Estado de Veracruz-Llave Hotels

• alza
• Reviews: 330

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Hotel-Club CHACHALACAS: End of the saga

The desk clerk from the night before was still there, and a young woman was in the background. I told my story about the guy with the beer and said that I had really not slept well with the worry he caused me. The desk clerk spoke with a heavy lisp and was extremely mannered, flaying his arms about so I couldn't read his lips. It made it hard for me to understand him. He apologised profusely and promised me that this wouldn't happen again, saying that the young man and his group had left the hotel. When I still wanted to leave, the woman came up and spoke for the Hotel, offering me a better room in the Hotel itself. I asked to see it. As the clerk was taking me there, he mentioned that he'd see what he could do to get his boss to give me the better room at the same promotional price I had been quoted initially for the motel-type room (which is normally 860 Pesos but had been offered to me for 680 Pesos.) I stopped him right there in his tracks and went to the woman to get her assurance that of course I wouldn't be asked to pay more! She said it went without saying.

The 2nd room was some steps down from Reception, at ground level. Already didn't like that idea of going down a set of stairs to reach the ground... The room was a Junior suite at the end of a mile-long corridor, with living-room apart from the bedroom but only furnished with a long sofa and a chair, with patio doors giving out on an wall-enclosed courtyard. The TV is in the bedroom... The question of why anyone would choose to sit on a vinyl couch and stare at the walls in a bare living-room crossed my tired mind. Clerk opened all the windows to show me around, it looked okay so I took it. But as soon as he'd gone, I realised that not one window would close, including the patio door. Rust and beach sand had done their work. I went back to say I didn't feel safe there and that's when the manager told him to give me the Master Suite on the 2nd Floor.

Unique Quality: After re-arranging my stuff in the third room, I fell asleep while dressing for the huge & beautiful empty pool in the main courtyard. When I woke up around Noon, I finally decided to hit the beach, which is just across the mud street outside the back gates of the Hotel. I wrote about CHACHALACAS the place in General Tips so that's it as far as the Hotel CHACHALACAS goes.

Big rooms. 3 bath-size towels, one bath-rug, 2 mini-soaps and 2 small bottles of water in the Master Suites. No Cable TV anywhere. No mobile phone signal but I did see "Emergency Only" on my phone screen when standing at the Reception Desk.

The paper bracelet which the Staff fixes on your wrist after you've paid on arrival allows you to go in and out of the complex without worry. But I hated it, it even bothered me enough to keep me from sleeping well.

Still, if you ever HAVE to go to CHACHALACAS, you might consider the Hotel-Club Chachalacas since it's the best I saw in the village. The Special Category hotel that I had enquired about from Veracruz is right beside it, I saw it and it looks worse, all for 1,100 Pesos. But then, they include a coffee and a toast, which my hotel charged for. And now that I think back, I thought they'd charged 18 Pesos for that breakfast... which would be $1.80 and fine. But actually, I think it was 180 Pesos. Jeeze, I paid 18 bucks for one small cup of coffee with Carnation milk and 2 toasts!! And I had specifically asked for ONE toast! I was taken!

Lucky for me, I met a gal from the State capital, Xalapa and we'll be keeping in touch.

• Opinion of Price: most expensive
• Written September 16, 2006

The grounds are nice though

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• alza
• Reviews: 330

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Hotel-Club CHACHALACAS: The best you'll get in the pueblo

I'm saving my impressions of my 2-day stay at this hotel here but it's not a recommendation to anyone. The Hotel-Club CHACHALACAS is among the top choices for family vacations lodgings in the Central Coast area. Characteristically for many Mexican hotels, it offers large rooms with 3 or 4 double or king-size beds, & whole families stay in one room during their Gulf-side holidays.
The hotel is impressive at first glance but neglected & rundown inside & out, mostly where the small details make a big difference. Coming in through what seems to be Land's End & a village of shanty houses & mud roads, you get a feeling of entering a haven away from grey palm-thatched restaurants & rusty tin houses. Once in your room, (I tried 3 of them), you discover that windows don't close for the rust, insect screens are torn, beds have no mattress-protector & only rough thin sheets are laid directly on the mattress. None fit the mattress size so as you twist & turn all the sweaty night, you burn your skin.

