In all honesty, I could not recommend Hacienda Temozon to anyone. Sorry to give this hotel a thumbs down.
We stayed at Hacienda Temozon in January 2010 for 5 nights. At arrival, they gave us a room with no terrace, saying that the superior rooms have no private terrace – which was not true – and trying to convince us that our information is not accurate. We insisted on getting a room with terrace, and after a long while they gave us another room with private terrace (room 21). I still don’t know why at first they tried to deceive us, since the hotel was less than 30% occupied.
During our stay, for safety reasons we only ate at their restaurant. The menu did not offer many options, so one day my husband decided to try Cochinita Pibil – a traditional Mexican dish from Yucatan. The next day he started to feel ill - with painful abdominal cramps, diarrhea, vomiting and dizziness. And it got worse by the hour. The Spa Manager, a perfect gentleman and very attentive man, advised me that it is wiser to go to a hospital than wait for the doctor in our room. We went to the nearest hospital, and the diagnosis was: bacterial gastroenteritis (the blood analysis revealed numerous bacterium). We had to stay overnight at the hospital, because my husband was extremely dehydrated, his blood pressure was 90 over 60 mmHg, and he was starting to run a fever. After 24 hours of IV infusions with two strong antibiotics and rehydration solutions, he got better and was released.
When we returned from the hospital to Temozon, we had to extend our stay at the Hacienda for one night, because my husband was in no condition to travel, and it was time to leave. (we also had to postpone our flight back home). More than the other nights, that night was simply a nightmare. My husband could not sleep at all, and neither could I, but he really needed to get his strength back in order to face a 20 hour journey. The room was full of various flies and mosquitos despite the insecticide provided. In the morning, our hands, feet and face were full of red spots from the insect biting. Back at home, he still woke up at night under the impression that he was hearing mosquitos flying around his head. And today, one week later, we still have remnants of the red spots on our feet - I have no idea what nasty bed bugs were those. That night we had another guest in our room - a lizard - looking down on us from the ceiling. When the creature realized we spotted her, she went into hiding, but all night long we heard her crawling between the wooden beams of the ceiling. I must also mention a large scary spider on top of my suitcase, trying to get inside. Obviously, the problem of insects inside the rooms is not handled by the hotel. And I don't understand why it could not be addressed, because other hotels have easily dealt with it. For example, before arriving at Temozon, we stayed for 3 nights at another hacienda. The Master Suite we rented was in the middle of the jungle-like garden, no like our room at Temozon. But there was absolutely NO insect inside, so they must have mastered a method to keep the rooms insect-free. Also, the room was spotless clean, as was the terrace. By comparison, our terrace at Temozon was never cleaned up in all those five days that we spent there - it was dirty, full of leaves, and the chairs and table were full of stains and covered in heavy dust. I can only assume that Hacienda Temozon was badly affected by the drastic reduction of tourism, because the room was not only dark, but in a rather poor condition (for 345 USD per night) and in need of refurbishment. I am attaching some pictures, so anyone can judge for himself. The public grounds are impressive, but the rooms leave a lot to be desired.
As a consequence of the incident, we recommended to the manager of the hotel to exclude the dish Cochinita Pibil from the menu, and to avoid serving it to future guests. We suspect that either the meat was not fresh, or the cooking method allowed bacterial growth. (we travel all around the world and have never been ill before, so something must have been really wrong with that dish).
The staff at the Hacienda was a complete disappointment. Not only that the employees hardly speak English (which is unacceptable for a Starwood Resort), but they are totally detached and completely unaware of what the concept of ''meeting the customer's needs" means. Their polite smile is truly not enough. Nor is the "afternoon courtesy" of changing towels. Unfortunately, what really defines such a resort is missing. If you want anything to be done or to ask something, speaking Spanish is the only way to achieve your goal.
One other thing to be aware of: one night, there was a celebration in the village of Temozon, right in front of the main gates of the Hacienda. It looks like those celebrations are quite frequent (other guests have mentioned them in their reviews). The staff provided us with ear plugs, but it was useless, because the music (which went on until 4 am) was so loud that not only the bed vibrated beneath us, but we could feel our inner organs vibrate as well. So I could also name our stay "Sleepless in Temozon".
Our stay at Temozon was meant to be the highlight of our journey (which consisted of one week in Guatemala and two weeks in Mexico) and we had high hopes when we booked it (the pictures were fantastic and reviews were favorable), but it turned into a bitter experience.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
