The location of this place can't be beat - it's directly across the road from Half Moon Bay, a gorgeous beach in the village of West End on Roatan. The room rates are also good.

But if you're looking for good customer service, forget it. Posada Arco Iris has a ridiculously inflexible cancellation policy. I've never encountered anything like it in any other hotel I've stayed at in any other country.

They require you to put down a non-refundable deposit, and then to pay up front when you arrive for all of the time you're going to stay. If you have to leave early or change your plans for any reason, well, too bad. They don't do refunds.

I stayed there recently and had to cut my vacation short and fly home due to a medical emergency. The staff was well aware of my situation - even referred me to a doctor on the island - but refused to refund us for the last night we'd booked and didn't stay.

I was left with the distinct impression that the hotel owners cared only about my money, not about me as a customer. I definitely wouldn't stay there again. Beyond the customer service, the room wasn't as nice as I would have thought from the website. It was rundown and the linens looked a little dirty.

This was a great place, run by a friendly Honduran couple. The place is on the main drag along the beach–our room was approximately a 15-second dash to the sea, and we could watch the sun going down into the Caribbean from the hammock slung across our veranda. Bliss.

It’s about as far along West End and Half Moon Bay (so-called for a good, beautiful reason) as you can get, right next to Woody’s supermarket (handy for picnic lunches on the beach if you’re not too hungry). Attached to it and apparently run by the same couple is the "Argentinian Grill," a pretty good but relatively (i.e. by comparison to what you’d pay on the mainland for the same fare) pricey place at $20 a head for dinner–more if you have lobster, surf’n’turf, and crab.

The hotel is nicely furnished with colourful local tapestries and bedspreads; a decent bathroom, and a good shower; nice towels, which are changed every day without complaint if you’ve taken them onto the beach/out diving with you; two double beds with a well-powered fan over each.

We paid $20 per night. There was no breakfast but that meant we could sample various different places, including the Frenchman’s baguettes and coffee (see above), and each room has a fridge to keep water and any provisions cold.

Another tip in fact is that between about 11am and 2pm a wagon goes up and down the main road selling fruit and vegetables–mainly for the restaurants, but also handy and tasty for beach-snacks and picnics; tomatoes, avocados, bananas, improbably huge papayas, pineapples, and water melons. You can keep them all in your fridge until you want to enjoy them. Alternatively, the Posada has rooms for $25 with a kitchen so you could cook-up your purchases and save a spot of cash.

The Posada reception is open 8am to 8pm, and there’s one free terminal for guests’ internet access during that time (it gets quite busy, but people are pretty good about not hogging it).