Hotel Escondido — Hotel in Oaxaca

I am writing this review with productive tips for the hotel to improve. Hopefully someone reads it and does something about it.

We had high expectations when going to this hotel. We were told by friends that had gone 3 years ago that it was insane. Unfortunately the experience really fell short. We had high expectations because we paid over 600usd per night to stay there so we were expecting a 5 star experience. We ended up getting a 3 star hotel experience. Here is the good and the recommendations to improve:

The good

Omakase. This is an absolute must and probably the best dinner we had in our lives. It's a real chef's table experience where you are served a 10 course menu with 10 other people while interacting with staff at all times was so fun.

Recommendation: As soon as we arrived to the hotel and we said we wanted to go to omakase they charged us in the first minute 150 USD per person. I would recommend to do it after dinner. It's quite harsh and also they end up getting no tips that way.

The Pool/Beach/Location. It's an epic view with a desert beach in front. Really makes you relax.

Casa wabi. Really beautiful and must go.

What to improve:

Staff communication and service. This to me is the main point. When I book an hotel this expensive my expectations are high. From the moment you get in the reception team is not up to standards. They tend to be quite rude, talking over each other, not knowing details about you or the reservation. This hotel as 12 rooms so there's really no excuse.

For example, on the last day I called from my room to say we were leaving the room to go to the pool so they could collect our bags and we would check out after lunch. While we were at lunch we were called by the lunch staff team to get up and go to the reception to check out. We get there and they didn't know if they had our luggage, lost time confirming, and then told us to come back after lunch to close the bill. Basically they made us stand up and go for the reception for nothing. This was a waste of time for us. Why do it? Double check stuff before going to your guests with nothing.

Another point i didn't like is that the main lady at reception asking for 4000 pesos in your first minute as a deposit for extras. Like you think I'm running away? 😂 That's not the type of people this hotel attracts. Don't do this as it then will take days for your guests to receive the money back. People should pay what they owe at the end.

It was also quite annoying they asked us 3 times at the beginning for the proof of our reservation when we had sent it to them. Then in the last day they presented us s final bill with the rooms to be paid again. This is s bit annoying as it seems they were doubtin us

Other example is taxis. I asked for one to the airport and they quoted me 900 pesos. I ended up getting one direct with the taxi company for 500. They try to make money on absolutely everything. This can't happen and is just one of many examples.

Breakfast. It's crazy to me that a hotel of this caliber gives you 4 fruits, a cake, yogurt and granola and a few cereals as the included breakfast. Simple scramble eggs are extra. This needs to be improved as it's really a 2 star experience.

Lunch. Very basic and there was one day with 4 dishes as an option. Just have what's in the menu.

Dinner. Good food but quite dark. A bit more light Is needed as I legit couldn't see my octopus.

Rooms. I have seen some of the reviews and I'm actually quite ok with the set up of the rooms. The only thing I would recommend is to have a blanket. It was really cold at night and we had nothing to cover besides a sheet.

Laundry. I asked for Laundry and would take 48h, and they couldn't wash white clothes. Not acceptable in such hotel. Just need to make it happen.

If this hotel was $150-200 a night max I would be writing a glorious review. The price they charge and staff communication issues makes it subpar. Hope you can get it back to standards as all the reviews are saying the same thing. Is anyone reading...

There is one person we’d like to give special mention to before we go on to share our feedback: Yetsi - who stood in to give me a daily injection after I fell ill during our trip. Given this is way outside of her job scope and just by luck she knew how to do it, it was much appreciated and saved us a daily 1.5 hr round trip to a doctor. She is a very kind and special lady, so thank you Yetsi!

The good:

Beautiful, secluded location where you you can truly escape and unwind.

The beach is so quiet, you will often find you have it to yourself.

The not so good:

Overall, the hotel lacks the luxurious feeling one would expect given the price point. This hotel is pricey, even by UK standards.

There is a definite theme amongst past guests as to what could be done to improve the experience at Escondido, yet the hotel management don’t appear to be acting on that feedback - despite most suggestions being relatively inexpensive to implement. It’s a shame because the hotel has the potential to be extrordinary, but at the moment it feels like it’s relying on the incredible setting to make up for what it lacks in other areas.

