Guiselle Castro

Recomiendo bien este lugar, calido y limpio, tarifas para nacionales comodas. Cahuita es un parque especial para pasar en familia y descansar

April 20, 2018

Josue

I do not recommend this place at all. A group of 4 of us arrived at 10pm in Cahuita because there was terrible traffic. Because we had seen the place online before, we went straight there. We asked the lady to show us the room for 4 people and asked her how much it would be for 2 nights. After going in the house to ask an older lady how much the room was (even though she is the one who runs the hostel), she said, “$32 dollars for 2 nights”. We said this is really a bargain it’s only $8 dollars per person and discussed the price in front of her and decided to stay. On our last day, we asked if we can pay to stay until 4pm because we had bus tickets for that time and she said it was no problem. When we were leaving, we asked for the lady and a man there said she had left and that she said we had to pay $68 dollars. We said that is not what we had agreed on, and the man started saying, "I have no reason to steal from you." We asked him to call the lady and clear up the price. When he called her, he spoke to her in Creole saying that we didn't want to pay for the room and that we wanted to steal from them. He passed the phone to me saying that she wanted to talk to me, and she started screaming at me on the phone saying that “you people always do this, don’t make me go there with the police”. I told her that this was my first time there and that whatever other people had done in the past has nothing to do with me, all I wanted was to sort out the situation. She kept on screaming and saying that her conscience was clean and that we were trying to steal from her. Then, she said you need to pay me $86. I told her, you told us $32, the man you left to charge us just said $68, and now you’re saying $86. She said that we had originally told her 1 night, and then the second day told her another night, and then we wanted to stay even more time, when we only talked to her the first night and then the last morning to extend the stay a few hours.

To avoid any other problems (and because we were almost going to miss our bus) we paid $86 for a small room with 4 beds and a very small bathroom for 2 nights and 4 additional hours. They did not even offer a receipt or any proof of purchase making it seem even sketchier.

I don’t think they are bad people, but they definitely need to learn how to run a business. I would like to think that there was a misunderstanding and that we just didn’t communicate well. But I’m completely bilingual in English and Spanish, so there is no real room for misinterpreting any of the conversations. This, unfortunately, was the last interaction we had in Cahuita before leaving, obviously leaving a sour taste in my mouth.

If there is room anywhere else, I would recommend not staying here.
I get this is a family business and that in the Caribbean things are more relaxed and less formal. But when it comes down to business, you need to be professional. The way this lady was with us is anything but professional. If you are thinking of staying there, double check everything and get things in writing from this woman, or she just might “forget” about what she talked about with you before and threaten to bring the police.

November 30, 2015