Guest User
January 4, 2023
I had the distinct displeasure of staying at Hush Maderas in late December of 2022 for four nights. I was seduced from afar by the promise of a serene retreat perched on a hilltop overlooking the Pacific surf far below, where I could relax and recuperate after a long work year and extended travel through the colonial cities of Nicaragua. The view was exceptional, but that did not make up for the deteriorated state of Hush. Management was sympathetic, but ultimately powerless to improve the conditions of my stay or make any meanigful offers of compensation for my discomfort and aggravation. Their best offer amounted to a 7% discount on my overall stay—I declined out of principle. To add insult to injury, they added a 4.5% surcharge for using a credit card to pay. Am I supposed to be carrying $700 in cash around Nicaragua? On check-in, my wife and went into our room after a long day of travel and closed the door. Unfortunately, the lock mechanism jammed and we could not get the door open, no matter how hard we tried. The room was also cursed with no secondary means of egress. We became frazzled and called the front desk repeatedly with our cell phones as there was no room phone. No one answered. We shouted and pounded on the room door, but nobody heard us because of the nightly music / sunset party. After forty-five minutes of stress, another guest wandered along and got the front desk to help. Mamagement admitted that they knew about the problem, but hadn't been able to fix it for two months. The same issue happened to us again a few nights later. A whole host of other problems plagued my stay, which I will list below for anybody still seriously considering staying here. I wish I had never booked this place, and I would never stay here again because it's poor value for money. With perfect hindsight, I should have given Playa Hermosa a try. I would go to Hush for a drink, enjoy the view, and then stay somewhere else. I did try to contact the two absentee Canadian expat owners, but they weren't interested in talking about it. I hope they get their act together before the place deteriorates further. In my mind, this fine establishment will always be known as ‘It Sucks Maderas'. On the bright side, my wife did get one free twenty dollar massage. Some further issues I noticed during my stay: • The neighbouring house blends into the hotel property because there is no delineation or signage. I inadvertently wandered into the neighbour’s outdoor kitchen. • I was given the offer to move to another room for $20 extra per night, but there was no air conditioning in the new room. I declined. I would have moved to a different hotel, but everything was full. • I watched the pool guy work one morning for an hour. Ten minutes of sprinkling chemicals and scooping up debris and fifty minutes of chatting with the kitchen staff. He worked a lot harder on the day management was physically present. When was the last time the hotel changed the pool water? It looks