I booked a Superior Room for 6 nights. I remembered that the hotel's website claimed that that type of room was on floor 6 and 7 but my room was on level 2. Unfortunately, during the weekend, nobody was able to find out if I could change to a more attractive room, and so I had to wait until Monday. The rooms are somewhat old fashioned but after the succesful roomswitch I had a wonderful oceanview (floor 3). The beds could be a bit softer though. The rooms are not soundproof (the waves make a nice sound but it can be quite hard so earplugs are not an unnecessary luxury).
Some negatieve points:
hotelstaff at reception, breakfast restaurant and bar were not very friendly and also not very efficient. Quality of breakfast could be better. There is no shower by the swimming pool, and the toiletrooms there are very small and not clean.
To end with the positive: the hotel is in an ideal spot at the beach of Old Vallarta. The lobby is beautiful and, if you get the right room, you have a wonderful view.
Advice: when you book online make an agreement about which room you want in order to avoid disappointment after arrival.

We booked a last minute family vacation to Puerto Vallarta via WorryFreeVacaations (a local tour operator) for a Saturday-to-Saturday stay. The total price for 5 people with 2 rooms and airfare was about $3600.00.

We arrived at the airport, got our bags and did the entrance into the country and thing, got in the courtesy shuttle provided by our tour company and went to the hotel. (We ended up taking a taxi back to the airport at the end of the trip).

The hotel is on the side of main Puerto Vallarta from the airport but it is perfectly located we thought.

Check-in was smooth. We used our high school Spanish and they spoke in English much better. Well, at least we tried, eh? Nonetheless, we got the keys to the rooms and headed up the elevator. A couple notes, these are actual keys and not cards...not really a big deal to us. Note, there are two elevators that service the old building and each one has its own button to push. Choose the one on the right, which is the newer and quicker one. They put is in two rooms that were right next to each other on the 5th floor of the old building. At first, we didn't care for it at all. There was a roof on the other side of the balcony that extended for another 20 feet that blocked a good ocean view. We ended up making the best of it as this allowed us to easily hop over the balcony from our room to the other to hand things over to the kids (adults in one room ,kids in the other with no connecting door). Although this was peak season and the front desk stated that the room was full, we didn't really see anyone else in the other rooms that shared the common roof (which was about another 6 rooms).

The rooms themselves were nice. A TV and AC both worked (although we had to leave a deposit for the remote controls for both at the front desk). There was a small pitcher and two glasses provided that meant that if you wanted potable water, you had to walk down the hall to the large water bottle in the hallway to tip it over into the pitcher. This was something we didn't want the kids to do by themselves as our little monkeys definitely would have made a mess.

The mattress are hard. We've read reviews of other hotels in Mexico and this seems to be a common complaint, but they were extremely firm nonetheless. We braved the elements and turned off the A/C at night, opened up the sliding glass door and listened to the waves smash against the beach all night. That was really wonderful. The nice part was, the hotel was quiet enough that that wasn't a problem.

The beach is gorgeous and sandy. I swam out with the older kid and enjoyed the waves knocking us around. There seemed to be plenty of chairs to go around and a parasailing opportunity right out the hotel gates. Vendors were plentiful, but a simple and policy "no gracias" is enough". There's a little foot bath and shower on the way back to the hotel which leads you to the pool area.

The pool is adequate and has a very shallow area for the wee ones (no pun intended) and a bit of a deep spot. I grew up in suburban Minnesota and saw average houses with this size pool. It was clean, and enough for the kids to play in (supply your own supervision) but nothing to plan a trip around, if you get my drift.

The hotel has a restaurant as well. Don't get your hopes up. PV is a foodie's town and there are hundreds of much better restaurants. The one plus is that this place is quite cheap. So, if you're on a budget or just want something close, this is ok. I'd rate the buffet 3/10 and the menu a 5/10. We didn't use the bar so I can't comment on that, but it was right next to the pool.

