Hotel Comments:
Dining Comments:
Entertainment Comments:
Security Code:

February 2, 2010

Hotel Comments: AWESOME!! MODERN!! DOWNTOWN!! MARBLE FLOORS!! we arrived on time around 1230am and waited a few minutes while they found rooms for us. After spending 15 minutes trying to figure out how to turn off all of the "modern" lighting in the room, I decided to watch a few minutes of TV before bed. Unfortunately, the display was all static; no signal. I called the front desk and they said they were aware of the problem and it should be fixed soon. So instead, I pull out my iphone to listen to some music instead. I put in my earbuds, then, not wanting to drain the battery, plugged my phone into the wall. As soon as the plug went into the receptacle, there was an extremely loud electrical feedback noise in the earbuds, and I quickly unplugged it to avoid damage to my phone. So, unable to charge my phone, and no tv, I just went to bed. A couple of times during the night, the smoke alarm in my room emitted a long, loud "chirp" loud enough to wake me up from an otherwise sound sleep. (the noise they make when the battery is dying or, as I would find out, when the power comes back on) The next morning, the buzz saws and hammering started promptly at 8am, so I decided to go to the gym. Got down to "spa" only to find it was closed for renovations. Well, no gym, I figured I'd get some breakfast. Of course the average breakfast there is more than $15. Why would you expect anything else, though? This is a "nice" hotel, so they have to charge ridiculous prices on otherwise typical hotel food. Luckily, I brought my own food. I went back to my room to eat, and wait for our 2pm van. I turned on the TV, and still not working. The front desk again said it would be working soon. I guess it might have been a language barrier thing; by "soon" I assumed they meant in the next few minutes, maybe an hour... evidently they were referring to a much bigger picture: soon as in a week or two. Without anything else to do, I decided to get online and work on my bid, but then determined that if I wasn't going to drop $20+ on breakfast, I certainly wasn't going to spend $10 on a stupid internet connection. As it turns out, this was a good decision, because a few minutes later, the power went out. To recap: no tv, no gym, no food, no internet, but now with the power out, at least the construction noises had ceased. Because I hadn't slept well, I decided to take advantage of the situation and take a nap. I shut the curtain and had just begun to doze off and the power came back on. I knew that it had come on because about half of the "modern" lights defaulted to "on", the smoke alarm emitted a long, loud chirp, every other fire alarm in the hotel went off, and the construction noises commenced. Then, after about 30 seconds, the power went out again. It repeated this process of temporarily "blinking on" every 1-10 minutes or so for the rest of my stay. After 3 hours of blinking modern lights and fire alarms, I took a shower in the "beautiful" marble-covered bathroom, in a "stylish, contemporary" shower... in the dark. Then, when it came time to leave, I took one more look out the window of my swanky, twenty-second floor beautiful hotel room at the filthy shanty-town beneath me, then began descending the 22 flights of stairs to the lobby. As it turns out, elevators run on electricity.

Dining Comments: Bring your Visa if you eat at the hotel, otherwise there are more than a few places around to get (gasp!) greasy cheap tacos. Where else in mexico can you find that???

Entertainment Comments: Make small talk with the hookers that line the streets around the hotel, avoid getting mugged/shot at night. Oh, and on the 30 minute ride to and from the hotel you can pick out the Holiday express and Hampton Inns more than 15 minutes CLOSER to the airport!!

January 9, 2010

Hotel Comments: Definitely a nicer hotel, sure it's a drive from the Airport but at least you're downtown with things around to do. The limo service is prompt and nothing like getting coffee with your wake up call. Bid for Shreveport if you want free internet ;-)

Dining Comments: Very complete breakfast available downstairs. If you love fruit they have a great spread.

Entertainment Comments: None

December 31, 2009

Hotel Comments: very nice hotel! After renovation just beautiful! Free business center for us, van ride is 25 min, but van is on demand so still better then in Holidays or Hamptons where ride is generally shorter, but van goes every half hour...

Dining Comments: good location, a lot of places to go

Entertainment Comments: a lot of bars, shopping mall across the street

June 28, 2009

Hotel Comments: A GREAT overnight. Hotel is very nice (as far as Mexico hotels go). Free coffee delivered to the room in the morning if you ask and the wireless internet may not be free, but who cares? You're only here for a day so go outside and visit the mall or one of the many great restaurants around. For those who complain about this overnight, don't ruin it for the rest of us. Just don't overnight here anymore.

Dining Comments: If you like Mexican food (especially tacos) go to Tacos y Charlies. They offer more types of tacos than you could ever imagine and everyone of them we had was excellent. Get a few Estrella's (the beer of the region) and enjoy chips and salsa and of course tacos. The entire crew ate around 25 tacos and had 6 beers and 2 orange sodas for $27. Great deal and they do take VISA. Directions are take a right out of the hotel, take a right at the Pemex gas station, and it's on the right hand side of the road just past the tire station.

