To everyone posting these comments against Casa Chorro. You are obviously angry and frustrated but you seem to be making a lot of accusations based on speculation. If you approached this situation using the same tone you are taking here on this forum, it is no wonder everyone got very defensive. You don't seem to have any evidence against anyone and refuse to imagine someone in your party perhaps being to blame. Your combined group attack on this forum telling everyone to never go to Casa Chorro as though the house had something to do with this is troubling. It is good common sense not to leave valuables out and about, especially if doors do not lock. I'm not sure these letters of rage are going to deter anyone from using Casa Chorro. They make me wonder what kind of people you are. From reading these messages, it is easy to imagine people who are very difficult and unreasonable.

Am I the only one who feels sorry for these people? Can't anyone imagine how they feel? An immediate investigation would have saved speculation and might have cleared the reputation of those NOT involved whether they be staff or members of the wedding party. I am greatly surprised that not one person on the forum was sympathetic to what the victims went through. They are the ones being treated like the guilty party.

Sad,

Rumba

Rumba, I agree with you but the hysterical nature (understandable but unhelpful) of the posts and the quantity of them has obviously annoyed some people here. I do not doubt that the events occurred but the focus of the complaint should not be on "who stole what" but on the hotel's response which appears to have been defensive and atypical.

As a hotel owner in similar circumstances I refunded the guests in full for everything they had had stolen and gave them a free return visit at no cost. (The local tourist authorities were actively involved as well.) The guests were grateful and we eventually found that the thief was a security guard (contracted). I am surprised that the management in this case didn't do anything except upset the guests further. Yes, the guests may have been "pointed" in their complaints but, in a service industry, management should be trained to cope with this - the circumstances were obviously extreme.

I really do have deepest sympathies for all those effected.

I think it is important to understand that we are getting only one piece of the story here. I guess the nasty, accusatory tone of the letters makes one stop and wonder what really happened. Isn't there an american consulate somewhere that should have been contacted? Did they hire security? Did they think just because they were foreigners they deserved special protection? Why say to all "don't ever stay at this house", the house wasn't to blame. I just don't quite get it. These letters make me feel disturbed rather than sympathetic.

Megobeachnow:

Of course we are frustrated, and if you read carefully, no one is making accusations. We are complaining about the lack of security and support. And I guess that when a situation like this arises, it would be nice if people understood you can be upset. It is not very nice to find your door open, your suitcase upside down, all your belongings on the floor and the bathroom, and your things gone. All of this when you have 10 minutes to dress for a wedding celebration. Of course we have considered that ANYONE can be the thief, and so I stated in my post. This is a combined group attack, because we are a family, and everything that happens to a member affects the rest. (And every human being on the planet) Specially on a wedding day. Wouldn't you gather with your family group under such a situation? I agree with you that it is good common sense not to leave valuables, but then what do you do with them if you don't even have a lock on your door? You walk the isle with your wedding gown, your ipod and cell phone hanging from the veil and holding your passport on your left hand? And, we are the kind of people who gather 80 friends from around the world to join us in a celebration, who have made the effort to pay tickets and a week stay in San Miguel, all of them proffessional people, and reasonable enough to expect some support.

Of course you're hearing only one side of the story. You could read the Acta from Ministerio Publico that was written in presence of the Chief of Staff of Casa Chorro who drove my family there. He was present and agreed on it. It was a Friday night when this happened, the Consulate is closed for the weekend. We were supposed to leave San Miguel on Sunday, which was impossible. Everything had to be done in a combined effort with people from the US going to Consulates, Immigration Offices, and so forth, and the rest in Mexico running from the American Embassy to the Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores, until she finally obtained a passport to leave Mexico. And I hope you don't feel disturbed with the posts. It's the only way they left us to complain since up to today, we have not heard from anyone at Casa Chorro yet.

