This property needs some major renovations! Our towels had holes in them, the mirror in the bathroom was so oxidized that you could barely see yourself, there is only one yellow light blub in the bedroom that has the wire just hanging there, and I won't even go into the nasty smell that is always in the bathroom area! We were quoted different rates for the internet depending on who you were talking to, lunch or dinner in the restaurant was nasty. The milk products they use are not pasturized (even though they say that they are) and our hamburger was raw and mushy. We walked next door to the Catalina after our first and only nasty dinner at the Sotavento and the Catalina's food is amazing!! The good: I do have to say that the breakfast in the mornings was surprising good and the service was outstanding! Also the location is fantastic. Great snorkeling right outside to hotel and to the right. The outside veranda is nice and the hammocks are a nice touch. I just wish the rooms mirrored the rest of the hotel.

In spite of some of the bad reviews we found this very friendly and spotless hotel to be a refreshing change in the world of big resorts and traditional Mexican hustle. Incredible views, very clean, people were almost like family by the time we left, great breakfast with wonderful views while checking your emails via wireless. It is simple - no AC, screens only but if you enjoy people and value (and safety) - it is a bargain and a treat. Great beach (Ropa) - via 8 floors of stairs - with lively restaurants
You can walk to town – about 1 mile - but is very pleasant. There was no hassle, hustle, bait and switch – just a good place at a fair price.

Just returned from a 10 day stay in Zihua. Originally our reservations were made in March. Luckily I called to confirm a week before we left - the reservation had been lost. The hotel did have room, so we were able to get into the hotel as scheduled. Although we were charged for 4 people, the room was not appropriate for 4. One of our teen boys slept on the chaise from the deck at night since they had us in a room with a king bed and a couch/twin bed. The room was ok, huge bathroom with only a shower, but this was fine for us. Very clean rooms/bath. The hotel apparently does not regularly provide washclothes, and after asking for 2 days at the front desk, we eventually had to ask the maid for the washclothes. The hotel has you sign for beach towls, and will not provide towels after 6pm, so if you sign for them remember to keep a spare for that after dinner swim. The website states that they have wireless access, but it only works in the restaurant/lobby so you cannot access internet service from your room. The 200+ stairs from the beach to the room proved to be too much work after a few days, so we moved to another hotel down the beach. We were on the top floor, so if you needed anything from your room it was quite a trip. We also had some problems with the front desk staff who were very polite on arrival, but not so much after day two, and several requests for things. If I were to go back, I would make sure that it was during the high season when the hotel has more staff, and get a room at the bottom floor. Despite the lack of AC on the bottom floor that area is covered by folliage that povides shade. As for the restaurant, the service was great and the food was good also. The drinks were strong and the view is beautiful. If you were on the bottom floor you would have easy access to all the other wonderful restaurants on the beach - they are easy to access and the food was wonderful at all of them, especially at the Hotel Villa Mexicana, which is a short walk from the Sotavento. You cant miss it - it has a terra cotta color with blue pillars and the infinity pool is right in the front near the beach. This also happens to be the hotel that we moved to from the Sotavento - they have only two levels of the hotel, the rooms are standard, but the view and access are unbeatable - oh, and the infinity pool is perfect for having a drink and watching waves.....this hotel has a full service restaurant on the beach and has lots of palapalas with a beach menu just for sitting in that area....they also have a 2 for 1 happy hour from 5 to 6. Finally, one word of caution - we were approached on the beach by a person who stated that he had a fishing/snorkeling package that included the grilling/etc. of the fish that was caught - this ended up being a fiasco! It was a bait and switch situation where we were taken to another beach where our fish was cooked and the cook was not associated with the fishing trip company - unfortunatly the man who coked never recieved payment from me as I did not bring any cash and was told only to bring a towel...there is a lot more to this story, but please be wary of people selling fishing trips on the beach. Marcos was the name of the persone who we had the misfortune of dealing with. He stated that he was from Papa's Tours. Avoid him.....on the other hand we had a beautiful horse ride on Playa Larga with a man named Ignacio who also appoached us on the beach. It was a wonderful time, and we reccommend this trip. Ignacio regularly walks La Ropa beach wearing his cowboy boots and hat - you wont miss him!
Good luck on your trip to Zihua and have a drink for me!

I had to book here at the last minute (a week before) because I had to go alone and couldn't afford much. I paid a travel agent in Mexico because I was living and working there at the time. I took the bus 8 hours and arrive early, around 8 am. I had no problems checking into my Oceano room. It cost only about 63 USD a night with breakfast. Well when I checked in there were 2 cockroaches in the room. The room itself was dark and had a scary "b" movie lighting.....think a David Lynch movie. Anyways, later I saw a cleaning lady and asked her if it was normal to have cockroaches and she said that it wasn't, that maybe it was because of the pipe cleanings that recently took place (she cleaned them up for me). Well, later the same day I saw a green creature (iguana or lizard like thing) and it was in the toilet bowl!!! Good thing I checked first before sitting down. When I told the hotel people they sent someone to fish it out of my toilet bowl! ( I did try flushing it down first but it wouldn't budge!!) Well I was there 5 days and 4 nights. They let me check out later at 2 pm. The breakfast was OK, but the same foods everyday. I thought the hotel restaurants were OK but some dishes that I ordered were not that great (Sotavento nachos). They had a free book exchange, which was nice. The internet was 5.00 dollars an hour so I went into downtown (about 30 pesos) and used the internet there for 1.00 an hour. Last thing the beach location is really nice.
I should have probably switched rooms but I thought I would stick with it. The hotel staff is helpful which is why I didn't give one star. But I would check out the Catalina next door. I saw one room there with AC and it cost maybe $50 more but I would have prefered to have been over there.