Holiday Inn Arenas, Zona Hotelera

Our stay was a mostly positive experience. Check in was at 3:00PM and our flight arrived at 10:40AM. I emailed the manager in advance to ask about an early check in. He replied promptly and said a room would be available at 12 noon for no extra charge. Our room was what we expected, hard to beat for the price. The room was clean and very well maintained by housekeeping. I don't know why some people had problems with bugs, air conditioning, etc. We experienced none of that. Minor complaints? 1) We did not go all inclusive, and the restaurants don't deal with cash. 2) The beach is not great. Mostly what everyone else said is true. There are other public beaches readily available, though. 3) The concierge desk is mostly worthless. They don't seem to have a clue what is going on. 4) The hotel presents itself as being in the "Hotel Zone". This is a stretch because it is actually about 5 miles from where the real action is at. However, you are actually nicely located between downtown Cancun and the zone, and there is a bus stop going either direction right in front of the hotel. I really think this place is hard to beat for the price.

Don't stay here, my room 2304 was infested with bedbugs. Now I have to throw away most of my stuff! Bedbugs everywhere! It would be cleaner to sleep on the beach. DON'T STAY HERE!

OK, so much pro and con has been written about this hotel, I will try to cut through the other reviews and tell you how it is. I am an airline pilot. I stay in hotels for a living, anywhere from Best Western, to Westin and Omni, etc. There is nothing wrong with this hotel. What is wrong is some people's expectations. I will explain. The hotel was perfectly clean; lobby, rooms and grounds. We had 2 rooms for the family, and neither had any sign of mildew or ants. The staff was very friendly and courteous, and most spoke English fairly well. The restaurant food was excellent, both in quality, and also in presentation in the 2 fancier restaurants. Contrary to other reviews, I didn't see one single hotdog the entire stay. The air conditioning in the rooms was cold, and had digital thermostats that worked very well. I don't see how other reviewers could complain about the A/C; turn it up or off if you are too cold. My wife and daughter had some spa treatments; my other daughter and I rented a wave runner. All went off without a hitch or complaint. As I said before, there is nothing wrong with this hotel. Now, for expectations. If you are not a frequent traveler, if you want to be around other vacationers like yourself, and meet people, or if you're looking to party, this is probably not the hotel for you. We only ran into 2 other couples from the USA during out stay. The guests seem to be predominantly from Mexico, Central America, and Europe. Very little English was spoken as a first language. As I said, the restaurant food was excellent; it is not, however, anything you would expect on a buffet in the USA. Primarily it was Mexican foods, and I mean authentic, not Taco Bell or Taco Bueno. In fact, there were no tacos, burritos, enchiladas, or tamales at all. So if you are not familiar with true Mexican foods, and are not very adventurous, the food would not make you happy. By the way, the water and ice are safe to drink here. The choices of liqour for the basic all-inclusive was excellent. Many premium brands, without paying for the premium brand option. If you are looking for activities and shopping, you might consider staying somewhere else. This hotel is great if you want to sit by the water with a book, but not much else. It is definitely not a swimming beach, but they do an excellent job of picking up the seaweed more than once a day. There were many families with small children, but again, not predominately English speakers. I had the only teenagers I saw. Bottom line, most USA people will probably be happier at other resorts, unless you are comfortable with the Spanish language, foods from Mexico and Europe, and are looking for a quiet place to simply relax. If you are, then you will have no problems at this hotel, and I have nothing but good to say about it. Also, we used Cancun Express for the airport transfers, and it was excellent. On time both ways, friendly English-speaking drivers, and I booked it on the internet with zero hassle. Better price than most.

The people for the most part were nice.Dont take the elevator.My wife and I were stuck bettween floors and had to beat on the door till we were rescued. The food is not good.If you ever stayed in one of the other hotels farther down the strip you wouldnt come back here Really bad beachfront with dirty ocean water and seaweed, not the beatiful blue water with surf coming in.The room wasnt bad other than no dressor in our room and sandpaper sheets.