So finally, we are warning and protecting good citizens who have saved to spend "their Big Day" at the "Perfect Location"

Being the other maid of honor of my little sister's wedding and Mexican myself, I am very aware of how wonderful the country of Mexico is and it's people are. We are all outraged at the reaction we received from the people that are in charge of Casa Chorro and of the people that planned my sister's wedding. We expected to be treated with compassion and understanding and instead we were faced with the greates lack of compassion I've ever experienced.

We were ignored, accused ourselves and our guests of stealing from our own family and made to feel as though we were less than important. As many of my family members have noted, we paid a great deal of money not only to stay in this beautiful house but for the staff and the SECURITY GUARDS during the wedding (which of course did not prevent anything and shockingly we still had to pay for when we were presented with the bill the day after the wedding). To put it mildly, we are all very disappointed for having experienced this situation particularly as you can all imagine, at my little sister's wedding. We highly recommend for people to think twice before renting this home not only because of the lack of security and safety but mainly because of the lack of humanity and responsibility from it's staff.

Rumba 1 and Stevemex:

Thank you for your simpathy. We appreciate it. We asked the Chief of Staff at Casa Chorro to call the police immediately, but he said they would stop the wedding, so the wise thing to do was to wait until the ceremony was over. So we did. Too little, too late. We called them in the middle of the pictures, cocktail, etc. Right after the ceremony. They arrived real quick but said they couldn't do anything because they act when the robbery is taking place at the moment, but not when the crime is already performed, and asked us to contact Ministerio Publico. They were very kind and took note of the complaint, but were not able to help. So next day, early in the morning we went to Ministerio Publico. And you know the rest of the story.

Thank you,

It is hard to understand exactly what your stay involved. From what we can tell, this is a vacation rental home, not a hotel or b&b. I assume there was no regular staff or management staying on-site. I have rented many vacation homes (including one in SMA from Bob Latta) and own and operate one myself and know that you are generally on your own in this situation. The only "staff" we had in SMA was the cleaner who came by the house everyday and the gardener who came by a couple of times to water and sweep. Did Casa Chorro provide full time, on-site staff or did you have an independent wedding service and security team taking care of you? Double check your rental agreement. If your agreement states that Casa Chorro would take care of everything for you, then you have a legitimate complaint and your posts are justified (and you have my sympathy too). Most rental homes, however, come highly disclaimed. If someone renting my house had something stolen while they where there, it is their responsibility, not mine. If they wander into the adjacent wetland and get attacked by a bear, that is not my responsibility either. It is also not my problem if they trip and fall down the stairs and break their leg. The agreement they sign disclaims me of all of this. If someone rented my house, had a bad experience due to extenuating circumstances, and then told everyone to never rent my house on this forum I would be really angry and upset. So please, make sure you understand your obligations. Make sure you direct your complaints to the right people (your hired security, wedding planners, local police- whomever) and don't disparage the rental property itself unless completely justified.

Casa Chorro comes with full staff, some of them even live there. Our complaint was presented to the proper people who have not responded properly.

We are posting this here, because this is the place as it says on their heading to "get the truth, and then go" tell it as it is.

This is what happened to us.

It is only fair that we write about it for other people to know. I would like to know before renting a house if something negative has happened in that place.

Why are people having so much trouble because we are reporting a theft that happened in a house that is available for renting? I honestly don't get it.

Why are we supposed to stay quiet, aren't places like this created for this purpose? To prevent other travelers from bad experiences?

I just don’t get the negative reactions.

We don’t want to turn this into a confrontation with other posters, this is a true account of our experience. It’s all contained in a legal declaration called Acta from the Ministerio Publico, we are not exaggerating or making anything up. These are the facts.

I forgot to add that the staff goes around the property with radios to communicate with each other because of how big the property is. Also, security was hired the day of the wedding and my sister got billed for it even after the theft had taken place.

How can something like this happen? I wish I knew, but it did happen unfortunately.

They are now considering locks on the doors and probably will consider heightened security.

So if this has only served to provide a safer place for future renters, maybe this unpleasant even has had some purpose.

But like they say in Spanish "Mas vale prevenir que lamentar"