Hotel Rancho Buenavista

We could not wait to leave despite the lovely setting and view of the ocean. I am writing this because I had believed the good reviews on here. NO FOOD!! - The first issue was that we arrived around 6pm to find that the bar was closing at 6.30pm and there was no restaurant. In fact, there was no food or drink available at all, not even snacks like chips. They did have a couple of microwaveable bags of popcorn but that was it. We were then told that there would be no breakfast available the next day either. What type of hotel doesn’t have any food or drink available? We needed extra bottles of water in the evening, but there was no one around and so we had to go without. We’d imagined ourselves drinking a cocktail overlooking the ocean and then eating a lovely meal as per the other reviews on here. What a disappointment! To be fair to the staff they did offer to drive us to a local supermarket to buy ourselves some food for dinner but we’d just been travelling for hours and it was the last thing we wanted to do. The only other response was that we could leave and find someone else but at 6.30pm at night with no alternative close by that was not a good option. A SMELLY ROOM! - The second issue was that the room really smelt of disinfectant. As you walked into the room it was like walking into a public toilet. We assumed that the bathroom had just been cleaned and the smell would go away, but it was actually something in the cistern so every time you flushed the smell was overpowering. The bathroom was unpleasant to be in especially with the overpowering smell. The room itself was decent and had 2 beds plus plenty of space. It could have been nice had it not been so smelly. The sheets were clean but there was a yellow washed in stain on them. We expected this place to be rustic and basic, but this was just unpleasant. We’ve stayed in youth hostels and budget hotels that were nicer than this. The outside furniture was tired, grubby or plain dirty. The pool needs some attention too. I wouldn’t trust it to be clean judging by the pool floor. The bathroom despite the smell of bleach didn’t feel clean either. In the morning, we went for a walk on the beach whilst we waited for an 8am taxi. It’s a lovely beach. We hoped we could get to a local town from it but it’s all private and you really need a car. It didn’t help though that there are signs on the beach pointing to this hotel saying ‘good coffee’ and ‘great food’….. What a shame as the location has so much potential. Luckily we only had to stay one night and then went on to a fabulous hotel further up the coast.