I am very familiar with Xalapa...now living here. I have stayed in many hotels here. NOTHING was worse than this over-priced disappointment. Believe me there are MUCH better places in Xalapa for half the price. Try ANY decent non-chain hotel, and spend $40-$60 a night for nice big rooms and GREAT service. I don't know what I was thinking about when I decided to stay in a Howard Johnson that costs nearly $100 per night. From the outside it looks like a great place...considered one of the best luxury class hotels in Xalapa.

This place had TERRIBLE service. The staff is rude. The rooms are small with no amenities to match the high price. The pool is ok but the hot-tub is DIRTY no way I was getting in there...but I chose this hotel because they have a hot-tub.

This place is NOT worth the price. There are plenty of friendly, decent places to stay in the city...how this place hasn't gone out of business is a mystery to me.

When we made our reservation through the 800 number, it never occurred to us that a Howard Johnson's would put its name on a property that had no heat. We got there on a very cold afternoon the Saturday before Christmas. We were disappointed in the room because it was very dark and dreary. It's only window looked out onto another window three feet away. There was no closet - merely an open cubbyhole with a rack and some hangers. The television picture was snowy and though they sent someone up to fiddle with it, it did not improve. But the worst thing was the cold. No - it was not that they didn't turn on the heat - there simply was no heating system at all. When I went down to complain, they sent up another blanket. We shivered all night in the room, then cancelled the rest of our reservation and moved to the Hotel Maria Victoria, which I would highly recommend. It had a cheery, spacious room, individual heating and cooling controls, a window looking out onto the volcano and a much more central location. All for about $50 a night - $5 more than we were paying at Howard Johnson's.

Just got back from a circle trip from Mexico City to Puebla, Veracruz, Xalapa and Coatepec. Stayed at the Hojo and booked very inexpensive room through 800#. When we arrived, the bellhop told us we would not be happy with the room, but we looked anyway. It was very small and dark.
Went downstairs and upgraded to a room with a view and was very pleased. Two double beds, lots of space and double balcony overlooking Orizaba Volcano. Well worth the extra money!