The marble-like floors are covered with black sand. There were long black hairs here & there in every room I was in, including the Master Suite I ended up in last. Furniture & fixtures are strangely placed along walls that have no inlet for electricity. You get a big TV on a heavy pseudo-contemporary Mexican desk. You try to use the remote you paid 400 Pesos deposit for, only to find out by pulling the damn desk that the TV is unplugged. I had to drag the desk & TV to another corner of the Suite to find a plug-in & it was loose! I managed to play with the gravity of the cord & make it hold, as long as I didn't sneeze. Rest at last! I pulled up a hard chair & sat away from my reading material, drink & cigarettes, which were waiting for me on the king-size bed in the other room -- there's no cable! Transfixed, I watched reruns of Fidel Castro giving endless speeches & pulled at the plastic bracelet which the Hotel clerk puts on your wrist at registration. They've got your number!

Unique Quality: With your itchy bracelet, you can come back on the complex at all times. Though I can't imagine why you'd want to... Granted, your enclosed room is a good refuge once you've discovered the village in daytime & your morale is broken.

I was disappointed after registering when the bellboy took me across huge gardens to a motel type room. Not very reassuring, especially in the state of mind I was in. Slipped into something comfortable and tried to turn the TV on, no luck. Someone knocked at the door and said "Hotel" so I opened, thinking they had given me the wrong remote and were bringing the good one. It was a young man with a bottle of beer and a pack of cigarettes in his hands, laughing and a bit drunk. I asked him if he needed a match or what, but no. Closed the door politely and went to close all windows, many were stuck so it was a job.

Another knock at the door. Him again, laughing and saying he now needed a match. He set foot in the room but I asked him to wait outside. I lent him my lighter so he could light his cigarette and said goodnight firmly. Now I knew I wouldn't sleep. I tried to call the desk from my mobile phone, NO SIGNAL! Happily I got the TV to work and read myself to sleep after hiding my stuff under the mattress.

The next morning, it was pouring rain, quite a surprise since it had been non-stop sunny in Veracruz for almost a month. It usually rains during the night there. Happy to be alive, I repacked my stuff slowly, had a good shower and went to the desk to tell them about the incident, quite intent on leaving.

• Opinion of Price: most expensive
• Address: Domicilio Conocido, Playa de Chachalacas, C.P. 91666, Ursulo Galvàn, Veracruz
• Phone: (296)962 5236. 01 800 508 9636
• Written September 16, 2006

Motel-like rooms have their own pool

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• alza
• Reviews: 330

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Hotel Tajín: Quiet hotel in Papantla, VER.

The Hotel Tajín is in the centre of the village of Papantla, the base for a visit to the archeological site of El Tajín, 7 kms away.
It's behind the cathedral, only two minutes away from the Zocalo (main square in every Mexican town.)

Singles are 360 Pesos and all have air-condition, cable TV, private bath, king-size bed and a writing desk. I chose Room No. 23 for its view on the village. It was very quiet anyway, Papantla is lively but not noisy at all.

I left my valuables in a sealed envelope at the reception, where they put it in a small locked safe. (Not talking jewelery here of course, I don't wear any. I mean passport and such.)

Unique Quality: Clean and quiet. There's a large, airy reading room by the staircase on the second floor. With the heat and humidity in the State of Veracruz, it's great to have a reading area where you can breathe and stretch out better than in your room.

• Opinion of Price: more expensive than average
• Address: Hotel Tajín, José de Nuñez 104, Papantla, VER.
• Phone: (788)842-06-44 and 842-01-21
• Written September 3, 2006

Hotel Taj��n, across the Zocalo, Papantla

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• Vikingvicki
• Reviews: 38

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• Vikingvicki
• Reviews: 38

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Hotel Mar y Tierra: Just another hotel

The hotel Mar y Tierra is about 10 - 15 walk along the Malecon from the town centre.

It's perfect if you are in Veracruz for the Carneval as the procession goes right past it.

It's not a great or atmospheric hotel but it's clean. But the staff in the attached restaurant are not friendly at all.

Unique Quality: There's a small rooftop pool

Good location for the carneval procession

• Opinion of Price: N/A
• Written March 30, 2005

The hotel from the pier

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• Abril03
• Reviews: 9

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