Hotel Casa del Balam

The hotel use to be a family home that was renovated into a hotel with restaurant attached. The hotel has a lot of potential, with a courtyard and pool. With our stay which was almost a month, the pool was under going repairs, the parking was sometimes unavailable, the restaurant was undergoing expansions. Although not the hotel fault but roads in towns were all being transformed into a coble kind of look. However the dust from all of this, didn't seem to be cleaned daily. The courtyard is in dire need for a good power wash. They have issues with elevators as a few times out of order. Most of the staff was helpful and kind. The location is great to see all the sites. We did experience some of the completed area on Merida, which is very beautiful and clean. Maybe in a couple of years we will try again, not sure about stay at this hotel though.

This hotel is one of the best locations in Merida - very near good restaurants, the Plaza, the Cathedral, museums, the market..... We were somewhat underwhelmed by the hotel itself. We thought we booked a King bed room, but they only had doubles. We arrived at 2:40 but Reception made no effort to get us (or a family of 4 who arrived just after us) into a room - although it was apparent the rooms were ready. The air conditioner worked, but we couldn't set a specific temperature. The bathroom had no hand towels (until we asked) and only two pretty old bath towels. No extra towels by the pool. The elevators are old and stopped either above or below the floor level (only by a small amount, but....).

An ols classic buikding with several beautiful inner patios and a decent restaurant (solid, but don't expect wonders). However, the building is old. No hot water before 6am, and a terrible stench coming out in whiffs out of the A/C at night. "Terrible", because it woke us up. We began a new family joke series about the place being hainted by a ghost of someone who ate too many yucatecan bean with chaya. You'll get it when you experience it :)))

By far the worst travel experience of my life, and met the most mean and unfriendly staff ever. We booked 2 rooms and we arrived at 18.30 they claimed that the hotel reserves the right to cancel if you arrive after 18.00. The only mention on both site and confirmations was to inform the hotel if you will be late and we were in an OK window of time and had no one phone connection due to heavy storms. We reviewed all the paperwork and while there are mentions of informing the staff of late arrival there is no clear statement of the hotel having this right to cancel. We had just arrived after a 3 hour drive with hungry children and no sense of empathy was shown. We had to look for something last minute at high season prices and they could not care less and made it blatantly obvious. They even would ignore when talking. After our persistence to find us something at a similar level, they booked us at what they claimed was a similar hotel at 2 blocks distance and gave us instructions on how to get there as our phones had no connections still at this point. Turns out they gave us wrong instructions and put us on a wild goose chase with small kids and luggage in dark alleys putting us in an unsafe position. We went back to the on the hotel with my kids crying because they were afraid and hungry and the night staff and bellmen sent us to the holiday in for double the price

I decided to take a risk with this hotel despite some negative reviews I had read - I'm glad I did. I wanted a hotel that had a rustic feel.. not your typical 'touristy' modern hotel that you can find in any large city, and Hotel Casa Del Balam was precisely what I was looking for. While others may say it is out dated or old, I consider it wonderfully vintage. From the elevator with the classic push-button knobs, to the 80's style phones in the rooms that reminded me of my childhood days visiting grandma in Mexico - this hotel brought old memories back and created new ones I hope to never forget. The staff are all incredibly nice. I think I had a conversation with each one of them and they were always eager to help and answer any of the many questions that I had. They recommended the best restaurants to go to each night, where to find the best souvenirs at the best price, where the best live music was, etc etc One of the staff members (Diego) even offered to personally WALK me down the street and point out the best souvenir shop in town. Then later that evening, the front desk staff gave me directions to a hidden speakeasy that had amazing cocktails. Finally when it was time to return to the US, they made accommodations for a nurse to come to our location and test us for Covid so there was no need to leave our hotel and find a testing location.The staff could not have been any more helpful.