C B.
Yelp
Beware of an underhanded overcharge on your room rate if you used a major booking website for this hotel that quoted your rate in a currency other than the local one. The hotel will apply an inflated higher exchange rate to convert your bill into pesos and then overcharge upon check out. They'll also run you through some hoops if you ask for that money back. They will say this is just their normal policy but IMO it effectively did not honor the discounted rate I had agreed to on booking, at least not until after frustrating hoops I should not have had to go through.
I booked through Hotels.com. On booking, I was quoted in USD and offered a choice of paying right away through Hotels.com or paying later at the hotel. I chose to pay later. This was a mistake, as had I paid through the booking website, I would have gotten my agreed to rate and not had to deal with this.
Everything about this hotel was fantastic initially - the location was central, the service friendly, room comfortable, and what appeared to be an almost too-good-to-be-true deal (all inclusive coffee shop, good room rate, etc).
Check out was smooth but no disclosure of their "policy" to use their own made-up exchange rate on the basic room charge, this would only happen after I questioned the charge.
After check out during the ride to the airport, my card was charged about 10% higher than the receipt from Hotels.com said I should have been. I emailed asking why the charge was higher than expected. Reception along with answering some other questions replied that I had owed X $ USD (correct amount), to which they applied an exchange rate of 19.5 pesos to 1 USD and had then charged in pesos. They then - in what was either deliberate gaslighting or an honest mistake - suggested maybe my credit card had applied additional fees or used a higher exchange rate. They initially did not offer to correct the problem. We went through some more frustrating back and forths.
I then realized what happened: 19.5 to 1 was an inflated exchange rate. The real one was around 18. My emails then shifted to a more abrupt tone, I pointed this out and more firmly demanded a correction. I said I'd be back in CDMX the next day and if no refund, I'd pop by in person to speak to a supervisor.
The hotel replied that sorry, it was their policy to use that higher rate, but offered to "grant an exception" (oh, how nice) and give me a refund. *Buried at the bottom of the email was a request to fill out a PDF form first.* My eyes initially overlooked that part and I assumed I would just be getting my $$ back shortly. I think I just wanted a reason not to have to trek back to the hotel on the last day of the trip and read what I wanted to read in that email. Little did I know, all they needed was my physical card to scan again, not paperwork. Had I known this and had I noticed the "only if you submit this form" condition, I would have marched back there.
A week went by, still no refund. I emailed again, now even more pissed off. I also noticed several reviews on Google citing the same problem and began including the person (the manager, Ingrid) who responds to those.
Reception replied that I needed to submit that form if I wanted a refund. I was so frustrated at this point, I didn't even want to look at what the PDF was asking for.
Ingrid at this point intervened in the email chain, was pleasant in interact with, but said than I needed to supply my bank info for them to issue the refund (that's what the PDF was asking for). As this wasn't needed to make the initial charge and I was already super suspicious, I refused. We had two back and forths. After the second, they said they needed the bank information *for lack of being able to scan the actual card* - something that could've been disclosed back when I actually could've still given it to them.
The charge is now going to dispute claims, largely because I'm suspicious as hell at this point (underhanded billing tactics) and don't want to give further bank further bank information.
Shame b/c the hotel was awesome otherwise and it was clear their other departments were going above and beyond.
Attached is a sample of the extensive dozen or so emails back and forth I had with their customer service: