I have been putting this review off for awhile, partly because we have had a lot happen since Memorial Day weekend, and partly because I didn't know what to say. Here's a brief synopsis of our trip:
- I purchased our La Giralda room on an auction site called skyauction.com last November. I confirmed and paid for the room within a few days of winning. Our room was confirmed twice with hotel before our trip in May 2016. I wanted to let the hotel know our flight info so they could make sure to pick us up from the airport, and emailed them a couple of times before our trip. I received an email back the day before we left, confirming someone would pick us up from the airport. We were picked up as promised, and taken to hotel by boat. (the only way to get there) Once we got to the island, we were escorted to the office where we were told we hadn't paid for our room, and they didn't know we were coming until my confirmation email that Monday. The Manager told us there was nothing he could do, so the "owner" came in and told us it was skyauction's fault. (He later blamed his old employee of stealing the money). I offered to talk to skyauction on the phone, but they said no. They decided to honor the payment we had made, and then escorted us to the room we had booked, which was a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom oceanfront. They told us dinner would be at 7, and that was it. No key was provided, because apparently you don't "need" a key at La Giralda. (WHAT?!) The best part is, we were locked out of the second room by the 3rd night. It wasn't made up anyway, so we weren't using it, but I did find it odd. (Maybe someone else was rooming in there?) Once escorted to dinner, we were asked if we wanted to pay an "all inclusive" price of $70 USD per person. Since there weren't any prices on the menu, I asked how much dinner would be, which the "owner" replied "Ummmm around $50 USD". We decided to go with the all inclusive package, since we didn't want to get hustled the rest of the trip. The next day we went down to the beach, which was beautiful but hard to swim in due to the sea grass. Once we finally relaxed, I started to feel bug bites all over my body. These are sandflies. I had read about them, and had brought bug spray just in case, but no one had prepared us for the torture we were about to endure. We basically looked like we had the chicken box by the end of the day. The rest of our 3 days remained the same, with lots of sandflies. We were tipping chef every night, which was well deserved, and made sure to keep enough currency available to pay our all inclusive tab at the end. I was asked to head to the office the afternoon before we left. That's when I was hit with a huge bill. Instead of charging us $70 usd a day, they charged us $75. They also charged us an 18% service tax, and 10% service charge! (They also charged us for an extra day, but once confronted, they took it off) Not ONCE, did anyone mention any of this to us. They told us that's the way it is, and they have to charge that amount because of the government. I told them they need to be upfront and honest with their guests in the future. BTW, we were the ONLY guests the hotel had the entire time we were there, and I'm not even sure if the hotel was supposed to be open? I asked to speak with the "owner" about the situation, but he was off the island an inaccessible. After handing them my credit card, where the manager took a picture of it front and back, we went back to our room where I stewed on everything that had happened. They did end up giving us a couple hundred dollars off, and we were able to pay the full amount in cash. By the way, I did call skyauction, as soon as, I got home to verify my payment had been made. The guy on the phone knew exactly who I was and had talked to the hotel several times. That's when I was informed that skyauction is a commercial trading website, where they market for the hotel and get rooms in return. This particular room was marketed in Bridal Guide magazine!
There are a couple of things to note:
1. Arnold, the chef, made the best food I've had ANYWHERE in the world. He didn't speak English very well, but he tried, and we got to practice our Spanish speaking skills. Not only was he our chef for the entire trip, he was also our waiter, and cleaned up the kitchen afterwards. I would LOVE to have him here in the states! Very talented, and the only reason I'm giving this place any stars at all.
2. The view from our room was one of a kind, and probably the best view we have ever had at a hotel.
3. Try going to Grahams place. We wished we would have gone, because they supposedly treat the sand so you don't have to worry about the sandflies.
4. The snorkeling here was not good, at least from our experience with the hotel. Our trip consisted of lots of baby jellyfish. Snorkeling was one of the big reasons we chose to vacation in Honduras.

We were so delighted to find La Giralda! A must stay is relaxation is what you are looking for. Totally desconnected from technology ( by choice ) to get some needed R& R. We stopped by the small town to pick up food and drinks and basically hybernated for 3 days. Guanaja is such a beautiful island and out of all the places we saw by far the Giralda was the nicest.

Congrats to the staff and Dario on a job well done.

Villa Evelyn is located in this beautiful Island, of Guanaja. A great place to relax and to be in contact with the nature and spend quality time with your family. If you are coming from Miami, you have fly to Roatan 2 hours away from Miami, and take an airplane called Lansha to Guanaja, about a 20 min. flight.