This hotel made my family and want to go home after the first day. By far the worst hotel experience I have EVER had and I am doing you a favor by informing you of its horrible accomodations. A fellow guest, and hotel critic, was as dissatisfied as we were, rated it a 2 (1-10) and couldnt' wait to write a bad review. Check-in -- took our family forever... The front desk was way understaffed and there was only ONE person helping a line of people. Their English is barely understandable and check in process was confusing. Room -- Seemed clean and basic at first... Then shower was clogged and it reaked of sewage. The sheets are worse than sand paper, bed hard as a rock. and pillows even worse. Tossing and turning all night is hardly a vacation, especially when you are awoken by maids banging at the door at 8 am or the obnoxious and loud Mexican music blasted by the pool. The shampoo is gross, no lotion, seperate conditioner, or face soap provided either..There was a flood on our floor and sewage seeped out of 2 rooms. The fire alarm went off 3 times. Food- Absolutely discusting... simply stated. It was depressing everytime we got hungry because we knew that our "all-inclusive" meals were going to be as bad as the day before. The "Italian Restaurant" tasted worse than tv dinners. Everything tasted frozen and thawed out. I was told by a staff member that the food at the outside "grille" was frozen and premade. Even the nachos didn't use real melted cheese, they call that Mexican food? The cheese on the pizzas wasn't even melted... Need I say more... Beach- Infested with seaweed, the water is discusting you can't even see the bottom because it is brown with seaweed. The hotel chairs were flimsy plastic, and there was little room to layout. No water sports or kayaks as promised and no help finding activities. Elevators- Rarely worked and were crowded and dirty. Staff -- Horible and UNHELPFUL. We requested an extra cot THREE times, and never received it. The front desk, housekeeping, or room service (all one phone number) NEVER ANSWERED the phone, not once... The room service food was limited to sandwiches and a few other items which as you may predict were uneatable. The staff NEVER asked if we needed anything. NEVER helped out with any questions or concerns. Basically they hated their jobs and it showed. The masseuse even ripped us off and LIED about timing. The whole hotel is understaffed and completely unprofessional. This hotel needs major improvement in every aspect from the actual facilities, to the food, to the horrible service. In a nutshell...DO NOT STAY AT THIS HOTEL.

This place was okay...rooms were always kept clean...restaurants were okay...they advertise two pools, but one was under construction (around aprl 07). this hotel is on the other side of the island where there are no waves and its more sea weedy...We prefer the strip on the other side because we like waves and no sea weed...The only big problem was that when neighbors would shut their doors, there is no spring to slow it down from slamming and our walls would shake...Employees are nice...We just did not like the location of the hotel either because it is not right on the hotel strip, it is pretty much the last hotel at the end of the strip.

I read a lot of negative reviews about this hotel before getting there,but let me tell you that this place is very peaceful place to be in. the hotel is a new building and very very clean. the cleaning staff there works so hard at point you feel sorry for them.room service was doned each and every day with no problems at all. every personnel at the bars & restaurant are very helpful & willing to go out of their way to serve you. i really loved it there no noise what so ever,neither to crowded will visit that hotel again....ask for salvador very good men at front desk....

This hotel was one of the dirtiest places i've ever been. The maid service only came once out of the four nights we stayed in the hotel and every single time we'd call to request extra pillows, blankets, towels or toilet paper, it would take 24 hours at the very least for it to arrive, if it even came at all. The drinks were served in poor cups and the bartenders were hardly attentive to our needs. The pools were often full of debris and dirty. There were no daily activities and the staff was not very accomadating, we ended up having to pay $136 more than anticipated once we checked in, because they got our reservations wrong and we ended up paying for it. The food was usually cold by the time we'd get to the buffet line and it was either blan tasting or not good at all. There was little to no variation of food from day to day and the choices were slim. If i was in a life or death situation and i had to pick this hotel or the street, i'd pick the street, hands down.

we just got back, and had a good vacation. the hotel is still under renovation so there were some kinks to work out, but the staff went above and beyond to accommodate. Upon arrival we were greated and were given the chance to choose our rooms, after seeing them. The food is good for breakfast, lunch I would stick with the snack bar, and dinner I would go with the sit down. The staff had a lot of different activites going on during the day, and at night. FYI, some activites take place in the hotel lobby at night and the noise does travel, but the shows are usually over by 10:30. Stay away from the elevator, take the stairs. We were stuck twice.