Casa Antonieta

Can't say enough wonderful things about the hotel property. We loved the architecture and design of the building with its open, soaring courtyard filled with lush leafy plants. Coming in off the street feels like entering a little, cool oasis. The connecting coffee shop has stellar drinks and snacks, highly recommend. Our room was lovely, super comfortable beds, spacious bathroom, thoughtful amenities like robes and slippers, two luggage racks, etc. Plenty sockets for charging devices. Air conditioning worked almost too well! We didn't spend that much time in the room because we were out and about, but had we stayed longer it would've been a lovely place to hang out and recharge. Hotel location is great, it's central and close to everything we wanted to walk to in the city. It's also right next door to the Museo Textil de Oaxaca which you can't miss!

The concierge Luis negatively affected our experience. First, we needed assistance planning a day trip to sites around the city. We stated we're open to taking public transportation wherever possible, but he insists we need a driver to be efficient with time. That's valid, but then he tells us that our Spanish was not good enough and we would need a driver who speaks English. That was rude; we are tourists, I'm not sure why fluent Spanish is required especially because we weren't asking for a guide. Our Spanish is good enough to name places, state wait times, make basic small talk. What more would we need? But, we deferred to his expertise and went along with it. Second, he was not forthcoming about crucial information such as the driver's hourly rate, who to pay and when, if we should cover the driver's lunch etc, so we had to ask repeatedly which made us feel uncomfortable about the whole transaction. Again, we went ahead because he made it sound like it was impossible without a driver. Lastly, we were concerned we couldn't make it to all the places we wanted to see in one day, but he told us we could fit it in. Our driver the day of (who was nice but perfunctory) told us he was incorrect, and we had to rapidly modify our plans in the car. We chose fairly common touristic sites - this should have been a no-brainer to get right. This entire experience left an awful taste in my mouth. No one wants to feel like they're getting duped. To add insult to injury, I was not given a printed invoice/bill with the fee charged for our stay when I asked. I've never been in a hotel where this was not a standard practice.