Hotel San Carlos Plaza, Beach & Convention Center — Hotel in Sonora

I am writing this review the day after I checked out of the San Carlos Plaza Hotel. ||||Let me first warn you that the photos listed on their website (and any third-party website) are either old or totally photoshopped! This hotel has not been taken care of! It is literally falling apart. I know a local of the San Carlos area that said the owner of this property takes any money that comes in and never uses it to invest in the hotel. That’s quite clear just by looking at it.||||Check-in: When I arrived, the woman at the front desk didn’t speak English, so she had someone else come help to check me in that did speak English (not an issue, but just painting the image). She seemed like she was having difficulties locating my reservation (I booked through Hotels.com). She asked for a confirmation number, which I provided. She then was able to find my reservation. The room wasn’t ready yet, which was fine. They called me when the room was available (about one hour after registering). When I received my room key, the packet had the wrong first name written on it - I found that odd, but I was pressed for time, so just went up to shower and change.||||The room: I booked a standard king bed with an ocean view and was checked into room 118. The room is large with beautiful views of the ocean. However, you could get that with just about any hotel in San Carlos. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was cracked tiles on the floor. It’s a beach town, so I wasn’t expecting Four Seasons standards, but a little surprised cracked tiles on the floor, given the description and photos on the website. The shower ceiling had a hole in it and it was buckling from moisture from the room above. Pieces of paint fell off on me from the condensation rising to the ceiling. It was gross. Anyhow, I had to leave pretty quickly, so I unpacked, showered and changed before heading out. ||||Experience: after returning to the room, my guest and I went to sleep right away since we had a long travel day and night out with friends (who are locals). I woke up around 330am shivering! The housecleaning attendant had turned the AC to the coldest setting and the vents face directly towards the bed. I turned off the AC entirely and went back to sleep. My guest and I woke up incredibly sick with congestion and coughs. Long story short, we ended up in a clinic in Guaymas (a town about 20-25min from San Carlos), has numerous prescriptions we had to take and penicillin shots that were required for three days. I was sick my entire trip (and still am back home, currently). ||||To make matters worse, on the last morning, I woke up a bit early and had to use the restroom. It was still dark, so I couldn’t see much, but made my way to the restroom. On my way, I stepped on something that sounded like car keys scratching the tile floor & it felt cold. I turned on the lights and it was a cockroach!!! It didn’t die, but run and had gotten itself pinned under the bathroom door. I’ve attached a photo, for your reference. This made me sick to my stomach!! I could not wait to get out of that room! So, we packed up and heading out hours before we needed to!||||The resort: they claim to have a gym and spa, which is ultimately what sold me on the booking. The gym has three pieces of cardio equipment (two treadmills and an exercise bike). None worked. The weights looked like they were from the 90’s and were entirely covered in rust! I didn’t need a tetanus shot, as well! The gym smelt of mildew! Not really sure if I could have down a full workout in there even if it was a working facility. So, I opted for morning runs on the beach. The resort, itself, is old & has the same 90’s feel from when they first opened. The towels I received at the front desk for the pool had stains and rips on them. I didn’t put my face near them, but places them on the metal on the chairs, as to not burn myself. The pool is made for children. So, expect kids running around! The pool water had a thick film we noticed, which made us take our dips in the ocean, instead. They have a daily complimentary beverage in a water cooler at the front desk. The first one I noticed was blue. Looked like toilet bowl cleaner. I stuck with my bottle of water from OXXO. ||||The restaurants: we attempted to eat at Joey Bistro (their Italian restaurant) one night. When we walked up, there was a guy sitting down on his phone near the host desk. We told him we’d like a table for two. He looked at ya, then continued to finish whatever he was doing on his phone. He didn’t say anything to us, just grabbed two menus and pointed at a table. There was no one else in the restaurant. The artwork in the restaurant is old. One of the pictures on the wall was an old poster of the movie “Meet Joe Black.” Like I said, nothing here has been updated. My guest and I just looked at each other and said we were going somewhere else. We went across the hall to “Joey Pizza.” When we walked up, three staff members (girls) were all taking to each other and eating (literally plates of food) at the order counter. We ordered two pizzas. When we walked away, the one cook behind the counter was continuing to eat while making our food. We sat in the bar while we waited. The bar is old. Even has an old 90’s jukebox. When our food arrived, it was a total mess. I love cheese. Like, really love it. This pizza had so much cheese, I could swim in it. Which, of course, made the pizza entirely way too greasy. Pretty much, inedible. We didn’t eat in the restaurants on property anymore after that. ||||Overall: it’s unfortunate that when I look back to my first trip to San Carlos is not going to be filled with great memories with my friends (who are locals to the area), but rather the terrible experience I had at this property. I didn’t feel like the hotel staff cares at all about us or how the guests feel. I tried to mention the gym issue to the front desk to see if I could get a working machine going, but the guy at the desk truly didnt care. He only said he would send maintenance to look at it (which did nothing). So, I didn’t mention anything to them about me getting sick or the bugs inside the room or the poor quality food and service. Instead, I waited until I checked out to speak with the third-party company I booked with (Hotels.com). I called them right after checking out to help contact the hotel and express my frustration and disappointment. They called the hotel and were pretty much told that they are keeping the money I paid for the room and that was that (I was on hold the entire time Hotels.com was speaking to the hotel manager). Am I surprised? Not at all. My friends that are locals out there already told me how they would respond. And, they were right. The hotel hasn’t even contacted me. ||||Do not stay here people! Trust me! There is a condo complex just down the beach that is much nicer. Or, there is a nicer hotel in the marina. This place needs to...

