I stayed at this hotel on New Year's eve. I was traveling from Guatemala to Granada, Nicaragua and had to spend the night at Managua due to late arrival of my flight. This hotel had the basic amenities and the rooms are also fine. All rooms are at the same level and there is a good swimming pool in the middle.
However, quality of service left a LOT to be desired! I picked this hotel for the facts that 1) I don't speak Spanish, so wanted to stay close to airport with a shuttle service and 2) generally positive reviews noted on Tripadvisor (usually works well for me). It was a mistake! I had the Spanish speaking concierge from Guatemala City hotel (Hotel Barcelo, which is a 5 start hotel) call this hotel to give all of my travel details for the shuttle pickup. Stood there in that weird and tiny airport for 40-50 min for nothing, late at night! Fellow traveler helped me to get a taxi given language challenges.
When I showed up at the hotel, I felt I made a mistake by traveling on that day and coming to this hotel. It's clear that the system showed that a shuttle should have been there, but no apologies - just this older guy, who was clearly bummed about working on 31st night explaining to me that it's a holiday and that I should understand why no shuttle (initially...I stayed at this hotel on New Year's eve. I was traveling from Guatemala to Granada, Nicaragua and had to spend the night at Managua due to late arrival of my flight. This hotel had the basic amenities and the rooms are also fine. All rooms are at the same level and there is a good swimming pool in the middle.
However, quality of service left a LOT to be desired! I picked this hotel for the facts that 1) I don't speak Spanish, so wanted to stay close to airport with a shuttle service and 2) generally positive reviews noted on Tripadvisor (usually works well for me). It was a mistake! I had the Spanish speaking concierge from Guatemala City hotel (Hotel Barcelo, which is a 5 start hotel) call this hotel to give all of my travel details for the shuttle pickup. Stood there in that weird and tiny airport for 40-50 min for nothing, late at night! Fellow traveler helped me to get a taxi given language challenges.
When I showed up at the hotel, I felt I made a mistake by traveling on that day and coming to this hotel. It's clear that the system showed that a shuttle should have been there, but no apologies - just this older guy, who was clearly bummed about working on 31st night explaining to me that it's a holiday and that I should understand why no shuttle (initially he was trying to convince me that it could be misunderstanding about flights details due to my language issues, since he didn't know who actually called). When inquired about food (was traveling from Guatemala City via San Salvador...so was on the road for a while) for night, got similar response, this time with an interesting shrug. Later I discovered that there's a casino next door with really bad food, but at least I could eat some for the night. If you're thinking any activity for New Year's eve, there's zip, nada! Place was dead. Had to go straight to bed.
Next day morning I needed to catch a shuttle or taxi, whatever was available, to Granada. Hotel seems to own its taxi business (logo was on the side of the cab that I took and saw similar ones parked inside the property), so was trying to sell me hard on that. Was explained how every other option would be so unsafe for me! Then they speak on the other side of their mouth claiming how Nicaragua is the safest country in the region with all the protection for tourists and police patrolling everywhere! I did take their taxi, because it seemed to be the easier option. But funny how that guy at the counter told me that...More
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