This hotel is nice but not ideal if you're coming to Cancun for Spring Break. It's a 25-30min. bus ride to the Hotel Zone. That is why I rated it 1/5 for location. The entire staff is extremely nice and the food at the restaurant is decent with huge portions. I wouldn't walk around by yourself at night and wouldn't wear flashy jewelry at night either. The hotel has access to the beach club that is owned by the nightclub The City, and I forget how much it is to get in but it's roughly $5-10. There is a bus/shuttle that can take you to the beach club, or you can just take the city bus to the hotel zone to get there. The beach club is nice with drink service (maybe food service, didn't try ordering food) and there are plenty of lawn beds to catch a tan. Chichen Itza is a 3-4 hour bus ride from the hotel and is worth seeing since its one of the wonders of the world. However, you only need 2-3 hours to see the entire site so don't book your return bus trip 4+ hours after your arrival because you will get bored. There are lots of small stands and shops that sell tacos and tortas around the hotel. I would stay away from Las Carnitas, they only offer pork for meat in their tacos and it wasn't even good pork at that. There is a gas station/convenience store across the street from the hotel which is open 24 hours and a convenience store a couple blocks down on the same street of the hotel too. If you're going to be drinking a lot, grab a bottle of H-O-T before you crash, I drank one every night and never woke up with a hangover! It's too bad they don't sell this stuff in the US.

Good place to stay for a night when you arrive in Cancun before moving on or night before your flight out of Cancun. Has it's own swimming pool and free internet. Also good for going to Isla Mujeres - approx 15 mins walk (along a busy road) to the ferry port for boats to the island, but not walking distance from much else.

Short taxi/bus journey to downtown Cancun where the bus station is situated.

Do not recommend the 'beach club'. There was supposed to be a free shuttle bus but on both the days it was cancelled. We went to see what it was like (20mins on the R1 bus) and had to pay 50 pesos entry and 200 pesos for a cabana with shade. Also expensive drinks and food. Not worth the money.

theres a big construction project right in front of this hotel in March 2009. we had a room right next to the street so it was so loud every morning and the blinds dont keep sunlight out. the location is bad. the main street in downtown is called Tulum and Terracribe is about 15min walk to downtown shops and restaurants. cab in downtown is cheap about 20 pesos everywhere. bus to the hotel club zone is called R-1 and is 7 pesos per person takes 30min to go from downtown to hotel zone. but for $60 a night this is a clean hotel and decent service. no pool and wifi only in the lobby. restaurant in the lobby serves american and mexican food. I came here for spring break so we went out to hotel zone every night and it was a hassle to take cab to bus stop then bus to hotel zone. I recommend to stay in the hotel zone hotel to get a better experience for cancun. and you can still take bus to downtown for cheaper food (not much cheaper)

Background:

I was set to Mexico on business and knowing the troubles in the north, i decided to finish what I had to do there finishing as quickly as possible while working the non essentials from Cancun remotely. Like in previous ratings I'll get the points out of the way then go to into details.

Pros:
- Very accessible Downtown location
- Walking distance to two 24 hr stores
- Easy access to main Bus routes
- A lot of local fare including restaurants, street vendors, and stores within a 5 minute walking distance in all directions.
- Free wireless internet and safety deposit box

Cons:
-High volume traffic area, and street construction is ongoing making it very noisy.
-Open concept amplifies sound during the night when its really busy outside
-Public beach is about 10 minutes away, I prefer the public one on the hotel zone
-Not a hotel to just "live-in" without experiencing anything else, if you want all the resort type stuff (fancy spa, entertainment, and sports) go to the hotel zone.
- Beach location shuttle is only once or twice a day so sign up a day before or get the pass and take a bus for 6 pesos.

Location:

It is in the heart of the safer parts of the Downtown area; two doors down is an extra (7-11 like convenience) and in another block from there is the main road of Tulum. From this point you can access any and almost every bus that runs through Cancun, my personal suggestion is to only use the main high volume routes of R1,R2,R15,R27. The actual route maps for any other buses are seldom found and mainly known by locals traveling from the slums in the west end to work in the hotels, tourism agencies, and street markets within Cancun.

The Hotel:

I admit that I've heard some horror stories about this place in the past, however the restoration is really quite tasteful, TV, AC, and phone worked flawlessly, there were times when there were some hiccups with the wifi, but considering how much i used it, this was to be expected (even back in Toronto, wifi is sketchy at best). The restaurant is alright, nothing more than 100 MXN pesos/10 CAD, with rather generous portion sizes. the food isn't spicy but the salsa is fresh and made with green chillies so you've been warned. Personally I would only eat in the hotel once or twice during your stay, try going to the market at Tulum/Lopez Portillo and buy some local fruit and such.

The Room:

I was given a rather large room no less than 12x15 on the main floor with a standard 3 piece bathroom. The restoration has clearly updated the features and I can honestly say if I had gone before, I wouldn't be impressed. Room service is anywhere from 10:00-16:00 depending if the maids start from the top or the bottom floors. It clearly shows that they want these restorations to last as long as possible because they clean the place round the clock and it's spotless. Because it was on the main floor it was really close to the patio and you can clearly hear people talking during the night there is about a 1-2 inch clearance within the floor and the bottom of the door so jam one of their towels in the space to dampen the sound. Aside from the noise everything was quite exceptional but I've become used to no frills flying so I don't mind some things.

Conclusion:

Always book properly ahead, try prepaying through expedia or travelocity because they will always receive duplicates. Last minute bookings will be disappointed because of the sheer number of people who want reservations. Make sure you research the area a little in advance, getting a street map of the area was hard, I had to use google maps for some things while walking to Walmart and China Town Plaza. Like everywhere else be smart when taking out money always carry small Mexican bills 20, 50, 100 and separate your money if anything should happen. All in all a great hotel for the price I only wish I upgraded for a mini fridge and that they put some weather stripping on the door to block out the noise.