I had the distinct displeasure of staying at Hush Maderas in late December of 2022 for four nights. I was seduced from afar by the promise of a serene retreat perched on a hilltop overlooking the Pacific surf far below, where I could relax and recuperate after a long work year and extended travel through the colonial cities of Nicaragua.||||The view was exceptional, but that did not make up for the deteriorated state of Hush. Management was sympathetic, but ultimately powerless to improve the conditions of my stay or make any meanigful offers of compensation for my discomfort and aggravation. Their best offer amounted to a 7% discount on my overall stay—I declined out of principle. To add insult to injury, they added a 4.5% surcharge for using a credit card to pay. Am I supposed to be carrying $700 in cash around Nicaragua?||||On check-in, my wife and went into our room after a long day of travel and closed the door. Unfortunately, the lock mechanism jammed and we could not get the door open, no matter how hard we tried. The room was also cursed with no secondary means of egress. We became frazzled and called the front desk repeatedly with our cell phones as there was no room phone. No one answered. We shouted and pounded on the room door, but nobody heard us because of the nightly music / sunset party. After forty-five minutes of stress, another guest wandered along and got the front desk to help.||||Mamagement admitted that they knew about the problem, but hadn't been able to fix it for two months. The same issue happened to us again a few nights later. A whole host of other problems plagued my stay, which I will list below for anybody still seriously considering staying here.||||I wish I had never booked this place, and I would never stay here again because it's poor value for money. With perfect hindsight, I should have given Playa Hermosa a try. I would go to Hush for a drink, enjoy the view, and then stay somewhere else.||||I did try to contact the two absentee Canadian expat owners, but they weren't interested in talking about it. I hope they get their act together before the place deteriorates further. In my mind, this fine establishment will always be known as ‘It Sucks Maderas'. On the bright side, my wife did get one free twenty dollar massage.||||Some further issues I noticed during my stay:||• The neighbouring house blends into the hotel property because there is no delineation or signage. I inadvertently wandered into the neighbour’s outdoor kitchen.||• I was given the offer to move to another room for $20 extra per night, but there was no air conditioning in the new room. I declined. I would have moved to a different hotel, but everything was full.||• I watched the pool guy work one morning for an hour. Ten minutes of sprinkling chemicals and scooping up debris and fifty minutes of chatting with the kitchen staff. He worked a lot harder on the day management was physically present. When was the last time the hotel changed the pool water? It looks green and cloudy.||• The room safe didn't work. This was listed as an amenity, but the staff didn't inform us at check-in. Staff lied about it when asked. Management finally admitted it has been broken for a while, and they have no ability to fix it. They offered to put my valuables in the hotel safe, but I had lost trust in them. Having to carry all our valuables detracted from my enjoyment.||• Water died for 2 hours on the first day, and is always brackish or salty. I still feel sticky after showering, and it tastes salty. It also cold-- even at noon / 1pm ish on a sunny day.||• My Hush restaurant water glass tasted soapy and had water residue on it. I got the galloping poops six hours later. Hush is the only place I ate and drank at for the preceding 48 hours.||• The only path to the beach is poorly maintained with a lot of tripping hazards— it’s more of a hiking trail through the woods.||• There is a strong smell of sewage near the top part of the path where the hillside has eroded and the shallow septic lines have become exposed, making the journey to the beach an olfactory adventure.||• Lack of convenient transport to the beach. It’s a long, sweaty walk uphill.||• Room cleaning didn't take the dirty dishes away on the one day they did clean or make up the room. Policy is to get the rooms get cleaned/freshened every three days. Can't flush toilet paper, so stinky poo paper overflows the tiny bathroom can after about 24 hours with two people in the room. Yum.||• Palapa roof covering the hotel deck has many has holes in it. Provides shade, but the hammocks get rained on. One of the support joists is rotting out. Additional holes appeared during my stay.||• No railing for main pool deck-- 10 ft drop, people drink there. Safety issue.||• Cleanliness issues around the pool and common areas. Splooges on chair arms, empties and dirty plates left sitting around for more than 24 hours. Mold stains on room chair cushion.||• Management attempted to gaslight me by suggesting that my standards were too high, or that I should adopt a more positive attitude toward the problems, and thus enjoy my stay more. ||• Management took an hour and a half to personally generate our bill and process payment on the morning of departure— we stressed about missing our shuttle and made it with a minute to spare. There were no other customers around the entire time. In retrospect, I should have asked for the bill the night before. ||• Management took six hours during a workday to respond to one message, and claimed they had not checked their messages all day. The blue ticks of Whatsapp told a different tale. I hate being lied to. Management also took 26 hours to respond to a WhatsApp message on day of checkin asking for information on how to get to the hotel.||• Management has some inefficiencies with their staff in regards to communication and may need a better system for managing bookings.||• Several cases of miscommunication between management and hotel staff affected my stay. I suspect the issue may be language.||• Management waited until the last morning of my stay to introduce...
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