I stayed here for 4 nights in November. Here's the gist:
PROs:
- Location. This hotel is right in the middle of downtown, easily within walking distance of just about everything.
- Price: This is the cheapest of the downtown hotels, rated as 3.5 stars . . . I'd concede to 3 stars, but 3.5 is exaggeration. But the hostels nearby are almost the same price, so if you're looking for a cheap non-hostel accommodation, this is it. I paid $40/night in the off-season with online reservations made over a month in advance.
-There are several restaurants, patio cafés, bars, convenience stores, plazas, museums, churches, and the market (avenue of bargain stores) in the immediate vicinity.
- I booked with booking.com and checked "free breakfast included", thinking it was continental. It turned out to be the buffet breakfast, which I thought was good.
- Unlike most breakfasts which are over by 9, this breakfast was available until 11 or 12. There were about 6 hot dishes that varied slightly each day - eggs, beans, chilaquiles being the staples. Other dishes included rajas, nopales, potatoes, cubed chicken in a tomato-based sauce, etc.
- There was a made-to-order omelette and quesadilla station.
- Good coffee, fresh juices - the natural orange juice was delicious
- Cereal, fruit, yogurt, bread, muffins
- The buffet breakfast service on 3 of 4 days of our stay was friendly and efficient.
- We were given evaluation...I stayed here for 4 nights in November. Here's the gist:
PROs:
- Location. This hotel is right in the middle of downtown, easily within walking distance of just about everything.
- Price: This is the cheapest of the downtown hotels, rated as 3.5 stars . . . I'd concede to 3 stars, but 3.5 is exaggeration. But the hostels nearby are almost the same price, so if you're looking for a cheap non-hostel accommodation, this is it. I paid $40/night in the off-season with online reservations made over a month in advance.
-There are several restaurants, patio cafés, bars, convenience stores, plazas, museums, churches, and the market (avenue of bargain stores) in the immediate vicinity.
- I booked with booking.com and checked "free breakfast included", thinking it was continental. It turned out to be the buffet breakfast, which I thought was good.
- Unlike most breakfasts which are over by 9, this breakfast was available until 11 or 12. There were about 6 hot dishes that varied slightly each day - eggs, beans, chilaquiles being the staples. Other dishes included rajas, nopales, potatoes, cubed chicken in a tomato-based sauce, etc.
- There was a made-to-order omelette and quesadilla station.
- Good coffee, fresh juices - the natural orange juice was delicious
- Cereal, fruit, yogurt, bread, muffins
- The buffet breakfast service on 3 of 4 days of our stay was friendly and efficient.
- We were given evaluation forms at the end of breakfast on 2 of 4 days, which is a good sign that the management wants to ensure quality and friendly service.
- The rooms were clean and the maid service was diligent.
- The inside hallways had tile flooring and some rooms opened to a tiny balcony- type ledge overlooking the ivy spilling down an open space that continued down to the first floor of rooms (floor 4).
- Reception was friendly and accommodated us with a room change without blinking an eye.
-Check in and check out was expedient and many of the receptionists spoke both English and Spanish.
- WiFi was an open signal, and was truly offered throughout the hotel, but from midday to evening, when everyone was using it, it was considerably slower.
- The toilet and shower water pressure was decent (for Mexico) and hot water was available and steady.
-The bed had four fluffy pillows, and clean, crisp, white sheets, and a duvet. The bed was a pillowtop, though the mattress underneath was the typical firm mattress common in Mexico.
CONs:
- Location: This hotel is right on the main avenue Hidalgo, so it is surrounded by bars and taverns and loud street noise. It was extremely loud day and night (as are ALL the hotels in el Centro - downtown).
- The first room we were given faced the inside corridor with no windows to the outside. No windows at all except the bathroom, which opened to the hallway. This would've been a reasonably quiet room except that it was on the first floor (floor 4), with the parking garage just below. Therefore, even though our room was tucked away in a corner, all we heard was rolling suitcases, people talking loudly and calling out to each other late at night (midnight to 1:30am) and early in the morning as they left (5am to 9am). This may ordinarily have been minor, but since a tour group stopped over that night, I think this traffic multiplied exponentially.
- In addition, this room was a very small room with a king bed (Even though our reservation was for 2 full beds).
- The room was musty, had a chemical smell (from cleaning), and no ventilation.
- I think our reservation was changed to accommodate a large tour group which arrived that night, clogging the front lobby for hours. For this reason, we did not request a room change at that time.
- The tour group was loud, and took over the entire lobby and restaurant tables in the morning during the buffet. When we finally grabbed a table, we did not receive any service, as it was just too busy and chaotic. I got up to pour my own coffee, which I didn't mind at all. It was the invasion of space that I minded.
- After the tour group left, we requested a different room, on a different floor, with a balcony. Since none were available, we then requested a window. (There are few balcony rooms facing the main street. Request in writing at the time of your reservation to try to get one, but be aware that they open onto the main, busy, bustling avenue). We received a similarly small room on the next floor (5) with a window to the street behind the hotel, which was very loud as well. During the day, there was construction nearby, the water/sewage trucks would come by and pump water for about an hour, marching bands would play in the street below, etc. At night, a nearby bar featured drunken collective singing of popular corridos and rock en español, which continued until about 2am.
*This type of noise is common in hotels that are smack in the center of town. If you want relative quiet, bring earplugs. If you want real quiet, stay in a more isolated hotel.
- Despite the window to the street (There was no screen, which is common in Mexico), very little airflow entered the room. In the mornings, the entire closed window was wet with condensation from the cold night outside and lack of airflow inside.
- The room furniture and carpet is old and dingy.
-The bathtub/shower was small and the step down to the floor out of the tub was a large one. The towels were a bit old and rough, but they were large and clean.
- There's no heat or A/C in the rooms. In November, the weather is chilly at night, but the rooms were fairly warm. There was a heat lamp in the first floor corridor.
-We were only given one room key.
In all, I felt the pros outweighed the cons; mainly, that the location couldn't be beat, and I enjoyed that breakfast every morning. It's a good budget option and I'd stay there again if I ever returned to Zacatecas.
Hope that helps! Enjoy Zacatecas! More
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