Holiday Inn Resort Ixtapa All-Inclusive by IHG — Hotel in Guerrero

While this resort is not quite deserving of five stars, the bottom line is that this is a good, solid all-around inclusive resort experience for the first-time resort traveler, with almost any kind of experience you might care to have (with a couple of important exceptions).

First, I want to address safety concerns in the wake of recent State Dept. postings. I never have any concerns about my security or the security of my family (wife and parents accompanying me) at this resort. We came straight from the airport to this resort, stayed on the resort and the nearby beach the entire time, and left only to fly out. There is permanent security around the hotel and there are occasional armed military patrols in the area.

The resort is built on the bones of the mid-50s Hotel Presidente, sitting exactly in the middle of the Playa El Palmar. If you desire a gleaming, modern, spotless hotel experience, look elsewhere. This place is well-lived-in and clean, but it is a beach hotel and it is old. The best parallel I can give you is one of the older Waikiki or Miami Beach hotels that has been kept up proudly but simply cannot be spotless, both due to location and age.

The rooms are cozy; the furniture is well-used and dinged around the edges; the bathroom is tiny but elegantly appointed, with a shower that gives great pressure but whose temperature veers unpredictably between "scald" and "brrrr". The TV is small, flat-screen and gets a selection of cable channels sufficient to entertain those daft enough to stay in their rooms. The room doors do next to nothing to abate hall noise, so you may find that the mid-afternoon siesta that sounds so good after a delicious lunch and a decent dip in the pool can become very elusive.

The resort boasts 3 bars, 3 restaurants, 2 pools, beachfront access, a children's play area, a garden courtyard, and a central plaza which doubles as the theater for nightly variety shows and (on Saturday) a huge Mexican extravaganza with vendors, food, and music. The entertainment program changes each night, including Latin dance shows, a kid's show, and a celebrity impersonation/lip-sync show.

Food is mostly buffet style, with meals starting at 7 am and lasting till midnight (closing from noon to 1 and 5 to 6 to reset). The quality is anywhere from highly adequate to very good (3.5 to 4.25 stars). You will probably not go home raving about the food, but neither will you have much cause to complain. (I myself enjoyed the ability to have chilaquiles and bacon at every breakfast, both done very nicely.) It is almost impossible to set an emptied plate or cup aside without the waitstaff whisking it away instantly; however, they never cross the line into obtrusiveness.

While only 2 beers are on tap at this resort (Dos Equiis and Indio), they are both palatable and compatible with the climate. As with the food, quality of drinks was adequate to good. The liquors are all firmly middle-to-lower shelf (Bacardi, Jose, Wild Turkey), and all mixers are from a bulk supplier, those who have become enslaved to craft cocktail ingredients will have to "make do". But that is not the experience you should expect here. These are pool cocktails, and indeed it's possible to spend most of your stay in the pool, visiting the pool bar for refills of your thermos mug.

This resort has plenty to do and see for kids, teenagers, young adults, couples, married couples, marrying couples, older couples, retired couples, or sensible singles of any age. If you like vacation experiences, there's all sorts of local activities from dolphin swimming to island tours to parasailing; it's also a very nice place to just chill, sun, unwind, and recharge while being waited on fastidiously.

I would only recommend that two types of folks steer clear of this resort: the single types hunting for hookups should stay away, because it's quite honestly not that kind of place, mostly occupied by couples and families; and if you are a loud, boorish drunk, please stay away as I am trying to relax and drink in...

I have been a Holiday Inn member since 1975. The whole experience with this hotel did not start out good. We had sent two (2) emails to Bernard – prior to our vacation asking about the dress code and never received a response, We also wanted to ask about the 3 restaurants to see what type they were and if they had any reservation requirements.

To say were disappointed in our vacation at this Hotel is an understatement.

No special check in line for Priority Club Members.

We are extremely upset because - We reserved a Pool View room (2342) and received a Garden View room (2332)

a. Room 2342 was empty during our entire vacation.

b. We were offered an Ocean View room in the tower which was unacceptable.

c. The Hotel did not discount our room to a Garden View because they said if you turn your head and look to the left you will see both the pool and the ocean.

We are extremely upset because - There was no Refrigerator in our room (even though we were told there would be)

a. We needed this to store medicine (or water that we had to buy because the hotel only supplied one bottle of water per day per room)

b. This is the first Holiday Inn we ever stayed at that did not have a Mini Bar in the room (in the refrigerator) even though the picture of our room showed a refrigerator in the room.

We only received One (1) bottle of water a day and if we wanted more water while down at the pool - the pool bar did not open up until 11:00am and would not even serve us a cup of water.

