep in separate beds wasn't what we anticipated for our anniversary. ||||2). The "First come First Serve" issue felt inflammatory considering we booked so far in advance and then arrived from the train with dozens upon dozens of other people, including tour groups. We were all herded into the restaurant and deck area where we had to wait until we were called. We weren't offered refreshments. Just left to wait for more than 45 mins. I guess it's a lottery, and not luxury guest service.||||3). When we asked for the WIFI password, we were told we had to pay $50 pesos per device, per day. This on TOP of paying $320 USD per night for 2 double beds. We paid to connect our devices, went to our room and the WIFI didn't work. Walked all the way back to the front desk to be told that the WIFI only works in the restaurant. So $50 pesos per device per day for a service that doesn't even work in your room.||||For fun - let's do some math. I asked what the capacity was, out of interest sake, and was told 72. Let's say they have 50 people. If each of them connected one device per day, that would be an average of $2500 pesos per day or $912,500 pesos per year. For internet. ||||4). Breakfast was well organized and FANTASTIC. The lunch and dinner was not good, came cold, had no options and cost $600 pesos regardless of whether it was lunch or dinner - so you will pay $1200 pesos a day for 2 of your meals. I wouldn't mind paying that if the food came hot and was interesting.||||5). The hotel room was tired and had no coffee pot or mini fridge. I mean - $320 US, $50 pesos to connect the wifi, $1200 pesos for 2 meals - and I think you get my drift. Waking up at 5:30 AM for sunrise meant no coffee, because they don't offer that until 6 AM - and there's no ability to make it in your room. Most decent hotels offer coffee pots and mini fridges, and don't charge $320 US a night.||||6). The staff were LOVELY, and the view at sunrise truly is something worth writing home about. But honestly, I'm not sure that the experience was worth how irritated we felt every time we had to pay for something else that felt like a rip-off. We both felt irritated from arrival until departure. This was NOT a luxury or boutique service or experience. It was one of being nickel-and-dimed to death and then spat out.||||||MY ADVICE FOR THE OWNERS: The "first come first serve" basis should be based on when the reservation is confirmed and paid for, not on when the staff processes the train guests in the lobby. Add the wifi to the room price and get a service that actually works. Include a refreshment beverage to be served when your train guests arrive. You always have a list of how many people are coming, and you know what time they are arriving. There's no reason why you cannot offer this. Get rid of your dozens of double bed rooms, and install at least a few more king size beds. Get coffee pots and mini fridges. Make your rooms worth the price of staying here. Of course, you don't have to because you depend on the fact that your guests only come once in a lifetime, and will never be back.||||MY ADVICE FOR THE GUESTS: Go stay in one of the other tired hotels nearby, as many of them also have views. They may not be quite as fancy as this place, but I bet they have better service and value for the money spent. Maybe if you request a King and pay for a King, you'll get to actually sleep in the same bed as your spouse...||||No matter what - if you can have peace of mind and not feel taken for a ride, at least you won't feel irritated from...

What can we say. We booked a superior King room and when we checked in they told us they ran out of Kings and only had two doubles. This was just the start of things going bad. The front desk clerk could have cared less and tried to blame it on expedia and their booking system. Turns out the guy checking in beside me had the same issue and he had booked directly through the hotel. So we both sent for the manager. It was the same result, basically we can't do anything, and offered no free dinner, cocktail or anything other than free internet, which by the way you have to pay extra for on top of the $325.00 a night. We thought we were done but then we were told we could not eat until 9pm because the dining room was full. This would normally not be a problem, but please understand that this is pretty much the only place around as you are captive to the property which is fairly remote. So we go to the bar and order a Margarita which none of us could even drink as it was so bitter. You would think they could make a decent margarita in Mexico. On to the room, we are getting settled to go to sleep and I walk over to plug my phone in and I notice it is wet on the floor, then I feel drops on my head, then it spreads to the beams over one of the beds, now it is dripping steadily. We traipse down to the front desk to get a new room, showing the same surly front desk girl a video of what is happening, again no move to get the bellhop or anyone else to help move our bags up, another flight of stairs. We get to the new room and it looked as if someone just slept there and left their hat. So strike 2 with the room, back down three flights of stairs, this time the surly girl won't deal with me and asks our waiter who is a nice kid and should not have to be dealing with this, takes yet another room key for another room back up three flights of stairs to see what we were talking about. He agrees and moves us to a new room This all started about 11pm and finally ended near midnight. Needless to say, the total lack of service or even caring from the front desk or the management is really off-putting for a hotel that bills itself as a luxury property. There is no way this place is luxury, and there is no way to justify the price except that it is the only hotel that is on the rim of the canyon. That aside the place itself has seen much better days. One last note, there are about 77 rooms in this place and it is made out of wood and concrete right on the edge of about a 100ft drop. From what I could see, there is only one exit into the lobby down three flights of stairs for all of those rooms. Oh, and they lock it at night so you can't exit. If there was ever a fire, heavy rainfall, etc there would be some fatalities. The place is a hot mess,. Stay away from this place if possible. Unfortunately you can't see the real effect of the water with still photos but I took video. The site does...

Amazing view, decent hotel. The view is amazing. Everything advertised and more. If the review was soley based on the view 5 stars all the way. However, management seems to rely so heavily on the view that they have left many other aspects of the hotel neglected. The food for example, tries to be fancy and neglects the local cusine. The resulting menu is quite disappointing. For people with special diats this is even more important, since lunch and dinner have three courses menu with just one option for each course and it is not possible to order a la carte. The plates per se are decent, but they are poorly planned. The menu often relies on the same ingredients for breakfast lunch and dinner an the ingredients are often hard on the stomach (lentils, beens, etc) almost like a small prank on how much can we make the gusts fart. The severity of this point is exacerbated due to the fact that the hotel is very aisolated and there are no restaurants anywhere nearby. The hotel food is not cheap, I would recommend that you opt for the option to include the food with your stay. On that topic, beverages are not included in this package (not even soft drinks) and they are charged at a high price. The only bright side of the food is the bakery. Bread is delicious and the "conchas" are to die for. Utilities are regularly great. Heating is right on the money. But cold water is iffy. In the mornings is regularly great but in the afternoon or night is a coin toss. The service is excellent, and often the staff will try to compensate for the issues the hotel has. It's a good hotel. Price is high but the issue is not that it is expensive, it is that everything you expect to have in a hotel on this price range in Mexico...