Yuting Z.
Yelp
Delek just passed its one year anniversary, so I have to assume that the opening pain kinks have now been worked out.
First, the good - and there is a lot of good:
- The hotel itself is absolutely gorgeous - everything is made of wood and stone, and we were told that it was all sourced locally.
- The beachfront for this property is similarly gorgeous with white sands and clear waters, and the staff works hard to keep it clear of any sargassum that washes up.
- The staff, also, were some of the friendliest we encountered, and were patrolling the beach area diligently during the daytime to make sure everyone was satisfied.
- Also, the onsite restaurant (at least while we were there) ran some amazing happy hour specials in the afternoon and all the food and drinks we tried were great. Get the chicharron tacos! Get the flan! Get everything!
- There were also several nice touches with the complimentary amenities, including unlimited drinking water, an umbrella, a delicious welcome drink, and tea/coffee and cookies in the morning.
- Location is unbeatable - very close to some of the best bars and restaurants in the resort zone.
Now, the bad:
- There is a serious mosquito population in the hotel, and the repellent they provide in each room is - by their own admission - completely useless. Bring DEET if you want to escape with your sanity intact; I didn't, and left with over 20 bites. It didn't help that they left the windows in the bathroom open and none of the windows have mosquito screens.
- The bathroom water is saltwater, and while it's kind of cool for awhile, our bathroom absolutely reeked of salt water or sewage (perhaps this is why they left the windows open?). Also not great for actually feeling clean after a shower for me, but that's a personal opinion.
- The bathroom had a large skylight, which was very cool to look at, but the room temperature was most definitely not cool as (1) we were afraid to leave the door open due to the aforementioned smell and (2) there is no ventilation otherwise into that room. Even with that precaution, everything we brought into the hotel smells like our bathroom.
- We found several very large dead roaches in our room - basically at a steady rate of one per day. And those were just the visible ones.
- We had a room on the top floor that was near the street, and on our final night (a Friday) there was some kind of drum circle going on from midnight to about 2:30AM - not sure if it was on the property, but noise is definitely a concern if you're a sensitive sleeper.
- There is a fan over the bed which we left on to help with the mosquito issue, but it only ran on three speeds: still, super fast, or blazingly fast. Not great for sleep unless you love a high speed wind blowing in your face.
- They advertise a pool, but it's more like the size of a small tub on a rooftop. It does have nice views of the ocean, but the water didn't seem the cleanest the day that we went.
Sadly, our stay at the Delek ultimately ended up being an itchy disappointment.