We were very pleasantly surprised by the Holiday Inn in Aruba. First of all the location is great. It has a fantastic beach and is close to shopping, restaurants and transit. It also appears to be one of the only hotels on Palm Beach that has a bar right on the beach and a restaurant right on the beach. The food is fine. The Iguana Bar is, as mentioned, right on the beach. It serves hamburgers, hotdogs, pizza and that kind of food. It's not haute cuisine but that's not what you want in a beach bar! Give me a cheeseburger and a cold beer on the beach and I am in heaven.

Likewise the breakfast buffet (which is located in a very cheerfully decorated room) may not be ultra deluxe but there was lots of fresh fruit and healthy choices as well as the usual bacon/sausage/eggs combos.

The Italian restaurant is actually pretty good by any standard.

The Sea Breeze is the restaurant located on the beach and has a wonderful setting. There are lots of fresh fish dishes available.

Lastly, but not leastly, the staff throughout the hotel were just great. They were friendly and helpful at every turn.

I would certainly stay at the Holiday Inn again in Aruba.

My boyfriend and I booked a room here for our last two nights in Aruba as a “surprise hotel” last minute online, and paid about $160 per night. I don’t think it’s worth paying more than that to stay here (we stayed without all inclusive).

Positive:

The location is great. All the best restaurants are very close, the beautiful beach is right outside and you can hop on the bus right outside the hotel to go anywhere on the island. The beds were so comfortable I was tempted to steal them (luckily my bag was too small). I loved the pool. Beach chairs enough for everyone.

Negative:

By staying in the high rise area I can’t help but feel ripped off. It reminds me of the hotel area in Cancun. Taxies charge twice as much from the tourist area. Everything you see is there because of tourism. Nothing seems real. You don’t see the locals and there’s not even a supermarket nearby because they want you to spend money at overpriced food at the hotels or eat at restaurants.

Oh, I almost forgot: You have to wear one of those silly bracelets when staying here. Sort of makes you feel like an animal having been tagged by its owner, doesn’t it?

I ate at Iguana Bar once. The food was of lower quality than I was expecting at that price and there were flies all over the bar and kitchen.

The wi-fi worked excellent all over the hotel. Problem was that the password changes every day, so you had to go and get a new one each morning. For someone like me who starts every day by checking email, this was a huge pain. I went to the lobby to get a password at 8:50am, and was told to come back at 9am because they didn’t have the new password yet. I went back three times before finally getting the password at 12pm. Only one of the staff members apologized for the inconvenience. I expect better than that from a hotel like this.

When we were leaving to go to the airport by taxi, we met another guest from the hotel who was also getting a taxi to go to the airport. We agreed to share a taxi, but were told by the hotel we couldn’t because that would upset the taxi drivers! Not being allowed to share a taxi with another hotel guest because the taxies wants to make more money has to be the stupidest rule I have ever heard from a hotel. The hotel should care more about helping their guests than the taxi companies.

All in all this is a good hotel if you get a good price and don’t mind feeling like a really touristy tourist.

We did not book this particular place, but ended up here through one of the "secret deals" some booking sites offer, where you just know that you're probably getting a good deal, but you do not know exactly where and what you have booked until after you have paid. We paid about a third of what the official walk-in rate is, so that was good, I suppose.

The beach is nice, although fairly crowded, and there is lots of shopping and restaurants around, all catering mainly to US visitors. The room was also fine, about what you'd expect at the inflated rates you find all over Aruba.

Taxis on Aruba are crazy expensive. The government sets standard rates for any and all distances you may want to travel on the island, with weird rules extra charges for using the back compartment or wearing wet clothes. This is of course not the hotel's fault, but they could help a little bit, by arranging ride shares to the airport or downtown and things like that. When we were leaving for the airport, another woman was doing the same. There's a guy at the hotel entrance who calls over taxis that are waiting nearby. We asked if we could share the ride, as both we and the woman wanted to. He said "Well, do you know each other?", which we probably should have claimed, but somehow didn't. "Then you're not supposed to share a ride!", he said, glumly. So we ended up paying 50 US dollars in total for the ride, instead of 25, which is more than enough for the ride anyway. The hotel offers no airport transfer at all, so the least they could do is to put up a list where people can sign up for shared rides at various times.

Anyway, it's a nice place, exactly like every other high-rise building nearby. If you get a good deal and you really want to go to Aruba, and you do not mind walking around with a ribbon around your wrist to show you're one of the chosen ones who can afford to stay there, you might as well book a room here.

I was weary at first to book at a Holiday Inn for an all inclusive, however, my doubts were proven wrong! I can see why they have so many repeat customers at this particular resort.

The Good:
THE BEACH! WOW! You never had to fight for a beach chair (like you do at other resorts along this beach). If you want a Tiki Hut you do have to line up to reserve on the day before - we never did that there is lots of shade without having one. The beach water was so clean, so refreshing - one of the best beaches I have been to.

The food at the buffet was below average, you were lucky if your food was warm - don't waste your time here. The Iguana Bar and the two restaurants (the names have slipped me) have awesome food. Ate at the iguana bar everyday for lunch, they have great salads, burgers, wraps, pizza etc. Also, you are able to grab a light breakfast at the lobby bar (danishes, assorted fruits, toasted bagels with cream cheese) along with great cappuccinos.

There were a few select staff that really stood out to me - Erwin (Lobby bar in the morning - fabulous, wonderful, all round great man greeted me with a big smile every morning), Michael (Iguana bar and Lobby bar - awesome person, really down to earth and makes you feel extremely welcome, and also taught me a lot about Aruba and its history!), Celia (lobby bar, really nice lady, very shy at first but she really warmed up to me, thanks a lot!), Victor (lobby bar, buffet - super nice man, also taught me a lot about the island, very professional!), Kingston (lobby and Iguana bar), and of course my main man Hugo (Iguana bar - wow is all I can say, super hospitable, very friendly, quick service, always cheerful - I will be back to see you soon!!)

Right across the street is a mini plaza sort of thing that you can grab your Starbucks, dunkin donuts and snacks if you want, also a lot of jewellery shopping! Their jewellery is absolutely stunning! You can also take a 10-11 dollar taxi into downtown where there are lots of local vendors and shops (ATTENTION - this is closed on Sunday). If you want to do more shopping there is also a flea market, which is also a 10 dollar taxi, with local vendors as well.

We went on the Pelican tour which was snorkelling along a coral reef and at the German ship wreck, that was super cool. Also, did the island tour, if you want to see the whole island, I would suggest this tour.

Also the water out of the taps is completely safe to drink, pretty awesome I thought!

The Bad:
Housekeeping was well below average. I was surprised at how bad they were actually - coffee maker was left dirty for two days, blood on the comforter that was NOT mine, which I asked them to replace and they never did.

Service at times could be slow - but your on vacation so don't let it bother you.

The Holiday Inn adds a service charge/gratuity, so it becomes very confusing if you are all inclusive - are our tips included or not?? Also, you will be asked to sign off on EVERYTHING that you get (beer, pop, food etc). Please, I cannot stress enough, tipping is not a country, it is a gratuity towards bartenders and servers who provide you with good service - tip people!!!!!

Sadly, there is no swim up bar.

The beach is not cleaned daily, if at all. Other resorts I have stayed at groom the beach or pick up the garbage at least. Also, there are NO cigarette disposals that I saw - and there are LOTS of cigarette butts on the beach. The hotel really needs to address this problem.

All in all, I had a fabulous time, and I would definitely stay here again, it absolutely is the biggest bang for your buck.