Hotel El Español Centro Historico

Was easy to move and see the town

Was nice, kinda old but istill beautiful

The location was perfect

That i was charged an extra night when i had been approved to arrive early, wish they had explained that that meant having to pay and extra night so i could check out at the time I wanted.

We liked everything so much that this review is for an extra night we added! Great management ahd staff at this hotel. Particularly help was Martin because my companion does not speak Spanish but she and could communicate with Martin in English.

We liked everything.

The room was ok for the price, the aircon was more than sufficient - it was over 30 degrees outside but the air con kept the room very cool. In fact I had to turn off the aircon for the night because it was too cold to sleep in the room. Unfortunately it was not possible to turn the aircon down so I had to turn it off completely. The room had no windows and possibly due to this fact it was cool in the room all night despite the airconditioning being off. The bed was comfortable, the room was clean. Excelent location - close to the historic centre of Merida and just opposite the ADO bus station. I booked this hotel because of its location and partly because I wanted to experience the Mexico budget hotels.

The electricity went off one time - it was completely dark in a room with no windows - luckily it happened in the afternoon just after check in. I didn't plan to stay in the room at that time - I just went out to see the historic centre and don't know how long the outage lasted. The biggest dissapointment however was the breakfast. The hotel advertises a good breakfast so I booked the room with breakfast included. Now the price comparison - the hotel cost $21 per night - the breakfast for that morning cost more than the room itself - it was around $23. For that pricce of $23 in European hotels at breakfast you can expect a buffet breakfast with all kinds of food available: cooked food, cold meats, pastries, fruits etc. In the Hotel Espanol there was no buffet breakfast available - when I entered the restaurant in the morning it was all empty - no guests, no staff and no food whatsoever. I asked where the breakfast was and the staff showed me the menu list with prices included. I explained that I had already paid for the breakfast on booking.com. At that point they showed me that I had paid for continental breakfast - I don't really recall that the breakfast I booked was a continental one. In any case even with continental breakfast for that price in other hotels you usually have a buffet breakfast with all sorts of meats, breads, spreads and pastries. What the staff served me in this hotel was only 2 American pancakes with a drop of maple syrrup! The other available option was a toast with jam! No tea available, no orange or apple juice. I had to order coffee but the coffee they serve is undrinkable. Honestly it was the worst coffee I ever had - very sour which could not be improved with any amount of sugar. After that breakfast I was still very hungry and had to go to the bus station where I could only buy sandwiches (there is a Subway restaurant at the station but weird enough they were open but not serving food even though it was as late as 9 am.)