Zoa Hotel - Adults Only

“Magical experience”

Such a magical spot in a beautiful location. We had a great time, and the service couldn’t have been better.

“Real Mixed Bag”

I usually only leave good reviews, as my wife and I are very easy to please and we normally do extensive research prior to booking a trip. We decided to book five nights at Zoa after doing some research on Mazunte and the Hotel. Pros: Great location within the city and surrounding area. … more

I usually only leave good reviews, as my wife and I are very easy to please and we normally do extensive research prior to booking a trip. We decided to book five nights at Zoa after doing some research on Mazunte and the Hotel. Pros: Great location within the city and surrounding area. Fantastic views and sounds of the ocean. Grounds are beautiful Restaurant and Food are excellent Cons: Beverage Service at pool basically non-existent. We had to seek out the server if we wanted water or cocktails Had a live scorpion the size of my hand in our room the night we arrived. I killed it, but then had to have someone come clean it up. Room was extremely hot when we arrived at 8:30 at night. No attempt to take temperature down or make it comfortable for us. In room coffee machine is really hard to figure out. We really never did..... Would be really nice to have a nightly happy hour or something to add to the stay. Only seven rooms here and everyone just keeps to themselves. Our last morning, we woke up to NO WORKING WATER! Could not flush toilets or take a shower prior to a nine-hour travel day. Many signs in the room of what NOT to do. Use to much water, keep AC down, use towels multiple days, etc. Kind of reminded me of being in grade school.... I left my issues in a survey to the resort but never received a response. That tells me that they really do not care. A simple apology would have gone a long way, and I probably would not have bothered with this review. Oh well. Decide for yourselves if you want to take the chance!

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“Paradise lost”

My first piece of advice is to read the other reviews. We were originally swayed by the number of 5 star reviews, but re-reading these, they tended to be quite superficial, or often, from groups staying in one of the larger suites. That said, I’m not sure how they missed or avoided all of the other… more

My first piece of advice is to read the other reviews. We were originally swayed by the number of 5 star reviews, but re-reading these, they tended to be quite superficial, or often, from groups staying in one of the larger suites. That said, I’m not sure how they missed or avoided all of the other negatives. Looking at the 1-3 star reviews, we experienced all of the negative issues, and probably a few more. We are not complainers, but couldn’t let this one go. We hope that these comments can be used constructively by the management, but all of the negative prior reviews suggest that they have had little or no impact so far. My guess is that the majority of the blame here can be allotted to the business philosophy of the owner. Sadly, they lead to so many needless issues that much of the positive experiences of the place can be ruined and its vast potential lost. Its important to say that the immediate staff were wonderful, but there was a limit to what they could do. As stated by most of the reviews, the site of the hotel is really unique and picturesque, being nestled into a cliff and small inlet, with great views and small private access to the sea at its base. Personally I loved the latter, trying for a couple of swims each day. There is a surprising multitude of beautiful fish to snorkel with, including occasional colourful rays, eels, and many others that I have and haven’t seen elsewhere. Getting into the water isn’t the easiest though, given the rocks and waves. A gate at the bottom that was chained and locked most mornings was also a major problem (they promised to deal with this, but only did so the next morning). The suites are all quite nice, though the smaller ones aren’t much use for hanging out in. The decks are small, unshaded and the chairs way too uncomfortable for more than 5-10 min sitting (see below re odors). The first inkling of the misguided management style is right at the beginning with full payment required at booking along with an unorthodox payment system. I was a little concerned we might be getting scammed. They also require additional damage and service fees up front. Upon arrival, we spent a long time in the heat signing a long list of liability waivers (the cliff-side setting and long stone-made stairways have likely led to several injuries or discontent from those that find these tricky or arduous). This is not the ideal site for elderly or out of shape individuals. Among the forms requiring signature are agreements not to bring any alcohol purchased outside of the venue into the hotel or room. You are required to purchase the hotel’s drinks only. There is a mini fridge and wine fridge in each room, but the contents are very expensive (~$250 for a bottle of wine). There’s also a warning that transiently moving items out of these fridges to put something else in will result in being charged for the displaced item. One of the other things they try to convince you of on sign in is to switch from the complimentary “continental” breakfast to a more full “American” breakfast. We aren’t huge breakfast eaters so opted to stay with the continental. This amounted to a small 2-inch bun (sometimes mini croissant) with jam, a “fruit bowl” and a single americano coffee. Where to begin? First, anything extra costs a lot. The coffee, often diluted with chicory, only comes with coffee mate. Milk (?) comes with an extra charge tacked on to your bill. Opting for something fancier like a latte adds another ten dollars. No juice, also extra. The fruit bowl is a 50:50 mix of melon and papaya. I’ve never encountered papaya that looks ripe but is rock hard (3/5 breakfasts eaten). We eventually opted to have most of our meals off-site. The first morning we woke up to the smell of sewage and a stream of ants coming out of one of the light switches. I thought maybe the sewage smell was coming from ‘used’ water being used to water the plants, but no. The 3rd morning we awoke before sunrise due to very intense sewage smell. When we got up and stepped outside it was absolutely disgusting. Management said it was due to their “natural ecological disposal/treatmen method“. Fortunately they managed to ‘postpone’ this method for the remainder of our stay. The place itself is very dead, and the nearby towns very small and quiet, so if you’re looking for entertainment, shopping or night life, this isn’t the place for you. Awesome spot to read or get in some work with a view though. The management offers various excursions via local vendors, but they are marked way up compared to booking directly. They advertised things like “daily yoga and movie nights”, but we learned that the former requires expensive private bookings and the latter never happened. There are two Michelin award plaques at the entrance and on their web site. I’m not sure what these signify (not stars). The reviewers must have been offered a very different experience. This is getting too long, so I recommend reading other reviews for a more detailed list of issues, including issues with cleaning, towels, water rationing etc. The bottom line is the place tends to ruin the experience by nickel and dimming everything despite the high, up front cost and luxury hotel claims. So unfortunate and unnecessary.

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