Reading some of these reviews, I can see that some people are just really picky! We were overall quite happy with our stay at Los Sabalos. Our first impression of the place was that it was just as beautiful, if not more so, as the photos on the internet. We really wanted a room with a balcony and an ocean view, but I think that once they saw the small price we booked it for, there was no way they were going to give us that! We did change rooms after our first night and got the ocean view, but no balcony. Our first room's air conditioner did not work, which should not have been a problem really, because the weather is so nice - you'll want to sleep with the windows open, however; the a/c is absolutely necessary to drown out the loud music coming from Joe's (on the beach) and Tony's (across the street) UNTIL 4:00 IN THE MORNING! The a/c's only real purpose is noise control!

You can conveniently exchange your dollars for pesos right at the front desk for a very reasonable exchange rate - at the time we were there it was 10.6. (The money exchange offices around town were offering a rate of 10.5 plus I think they also charge a service fee. Only one day did I go to the American Express office. It was several blocks away, I waited in a long line, and only got an exchange rate of 10.62 - not worth the extra time and effort!)

Back to the hotel review - They were always on top of maintaining the place, the common areas were constantly being cleaned. We never saw our maid, as she never disturbed us when the sign was on the door, when we would leave and remove the sign, we would return to a clean room, usually with an extra bottle of water. (Tip: Leave a dollar or two for the maid each day, she literally only makes $5.00 A DAY!! - so, a few dollars to her makes a huge difference in her life, and like I said, she started leaving extra water for us!)

The bathroom is really large for a hotel bathroom, with the tub being long enough to completely stretch out in, and plenty of room to share with someone! The bed is pretty firm, so if you like that-you'll love it, I only wish the pillows were a little softer.

The breakfast buffet is excellent. Joe's runs some great happy hour specials on certain days - 3 for 1 beers !! The Beach Grill will literally serve you food and drinks on the beach! The Cowboy restaurant is just O.K. Don't get taken by the beach vendors, you really have to haggle with them, and they are still making a killing! The hotel is located right next to what I think is probably one of the most photographed landmarks in all of Maz - Fiesta Land, we took some post-card quality pictures right from our beach. Los Sabalos gave us a lot for our money, it wasn't perfect, but it was perfect enough! We had a good time and hope you do too!

Los Sabalos is not 5 star maybe a 3. Contrary to other reviews it is kept clean and pest free -- saw one cricket that was probably mistaken for a cockroach by others -- and a lonely, small gecko on the living room ceiling -- the local pest control system.

Arrived to a neat room with only partially working air conditioning -- three hours later -- after much chest beating and some verbal threats the situation was resolved. I had them buy us dinner and drinks across the street at their "Cowboy" restaurant for our "pain and suffering".

The daily maid service with fresh towels was a nice touch and responses to special requests were adequate.

Basically Los Sabalos is an older slightly shabby hotel with no attempt to be anything else. Nothing has been updated since it was built and the overall feeling is just plain dull. Oh yes, with the air conditioning set on high you can almost drown out the "music" until 4 a.m. coming from "Joe's" on one side and "Tony's" on the other.

Los Sabalos stinks! BAd bad bad service! When we first arrived they gave us our room key- upon opeing the door we discovered somebody else was already in the room! The elevator did not work so we ended up dragging our luggage down seven flights of stairs (no bellboy to be found!) I will NEVER stay there again!

We arrived at the Los Sabalos hotel 1 hour before check-in but they still let us check in, they were very helpful with everything at the front desk with all the questions that we had. We went up to our room and when we walked in we noticed that the room was a mess and the beds were not made, but we did arrive one hour early but not to worry the maid walked in right behind us and told us sorry that she had been very busy that day and our room would be ready in one hour which was fine because she let us put our luggage in the room so that we could go get lunch. Our room was always very clean and the maid even left us red roses one day which was very nice. Joe's Oyster Bar is a very fun place and I loved the service there, the waiters had my drink order down after 2 days. I also loved the service at the outside bar by the pool, our waiter Francisco was so nice! Maria at the front desk was so helpful and they even ordered Dominos for us one night! I loved this hotel and would love to stay there again.