I traveled with a large group last weekend to Playa Esmeralda. When our group received our rooms, there was a problem with every one of them: Locks on doors broken, air conditioner broken, no electricity, no hot water. One of our group members got trapped in their bathroom for 3 hours as a result to the lock on the bathroom door being broken.
This same person tried to alert the security that he was stuck, and was seen, but ignored. When we reported this to the front desk, the were aware of the lock being broken, but failed to report it to us before hand.
Then came the prostitutes. Pimps were in and out of the lobby all day switching out prostitutes for old men. A majority of our group were young girls and they feared for their safety. We had travel in groups of three for lack of safety, both exhibited by the security guards indifference and the lobby's lack of interest.
As we were finally leaving, we reported the prostitution to the front desk, where they informed us that, "these people are an agency, much like your group. All in all, its dangerous, dirty, run-down, indifferent and contains staff that do not care about their business. We usually stay here with our short term mission teams. It's not a 5 star or probably even a 3 but they have been accommodating and have been safe. This trip I do not know what happened. The hotel was obviously being used for prostitution and nothing was working right.
One of our missionaries got locked in the bathroom because a door broke and one room the front door did not lock. Do,not stay here. It looks like the Boca Chica problems are moving into Juan Dolio. Unfortunately, you can find a better place for a similar price. Staff was pleasant, it was clean and well cared for, a small property.