I want to give some positive comments before I rip this place to shreds...their beds are comfy and the rooms have awesome views, no bugs in the rooms. That being said, the service is outright bad, they have this attitude like it's a super exclusive resort, when it's shabby at best. The place is outdated by about 20 years and it shows.

They don't let you bring ice chests to their little rocky beach, or pool. I THOUGHT this was fine because they wanted you to buy drinks from them, but the bar doesn't have poolside service and is located indoors they have a very sad selection,literally the first 5 drinks I asked for we're not available.

They only have 1 ice machine for the whole hotel and the hotel is 4 stories tall and over 100 rooms. My key kept getting deactivated somehow, after questioning my ability to use a door for the 5th time they finally considered the fact that there might be something wrong with their lock and had the courtesy to allow me to wait for 15 minutes for their maintenance at the front desk after telling them I was on my way to an important meeting.

after my first night I came in and out of the room and after 3pm they still hadn't cleaned or made the beds I called service and had to ask them to come and make my bed. Even then they still acted like complete snobs, turns out you have to leave a note asking them to do this. I've never had to do that at any hotel I've ever stayed at even motel 8. I had asked them to change my lenins too and even upon request they didn't do so.

When I was by the pool relaxing with a drink I went to the small outdoor resturaunt to ask for some ice. They rudely informed me I had to buy the ice and it wasn't free. I then had to go all the way to my room, get my ice container and fill it myself, now THAT is true 5 star resort service. Even their towel attendant that was rude. They didnt greet me when I greeted them, and kept me waiting like I had all day both on my way in and out, as a matter a fact I didn't even see the attendant on my way out and actually stole my ID back which I left as collateral for the towels from her post.

I watched the hotel security guards ruin many fun gatherings that would otherwise bring life to their outdated and deteriorating facilities. Upon asking them why they treat their customers like this they proceeded to harass me about breaking the "rules" also. This was because I had brought my own drinks in, since I didn't feel like settling for their BS selection and having to get up to make the LONG indoor walk to the bar. Turns out having my own drinks wasn't against their rules. When I brought a lady back to my room for the night after going out, they proceeded to harass me about why she didn't have a wrist band and that she wasn't allowed in the rooms, literally have never had this issue anywhere else.

Plaza sancarlos really went out of there way to make it known that they felt they were doing ME a favor allowing me to pay to be their guest. It was NOT like this when the hotel was new, I had very fond memories of past vacations here and was truly disappointed and saddened by the way I was treated here.

Before you dismiss my review as some rich dude who is just pampered please know I stayed at the fiesta americana in Hermosillo the following day to visit some family.it wasnt next to the beach but was about %25 LESS expensive and still about an hour away from Kino bay. I gave it 5/5 it was absolutely stellar. For this place though...as a long time customer, with many happy memories here, I'm sad to say you should avoid it...

I had made reservations for this hotel several months ago for a friends wedding they promote they are pet friendly staying in a standar double bed room with an extra charge of $300 pesos a night. I had try calling several times internationally and every time I called they would put me on hold saying the would transfer me to reservation I wanted to call to make sure my reservation was ok to take my dog and they would always hang up on me, I even send an email which I never got a response. When I got there on a Friday night first they the staff in the front desk ignored me for like 5min then when they proceeded to check me in I told them that in one of the rooms there was going to be a pet and the guy told me that was not possible because they didn’t have the rooms where pets can stay available I got super upset and told him I was traveling from the US 8hr drive what was I supposed to do with my dog I told him that I had called and they would hang up on me that then never responded me to my email so they are not pet friendly. After arguing for several minutes and me getting really upset they said it was fine for the dog to stay. The place does not look like a nice hotel it looks like a motel specially the rooms everything is super old and gross. The furniture is old and the rooms are dirty the bed sheets had stains the shower curtain had what it looked like a blood stain there were dead bugs there was no hot water, the toilets barely flush. I felt like I was sating in a gross motel but paid like I was staying in a fancy resort even if the hotel is old they need to maintain it clean I didn’t even wanted to dry my hands in their towels because they looked dirty and it just wasn’t me that had the bad experience it was everyone that travel to that wedding I felt bad that people that had never been to Mexico had that experience now they are going to think that all the resorts in Mexico look like motels and that’s is not the case. The only thing that was nice was...