Great place! great location! great price! Any hotel of this caliber would be at least $200 in the US but we only spent $18 a night.

The staff is extremely friendly and helpful. They have a free kayak you can take out on the lake and their Thai curry is the best I have ever had ( and I have been to Thailand).

This place is a must stay if you want a relaxing and beautiful getaway..

Drawbacks: rooms are fairly basic and some people seem to think the steps were a problem . Just don't stay here if you don't like steps otherwise you will love the place.

We stayed here for one night in August while travelling around Guatemala. Our water taxi dropped us off at the hotel pier. There is a bit of a climb up to the hotel but not a big deal for us. The room was basic but for 26 dollars per night what can you really expect! The rooms probably could do with being upgraded but we had no problem with no tv etc. The bathroom was pretty dated but it didn't bother us too much. The view from our room was amazing! What a lovely tropical garden! To walk into San Marcos and it took about 20 minutes. There are lots of tuk tuks around if you don't feel like walking. The food in the hotel was fab. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner here. The staff were very helfpul and nothing was too much trouble for them. We took the hotel canoe out on the lake which was also great. A great place to spend a night or two.

Stayed one night in August 2012 (had planned to stay longer). The property is located on the side of a *steep* hill that has irregular steps & walks with no handrails, a good 25 minute walk from the San Marcos pier (we asked the water-taxi to take us to the hotel pier, but he refused).

Upon arrival, they presented us with a menu to order food - were not interested in eating, just wanted to check-in & go to our rooms. Finally we paid for the room (no receipt provided) & they showed us a room with zero-view, had to pay more for a room with a view (the hotel was completely empty).

The hotel room consist of a bed, towel, a bathroom with a cold water shower (hot water did not work, even though they worked on it for over an hour) - no radio, no TV, no frig., no soap, NO INTERNET (they advertise they have internet service). The 2nd room had a very nice view, though the balcony had a very steep drop-off with slippery tile flooring & no guardrails.

Finally, because there wasn't one glass in the room, we requested glasses to drink some wine we had purchased & were told to look at the rules on the back of the hotel-room-door, no food or drink is permitted on the premises and they would have to charge us for glasses to drink the wine. Then they brought out the menus again & requested we order our meals for the FOLLOWING day.

Bed was very hard, got up at daybreak, took a cold shower & left.

Hotel Jinava Bay is situated in a beautiful cove on the outskirts of San Marcos and is completely worth the walk. The have beautiful gardens that are matched by their view of the lake. The rooms are very decent but could use better mattresses. The crepes are close to perfect. The staff are especially nice and accommodating. This was the first place we came after landing in Guatamala and truly enjoyed our stay here.