Estancia la Ocho

The hotel was absolutely fine for one night. It was clean and the wifi was good. The only problem was the room did not have a window, only a fan. For this reason, I could/would only stay one night under this circumstance because I need fresh air. Maybe there is a way to pre-order a room with a window but I was told those windows don't have a fan so watch out in either case!

No response at the property gate

No response from that aide

I was asking in advance about opportunity to check in at 1am. It was confirmed. Since I arrived no one was there. No one answered calls nor messages. I was standing on the dangerous street in the middle of the night with no place to go

Location-wise the property is fine, but not great. One of the staff members (Ramon, I think?) spoke excellent English and was helpful. The bed itself was reasonably comfortable. They did a good job of keeping the place clean. If you want an authentic Mexican experience and the opportunity to interact with normal Mexicans, then this is a good place to do it. But don't expect a hotel-like level of hospitality and amenities.

This isn't a hotel, and it shouldn't be available to random tourists booking a place to stay online for a night or two. At least not without better disclosure of what it is and better procedures. I'd describe it as an extended stay hostel for people who are in between homes (not homeless, just maybe recent arrivals to town, or they are waiting on an asylum claim from the USA). I booked a budget single room, which is listed at 269 square feet. It was, at best, maybe 60 square feet. The primary description did not explicitly say that the bathroom was shared, though I later found that info buried in the app (but not the website). With 269 square feet, there should be a private bathroom, with 60 square feet there obviously isn't, so the fact that they got the size wrong in the description was incredibly misleading. When I arrived, the door was locked, but another guest let me in. There is no reception desk, but another guest pointed out an unmarked door as the "office", so I knocked and went in. The "office" was a re-purposed poker table staffed by a surly middle-aged woman who didn't know how to check me in. She brought somebody else in to help. He could check me in, but didn't know how to accept my credit card for payment. So they called somebody, got no answer, tried calling again a few minutes later, and then about 10 minutes later somebody showed up who also hadn't accepted a credit card before, but was able to figure it out by calling yet another person. I later found out that there is another entrance further down the street which is unmarked, but is supposed to serve as the office. It is sometimes staffed.