City Centro by Marriott — Hotel in Oaxaca

STOLEN WALLET & AIRPODS!

If you search for more reviews & ratings on the internet, this is the third time where there is a loss of personal items in this new hotel. This is the first time that we stay in this chain of hotels and this was the unpleasant result: FACILITIES: 9 of 10. ROOMS: 9 of 10. CLEANING: 9 of 10. PRICE: 8 of 10. ATTENTION: 7/10 - With an emerging tourism in Oaxaca, it is VITAL that their employees speak some English. Some friends in our group did not speak Spanish, so we had to translate for them. Here is the first problem, one of the 3 rooms they gave us, the A/C did not work and They were well aware of the problem since they assign the room to us (this came direct from the receptionist), they still gave the keys. In general the hotel is clean, the breakfast buffet is good, the rooms are very basic but they have a touch that makes them something different. In the end I think you get what you are paying for , although the cost can be somewhat high for what they offer.

HERE GOES THE STORY ABOUT THE THEFT:

The day we checked out of the hotel we had our flight scheduled for the evening, therefore we left our luggage and backpacks at the reception desk. We went for a walk, but for some reason we had a bad feeling about our belongings the whole time out. When we returned we asked for the bags immediately and the first thing we did was to check the backpacks where the AirPods and wallet were and they were gone and the zipper was open. We travel a lot, therefore we have a strict protocol of how and where to store things, we know perfectly well that those two things were there. They never fell on the way from the room to the reception (as suggested by the manager). I reiterate, we know perfectly well where we had placed them it. We were short on time, so we had to leave the hotel and we only notified the people at the reception and we left. The next day back in Los Angeles we called and left a message for the manager to call us. A day went by without an answer and we called again. We finally made contact with him. He reviewed security videos and agreed that he could see in the videos that we had the wallet with us and that it was left in the backpack. When he calls us (days later and because we kept pressuring him) he tells us that he reviewed all the videos and found no evidence of theft. Funny enough, in his office, where the luggage is stored, there are no cameras. There is only one where you see who enters and leaves the front office. According to the manager, nobody left his office with a package (it's a wallet and AirPods, something that fits in a pocket and can be taken out of a backpack in seconds).

The manager then tells us not to worry that they have insurance against theft and accidents and that through that they will pay our belongings. We sent the receipt of the wallet (it was valuable, bought in Paris) and that of the AirPods. Five days passed and we had to contact him again (because the manager never took the initiative in any part of the process of doing it by his own decision with the excuse of being busy, it was always us who called). Now he tells us that the insurance did not approve the claim and that he was sorry, that he would see how to help us. 7 days later and without him contacting us, we pressured him and demanded an answer. He told us that there was nothing he can do and that he was sorry, they did not find any evidence and they would not pay anything. He only offered us a free stay at his hotel to forget the incident. All this took over 1 month. It is a real pity that this robbery was never resolved. We are people who travel A LOT, we are honest and without any need to make things up, we have visited many hotels around the world and never had a loss. Shame on hotels like this one that give Oaxaca a bad name, they only wash their hands saying there is no evidence BUT THEY STORE THEIR GUESTS’ LUGGAGE IN AN AREA WITH NO CAMERAS, this does not make sense. DON’T LET THIS...

We absolutely enjoyed our stay at City Centro. Our trip to Oaxaca would be our first and in celebration of our anniversary and my birthday -- it also happened to be Holy Week so the added festivities were an unexpected bonus! We chose City Centro for the first hotel during our Oaxaca trip so that we could experience Barrio Jalatlaco. The barrio is not only beautiful but everywhere we went we came across kind and helpful locals. Full disclosure I am Latina and my husband is Black and because it is important for us to be aware of locations that provide great experiences for people of color, I want to add that Oaxaca is definitely on our list of friendly destinations. The hotel itself is exactly what we expected when it came to looks, it is literally a beautiful pink hotel with an equally beautiful view of the barrio from it's pool deck. Our favorite spot was definitely the courtyard that had you surrounded by pink architecture and provided various lounging chairs. We stayed in a room with a King bed and it was true to photos. We did experience a clogged toilet but that issue was resolved quickly and easily. The hotel provided live music on certain night but ended around 10pm. We honestly don't mind noise as we have both lived in major urban US cities and are used to it but if you do visit on a Sunday or Holy holiday be aware that the church is located directly across so you will hear the festivities/services -- again we didn't mind but at all. Staff was super helpful especially with it being a holiday and the road closing off access to the hotel, the young bellhop literally tracked down the taxi at the street corner for us to meet him at, we thought it was super helpful. Again just know that during holidays and celebrations the road access the hotel for taxi pickup and drop offs is closed. The hotel is perfectly located near restaurants and has a store next door to purchase bottled water and/or snacks. We were perfectly located to walk the streets and views all the beautiful murals, every corner is a photo op! One thing to note, the cobble stone is true to size so I recommend wearing comfortable stable shoes if you are clumsy like myself -- or be bring your cute shoes along for the photo op and change in and out of them ;) Perhaps the only thing we noted that was of any issue at all was the bed wasn't as soft as we personally prefer but that was not an issue for us to feel that it impacted our experience. We definitely look forward to visiting Oaxaca and City Centro...

We came back for the second time to celebrate our one year anniversary. First thing we had asked for a king bed and did not get and said tomorrow, and never heard back. We told them it was our anniversary and if they do anything special and they said yes and did not hear from or get anything from them. We stayed 3 nights 4 days. Saturday night we had to deal with a large group from a wedding come back from 1:30am-5am after partying in the court yard and by the pool, our room 204 was right next to both and felt that the people were in the room with us, so loud and annoying and couldn’t sleep proper. Then over the weekend at 9:30am in court yard they have traditional music playing (cool but should tell guests if they want to sleep in) or only had 3-4 hours of sleep from after party. We told the security and front desk to control the after party and tell them to stop and they dod nothing. With no manager there on Sundays we talked to the front desk and they said wait till Monday to talk to Manager. So we waited till Monday asking for a discount for the horrible Saturday experience when a hotel is for sleep and relaxing not being up to 5am. The front desk manger made up excuses saying he talked to his boss and said that was “Normal” when legally you have till midnight and the decibels were much higher then aloud. He said to wait for his boss to talk to her cause we didn’t except his lame excuses and would not do anything. His boss was in an interview so we waited 15-20mins for her, when she was finished she walked right passed us and would not talk to us, sending front desk to say she was busy. They would not refund us after spending lots of money all weekend there ( we were just asking for one night and being fare) after talking with these cluessless people who didn’t know how to run hotel or have any customer service skills we left to get on the road. Oh he then offered us 1500 pesos off next time, why would we come back again for no sleep and bad customer service? SO DUMB.

Basically stay away from bad customer service and...