“Excellent value. Great rooms! Wonderful views.”
More than 60 friends and family just attended a January 26, 2008 wedding on Playa La Ropa. Traveling alone, I was the only person who chose to stay at Casa Buenaventura and could not have made a better choice. The rooms are simple, elegant, airy, immaculate, secure, and extremely comfortable. Laura did a great job with the design details including little decoupage key holders that match the room numbers that match the painting on the coffee table that tie in with the wall trim. I’m guessing my room was more than 450 square feet . The ceilings were 12 - 15 ft.
In terms of value for dollar, at about $120/night, I had the best deal of everyone attending the wedding (see end of post for comparisons).
Every room in the hotel has a balcony and a knock-out view of Zihuatanejo Bay and La Playa Ropa. The pool is refreshing and a great place to unwind if you don’t want to spend the whole day on the beach. (They do have a towel service there).
I stayed in Room #1.
The bedroom area was spacious with a huge, comfortable, king-sized bed. It was firm, but in a good way: I could not have slept better (I’m 5’3”, 124 lbs, so if it was too firm, I would be sensitive to that).
The bedroom also has a small wardrobe and closet that were more than adequate for all my clothes. The walls are made of concrete and plaster. I loved the poured concrete floors with polished rock trim.
There is real glass AND screens on the windows and sliding glass doors. Unlike a lot of other accommodations in Zihua, I never heard a peep from the other rooms. The air conditioning, on the two occasions I used it, rocked! Many of the accommodations in this price range in Zihua do not have A/C, so if you’re sensitive to heat, this is something to keep in mind. Most of the time I opened the bathroom window and sliders. The 2 ceiling fans do a good job moving air around, especially if you open the bathroom window and the sliders. You might want to refer to the high speed on the fans as the “hurricane” setting as they do a good job of blowing paper and loose plastic bags around the room if you’re not careful).
Some of the posts mentioned construction noise, but it sounded more like dishes being done quite some distance away. I barely noticed it (especially with the fans or AC turned on). The traffic noise from the street was not that bad (and quite funny as the Mexicans drive around in these little ice cream like trucks with loud speakers blasting I have no idea what…. Religion? Politics? ) That said, I was barely in my room during the day. I was mostly out exploring the town/beach/water.
The living area can easily accommodate a group of 8 people on the L-shaped couch alone. There is also a small desk for writing and a cube fridge like college kids use. I didn’t bring my laptop because I don’t think there is Internet connectivity. If that is indeed the case it would be a great asset to add (and may make it a lot more attractive to business travelers… and people who want to check on flight status… mine was 3 hours late).
The bathroom is more than adequate. While it took a couple minutes to get hot water to the room, it was available when I wanted it. The shower stall has a pull-out clothesline which is super convenient if you travel light like I do. I purchased a bucket in town for $1.20 USD and was able to wash and hang dry my clothes quite easily.
As you’ve seen from the prior posts on Trip Advisor, breakfast is included. You can get a good hot breakfast at Paty’s just a few blocks away for $5-$7 in the morning, but I was much happier with my coffee, granola, yogurt, and fresh fruit that was not only delicious, it was included in the price of the hotel room. Plus, CVB does have a hot menu and the prices are quite reasonable - $5 and you get the fruit , granola, and coffee included :^)
As for the staff, the rooms were clean and the service top notch. They did not speak English, but the manager, Laura, does. While Laura is not around a lot (she does graphic design) we exchanged notes on a pad on the “front desk”. I’d drop a question off before I left for the beach in the morning, and she would always leave an answer for me by the time I got back from my day (usually 4 or 5PM).
On the last day when I had asked for late check-out, I did not expect any room service at all. Much to my surprise there were clean towels for my pre-flight shower and a fresh bottle of water for the trip to the airport. All in all, a very nice touch.
Location wise, Casa Buena Ventura is only a couple blocks from the beach. As a female traveling alone, I never felt unsafe walking from the beach at night to my room. I’d pass from the beach, through the Villa Mexicana lobby, up a fairly well lit street, past the taxi stop (where the cab drivers would call me by name* and tell me to “be safe”), around the entry of the Carolina Hotel, and across the street to Buena Ventura. (Note: I spent a lot of time “torturing” the taxi drivers and a plasterer called Augustine in a vain attempt to improve my remedial Spanish skills. )
I tried including a list of how Casa Buenaventura compared with accomodations at other places my friends stayed, but Trip Advisor kicked back the review, most likely because I did not personally stay there (I simply viewed and compared rooms where friends were staying). That said, for the $, it was quieter, had A/C, was a lot nicer, bigger, and had breakfast included. Some friends stayed in very ritzy places, but I think CBV was much better value for the $ (and just as good for sleeping). If you want to spend more $, give it to the Humane Society in town :^)
Lastly, the hotel is right on the bus route (50 cents to get into town) and you generally wait less than a minute for a taxi ($3.50 if you want air conditioning and a private, direct ride).
I would not hesitate to recommend Casa Buenaventura to any able bodied person not afraid of walking a few blocks or doing 2- 4 flights of stairs (nothing compared to many of the hotels).
P.S. To find CVB, it's on the main drag to Playa La Ropa. You'll pass the Intrawest and the Sotavento. It's about .3 miles past the Sotavento, on the left, just before the big dolphin statue, across from the Carolina. The most descriptive thing about the building is that it is white and has about 5 covered parking stalls (not much to look at from the road, but the treasure is inside the gate).
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
