The Camino Real is everybody’s favorite hotel in downtown El Paso. Some people love to hate it. There’s this, from an April 20, 2014 story in the El Paso, Inc.:
Destination El Paso, the city’s convention and events promoter, has publicly stated that the Camino is no longer fit to be a convention hotel because the owners have failed to maintain and upgrade it to convention standards.
And this story from the Inc., from January 19, 2015:
The Camino Real Hotel should be one of Downtown El Paso’s most valuable assets. Instead, it is 17 stories of missed opportunities, bad management and disappointment.
Would it hurt to buy an ad in the Inc., I wonder?
The Camino Real has a restaurant called La Huerta. Huerta means the orchard, but it’s also the name of one of Mexico’s more infamous dictators, the presidential usurper Victoriano Huerta, who was buried in Concordia Cemetary, and later re-interred in Evergreen Cemetary by Chico’s Tacos Number One, on Alameda. Huerta was the guy who had Madero removed from office, and later, shot, presumably with the permission of the U.S. ambassador.
My friend Debbie says that, via priceline.com, a person can get a room at the Camino Real for only $43, or $48 on short notice, like a day in advance
Priceline is that website promoted by William Shatner that converts hotels’ idle assets (empty rooms) into money makers (occupied rooms).
The slightly cumbersome Camino Real website says the rack rate is $75 a night, so $43, or even $48, is a significant discount. That’s like Motel 6 prices.
The Camino has had some problems in the past, like broken air conditioners, but apparently everything is up and running now. Debbie really likes it. She had this to say, via email:
Last time I was here, in December, it was a really cold night and an old bum came in to the front desk. A dignified bum but quite a bum, dirty, rheumy eyed etc. Said he had no place to sleep and wasn’t sleeping outside. Pulled out $131 in cash for a room. What was touching was how management treated him with utmost respect. I really like this place.
So there you have it. A cheap three star hotel with a heart.