We arrived at the Hotel Del Bosque on Monday, and switched hotels on Wednesday.

Our assigned room, (242) smelled very musky, but we thought we'd adjust...all we wanted was a shower after traveling all night, however, there were NO towels anywhere. The nightstand clock, the light in the bathroom, and the hair dryer did not work. We had to open the door to air the room out, but it still gave me a headache. We contacted the desk staff to get some towels. They seemed to be surprised that there were no towels. I also told them that the clock did not work, nor did the light. They brought us some towels and a staff person, Carlos, arranged for someone to look at the light and clock.

We determined that we could not adjust to the strong musky smell so we asked to switch rooms. Room 241 smelled much better, had a working clock and lights, but no hairdryer. Of note, staff continued to "air out" room 242 all day. My headache went away and we were okay with the room. However, the "bad" news doesn't end there...

I would say that the hotel sits right on the train tracks, if I didn't know any better. The screeching train went right through our room at 12:30 a.m., 5:30 a.m., 7:30 a.m. and several times throughout the day. We also had some noisy neighbors who we could hear through the paper thin walls...oh, and the floor shakes! Yes, the floor actually shakes - we never did figure out why it was shaking, but it was comparable to having restless leg snydrome while sitting in the chair. It was weird. It shook even when the trains were not coming by. It may have been the traffic?

Our decision to change hotels came early and we would have moved after one night, but we missed the check out time. Additionally, the hotel desk staff were unfriendly and not helpful at all. They could not provide us with any visitor information except some vague map of the city. The restaurant food was less than mediocre. There was nothing of interest within walking distance. The pool was very cold and there were many tree droppings in the water, despite the staff's efforts to keep it clean.

The price was $880 pesos/night (approximately $88) and very over priced. I would say that the only helpful staff person we identified was Carlos. He helped us get a taxi, attend to the room issue, assisted us with our luggage, and exchanged our dollars into pesos.

There were a few good things about Hotel Del Bosque... The grounds were well-maintained, as they had beautiful plants, lots of shade, and comfortable patio furniture. They watered their grass and garden areas and it was beautiful and peaceful (until the train went by). There was a gazebo in the garden that was nice as well. The air conditioning worked well in our room. The buses run nearby, if you know where you're going. Some of the staff speak English and Spanish and the restaurant staff seemed pleasant enough. There is a small gym available next to the pool. The pool looked nice, but was just cold, probably due to so much shade, and had the tree droppings in the water, which was inevitable. They claimed that their water was potable/drinkable. We received one bottle of water per day with the room.

We asked a Guadalajara friend of ours about other hotels in the area and were told we were paying too much and we checked out some other options. We may have stuck it out if the the service would have been better, but I would not recommend this hotel, nor will I be back to stay at this hotel.