I booked this hotel based on it's website - it had beautiful photos and seemed to be a lovely hotel. This actually turned out to be the worst place we stayed in a month-long trip throughout Mexico. I don't like writing lots of negative things, but I have to be honest about my experience at San Leonardo.
The building itself is lovely, particularly the lobby, as it is apparently a historical mansion that has been converted into a hotel. It is kept very clean, and in excellent condition. But we were appalled by the attitude of the staff working there. With one exception, the reception staff and the restaurant staff were unhelpful and unfriendly, bordering on disdainful towards us. We thought that this may have been because we were a little travel worn and dusty when we first arrived, (all the other travellers there were particularly well heeled) but this did not improve at all over the 2 nights we stayed there. Even though our spanish was not fantastic, we still attempted to speak it, and could not understand why we were being treated so poorly. We had just come from the Hilton, where we were not treated any differently for being dressed down, so this came as quite a surprise.
If we asked for directions to anything in particular, the female reception staff seemed to smirk at each other, give each other 'looks' and give incredibly vague directions. They behaved more like high school girls with an attitude problem than professional hospitality personnel.
They made us wait for an hour after check in time before our room was ready, and would probably have let us sit in the lobby all evening, had not this one particular staff member seen us waiting and pushed for us to get access to our room.
The room itself was very characterless and bland, with cream coloured, plain furniture and nothing on the walls. The acoustics are particularly bad, so the noise travels to the rooms at all hours.
The room service food was the worst I have ever experienced anywhere, seemed like recycled old food they microwaved and put on a plate. My partner ordered a burger and the meat inside was completely raw.
This hotel was a terrible disappointment, and I would strongly suggest to other travellers to select another of the many hotels in the area (and even on the same street) before choosing this one.
- Holiday Inn Puebla
- Puebla Holiday Inn
