Baldwin's Guest House Cozumel

We stayed here 4 nights as part of a much longer birding trip around Mexico and Belize. The B&B is set in grounds with some nice trees and shrubs, a pleasant swimming pool and an outdoor bar / kitchen area which guests can use. But there was lots of dog poo around the garden and it was rarely picked up. The kitchen wasn't very clean. The location is good, c15 min's walk to the town and with a few restaurants, shops and bars nearer. The rooms are nicely finished in wood, with colourful ceramics, air con, a fan and a clean bathroom and bedding; but there was a lot of dust elsewhere. The shower ran cold after a short time and the flow wasn't very strong. We had booked well in advance, but a few days before we were due to arrive, the host contacted us and said she had made a mistake and we needed to change rooms part way through our stay. We agreed to do this but when we were there, we were given no warning, and came back to our room to find belongs moved to a new room. It wasn't until later that we were given details of the new room and then we found lots of our belongings hadn't been transferred and we had to go and retrieve them. Then after settling in, we couldn't lock the door and had to call the host who seemed somewhat inpatient to respond and assured us that there was a knack to locking it. She showed us, and I simply pushed the door gently and it opened. She tried again, and the same thing happened. She asked one of the long term guests to fix it and he tried but couldn't and then she offered us a different (better) room, which we accepted. Two days later the maintenance man was still trying to fix it. The place is full of dogs and they're not very well controlled. One in particular , persistently jumped up at us when we arrived and the host seemed unable to stop it (it calmed down a bit later). Another jumped on our bed and the host made no attempt to stop it. Breakfast is served for everyone at 08.30 (no flexibility) and everyone is encouraged to sit around the table and have a chat. It was a minimalist affair, eg a tiny portion of (egg) tortilla or a fried egg (with nothing else) and a small bowl of chopped fruit and yoghurt. Not a slice of toast in sight! Wifi was poor. There was too many negatives here to score it above average.

It had been awhile since we had stayed in a B&B where part of the fun is getting to meet other guests and share stories over breakfast. We simply loved the cast of characters who were staying at Hannah’s place. Hannah is a delightful host who went out of her way to accommodate my many requests to make my wife’s birthday a special one. It is such a different experience than one would find at one of those fancy beachside hotels - and we were so happy to have found this gem.