Balu Hotel & Hostel

Staff were lovely when we interacted and the location was great but no security whatsoever soon as reception staff went home at 9 the two main doors left wide open all night. Facilities were not great, our room flooded by the head of the bed and doorway pretty bad, no one to be found when we searched for some assistance not even an emergency number. Room was basic, but all furniture broken or falling apart. Woke up with bed bug bites on the second night, bedding stank. Cat faeces everywher

STAY AWAY. I’ve never left a bad review for a hotel. I’ve stayed in many budget hotels in Mexico and I’m not fussy. Balu is hell. We should have left immediately, but not much else was available at the last minute. 1. Bed bugs. They moved us to a new room but rented our same room out that night to some other unsuspecting customer. We saw the bugs. We saw the stains. We were bit. We are appalled they rented it right away again. 2. Overrun by mangy cats. The entire property smells like cat urine, including the pool. I ended up mopping the halls and stairs myself because the smell was making me sick. 3. The manager has destroyed this hotel from the old photos. Holes cut in walls. Everything broken. Trim pulled off around doors. Piles of garbage and debris collecting water and mosquitoes. They say they are renovating, but the renovations are much worse than the original fixtures. It is insanity. 4. The cleaning staff took our friend’s tip but never cleaned. 5. Something made my husband cough all night. It resolved when we weren’t in the hotel. We hardly slept. 6. The window in our room was broken and would not lock. It is large and accessible by anyone. We were told it wasn’t broken (without them looking) and they could offer no help. We fashioned a stick from the debris to put in the windowsill and keep it closed. 6. I was stung by a stingray. That’s obviously not the hotel’s fault. The problem is the psycho manager. Stingray venom is way worse than I imagined. I blacked out and came too uncontrollably shaking and crying. Made it back to the hotel. The only thing that helps the pain is a bucket of hot water. We found a rusty pot in the smelly kitchen and boiled water and put my foot in it. When I stopped sobbing, the manager came out and yelled at me that I was disgusting for using that pot for my foot. But then she dumped it out and put it away WITHOUT WASHING IT! It hurt very badly to take the hot water away from me. We cleaned the pot with soap and boiling water. When we explained the situation to the manager, she only told us that she already knew. Later she inquired after my wound, but never apologized. This woman is dysfunctional at best and has run the property into the ground. 7. Our shower door was so rusted it wouldn’t close. The toilet leaked from the back and barely flushed pee. There is no maintenance staff to help. Good things: location, nice towels, AC, and the girl who works at the front desk is very kind. Too bad she has an unkind boss. We would like an apology and a refund. We paid over $70 per night which should get a wonderful hotel in Mexico. The photos are a lie. P.s. they require a cash deposit of 500 pesos. If you’re not warned, it is a hassle (took our cash for dinner). The smallest hassle we dealt with at this hotel. Basically, this place is extremely overpriced and a vacation killer. I hope it closes or is purchased by someone who is even 1% ethical. The current management are scam artists.

WARNING. I’d stay away if I were you. I have traveled around Mexico for years and stayed at many budget hotels. I have never left a single negative review until now. First of all, I want to say that the young lady who lives on the property and works at the front desk was very helpful and pleasant. It is t her fault that she was hired by a nightmare hotel. Where do I begin? Upon arrival, the front of the hotel had no signage, and it was piled high with trash that had collected water and an insane amount of mosquitoes. We only found the hotel by zooming in on Google maps. This was the most expensive hotel of our entire trip. It was the worst by a loonnng loooong stretch. Our room smelled awful. The window, which was large and easily accessible by anyone, was broken and could open from the outside. Our toilet was leaking all over the floor, and the shower door was so rusted it couldn’t close. We asked for another room. They had none, so we were offered a refund. We couldn’t find another hotel with two rooms (we were traveling in a group) so we decided to tough it out. It was the end of our trip and only a couple of nights. We aren’t fussy travelers. Things only got worse. We were told there was no maintenance team to help us, so we found an old piece of wood to put in the windowsill to create some security. We cleaned our own rooms, and tried to make the best. I like cats. This hotel is overrun with wild mangy cats, and the entire property smells of cat urine, including the pool. The shared kitchen was very gross, and I even ended up cleaning the stairs to our room myself because the smell was making me feel sick. My husband developed a severe cough and allergy to the mold in our room. He was fine when he wasn’t in the room. Could hardly sleep from all the coughs. Then the bed bugs came out at night. I saw them. They bit me up. Rust colored stains on the mattress. Everything.