As for security, there was an occassional guard at a post, but it was far from consistent. But, we felt safe and the hotel had almost a remote feeling to it despite its location.

Now, for what the hotel should be known for, location. The longer we spent in PV, the more we appreciated the hotel's location. We were able to walk, with three kids in tow (ages 6,8, and 14) all over town from the hotel with hardly a problem. (Taxis in town are plentiful and all of them knew exactly where the hotel was). Across the street was a little car rental spot where we got a Jeep for a day and took up the coast and around to see a bit more of the country. Also, there are plenty of great restaurants nearby such as ChocoBanana and (oh, I'm blanking on the name right now, but it's really good, on the beach, and about two blocks away). There's also an OXXO about 2 blocks away that has an ATM as well.

If we were to go to PV again, we would have no problems staying here and we wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone else. It's not grand,great, amazing, or anything like that. But this is also not an all-inclusive where you're expecting to spend all of your time at the hotel either.

Happy travels!

This trip stayed almost 4 weeks at the Tropicana in a standard newer room on th 4th floor. Nothing ever changes here - but it shows more wear with each passing day and year. Our room, 406 had 1 electrical plug and it sparked, broken cable ends so TV did not work, toilet did not flush until after 3rd try - and flooded once. Shower drain plugged and overflowed. This hotel is a 2*-3* at best but says its a 4*. While maid service is great, food is mediocre, and pool waiters - while attentive are motivated by tips. So why stay here you might ask....its ALL about location and the pool area. Best beach area hands down, spacious palapas - good beach security. People return year after year and get to know each other - which is really nice. Even with the problems we will be back.

The Hotel Tropicana is a great little hotel in a perfect location on the South Side of town on Playa Los Muertos.

Check-in was a breeze with absolutely no problems. As we had requested in the reservation, we were given a superior oceanfront room. It was fantastic. While simple and a bit spartan (some drawers to put clothes into might have been nice) the room was spotless. The bathroom was well-sized with an enormous walk-in shower (no bathtub, which suits me just fine). There was a TV with plenty of channels.

I do wish the rooms had in-room safes, but my fear that getting to the safe in the lobby would be a hassle proved to be unfounded. The front desk was always quick to help when needed.

Food is the hotel's weak point. The included breakfast buffet left a lot to be desired. The food tended to sit out too long and dry out, especially the fresh fruit. We managed to find something to get us going for the day usually. Their chilaquiles were a treat when they did have them.

We ordered some snacks sometimes around lunchtime and they were nothing to write home about. Getting beach service was often an issue of trial and error if the waiter would remember your order or not. Our best lunches came from all the great food vendors on Playa Los Muertos. Search out the full fishes on a stick (not the little filets they walk around with).

The beach is Playa Los Muertos, so be prepared for the vendors and bigger crowds. This is a drawing point for us. The hotel had plenty of both palapas and umbrellas for guests to use, There's a nice pool area, but honestly most people seemed to hang out on the beach.

The hotel grounds are nice, if a bit haphazard in places. You can tell they have combined buildings and spaces for a while, making things feel disjointed as you made your way around. there are lots of little stair cases everywhere getting you where you need to be. The plants and grass areas are kept in good order.

You do get the feeling that with a little TLC here and there, this hotel could be so much more. Luckily it is already pretty darn good, and having stayed at the Playa Los Arcos a few times before it was a nice change to never see a line of grumpy people begging to change rooms. We found the service and room at the Tropicana to be a significant upgrade in general.

Locationwise, it's is perfect if you plan to explore the south side. It is just a few blocks away from plenty of great restaurants and bars. The malecon is just a short hike along the beach over the new bridge.

One of these days someone will wake up and realize that with a few upgrades, this hotel just oozes potential. In the menatime it's a great medium range hotel on the beach.

In the meantime it suits me well. I would gladly return to the Tropicana. You should stay there too!