Entertainment Comments: none

June 24, 2009

Hotel Comments: I couldn't care less about their nice atmosphere or marble floors. I couldn't care less about their 11th floor outdoor pool. All I care about are clean rooms, quick van ride, and "complimentary" internet. This place has NONE of those! Is it too much to ask that flight crews get free internet access at ALL of our overnights...ESPECIALLY MEXICO! We're completely cut-off from home and the web is very useful (Skype, etc.). Hey! They do give us free local calls though...too bad that's completely worthless. I'd like to see this place dropped like a bad habit...give me a Hampton, Holiday Inn or La Quinta...all of which give crews the amenities this sorry hotel should!!

Dining Comments: Decent fajitas.

Entertainment Comments: Nada.

April 1, 2009

Hotel Comments: A 30 minute van ride, loud late-night music in the lobby bar that you can hear in your room all the way up on the 22nd floor, rock hard beds, no free internet service in the lobby or in your room, and an always occupied "complimentary for crew" business center. Hey, but there's a fancy chandelier in the lobby for you to stare at when you wait at the desk to complain to the manager.

Dining Comments: See other reviews.

Entertainment Comments: Stew over the fact that you aren't able to connect to the outside world while you're here.

December 16, 2008

Hotel Comments: Great hotel, great service, but nothing is free.

Dining Comments: Boca 21 - cross the street into the mall, and it's on the far right corner of the mall. Great sandwiches and tapas. Also the ubiquitous VIP's.

Entertainment Comments: La Cucaracha, around the corner.

June 19, 2008

Hotel Comments: Great place. They serve you coffee with your wakeup call - remember to write "Coffee" next to the wakeup call time. Gym is reasonable, business center offers Free internet access.

Dining Comments: Try Karne Garibaldi. Only serve beef - comes w/ gravy in small, medium or large plate, and unending supply of tacos (awesome), radish, onions, lime. You can have a great meal for about 70 pesos. Directions - out the front door, cross the street to the mall. Walk across the mall, cross another street, and go right about 1 block. You wont' miss it. It's next to a scooter dealer.

Entertainment Comments: Shop at the mall across from the hotel

November 9, 2007

Hotel Comments: Great hotel, was upgraded to an Executive Club Level Suite! Wonderful room, absolutely loved it. Roof top pool was fun, nice gym.

Dining Comments: They have a couple of places in the hotel, but you can venture outside for some real mexican food. Try asking the concierge, he was SO helpful. I do remember one place that was open 24 hours and had awesome food...but do not remember the name. Once again, ask the concierge.

Entertainment Comments: Drink, drink and drink some more. The hotel has a bar that gets busy after 5, but there are plenty of places to go near the hotel, too. There is also a good liquor store right next door. There is a shopping mall across the street...and even though others say it is pricey, I found it to have pretty good prices! It had more stores than I knew what to do with!

June 15, 2007

Hotel Comments: Hotel is nice, but as with more stars, less is complimentary! Even the in room coffee is 45 pesos! The front desk will arrange to have coffee brought to your room at your wake up call, though. Business center gives you 1 hour free use. You have to pay for in room connections.

Dining Comments: Taco Charley's. Go out the hotel, to the right. Go 2 blocks or so to the PEMEX gas station and take a right, follow the road around a block or so to the restaurant on the right. Tacos for 7 pesos, fajitas for 70 pesos, 20 pesos for beers. The are open till 5 am for the late arrivals! Good food, cold beverages. Try the dorados tripas, it's a Mexican delicacy! ***Cash only, US money accepted.***

Entertainment Comments: Expensive mall across the street from the hotel. Same prices, maybe more, than the states.

March 21, 2007

Hotel Comments: Was there March 18th. They put all 3 of us each in a corner junior suite. Great hotel. No soda machines. It's all in the mini bar. The wireless connection cost $10, but you can get on downstairs in the business center for free.

Dining Comments: Vips across from the hotel. Nice place.

Entertainment Comments: The mall across the street is good for a look, but pricey.

September 2, 2006

Hotel Comments: Nice hotel across from shopping

Dining Comments: Sanborns across the street and numerous taco stands near mall parking garage. Subway in the mall.

Entertainment Comments: Nice bar La Cucaracha behind hotel (curl left). Great drink deals and they give you a music request sheet to fill out.

June 8, 2005

Hotel Comments: Nice hotel downtown across from a mall. Shuttle service is about a 30 minute ride.

Dining Comments: Good place across the hotel connected to a Walgreen's type general store.

Entertainment Comments: Determine if the hookers on the street in front of the hotel are chicks or dudes.