This host is very detail oriented. Everything is in its place. Lots of things are very well thought out. She is a very clear communicator, which in Belize is a rarity.
As superhosts ourselves, we would never tell a guest they can't show up as their itinerary compels it, as this host did with the guests next door to our room. If the room isn't ready, one can just say so, and offer them to leave their bags whilst they go explore. That would be the gracious and welcoming thing to do. Especially in Belize, where getting around is incredibly difficult, unpredictable, and expensive, a guest needs to have somewhere to land no matter what time they arrive.
We also did not appreciate being chastised for being early (by 30 minutes), even when we kept the host more than well-appraised about our progress getting there.
Of course hosts need to have very clear boundaries with guests, but there are ways of setting those boundaries that are kind and gracious. Being blunt and rude isn't the only way. It's called Emotional IQ.
The walls of the room are paper-thin. Sound travels between them, and we had the middle room so we got it from both sides. Also, the host mentioned that she can hear what's going on in the rooms from her rooms upstairs.
The beach is gorgeous and exactly as pictured, and they rake it at least twice a day to keep it pristine. However, the host also said she has no curtains and that she can and does see everything happening on their property.
Between hearing us indoors, and seeing us outdoors, we really felt like we didn't have full privacy. And in Hopkins, there is nowhere else to go. You can only pay US$65/person for snorkeling so many times, and there is no other activity whatsoever. Other than that, you are on the property all the time, except to go out in search of food or drink. So the effect was one of feeling spied upon.
There were a lot of rules. Each rule had a reason behind it, but it's not something I've experienced before. Wash off sunscreen before bed, for example, because it stains the sheets. It probably does, since the sheets are synthetic. But that's just one example.
Also, the host had very little to say about recommendations for food or local businesses. OK, fair enough, there are hardly any local businesses besides a few restaurants. But they only eat out at one particular restaurant which is quite a far way down the beach and also expensive. So even though there's a folder in the room with all kinds of menus and advertisements, they have never really been to any of these places themselves, or very infrequently.
In fact, they didn't seem to know very much about local culture, events, or history, beyond the basics. It was as if they didn't live in the same country as the local Belizeans.
That said, the host was very helpful about getting us a shuttle from Hopkins to Belize, only US$ 130 (a bargain, as other drivers wanted to charge double that price or more). It did save us a chunk of money. (The Belizean buses are much cheaper than that, of course, but would take such a long time that we couldn't work with that in our schedule.) And they also gave us a good recommendation about the Belize City Zoo, which is really more of an animal rescue, and was very interesting.