If you want Waikiki, go to Hawaii. If its a real Mexican experience you want, stay at the X. The rooms are tile and stucco, the bathrooms almost clean, the water temperature fluctuates for no apparent reason, the bed was hard but huge, the nights are alive with the sounds of traffic, and the buzz of weekend parties. There is a police station right behind the X, armed troops around the hotel day and night and they live in the X as well. A local said there is a drug war going on so the police are ....a little tense, but not at all hostile. There is a money changing booth right outside the X with current exchange rates. Across the street we found the best fish tacos, and Mayan style food, and the X opened a Mayan food spot the day we we were leaving, so we took a couple of killer tortas with habenero salsa for the plane. Mercado 28 is 4 blocks or so from the X, and it has everything Mexican or Mayan you would want. Everyone was friendly and helpful at the X. They went above and beyond for us if we asked for info or help. My wife is Mexican American , and I (white guy)can get by , so language was not an issue. One night we found a park behind the X that had street food vendors and little bumper electric cars and a playground for the kids. There are numerous restaurants and stores in the centro area of Cancun . If you are so inclined to rough it for a night or two, and get a feel for what real Mexico is about, try the X , the Caribe, or Margarito, which all can be seen from the X. We engaged the folks working at the small tiendas, taxis,hotel maids, and strangers everyday, and had the best time just chatting about Cancun, and what their lives were like. Bottom line is that staying at the X allowed us to experience daily Cancun from a totally non " Hotel Zone" perspective. Next time maybe we stay at the Caribe to get another take on Cancun. The Chitzen Itza Tour was outstanding. If you go, be prepared for the humidity and heat. Its a jungle, not a theme park. Otherwise be prepared to be amazed at what the Mayans and Toltecs we able to do so long ago. The X was not exactly comfortable, but not as some have suggested. I guess it depends on your needs.

We got a cheap deal to this hell hole, my advice is don't do it spend a little more. This hotel fronts as a 4* our travel rep even laughed at this and said it was a 2* at most he said it was the same as a $30 room in America.
On arrival the staff were rude, we had no help with our bags and the lift was broken. There were no lights on in the hallways and there were mounds of food left sitting on a bin outside our room.
We thought our room was like a cave, all white with lumps on the walls. Facilities are basic free cheap soap and ancient frayed towels.
The water that come out of our tap was often brown and made a lovely screaming noise as it come out.
Our first room had a chunk of broken glass next to the pillow! wires hanging out of the wall and paint all over the mirror. The towels were brown and frayed so much that they looked like the hulks pants. Our second room wasn't much better.
We went down to the pool and found it no better there, the water was freezing and very unclean my partner got an ear infection from it. The pool did not get cleaned during our stay and it had a foam of scum on it fron the dirt. The pool was often surrounded by staffs family they took up the tiny sitting area and smoked all day. The floor near the pool was covered in fish bones and bottle tops, it was foul.
Our beds were solid concrete bases with a matress on top and stained sheets.
We complained relentlessly to get out of here and in the end paid to go to the hotel zone for our last 4 nights.
The only good thing about this place is that wal mart was a ten minute walk and you were near the locals.
If you have children beware there is broken glass everywhere the windows on the 2nd floor were cracked and if you leant on them they could fall through, not safe for a little one.
The bus stop was around the corner we used it everyday to escape the hotel. My advice is unless you are a backpacker or need to do mexico on the cheap then stay away and do not book with FLEETWAY TRAVEL!

Other peoples reviews made me think twice before I went but the hotel was just fine. Room was clean, bathroom was cool. Bartender was nice.
It wasnt spectacular but wasnt bad either. Only a few blocks from the bus station so that was nice.

basically, that's the message we received from the female and male working the front desk at the time. We booked through Expedia and were supposed to be in a large deluxe suite and receive free standard rate meals. the female receptionist just shook her head while looking over the itinery and then commenced writing up what she was going to give us instead, which was not the deluxe room and there would be no free meals....not while she was on watch, anyway. we requested her to phone expedia for clarification and again she shook her head and basically tried to hand over the key to an inferior room and while doing so informed us that meals would cost us 100 pesos each if we wanted to include meals. at that point we decided to try staying somewhere where the service and rooms were great which was el rey del caribe. note: we had pre-booked these places and had no idea what they were going to be like in advance except by what others had said on trip advisor, etc. el rey did indeed have a room for us and it just happened to be the room we stayed in before and it was all very inviting and comfortable. summary: there are lots of great places in mexico to stay at and wonderful mexican people to meet, however, once in awhile one can be unlucky but we just have to make the best of it. afterall, we're on vacation....right :)