What a pity ! The website, the location, the view, the deck and the hummingbirds were all very impressive. It really is beautifully located above the Playa Madera.
Unfortunately there it stopped. The reality was truly horrific, and we know because we mistakenly set out to clean the pigsty in which we had found ourselves.
We had arrived late at night, and went out for dinner. It was only the next morning, after a shower in a dirty and broken down bathroom, whose only good point was that the water was really hot, that my wife began to notice how dirty the place was. There were tiles missing and the soap dish was absent.
Without really thinking, because, if we had, we would have left straight away, we went and bought cleaning materials. Their floor brushes were all worn out and in need of replacement. The rubber floor scraper more or less worked. We bought floor cloths, cleaning cloths and cleaning chemicals, though they did admit to having chlorine.
First of all, we noted that there were not enough mugs for the four of us, only two. The coffee pot was missing the glass jar.
Then there was the dirt ! This place had not seen a good clean in a good long time, though the maid claimed she had cleaned it out the day before !
The large bed in the bedroom was filthy. The white cloth below the sheets was loaded with dust and no amount of shaking it and beating it would get it clean. The maid obviously knew how dirty it was, because she said " I hope the dust did not get back into the bedroom !"
Below this white object there was a rotting sponge rubber layer that was so old as to be falling to bits. Below that, on the mattress itself, there was a layer of dust, the likes of which I have never seen in my fairly long life ! We asked for a vacuum cleaner. Finally it arrived, but it did not work ! The maid claimed that she had asked for it to be repaired but the owner never would. The dust we physically removed, the hard way.
The area where clothes were hung was greasy and at the bottom of this area there was a lot of dust and dirt as well as a crab, so long dead as to have cobwebs all over it.
The overhead fan was rusty and dirty, looking as though someone had smoked cigarettes there continuously for half a century. Brown and dripping !
The floor, the walls and the lamps were filthy. The lamps were well rusted.
In the passage way to the patio or deck are two beds. Not very comfortable as they only have a fan above and no ventilation. When we took the beds to bits, there was a plentiful supply of mouse excrement in the sheets as well as dust and dirt on the floor and a good supply of ants ! There was also a lizard, but we left him alone. He might actually have been doing good. The sheets were not fresh and clean, as they had the mouse stuff right in there.
The coffee machine lacked the jug ! There were filters ! No coffee. There was a half filled bottle of what was probably drinkable water, though we did not risk it.
In the kitchen the cutlery and cooking utensils were all rusted and dirty. The stove had several burners that would not light. The fridge was rusted outside, and dirty inside. The pots and pans were old and dirty as well as the structure that supported them.
The patio had old furniture and although there was a hammock, though not very user friendly. There were towels on the porch furniture. Not clean either. Nor was the tablecloth on the table where we ate on the deck. But the view was great, and there was a lot of room. It could have been very comfortable. Obviously one could have taken one's beers there without noting the dirt, but we did notice.
When we started to clean the patio, that was the end. We left.
There was no internet facility, forget high speed internet. Though the owner did tell me over the phone that she had internet.
But when I tried to see the owner to complain, the maid recommended we go, as if we stayed till she got back, apparently after 5 pm, she would certainly claim another day's rent, and the maid suggested she could be extremely abusive. The final blow was that the agreed rent of $105 per day had been unilaterally increased to $125.
I did not pay that, nor the complete balance, as the maid had no change. She told us that the owner left every morning with all the money. So I could not recover the money or time spent cleaning, though I told the maid where we were staying, if the lady cared to come and argue, complain or give me a credit ! Actually, we never saw her in all the time we were there. We spoke Spanish, so it was no great loss, but it seemed strange until we worked out what was happening. Then it became clear !
This is a cash cow. No money is ever spent. The money earned goes into the owner lady's pocket. She has no interest in either supervising the work of the maid, or getting the place sorted out. So the maid also gets away with doing very little. What work she does do is on the top apartment which surprisngly belongs to the owner. Also the owner likes payment into her usd account in b. of a. so she pockets the tax she charged.
There is no basis under which to describe the hotel, in the list below. "No frills" yes but absolutely filthy and negelected. No a.c. and no tv. but one can live without that.
It is a disgrace. To the owner as well as to Zihuatanejo. The owner takes from the customer, leaning on her rather quaint European English to con the Americans, and Turismo of Zihuatanejo permits this to continue.
But 100 yards up the street for a little bit more dollars, we had two self contained bedrooms en suite, internet access with ac, cable and individual bathrooms, plus a separate and well maintained kitchen and access to one of the best restaurants in Zihuatanejo.This is part of the Hotel "Brisas del Mar" and actually not that much more expensive then BP, but it was rigorously cleaned every day, clean sheets, and that included fresh towels for the beach. Absolutely fantastic value. And nice people.
If you do make the error of spending a night at BP, stay in the bungalow half way down the stairs on the left. We cleaned it !
US