Service - There is no consistency to the service and it is clear the hotel does not invest heavily in staff training, nor did there appear to be a clear line of direction. Maybe it’s that a lot of the staff are new but even still, with the proper experience, training and oversight, it shouldn’t need to be a big problem. A few examples: on one occasion we sat with empty plates on our table for 10+ minutes, we were asked to keep hold of dirty cutlery for next course at dinner, we had a drinks order that took over 20 mins to arrive, part of a food order forgotten, food via room service took almost 1hr. Whilst we are all human and forget things from time to time, there were a catalogue of mishaps during our stay and never really an apology received. Also, after arriving to our room on the first day, we flagged that the in room phone wasn’t working and were told the phone lines were down. They gave us a number to communicate with the front desk via WhatsApp. Frustratingly though, it took them quite a while to read and respond to messages; by which point we had usually given up and gone down to the front desk to ask in person. Worth also mentioning that by the time we left, the phones had still not been fixed - so it does beg the question as to whether they were broken or had been turned off intentionally.

Despite being advertised as an adults only hotel, we were sat next to a family with a small child in a pushchair on a couple of times. Whilst it wasn’t necessarily a problem to us, it should not be advertised as adults only if you do accept children into the hotel. It would be incredibly disappointing for anybody that had picked the hotel for this reason.

Only a continental breakfast is included (yoghurt, bread and fruit) in the room rate. At this price point, you would not expect to have to pay extra to have something other than granola and fruit every day. It can get boring very quickly.

There are no coffee making facilities in the room so you have to either go down to reception to pour your own or order via housekeeping (chargeable and only available after 8am). Not great if you’re an early riser. A simple nespresso machine in the room would do the job perfectly.

The only supply of drinking water in the room is when they come by to fill a jug for you each evening. Otherwise, you have to go down to the restaurant to fetch it yourself. At this price point, you would expect bottled water to be supplied in the room/around the hotel.

With the casitas not being completely closed off to the elements, it is easy for bugs to get in and we were both eaten alive during the first night due to the the lack of a mosquito net. It was only after asking the following morning that one was installed for us. It seems strange it is not made clear to guests upon check-in that they...

I rarely write reviews so it has taken a lot of frustration with Hotel Escondido to get to this point, mainly because they've been ignoring me and my partner after they said they would be giving us a discount on our stay (they haven't and have gone radio silent since we left).

By far the worst customer service I've ever experienced and the staff is dishonest and unprofessional.

We arrived and it was a bit of an Instagram vs. reality situation - gorgeous photos online but the place was completely vibeless. The staff wandered around like zombies, barely making eye contact with us or even asking if anyone would like a drink by the pool. We had to message them on Whatsapp every time we needed something, but the signal was so spotty we had to basically walk to reception anyway to message and they still left our messages unanswered despite multiple people sitting around the front desk chatting to each other.

The AC unit leaked all over me and my partner in the middle of the night which startled us awake and left not only our bedding, but all of our clothing in the closet right behind the bed SOAKING wet. We told reception and they didn't even apologise or try to move us to another room, despite the fact they were only 25% full. They also didn't offer to clean or dry our clothes, forcing us to wear damp clothing for the rest of the trip (leading to one of us getting an infection). They didn't even bother to change the sheets!

There was a pile of glassware that seemed to accumulate right outside our doorstep throughout the two days, and the bartender even had the cheek to ask us to bring it back to the bar ourselves even though it was left by the cleaning staff.

We asked about a tour at Casa Wabi in English and they had us bike over there in the 38 degree heat, only to find the only tour at that time was completely in Spanish, wasting an entire afternoon.

Then my partner and I both got food poisoning - we did the full board option and didn't eat anywhere else. Again, there was no apology or offer to help us.

There was also some kind of rodent the size of a large house cat that snuck into our room one night at 3am and scurried around the room until we shone a light on it, after which time it scurried away through a gaping hole in the wall. I am all for rustic decor, but this was beyond disgusting.

The door handles in the bathroom and shower were all falling off and the rotten wood sun lounger outside snapped in half while my partner, who is a normal weight, was sitting on it.

To top it all off, we told them we were leaving a day early because we were having such a horrible time. The "manager", who looked like he wasn't a day over 18 years old, told us he would be giving us a discount which would be reflected on the final bill (because we pre-authorized our card when we checked in). After leaving the hotel, we examined the bill and no discount was applied. After contacting them over 10 times via Whatsapp and email, they have completely ignored us, hoping we would just go away and forget about everything. This has left us absolutely infuriated and is by far the worst holiday we have...