Reviews of Fenix Hotel & Hostel

I stayed at Fenix hotel and hostel for 49 nights while volunteering for a coral reef research project. Upon arriving, I was offered to cancel my $10.20 a night ($500 total) cash reservation for $8 a night ($392 total) with Fenix eliminating Booking.com’s fees. I decided to keep my original reservation for accounting purposes and if I had any problems with my stay at Fenix I could contact Booking.com. The dorms are located in the front of the building on the first floor 25 feet from the road which was as loud as a highway from 6am-9pm. The dorm room was equipped with only two large floor fans for six beds (3 bunk beds). Windows were always open for ventilation allowing mosquitoes to pass thru the poor fitting screens to feed on you thru the night. Between the road and the dorm was the outdoor common area for guests which consisted of 2 picnic tables and umbrellas. This is where guests ate, talked on the phone, played music and partied 5 feet from the dorm windows (road+tables=LOUD). The bathroom had 3 sinks, 2 toilets, 1 urinal and 3 showers that regularly clogged and backed up causing you to shower in standing water or overflowed into the hall. There was never a wait to use. The kitchen had a stove, small fridge and microwave with a small 3 seat table. The kitchen was equipped with pots and pans that a second hand store would NOT attempt to sell. There were plenty of utensils and plates but only 2 spoons. If you are a group of four or more you must sit outside for space. The bathroom and kitchen were extremely and frequently cleaned by the 1 Fenix maid. The enclosed back porch which was rarely used had 2 hammocks for guest use with a close drying line out the back door. The second floor were the private rooms which added to the noise cause periodically those guests would play music and move furniture around at all hours of the night.

Even though NO CATS were allowed in the Fenix, there were 2 cats, one of them was 2 months pregnant, that came several times a day to eat under the kitchen counter in the cabinets where cat food was stored. Towards the end of my stay the cat gave birth in the building next door then the mother cat decided to move the kittens under the kitchen counter where the cat food was kept. After 22 nights a guest decided to play music till 2 am which kept everybody a wake. Another night 4 guests slammed their dorm door every time they entered or left their room. There were several other encounters where guests were extremely loud. After complaining to Fenix management, they responded “we can only ask guests to be quiet we cannot enforce” and contacting Booking.com for assistance was no better. You get what you pay for is exactly true. Fenix was only concerned about the quantity of reservations NOT quality of a reservation and Booking.com’s lack of help confirmed I should have cancelled my reservation when I arrived to get the discounted price offered by Fenix. Would I stay again NO, mainly cause there are so many other options on Utila right on the water with little or NO noise.

It perfectly located. Only a 5 minute walk to the ferry dock, passing plenty of shops and places to eat.

I like everything about it.

over a month ago, this old dude from the us moved into the hostel, and now he’s terrorizing everyone. won’t let people turn on the lights, hang stuff on their beds, open doors, or use mosquito repellent. yells at anyone who dares to play music while cooking… at 8 pm. basically acts like the dorm is his private room and everyone else is just intruding. the hostel owners have already asked him twice to leave if he hates it so much, but it’s the cheapest place around, so he keeps booking through booking.com and forcing everyone to deal with him. he’s threatening to leave a bad review and just keeps getting crazier by the day. :) aside from that, the hostel is totally worth the price. quiet, away from party spots but only 3-4 minutes from the main street. solid kitchen, has everything you need for cooking. sometimes the power goes out, but that’s a whole town problem, not just the hostel.

You get what you pay for. Place is good for couple of nights. If you are lucky travelers won't start drinking and partying in from of your room. Place in general is okay.

Staff is not really involved. They do what they have to do but then you never sees them again. At night, noone is controlling so sometimes, some people just stay up till late with speaker in front of the rooms. The room with lockers, those lockers are really bad. You can easily grab things from the other person as lockers are not well divided inside. Definitely not the place I felt the most comfortable leaving my technology...

Good location walk to anywhere and right on path to Pumpkin

One night there was an all night party in the garden and thought it was a bit expensive for the room.

Okay location

Unfriendly staff, unclean

It’s easy to be social here

The showers are like at the reception, feels a bit exposed.

Room was nice, bed was comfy, and good Wi-Fi. Staff were kind. There was a ventilator in the room.

There were 2 used soap bar and some hair left on the soap holder in the shower from the previous guests. The room was really hot, and the water pressure not existent.

The aircon in the dorm, the refurbished bathroom. Staff were friendly. Good value for money.

Nothing

AC included

No Glas windows so you hear everything from outside No warm water in the shower, found long dark hair in the room, so it was not very clean

It was a pretty nice place

The shower I had to yuppie toe to reach the handle to open and close water since it's on next to shower head.

Clean rooms, nice kitchen, show walk from the main street

Open Bathrooms right in front of the dorms, showers didn't drain at all and didn't have anywhere to dress up after getting out, small bathrooms as well, showers were not clean either

Location is good and great for meeting with people staying at Mango Inn. The toilets and showers were fine, always clean. Very handy to have a kitchen with fridge. There's a plug, shelf and light for each bed and the mattresses were very confortable. Also nice sturdy beds.

No water to refill your bottle. The dorms get very hot as there are 6 beds but only 3 fans. On the top bunk it gets so so hot, it's stifling. It's bearable with the windows and curtains open (but you get woken up by either the sunlight in the morning and/or by traffic noise or other guests sitting on the benches outside the window). Also, the reception staff were never there so if you need to extend your stay before a morning dive you'd have to do it via booking.com.

Location is great. No drinking water or towels. Bring what you need.

Broken toilet and shower. No marking on food in fridge. Some had been there for a while.