Old, noisy, dirty, filled with screaming children and parents who don't seem to care, the Inn at Mazatlan was a horrid experience. The restaurant is overrated and over priced, and the rooms are in desperate need of rehab. Changing suites didn't help drown out the street noise, nor the untrimmed palm trees that block the ocean views. Unless you get into the new tower which seems to be used only as a time share come on, the rooms are dark, dingy and dirty. Lights don't work, knobs are missing from the appliances, and requests for repair get the, 'manana' response. Talking to other guests in the hottub we were not alone in our disgust. We all felt the positive reviews for this place must be written by time share owners trying to recoup their investments.

Our sixth floor room at the Inn at Mazatlan was clean, spacious, and had a wonderful ocean view. Unfortunately, the night-time traffic noise prevented us from fully enjoying our stay. Located at a traffic light on the main drag, you hear reving motorcycles, loud bus brakes, and zooming cars trying to beat the light. Fellow guests on the twelfth floor said they were also very unhappy with the amount of noise. Friday night included blaring music from a coffee house across the street. If you are looking for peace and quiet, pass on this property.

We just returned from a week-long stay. The hotel is older, but clean and well maintained. The staff were very accomodating. We had a few small problems with the room. The coffee maker leaked, the toaster didn't work, the drain on the shower stopped up and the fold out couch wouldn't go back in so they replaced the couch. The mattress on the fold out was very old. The pool areas are very nice. The vendors are somewhat of a pain. One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the street noise. On Friday and Saturday nights especially the locals cranked up the music in their cars while driving around. Also, the loud honking that goes on outside on the main drag while trying to sleep. We did locate fans on the air conditioner control that blocked a lot of it out. Overall a good experience. We got this room for a very good price for listening to the timeshare presentation.

I was previously involved in the hospitality industry where I worked in various departments in hotels ranging from a small inn to the ultra luxurious Peninsula in Beverly Hills. I know a few things about hotels, rooms, rates, service…you name it. My wife and I booked a four-night stay at the Inn at Mazatlan (the Inn) in early September. This appears to be the one of the slowest months of the year.

Fortunately for us it was the slow season and there was no trouble getting prime seating at the pool/beach area. When I say prime I mean ocean-side umbrella and lounge chairs from the hotel deck. Reason I say this is that the Inn has a very small beach. If you like lieing out on the sand or just some place where you can have a relaxing beach experience and see the ocean you will be disappointed. The beach had some width but the length (from the hotel wall to the water) was at most 5-6 meters (depending on the tide.) This was only wide enough to accommodate the passing vendors. Not a place you would lay your towel down or let your kid bury you. What you are left with is a pool area and a row of lounge chairs facing the ocean. Now if the Inn had 50 rooms this would not be a problem. The Inn has around 140 rooms. I can just imagine if the hotel is at, or even close to, full occupancy how hard it would be to actually see the ocean and not have a stranger inches from me. That’s if I can even get a lounge chair facing the ocean. As I said earlier we were lucky and almost had our choice of the premium seating.

The rooms were good because they all had a nice balcony and a good view of the ocean. This is one of the reasons I chose the Inn. The inside of the rooms are in desperate need of finishing touches. The paint was sloppy in the most visible places and had minor carpentry issues, just to name a few. I got a very good deal so it did not bother me as much. It was obvious that the owners were cutting costs on the maintenance. It’s Mexico for God’s sake. How much could it cost for you to bring in a qualified team of maintenance people and make the place worth over $100 per night? I heard the people in Mexico make as little as $5 per day. The owners are some old couple called the Barnes. Probably Americans or Canadians. They didn’t have ice machines on the floors. The hotel did have filtered water running from their tap. Very nice, I drank tap water and did not get the least bit sick. Both rooms we were in had a fridge. The first room’s fridge had a badly frosted icebox and it could not freeze water. The second room (in the high tower) had a nicer, newer fridge that worked just fine.
My original room was in one of the smaller towers and it flooded during the first night when it rained. No big deal, things like this happen. As I mentioned earlier I was in the hotel business for years and I have seen worse at newer and better places. They got us a room in the big tower that was much bigger but still badly maintained. I guess these nicer rooms are for people who pay higher rates and the timeshare owners.
Which brings us to the timeshare aspect. They had timeshare salespeople constantly posted in the lobby. They were like furniture. They would hound people as they walk by. I guess they took the hint that we were not interested when we no-showed for their “free” breakfast.

The restaurant was decent and moderately priced. We only ate there once because they featured Americanized Mexican food. It had a menu like every other sit down place in Mazatlan. Grilled fish, steak, ribs and chicken all stuff you can get back home or make at home. This country has Spanish, French as well as local influence on their food and you expect me to eat baby back ribs with barbeque sauce!! For an authentic, quality Mexican culinary experience the real place to eat is Panamas: the sauces, the pastries, the presentation, the preparation was phenomenal. This place was not cheap (for Mexican standards) except for the lunch special ($6.30 for two main courses & two drinks). As they say, go where the locals go. I could spend the whole review on Panamas. I must stop.

The hotel is in a decent location. There are convenience stores close by and you are a 40-cent bus ride away from a variety of places including banks, restaurants and shops. Downtown is a waste of time, nothing to see, nothing to buy. Mazatlan does not appear to be an old enough city to have many colonial buildings to view. The items that were decent, at the stores, were at or above LA prices.

The employees of the tourist industry seem to be used to Americans throwing money around. When they see you waiting for a bus the pushy taxi drivers break out in hives. The taxis’s charge the same rates as in the US. The waiter by the pool area probably didn’t appreciate me bringing my own cooler. The cheapest beer they sell is $2.70 plus tip that costs $.60 in the store. Coffee, at the trendy coffee house, is more expensive than at Starbucks. The food is about 30% cheaper than in LA. Excuse me but considering the wages are 15% of what they make in the States this all seems a bit overpriced.

Mazatlan is a nice city to visit if you want to relax and save a FEW dollars. The Inn is a nice place to visit if you can get a room for under $90 US. Go there in the off-season.