If you want to be downtown but don't care for "tourist" hotels this is the one. Very quaint older hotel, but in great shape, has a "colonial" feel. Rooms are all a little different, but very well furnished, very clean and comfortable. No pool (its really an oversized hot tub with cool water!), no workout room and no flashy bar, but if you want a very clean comfortable hotel downtown this is a great one. The staff was also great and always very helpful. I would definelty go back.

I chose this hotel for its low price and since they are close to the embassy they are accustomed to adoptive parents. The only slightly negative things I have to say is that there is not much of an area to walk with your child (if you are visiting you can not leave the hotel) and one of the woman at the front desk was not very fluent in English and not too nice.
I was there for a week and all of the other people at the front desk were extremely accomidating. The cleaning people and other help were very nice and will assist with anything needed. I plan on staying here again!

Upon driving up to the San Carlos your first impression is that you're visitiing a wealthy friend living in a grand home in Paris. The hotel is the perfect size--it's like a cross between a bed and breakfast and a hotel, it's quiet etc. but still big enough to have a small bar and restaurant and you can sit on the front porch. The place is 200 feet from the US Embassy on a wide boulevard with sidewalks and trees down the middle, so it is in a cosmopolitan area,
8-10 blocks from the nightlife, restauarant, big hotels area---which is a lot of fun to visit and it is also 8-10 blocks the other way to the downtown area---which offers a lot to see---like cathedrals, historic government buildings, parks etc. We were adopting our son and we also traveled around the country to see sites as well and loved Guatemala. the staff at the San Carlos are great---they provided us with a crib, a wash basin--whatever they could do to make your stay enjoyable---they were even nice about me discovering my room key was in my pocket at the airport--and i called them --they handled that too.--I'll be back

I have stayed in this hotel at three different times. Once in 2005 and 2006 with my mother, and the rooms we stayed in were fine, since they were on the first level by the courtyard. However, I stayed there with my family (husband and daughters 5 and 11) for the nights we arrived in Guatemala and when we departed and the rooms the hotel gave us were not kept up.

On our first night the room they gave us upstairs in the back with wooded floors had not been swept and the shower curtain rod needed repair. The room was a bit cramp. They also didn't give us the correct number of towel eventhough they knew it was for a family of four.

For the second night at this hotel before we flew out after our two week tour, I requested a room on the main floor, thinking it would be better. Again the room was not well kept. It was not crampped like the one upstairs, but the carpet was dirty with many stains.

My impression is that the best rooms are the most expensive ones, the suites, in the main part on the hotel. So just remember to request rooms that are by the courtyard or in the main building.

The hotel offers a free shuttle from and to the airport, which is very convenient. However, the driver was about 15 minutes late picking us up from the airport. Then, the next morning when we were flying out to Tikal, my husband forgot it was a free shuttle and ask for the fee. The driver then quoted Q50, so be aware of that. On our last stay, I requested the driver of the shuttle be there aat 10:00am to take us to the airport, but the dest either forgot to call dispite my 4 reminders, or the driver was just not efficient. The driver arrived 25 minutes late.

This hotel offeres a free breakfast. There are 5 options to choose from and they are all very good.