I booked a week at this hotel last winter for our trip in March 2011. We ended up getting a deal at a fancy resort so I cancelled our reservation at Hotel Encino. One day before I cancelled (which was only about 3 days after I booked the reservation) they charged my credit card the whole price of the trip which works out to be about $650 CAN. That was almost a year ago and I still haven't gotten my money back. I filed a claim with VISA and they talked to the hotel who said that they already refunded my money. The won't return calls or emails to me. Don't ever go here - they do not deserve tourist dollars.

I'll second the previous reviewer who said they wouldnt recommend this place to their worst enemies. aside from the myriad problems and scam, its not even a good value compared to places of the same price closer to the beach and restaurants.

Made a reservation online to stay here for vacation with my boyfriend in January after our reservation at Posada de Roger was unexpectedly cancelled at the last minute with no warning (gave credit card # and exp date, but not security code. careful not to make this mistake!).
When we got there, the staff was extremely disorganized- basically their front desk was a pile of loose papers on a desk. They couldn't find our reservation, and the girl at the front desk spent about 15 minutes slowly and aimlessly shuffling papers around. Showing them our confirmation on my smart phone didn't seem to make any impact. Finally found us a room and we waited for them to "clean" it. I was expecting no frills, and have stayed in some really budget places all over latin america, but this place didnt even have a hint of a frill. The room was pretty ugly, giant whole in the ceiling, wires coming out and hanging down from the tv, bed was like a concrete slab with some old balled-up kleenexes for sheets. the bathroom was horrid, the shower exploded all over the floor, bath mat was balled up in the corner and reminded me of a dirty trash can liner. Dont even think about a place for your toiletries. also, there are open vents in the wall leading out to the courtyard, so we heard EVERYTHING that EVERYONE was doing out there, as well as our neighbors in the next room. Did have a nice balcony though, and the AC worked very well. Though it seemed like it would be very close and convenient to all of the old pv attractions (beach, restaurant), it was a little more of a schlep to the beach than we thought it would be, and definitely felt longer when carrying all our beach-day gear.

Though uncomfortable and not an enjoyable place to stay for a vacation, we could have made it work if we thought we had to. We decided to look for another place on our second day, and told the nice young guy at the front desk we would be leaving the next day. I asked him if it was okay, and if he could refund the remaining days and he said yes, sure, and told me that it would just be 24 hours before the charge was reversed. Satisfied, we booked the rest our our nights at a much nicer place right in the middle of everything for about $10 more a night (casa dona susana- the room was musky but it was much better, super comfy bed and clean bathroom, wifi, very quiet, tv with a remote, and proximity to the beach, plus 2 nice pools and access to all of the perks of their sister hotel, playa los arcos, which is across the street at the beach. overall a MUCH better place to spend a romantic vacation. also, adults only!)

the next day, however, when we tried to check out, the girl (the useless shuffling one from the first day) told us we would not be refunded the money for the rest of our cancelled stay. There was no sign of the guy from the day before, and I had no way to prove that we had spoken and given notice (this isnt exactly a place that believes in receipts) we had a long argument about it (in spanish) during which i showed them their policy online which states that cancellations made without 24 hour notice will be charged a day, but there was no sign of what she was telling me, which was that they don't refund at all once you check in. I would take it up with the bank, but because they didn't even give me a receipt when we checked out, theres no way to prove that we indeed left early. when i told her that i had been told the previous day that we would be refunded, she simply said "well, i guess he was misinformed." by that time we had already booked and paid for another room at the new place, and couldn't cancel. ended up paying for 2 hotels because this place went back on their word.
wouldnt return even if they hadn't scammed us.

Been here three times. Easy to get around downtown. I'll be back.

The room was unsafe. Hole in door frame by lock. Door to balcony had 3/4" gap with very small sliding lock. Very dirty. The towels were stain as was the bedding. The wash room and shower were so dirty we felt dirty just washing our hands. We didn't even stay the first night and they refused to refund any money as we had booked for 21 days on the internet, We would not recommend this hotel to our worst enemies.