I am a North American teacher living and working in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Hotel Canadian is a personal favorite get-a-way. It is clean, affordable, directly on the beach, has a delicious breakfast, a great view in the front (the gorgeous green mountains) and in the back (the ocean.) One of the best parts about this hotel is that it is a great connection for activities. You can literally walk out the hotel's back door and get on a boat and go to Cayos Cochinos for only $20 for a day island hopping and swimming in the clearest water you can imagine. You can also be met at the hotel with a horse that you ride down the street to go zip lining through the rain forest canopy. After getting harnessed up, you get back on your horse, ride up a mountain, and zip line down it. You also enjoy a mid-way stop at natural hot springs for a little swimming break. The hotel can also arrange to have a taxi take you to go white water rafting in the Pico Bonito river. Pico Bonito also has great guided hikes in the area that lead to a waterfall that you can swim in. If you are looking for a clean, very affordable, beautiful, tv and internetless, retreat with plenty of adventurous options, Hotel Canadien is for you! The negatives to this hotel is that they only take cash so be sure to stop at an ATM before arriving.

My husband and two teens booked two nights at the Canadien Hotel on November 6 and 7. Because of our less than desirable experience, we left after the first night. My husband contacted the hotel directly to make sure they would accept a major credit card and was told, "Yes--not a problem." Well, apparently they changed their policy on that because when we arrived, we were told they no longer accepted credit cards: cash or lempiras only. Right then I knew we were in trouble, but no big deal, right? Go to an ATM and get the cash, right? Well, guess what: you're out of luck. The hotel is located off the highway on a road that meanders back pretty far....it's not near anything except for private homes (and a small hotel/villa next door called Helen's). Because a cab had brought us to this location (which is about 20 minutes outside of La Ceiba), we attempted to call the cab back so my husband could go to an ATM. Another surprise: neither of our cellphones got reception due to the remoteness of the location. When we asked the front desk person to please call us a cab, she balked, stating that the phone is not for personal calls. You have got to be kidding--call us a cab so we can pay you for the room we reserved--for pete's sake, my husband and I were thinking. After offering to pay for the phone call, she relented and dialed the cab. Talk about not stepping up....what a nightmare. Well, it gets better....my husband comes back from his cab ride and pays for the room. The hotel had one other occupant, but for some reason we are placed in a room next to the service closet. We don't realize this until about 5 am when staff people are clanking the brooms and other cleaning equipment, laughing and talking loudly and even getting into some kind of argument--all at the crack of dawn. What a way to start the day. Also, if you want to get a towel for the pool, be aware that they charge a $10 (yes you read right!) per person deposit for the pool towels! We did get that back, but if that isn't ridiculous, i don't know what is.

Rooms are small and don't have tv's or telephones. Ours came with mosquitos, unfortunately and we had to spray and kill several of them. Toilet wasn't working properly and owner had to come and fix it. After he stated it was fine, it still didn't work. It was cool/rainy when we arrived and when I asked for a blanket or bedspread (our bed had a sheet and two pillows, one of which had a red spot which was either a bloodstain or ink pen--don't know which) I was told, "It's not cold." Well, guess what? I don't care if YOU don't think it's cold, if I ask for a blanket or bedspread, WHY can't I get one?" Hotel is right on the ocean, but for some reason, the majority (unless the ones on the end --perhaps 4 rooms in total-- are different) face an inner pool/courtyard area. I don't understand this--why would you build a hotel right on the ocean and not have your rooms face the beach?

There is a restaurant on the property and we did have a pleasant meal--nothing to write home about, just adequate. Restaurant has a nice view of beach.

If you are looking for a remote location with a nice beach, this is your place. Just be aware that you better bring cash and don't expect any extra amenities. Make sure your room isn't next to the service closet unless you want to get woken up early.

1) Owners need to update technology such as paying by credit card versus having to pay (which means carrying cash). Stated the technology would have to cause an increase in room rates. Rates weren't bad to begin with.

2) Owners need to get that sense of haughtiness out of their system. They aren't very pleasant to be around.

I took a total of 16 people to Honduras for a week of R & R and found this hotel by serendipity. Rooms are fine, pool was good, beach was OK (not the best, but good place to take a family), food was good.

One of the couples on the trip went to the resturant early one morning (couple hours before breakfast) to get a cup of coffee and Jeanette (owner) came out of the kitchen and yelled at them "NO COFFEE" while shaking a butter knife at them. She meant they had to wait until breakfast to get their coffee. She means well, and I think she takes care of her employees who stick with her.

Again, rooms are fine as is the rest of the property, and so is the price, but Charles and Jeanette need to loosen up a bit.

I probably would stay there again, but don't take a crowd because personally I think she gets nervous when the rooms are full.

I needed my laundry done and I asked our maid if she would take them home and do them herself (so she could get the money) and that was no problem.

Now, next door there is a hotel called Helen's Place. I have stayed there before and I find Helen more of a gracious host. It's not quite as fancy as Hotel Canadien, but it's a GREAT family environment.

My girlfriend and I just finished a stay at the Hotel Canadien outside of La Ceiba, Honduras. The grounds are pleasant enough and the rooms are simple but clean. There is no television or internet available.
My girlfriend is a local resident and she personally went to the hotel to make reservations and also went there 3 days before we were to stay to confirm. When we arrived, however, our reservations no longer existed even though she saw the worker write our names on the list. The owner happened to be standing there and was bragging about how the hotel was almost full and that he would only save our room if we paid for the whole stay upfront and in cash. I wonder how he can reserve rooms for others over the phone or internet when they do not even have credit card service. We opted to pay each day and sometimes it was hard to find the office worker. One time we were looking for the guy in the office to pay for the day and the office was locked. A worker that was hanging around told us he might be upstairs and that we had to go look for him. We told him that we are at the office right now and that we don't need to be looking for him so he reluctantly went up to get him. Also, this owner is unfriendly and rude, he would not even acknowledge us or even say hello when we would pass each other.
The hotel rules state that there is to be NO NOISE after 10 pm but on the first night of our stay the people above us had several kids that were making lots of noise well after 11:30 so I had to get dressed and go to the office to complain.
They have a cute white faced monkey in a cage at the end of one of the buildings and it is fun to watch it for a while but also sad because they have a rusty chain tied around it's waist.
They have two pools. One of them seemed to be clean but the other had very cloudy water. At the gate through the fence to get to the beach there are people waiting to hassle you for money when you go out. The beach is marginal and uncrowded and the water is murky in this area.
We did not use the restaurant.
Overall this place is ok if all you want is a simple clean room to stay in but don't mind non-existant service and a rude owner.