Hotel Casablanca

“Lovely spot - do not book a basic double.”

We ended up having a wonderful stay, but I do have to caution you about room categories. I’d been looking at the double deluxe room & positive reviews, but when it came time to book only a standard double was available. The photos made it look pretty much the same as the deluxe so I went ahead and … more

We ended up having a wonderful stay, but I do have to caution you about room categories. I’d been looking at the double deluxe room & positive reviews, but when it came time to book only a standard double was available. The photos made it look pretty much the same as the deluxe so I went ahead and booked it, non-refundable. Hoo-boy. The hotel is in an excellent location right near the beach and many great restaurants. Staff is not English speaking but kind and patient. No safe in the rooms but you can leave valuables at the front desk if you’re concerned. A small, clean pool and covered lounge area is perfect for relaxing. Here’s my caution: the basic double was the worst hotel room I’ve ever slept in. It looks like it’s been through tough times. Everything shabby and ugly, though clean it was hard to overlook everything else. Ugly bed spreads, no air condition (in 32 degree heat it’s impossible), just a ceiling fan that tired it’s hardest to no avail. The thin, homely curtains were no help in blocking the heat. The bathroom is cramped and hotter than Hades - a visit to the toilet left one dripping sweat. A tiny tv with several English channels, but neither the wifi or our data packages functioned in the room. This was likely because the one window, which is probably older than either of us, is feet from a cement wall, and the room is at the far end of the bottom floor. The window latch was broken, tho the lock worked it was a pain to open. The door has a push button lock and a broken non functioning chain. It felt like we were in a dark hole and it looks like all the basic doubles are along that same hallway with small windows facing a cement wall. We realized immediately that we could not stay in this room. We aren’t fussy, and normally stay at very basic Mexican style hotels, but I didn’t feel safe in that room and it would have been a health risk for us in that type of heat. I accept responsibility for not researching the basic room & assuming it would be fine given the high ratings at the hotel. We asked about an upgrade, which was available for 3 of our 6 night stay. We spent one night in the basic room then moved upstairs to the deluxe double the very next morning. Using google translate I was able to ask staff if we could simply exchange the 6 nights we’d paid for through Expedia for 4 nights total and move on, which they kindly accommodated. The second room was amazing! We were stunned, as it appeared to be a whole different hotel entirely. This room had air conditioning, a big fridge and a lovely balcony overlooking the street. THIS room we would return to for sure. It’s double the size, light, airy and spotlessly clean and well maintained. Beds are very comfortable and wifi as well as data worked decently in this room. So, don’t make the mistake I did and you can’t go wrong. They really need to install air conditioning in the bottom room, and do something about the wifi signal, otherwise IMHO it’s a useless space even if given for free.

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