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I need advice on 1-night of hotel in Cancun.
Our Easter week check-in at the Grand Mayan Riviera Maya does not start until Sunday, so we will fly in on Saturday, and stay in a hotel in Cancun on Saturday night (hubby, me & 14-year old daughter) before checking into our 2 bedroom unit at GM.
I've been reading the reviews on TripAdvisor, and checking the rates on Expedia and these look like our 2 best options: Cancun Hilton (hotel room with 2 queens, oceanview, $210/night) or the newly renovated Westin Lagunamar (studio lock-off, 1 king + 1 sofabed, mini kitchen, balcony, ocean view, $245/night).
On one hand, the Lagunamar sounds good because it has a mini-kitchen, a very cool pool slide, and is just across the street from La Isla shopping center. But the downsides are: being in the lock-off bedroom (someone else will have the living room & 1-bedroom portion of the unit) you can get a lot of noise from them. 2nd concern: can this be right, expedia says that all the rooms are "smoking" ?? Does that mean the room will reek of stale cigarette smoke?? Hummm Also, not sure we really HAVE to have cooking facilities since it is only 1 night.
Now, for the Hilton. I'm not usually big on hotel rooms, but everyone gives this place great reviews for their pools and beach area. Since most of the rooms have 2 queen beds, and don't charge extra for kids under 17, I can tell this will be a place packed with kids during Easter week, so our kiddo should have no trouble making friends and having fun. People also mention that it is not a hotel for the wild college spring break scene, which we also want to steer clear of. (I originally wanted to spend our extra day in Tulum, but my teenager wants desperately to spend the extra night in Cancun.)
There were several other hotels in this price range, but the tripadvisor reviews were not as good: Hyatt Cancun, Grand Melia, ME by Melia, Westin Resort & Spa, Krystal, Fiesta Americana Condessa, Omni, and Presidente InterContinental. If I were willing to spend closer to $300, we could get the Marriott CasaMagna or the Fiesta Americana Coral Beach, but since it's just one night, I think I'd rather put those extra bucks towards activities.
So, if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions I'd be interested to hear them. We did an RCI exchange to the Grand Mayan for Easter week in 2008 and we really had a great time and added on some extra days in Cozumel. (I'd have to agree with my teen that nightlife on Cozumel leaves a lot to be desired, but the snorkelling was great!) This year we are exchanging in through SFX (no 1-in-4 rule), a great tip from John Cummings.
----- Rene McDaniel
Our Easter week check-in at the Grand Mayan Riviera Maya does not start until Sunday, so we will fly in on Saturday, and stay in a hotel in Cancun on Saturday night (hubby, me & 14-year old daughter) before checking into our 2 bedroom unit at GM.
I've been reading the reviews on TripAdvisor, and checking the rates on Expedia and these look like our 2 best options: Cancun Hilton (hotel room with 2 queens, oceanview, $210/night) or the newly renovated Westin Lagunamar (studio lock-off, 1 king + 1 sofabed, mini kitchen, balcony, ocean view, $245/night).
On one hand, the Lagunamar sounds good because it has a mini-kitchen, a very cool pool slide, and is just across the street from La Isla shopping center. But the downsides are: being in the lock-off bedroom (someone else will have the living room & 1-bedroom portion of the unit) you can get a lot of noise from them. 2nd concern: can this be right, expedia says that all the rooms are "smoking" ?? Does that mean the room will reek of stale cigarette smoke?? Hummm Also, not sure we really HAVE to have cooking facilities since it is only 1 night.
Now, for the Hilton. I'm not usually big on hotel rooms, but everyone gives this place great reviews for their pools and beach area. Since most of the rooms have 2 queen beds, and don't charge extra for kids under 17, I can tell this will be a place packed with kids during Easter week, so our kiddo should have no trouble making friends and having fun. People also mention that it is not a hotel for the wild college spring break scene, which we also want to steer clear of. (I originally wanted to spend our extra day in Tulum, but my teenager wants desperately to spend the extra night in Cancun.)
There were several other hotels in this price range, but the tripadvisor reviews were not as good: Hyatt Cancun, Grand Melia, ME by Melia, Westin Resort & Spa, Krystal, Fiesta Americana Condessa, Omni, and Presidente InterContinental. If I were willing to spend closer to $300, we could get the Marriott CasaMagna or the Fiesta Americana Coral Beach, but since it's just one night, I think I'd rather put those extra bucks towards activities.
So, if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions I'd be interested to hear them. We did an RCI exchange to the Grand Mayan for Easter week in 2008 and we really had a great time and added on some extra days in Cozumel. (I'd have to agree with my teen that nightlife on Cozumel leaves a lot to be desired, but the snorkelling was great!) This year we are exchanging in through SFX (no 1-in-4 rule), a great tip from John Cummings.
----- Rene McDaniel
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