Hotel Gaviota Vallarta — Hotel in Jalisco

The Hotel Gaviota Vallarta remains a good bargain and is extremely clean. The location is excellent, just 1/2 block from the Malecon extension and a good beach; 2 blocks south of the Rio Cuale in old town. Older and built in a traditional Mexican style, but well maintained. Furniture is quite dated, but clean and kind of reminds you of the old days. It even has a small parking garage, a real plus in old town Vallarta.||||Usually as a stop gap before I stayed in a condo or went to other towns I've stayed here for a few days at a time over the last several years (two times, three weeks apart this year) and at 580 pesos (cash) for a single traveler, it is a deal given its a great location. They seem to have a very low occupancy rate and I've always been able to get a room as a walk-in guest.||||Unlike one other review here, I feel the place is very safe and have had no problems with theft; even left stuff out just to check that. To be extra safe, use the hotel's security room with safety boxes and two keys (like at a bank) - access is secure and professional. Coming in one afternoon I was asked to show my key, which is also good secuirty (even if she wasn't very polite).||||Other reviews are right in that it seems to cater to Mexican families. Rooms not on the street are quiet unless unsupervised kids are making lots of noise in the pool. Since it is a U shaped high rise, closely built around the pool, noise echoes badly. This has happened more than once and when I pointed out the hotel's own rules to the staff they were pretty much "so what?" ||||Which brings me to my only other complaint. As opposed to last year, the front desk staff is very blasé and prefer to watch TV rather than be courteous to guests. Tip to management, losing the TV might go a long way towards solving the coutesy problem - surely you cannot be happy with what looks to be an 80% vacancy rate. ||||Even in Spanish, using all rules of Mexican etiquette (buenos tardes, como estas, etc) before any interaction yields only a perfunctory response with desk personnel. Housekeeping and Maintenance personnel are far more "educado" (well mannered and raised) than Front Desk. ||||I find this sad, so am motivated to write this review and address the problem. Maybe it is just my own bias, since I do know Mexican culture and courtesy, but I feel its loss from the days when people in Mexico were more old school polite than US and Canada. I can assure you other hotels in Mexico have not lost that touch and it need not be so at Gaviotas. ||||Since that is my only major complaint and the other pluses far outweigh this, for the price, I will rate them a "3". I will also send a copy of this to the hotel, titled : ¿Olvides la cultura? (have you forgotten your culture) - because this retired hotel consultant with a Mexican background...

This hotel definitely has possibilities but is a hotel that needs to fit your specific accommodation needs. The location is perfect; just steps from the malecon and beach in old town but set back on a side street (next to the OXXO which is across from the various beach bars). It is a very basic hotel. There is a small pool in the lobby. We rented a two room suite. Each suite on the 4th floor is configured differently so it might be worth asking to see the rooms before you rent. We could have easily fit 25 people in our suite for a cocktail party but it was a long and narrow configuration. The beds...well if you like a firm (read this as concrete like) mattress then this is the bed for you. The beds look like a double size. There are two full bathrooms; one as an ensuite and one adjacent to the living room.. ||||Our room did not have a sofa or chair, instead there were cushions on a concrete bench. Other rooms we looked in had Mexican style sofa and chairs. There is a TV but no remote control; the buttons on the TV in our room were on the left side of the TV. (the bottom one turned on the TV, next 2 were volume and then last two were channels) We only found one channel with English so a good opportunity to practice our Spanish. There is a kitchen but no microwave or stove. There is a two burner hotplate...no toaster, coffee etc. The fridge was unplugged when we arrived. The hotel is very clean. Towels and shampoo are provided along with toilet paper but no Kleenex. There is daily maid service but no tags to hang on your door to let them know you are ready for service. This might not seem like an issue except the door lock is just like one in a bathroom (just a push lock in the handle) There is no chain or other type of door security. In our case because the bedrooms were so far from the door it was hard to hear anyone knocking. We ended up putting one of the kitchen chairs in front of the door so the maid would know we were still in the room and potentially still sleeping. The day staff were a bit indifferent but the evening staff lady was very pleasant. They currently have a promotion; buy two nights, get one free. There is an air conditioning unit in each of the bedrooms that work very well; also ceiling fans in the living room...

Reading other reviews of this hotel and find I disagree with most of the points made. First, the comment about a tv with no remote ... go to the front desk and pay 150 pesos deposit and you will get a remote. You get your money back when you return the remote. One odd thing was you had to take your towels to the front desk to get fresh ones. They have specific hours which weren't always convenient but really a non-issue. The beds are hard but I was ok with the pillows and I'm pretty picky about my pillows. Yes, it could be noisy, but it's in Centro PV ... bring some ear plugs if you are a light sleeper! The kitchen was basic ... hot plate, no microwave, but it has a refrigerator and plates and silverware ... we cooked a few meals and it wasn't a problem. There is parking, which we appreciated ... it's not easy to park in PV. We don't like air conditioning so we thought the overhead fans were great. The water was hot in the shower with good pressure. Granted, the furniture was pretty uncomfortable and the wifi could be sketchy, but overall I thought the location outweighed pretty much any issue. We never used the pool. It's in the lobby and usually had a bunch of kids in it. You will need some Spanish to get by ... the front desk will not admit to knowing any english and they weren't the friendliest, but they were helpful when I needed them to be. My Spanish is very limited and they were always patient with me. If you're looking for one of those luxury Puerto Vallarta hotels, this is not it. If you're looking for a good bargain and want to really experience Mexico, this is a great hotel. We didn't really do the beach here. We usually walked away from the beach and found wonderful typico food on the street and in little restaurants. If that is the Mexico you are looking for, this is a great hotel. We did wander on the malecon and had some fine (expensive) meals there. Again, a great location. I'm giving a 4-star rating because it really offered everything we were...