Hotel Victoria Oaxaca

Terrible Service & Outdated Damaged Rooms The rooms are very dated and the first room we checked into had a horrible odor of dog urine. We explained the situation to the front desk and they acted like they didn't believe us and made every excuse for the odor instead of taking ownership of the situation. The service here at the restaurant and the service with the housekeeping is very friendly; however, the service at the front desk is very rude and abrasive. Our last day we were here, after spending one week at this hotel, we asked if we could have an extra bag of coffee for our room because we didn't use the coffee on our first day; however, they wanted to charge extra for the coffee. The location of this hotel is a little off the beaten path, but it has a nice view from the top of the hill. Overall, the service here is not consistent with a three-star hotel, the rooms are very outdated with old torn stained carpet, and I'm sure there are better accommodations for far less money and closer to the center of the city at a better location. They do have a shuttle bus that offers you transportation to and from the city which is a very interesting addition; however, the shuttle bus does not pick up on time and does not operate according to the schedule. We were waiting for the shuttle bus 5 minutes before the last scheduled pickup in the city center and it never came, and we were sitting in the rain and got soaking wet. We called the front desk to ask where the shuttle bus was and their response was, is there a group of people waiting their? But it never came. When the whole time, the bus was sitting in front of the hotel because we saw it there non-operational when we arrived. If the front desk agent would have just looked out the door they would have saw that the shuttle bus was sitting there and it wasn't coming to pick it up. I'm not sure if they decided to cancel the shuttle bus that night because of the lack of use or the rain, but it would have been nice if we would have received that information after waiting for 30 minutes for the bus and then having to pay for a taxi. Also, on two separate occasions housekeeping walked into our room while we were sleeping, and they even entered and cleaned our room when we had the do not disturb sign up. We brought many of these concerns to the property management, but nothing was done to correct the situation, there was no follow-up, and our concerns fell on deaf ears. Supposedly, this is one of the best hotels in town, but in our opinion it only leaves much to be desired and great disappointment.

Totally enjoyable The location perched on a hillside overlooking the city can't be beat! It's nicely landscaped compound, with a big, well-kept pool surrounded by a veritable jungle of green. The room was comfy and the AC never let us down. The room was kept clean and fresh. Don't expect a Swiss hotel: This is a classic Mexican hotel, and some details are a little funky. The buffet breakfast is quite good, but the other meals are just okay. It's a ten-minute walk to a variety of excellent restaurants, so breakfast will do! If we return to Oaxaca, I'm sure we'll stay at Victoria again.

Poorly run and money missing from room. Don't book this hotel based on my review below. The hotel is dated, the facilities are also dated, the prices are inconsistent and money went missing from my room. See my email below to the hotel. I feel compelled to write to you to let you know of our experience and honest feedback of our stay at the Hotel Victoria between 30th October to 6th November. On arrival after a delay with our airline we arrived a day late and the initial impressions from your staff were good. We were told about a complimentary bus that operates form the hotel into and out of Oaxaca. We were informed that the bus picks up clients from a different place that it drops clients off. Despite asking three times, we were never informed of where the bus picks clients up from. As a result, we could not use this facility and had to rely on catching taxis to return to the hotel at night. We were also told on arrival that there is room service. Upon calling for room service the next morning, we were then informed that room service is not available before 7am. This was not mentioned on our arrival. Upon arrival, we were also informed that the entire site of Hotel Victoria was a no smoking site. However a few nights into our visit, whilst talking to other guests in the bar, we were informed that they had been told that they could smoke at the entrance to the hotel. It seems that information to clients upon arrival is inconsistent. Our friends that also stayed at Hotel Victoria were located in the main building and had a coffee machine in their room. We asked for a coffee machine for our room and were told that these were not provided to the ‘villas’. As a result, we had to pay for coffee purely due to our room location, whilst our friends in the main building did not. We were staying in one of the ‘villas’ near the pool. On one occasion of going to the restaurant for our morning tea to collect to take back to the room, we were charged extra for a cup of hot water. The following day, we were not charged for an extra cup of hot water. This is not the only occasion there were inconsistencies in some of the payments. Another case of inconsistent payments occurred in the bar, where drinks prices changed on different nights. We eventually asked for a menu so that we could check the prices. On one occasion at the bar, when our drink was served at the table, we were asked by the waiter for a tip. This is not great service at all. On one occasion, we ordered a taxi for 9.00 the following with the staff at the main desk. The taxi arrived at 9.00 at night, the night before we needed it. One of us was in the room ill and as a result was woken by the taxi driver knocking on her door late at night. This is unacceptable for a woman on her own in the room. When we asked if we could change up some American dollars for Mexican currency at the desk, we were informed that there is a limit of only $100 US per day. For a hotel of your size and with many clients from the US, this seems like a very strange limit. We were told to get to the desk before 8am in order to be the first to get the exchange! My final, most important and most distressing feedback is the theft of US currency from our room (Villa 25) which was discovered once we had left your hotel to star the next leg of our Mexico trip. Whilst staying in your hotel, we used only Mexican currency with our US dollars kept in our locked suitcases in the room. As we did not use US currency whilst in Oaxaca, I did not feel the need to check on it. When we arrived at our next destination in Puerto Vallarta, myself and my travelling companion that I shared the room with in Hotel Victoria both discovered that we each had around $90.00 dollars missing. As already stated we had not used this currency whilst in Oaxaca, so did not feel the need to check on it whilst at your hotel. I can only summarise that the theft of the money occurred at your hotel. We both kept our money on us whilst travelling by plane, so the only time the money was left unattended was during our stay at Hotel Victoria. I would appreciate that you look into this and consider some reimbursement of money stolen. Our trip was organised by a very reputable travel company in London and we were to report back to them with any issues as they wanted feedback on our experience. As a result of our experience at Hotel Victoria I will be advising our travel agent not to recommend Hotel Victoria to other people interested in travelling to Oaxaca in the future. I have since received a response from the hotel stating that as the valuables were not in a safe, although they were in a locked suitcase, that 'the hotel is not responsible'. There is not a safe on each room provided.

Great hotel and the friendliest staff The hotel is in a great location, only minutes from all the markets and zocalo. The hotel is very well maintained although it could use some updating in the rooms. However, the beds are very comfortable. The staff is amazing, everyone is always very friendly and ready to help when you need it. We were very pleased with our stay and will definitely be staying here next time we visit Oaxaca.

Luxurious and Wonderful! Luxurious, stunning views from the rooms overlooking the city, clean, amazing pool and fantastic buffet breakfast! We had a great time. The service was sometimes a little testy at the desk and in the restaurant, but otherwise, really made our trip with the family a great balance of luxury and opportunity to explore downtown (though probably want a taxi to the center--it's only a 15 minute walk, but along a busy road).