Ropa means clothes. Rope is cuerda.

Ask the hostel for some ropa to tie your bags to the roof and they'll offer you a T-shirt.

You said

¿Tiene ropa para amarrar las maletas?

What it means: Do you have clothes to tie the suitcases with?

A local says

¿Tiene una cuerda para amarrar las maletas?

Do you have some rope to tie the suitcases?

Why: Ropa means clothes. Rope is una cuerda, una soga, or un mecate in Mexico.

Loading a van outside a hostel in Oaxaca

Disculpe, ¿tiene ropa para amarrar las maletas?

"¿Ropa?" The owner looks at your bags, then at you. "Ah, ¿un mecate? Ahorita le traigo uno."

Ropa is one of the most common nouns in Spanish, and it means clothes. It's singular and uncountable, like clothing: mi ropa (my clothes), ropa sucia (dirty laundry), ropa de invierno (winter clothes). So asking for ropa to tie down your bags sounds like you plan to use a sweater, which, to be fair, plenty of desperate travellers have tried at some point.

Rope has a few names. Una cuerda is the general word and works everywhere. Una soga is thicker and heavier. In Mexico and Central America you'll also hear un mecate, a word from Nahuatl, for the rough rope used to tie down loads, and un lazo in many places for a rope or a lasso. To tie is amarrar in most of Latin America, while atar is understood everywhere and more common in Spain.

Because ropa is singular, its verbs and adjectives are too: mi ropa está mojada, not están mojadas. For a single item, say una prenda or just name it: una camisa, unos pantalones. Doing the laundry is lavar la ropa, and in Mexico the place to get it done is la lavandería, where you usually pay by the kilo and pick it up folded the same afternoon.

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Also worth knowing

Spanish	English
Tengo que lavar ropa.	I need to do some laundry.
¿Dónde hay una lavandería?	Where's a laundrette?
Amárralo bien con la cuerda.	Tie it tight with the rope.

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Questions people ask

What does ropa mean in Spanish?

Clothes. It is a singular, uncountable noun, like clothing: mi ropa está limpia means my clothes are clean.

How do you say rope in Spanish?

Cuerda is the general word. Soga is a thick, heavy rope, and in Mexico and Central America mecate is common for a rough rope used to tie things down.

Is ropa singular or plural?

Singular. Say la ropa está sucia (the clothes are dirty), not la ropa están sucias. For one item of clothing, say una prenda or name it: una camisa.