Hotel Las Palapas Experience

[jess]

We stayed at Hotel Las Palapas from May 1 - May 8. Here's what I thought about it!

Check-in
Check-in at the hotel was simple. We were given our room key, the safe deposit box key, and 2 beach towels (which you can exchange daily for clean ones). We also had to sign a slip so they could verify our signature. When you eat at the restaurants or order from the bar, you sign a slip and it’s charged back to your room. After completing the paperwork, an attendant then took our bags and led us to our room.

The room
We stayed in #2 – a beachfront bungalow. The bungalow was nice and rustic. I did not make reservations at Hotel Las Palapas expecting luxury. The bungalow has a thatched roof and a ceiling fan – no air conditioning. We noticed that the bungalows right on the beach (numbers 1 and 2 on our side of the hotel) had “storm” windows that did not open. There were slits in the top & bottom of the large windows that were screened and let in air. The bungalows further away from the beach had large, screened windows. Obviously those further away from the beach had a much stronger ocean breeze at night – but they didn’t have the fabulous view we had. The “units” not on the beach – the standard rooms and garden deluxe rooms have A/C. It got down to 70 degrees each night and we slept comfortably with just the fan & ocean breeze. I don’t think that we’d survive in a room without A/C, though, any further into the summer months.

The bathroom was simple yet functional. A large tiled shower and fairly large sink area to place items. The bed was a hard mattress on top of a concrete slab. From what I read, all beds in Mexico are hard – even at the fancy-shmancy all-inclusive resorts. I will say that we didn’t quite adjust to the hard bed. We both woke up achy each morning. However, falling asleep to the sounds of the ocean breeze & waves and waking up to the sunrise & blue water more than made up for this inconvenience. As I said before, the roofs are thatched. This afford for virtually no sound muffling. The first night I was convinced there was a bird nesting somewhere up there in the thatched roof.

The hammocks on the front porch were comfortable and we spent a lot of time laying/swinging in them. Maybe we should have slept in those!

And finally – a word about bugs. Yes, there are bugs. The first night I saw about 4 ants in the room. As the week progressed, this number rose and fell. I hate ants with a passion. However, even though I saw them crawling on a wall here & there, I did not see them in any of my belongings nor in the bed. I did not wake up in the morning with any bites.

The management
The owners are Swiss and are very nice. I had a number of email communications with them prior to arrival - all emails were answered promptly and politely.

The service
I had read that the service at this hotel was excellent. Here, I have to disagree. I’d say that the service is adequate. The hotel staff is extremely friendly and nice. Yes, this is a component of excellent service. However, long waits and mistaken or forgotten orders are not components of excellent service. When you sat down at the beach bar, you had to call the bartender over to you, sometimes multiple times, to place your drink order. When your drink was empty, you’d have to do the legwork to call him over again. This same type of service existed in many restaurants on 5th Avenue. I expected to be able to sit down at a restaurant or bar and have a waiter/bartender immediately (or, say, within 2-3 minutes) ask me what I wanted. Additionally, I expected that when my drinks were almost empty, a bartender would be asking me if I wanted more. Here, you’ll sit with empty glasses for many minutes, waiting to get the bartender’s attention. I wouldn’t say that this is a particular problem at Hotel Las Palapas – this was the level of service received at most places in PDC. We just had to adjust our expectations.

The grounds
Everything I read about the lush gardens at this hotel was true. The grounds are immaculate and beautiful. Just walking from our bungalow on the beach to the restaurant for breakfast allowed for observing birds, lizards, flowers, and trees. I did get a few mosquito bites when we ventured into the garden parts of the property, so insect repellent came in handy.

The location
With the lush garden grounds, you do feel like you’re far away from it all. However, it is a quick 10 minute walk (or 20 peso cab ride) to downtown PDC. The hotel is situated off of the north part of 5th Avenue. You just walk out the front gate and make a left to walk into town or can walk all the way down the beach as well. It is very quiet at Hotel Las Palapas – little beach noise during the day (we could hear music occasionally from the beach club at Mamitas, a little south of us) and no noise at night save for the occasionally noisy neighbor stumbling home late at night.

The clientele & language barriers (for us, at least!)
80-90% of the guests at Hotel Las Palapas were German or Swiss. So you mostly heard German being spoken and very few of them spoke any English. Those that spoke English spoke it poorly. The rest of the guests were a smattering of Spanish, French, English, and American. We were one of the few Americans there and this did tend to make it “lonely.” The first few days we were feeling like we had people to chit-chat with....you know, shoot the breeze. Luckily, after a few days, we found another American couple who had just arrived and ended up spending a lot of time with them. The hotel staff spoke very little English – at times it was a challenge placing an order. I definitely felt like I should have brushed up on my Spanish more prior to this trip!

Comparison
We walked from our hotel north to Coco (sp?) Beach and south to the ferry pier. This walk allowed me to see all of the other hotels I had looked into staying at (The Pelicano, Blue Parrot, Alhambra, etc.) that are in that "main" stretch of beach in the downtown area. IMHO, Hotel Las Palapas is the best choice. Our hotel had the best stretch of beach, period. Our hotel had the best palapas on the beach as well (nice, full palapas - not the skinny/skimpy ones you saw elsewhere). And finally, our hotel had nice, clear water - no rocks. The closer you walk towards the pier, many of the hotels have completely lost their beach and the water just comes up to their plastic tables & chairs (yes, I'm aware of the beach reclamation project...and being born & raised in Panama City, FL, I'm very familiar with how you rebuild the beach after erosion has occurred....but that doesn't make me want to spend time on that beach while it's not yet rebuilt!)....as well as there being more rockiness. I honestly would not be interested in staying in this area...not when a way better beach is just 10 minutes North. And based on price comparisons, Hotel Las Palapas is within the general price range for 3 to 4-star hotels.

Summary
Well, I've covered just about everything I can think of about the hotel - but if you have questions, feel free to write me!

[andy766]

Las Palapas is a beautiful property right on the best beach. You should of connected with some people from the board. When I go down in the summer there are hardly any English speaking traveller's in Playa. Using the board can connect you with new friends. Forget about fast efficient service in Mexico. Sit back, relax and smile. When the waiter comes around tell him something that will make him laugh. The service should improve. Enjoy the slow pace.

[jess]

Yeah, we had actually planned on attending the May 5 board gathering at Tequila Barrel but ended up going to Xcaret that day and wanted to stay for the night show.

And regarding service....like I said....we just had to adjust our expectations We had never been to Mexico before and the reviews I had read about this hotel was that service was excellent. When I think "excellent" I think "fast, correct, friendly" I guess. So once we saw reality, we dealt with it and were just fine. It's kinda hard to make a waiter laugh when all you can say is "por favor"!

[caramba]

Thanks for the report. We walked by last palapas last year and thought it looked like a great place to stay.
Too bad you missed the board get-together. When we were there it was one of our most enjoyable nights.

[andy766]

Jess, I don't speak spanish. The waiter at El Pirata asked me what my name was and i said Sadam Hussein. He laughed all afternoon calling me Sadam. I got great service. Try to figure that one out. Andy

[kjtom]

Dear Jess ... do not be fooled ... say something about them and they sprakense anglais ... if I could pop for Las Palapas I would have them playing baseball before the week was out

[Manitou]

Originally Posted by andy766

The waiter at El Pirata asked me what my name was and i said Sadam Hussein. He laughed all afternoon calling me Sadam.

Andy, I do not see the resemblance and I'll bet Anna is thankful for that as well!