I booked a room at the Best Western Hacienda Tetakawi in San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico. I made the mistake of relying on the Best Western name presuming that the company inspected the premises before allowing them to operate under the Best Western flag. I will never make that mistake again.

I reserved the room for the nights of 12/20 and 12/27 to accommodate stays on the way to Mazatlan and back. I was in room 108 on the 20th and room 308 on the 27th.

The first night, the room was freezing (about 55 degrees F) and the water was just barely above skin temp. I'm told they had just put in new boilers so that might have been the problem. I asked how to operate the wall unit in hopes of getting some heat (the instructions on the unit were in Spanish, of course) but the manager gave me a small space heater, which was of no use. I took it that that particular room's wall unit was not working. It was late and we were tired so we took cold showers and shivered all night in bed.

I hoped that on the return trip we would be given a room with hot water and a wall unit that provided heat. I got my first wish as the water was acceptably warm. As it turned out, the wall units provide only refrigeration--no heat at all. Staff provided another space heater (one of the two elements worked) and, at my request, another unit. The second was an old unit that rattled so badly we couldn't sleep while it was on. I decided that a Mexican highway during the hours between midnight and 6 AM traveling with my wife and two young daughters was a better option than that place they call a hotel so we departed at midnight with no sleep.

The staff did their best to try to help but that place is so substandard they were overwhelmed.

I spend a lot of time in Mexico and I know that hotels can be pretty rough. That's why I depended on Best Western to provide an accurate description of the accommodations. BW’s web site says the place has air-conditioning. It does not. Air-conditioning is something that conditions the ambient air, that is, heats or cools it as needed. The place has refrigeration but no heat. Best Western should warn its clients since most of us would presume that, in an area where temperatures normally run into the 50's F in December, Best Western would not let the hotel operate under its flag unless the rooms were heated.

A young man by the name of Jared in BW’s customer relations department tells me that they rely solely on the word of the hotel management as to the amenities. I (rather sarcastically) replied, "Oh! I thought Best Western sent inspectors before accepting a hotel." He said, "Well, we do but he would have no way of knowing if there was heat." I told him all the inspector would have to do was look so it's clear to me that Best Western's inspection policy, if indeed there is one, is flawed.

I won't be staying at any Best Western properties in the future and I'll discourage anyone I know from doing so. I'm indicting the Best Western Hacienda Tetakawi in particular for the substandard place it is and Best Western in general for it's sloppy inspection practices and it's willingness to take the word of the hotel owner as to what amenities are provided (Jared's words, not mine.)

Terry Miller