Basic and disappointing
I am not the type of person to write bad reviews but, I want to warn others about this hotel and Sayulita beach. We went by all the 5 star ratings here on Sayulita Life and I wish we felt the same way about out stay at Azulpitaya. First I want to say the pool and cleaning staff were friendly and hard-working. The location has a potential to be excellent with beautiful views right on the beach. Pluses: * Pool and breakfast staff, friendly. Coffee was decent, we only tried the breakfast chilaquile platter which was okay, service was slow sometimes though. * Poolside guacamole was good, although inconsistent (eg. they told me they ran out of ingredients) * Was fun seeing the "residential" iguanas * Walking distance to beach * I recommend walking to the north end of the beach which is much more quiet and peaceful. But, the whole bay is contaminated so I don't recommend swimming in there. Biggest disappointments: * The location is past the bridge crossing the town river which is contaminated and dirty * Upon checking in you are given a wristband which has to stay on you the whole time. When I asked to loosen it and switch it to the other wrist after feeling irritated wearing it a few days the front desk lady told me I could not unless I paid $10. I told her I didn't know that and she told me that I should have told them which wrist when they first put it on. I had never stayed at a place where I had to wear a wristband 24 x 7. It felt very rude and condescending. She begrudgingly said in a stern voice "Ok, this time I will give you one but, if you ask for another one it will be $10." Not the most hospitable happy vacation vibes. * The room is basic, clean; felt like an apartment. Don't expect anything special and you'll be fine. * The couches which are advertised as beds are more suitable for kids and uncomfortable * The cloth drapes were difficult to open/close. * The patio door had to be opened with a key and the stopper was difficult to use. It would get stuck so it was hard to keep it open. The person who brought us to our room had to kick it several times to put the stopper back up so we could close the door. * Theoretically, we probably could have slept with the door open to hear the waves but, the smell of burning trash every day was annoying. * Part of the appeal of booking a place on the beach is enjoying the beach. There is a roped off section for lounge chairs just for Azulpitaya, I guess one of the perks of wearing that annoying pink/blue wristband but, for the whole resort they only had 6 cracked plastic lounge chairs. There were several more comfortable chairs up at the pool but, if you wanted to get away from the club music starting at around noon every day, the "private beach" area would have been nice. Unless you want to grab chairs early, you probably wouldn't get one, and they said that's all they had...6 for their entire resort. So, we book our towels and sat on the public beach where you could pay about $12 for a chair from a beach vendor, which we did not do. * Several members of our family got horribly sick, with Montezuma's Revenge. We eventually learned that there was a sewage leak in the bay so a lot of people were getting sick. I asked why they didn't post signs to say the beach was closed, we were told it was because they didn't want to scare away tourists. How horrible. * In the evening when my husband got deathly sick, I went to the front desk for help and he didn't speak any English and my minimal Spanish didn't help much. I asked if they had any medicine or first aid and he said no. I had to find my way to town, crossing the gross contaminated river over planks and wood, and the pharmacy he told me was open turned out to be closed. Without going into too many details, the experience was horrible. It made me realize that the next time we book we will make sure there is 24x7 english-speaking concierge service and know ahead of time what medical facilities are available if we need them. Thank God it wasn't something too serious. Eventually he called a manager who spoke English. She told me my options were to call an ambulance at St. Luke's or take a taxi there because no doctors were working that night. * We prepaid for our room, and asked for a refund when we decided to move early, once my family members could get out of bed. They were really really sick. I am taking no joy in writing this review and I've written enough to explain why I'm leaving a poor review. I actually don't enjoy recalling the disappointing experience. There's more I can share but, I just don't want to. I hope the town of Sayulita literally cleans up their act and I'm disappointed they did not clean the beach. I'm disappointed that Azulpitaya did not make any effort to protect their guests by advising them not to swim in the bay. It is not their fault that there is a sewage leak but, they could have told all of us to stay out of the water. We left early, booked the remaining days of our trip at Punta de Mita, and fortunately recovered enough to enjoy our final days of vacation. I hope this review helps those of you considering this hotel and Sayulita. Go beyond the marketing photos and videos. it's better to be honest and transparent.
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