The towels and bedroom service were not consistent

a. We even had to call down to get our room made up one day as late as 6:30pm

b. The toilets plugged up all the time and there was always a funny smell in our room

c. We had to call down to get towels, shampoo and soap

The closets were very small and we could not hang up all of our clothes.

There was so much damage to the hotel – we thought it was going to fall down

a. Roof tiles missing

b. Roof tiles very moldy & dirty

c. Damage to beams and the structure

d. Floor tiles off everywhere – chipped and broken

All the food was the same at all the restaurants - yes they have 3 restaurants - but all the same buffet's.

This was not all inclusive – because we were told we would have to pay for some food/snack items

The final insult was when a person named Carlos gave us instructions to eat across the street at Mama Norma’s

a. When the waiter brought us our check for dinner – he asked said that Carlos told him to add a Beer to our check for him to get later!

b. We wrote a note to the manager at Mama Norma’s and explained that we did not agree to buy Carlos a beer.

Sports Bar/Lobby Bar - did not open until 6:00pm! We arrived on a Sunday and hoped to see some NFL games on during the day - and besides not getting any snacks or drinks at the Sports Bar - the TV's were not even on.

The lunch started at 1:00pm - we were up at breakfast at 7:00am - so without water, (free) snacks - we had to wait 6 hours between meals

We have written to the Hotel Management since our stay - because there was never a Manager around for us to talk with to work things out while we were on property - still no response back yet.

Dirt - a lot of dirt - when we got out of the shower and walked across the floor - in that short distance - the bottom of our feet were almost black from the dirt on the floors...very dirty!

We do not feel that we got what we paid for - Not the room we expected, no refigerator and the property was in...

The staff and service was amazing! Everyone was so nice and friendly and eager to help us in any way. We loved having people bring us drinks on the beach or while in the pool. Drinks were really great (except the wine but no big deal). They don't water down! And you they have some premium bottles/brands... just have to ask for them ;)

Our room was really nice! (better than our one at home, that's for sure). beautiful bathroom. We loved our firm kind-sized bed. We had a pool-view room with a balcony, so we could see and hear the ocean from our room. Love that. Our room was only a few doors down from the sports bar, so it was very convenient to just run up and grab something from our room when we needed to. The only down-size to our room being so close to the bar was that the music was VERY loud until about midnight. It didn't ruin anything for us since we usually don't go to bed 'til midnight, but it would've been nice if the music was turned down a bit by 11:30 pm (and a couple of nights it was).

The food was great. Had my favourite breakfast every morning: omelette from the omelette bar, pico de gallo, chilaquiles and bacon. Mmm. Worth the trip just for that. My husband and I were very impressed by the evening meals at the a l a carte restaurant: specifically, the Oriental night and French night were superb. I had the best steak I've ever had on the French night! And my husband enjoyed the Spanish coffee... what an art.

The Mexican fiesta night in the courtyard was great... I LOVE Mexican food, so I was very excited for that night and it didn't disappoint. Very festive and a lot of work is put into it. The grill night on the beach was also fantastic! Excellent food.

It was strange to us that there were sandwiches and pizza at the snack "deli" every evening. We are people who like an evening snack, but I was disappointed that it was always pizza. Was hoping to eat more Mexican food while in Mexico. More variety would've been nice.

The pools were great. The quiet pool is definitely more quiet! But being in the more lively pool with the music and the swim-up bar isn't that bad really at all.

Beach volleyball twice a day, which my husband loved.

Wi-fi was great. Had no trouble connecting in our rooms, in the restaurants and on the beach.

Ixtapa is a very clean, safe town to walk around. We enjoyed going to the bar a couple nights to watch the Winnipeg Jets game... that was very fun for us! (both at the General and at Frank's).

Taking the bus to Zihuatanejo is an easy and affordable thing to do.

The evening shows at the hotel didn't impress us at all. But we don't really care for evening entertainment anyway. Not a big deal at all!

The beach was so nice! Big waves on the ocean were beautiful to watch and hear all day. You could even see sting rays in the waves as they turned over. You'd also see rays when swimming and we saw them jumping one night, as we watched the sunset... that was really cool! The sunsets are gorgeous.

We had 30 degrees and sunshine every day, except mostly overcast our last day. Perfect.

There's lots of parasailing on the beach, for only $20-25. Really fun and really affordable!

I'm sure I'm forgetting something... Overall, we had an amazing and relaxing time at this resort. Would definitely recommend it to others and would come again! We met MANY people who had been coming to this resort for years and years. And we can see why. Seriously, the staff...