Well, I hesitated to give the "okay, but with some problems" rating, but "terrible" wouldn't give the right picture either........first of all, I need to say that from what I understand, the rooms at this hotel differ (some are newly decorated condos rented out by the week, others are in one of two different buildings) - so I understand if someone else stayed here and thought their room was okay - but let me tell you that ours was NOT! We were in a "junior suite" with our three children, one of whom pays adult rate at 14, only to sleep on the most uncomfortable looking excuse for a pull-out bed I've ever seen. The travel agent (when we booked way back in October) had assured us our room would be "nicer than" a Howard Johnson hotel room (as you know, that's a budget chain), so I was willing to accept HO-JO quality at the worst - let me say that a Ho-Jo would have been a blessing in place of the first two rooms we had. The first room we had here was beyond disgusting. The bathroom was coated in black mold (from the where the wall met the ceiling, for about 2 full inches down the wall), there were very large areas where the plaster had fallen from the walls, the bathroom door looked like it had been kicked in, the towel racks fell away when you grabbed a towel, the sliding glass door lock was broken completely so you couldn't lock the door, and the room appeared not to have been cleaned for years (thick dirt on all the louvered cupboard doors and shelving so that you couldn't put your clothes away in the closets, plus a large sticky spot about 2 feet wide under the pull out bed in which some sort of chip appeared to be resting). In addition, the beds were made up with a single sheet and a scratchy blanket with a dirty bedspread over top. When we wanted to make up the pull-out, we found all the bedding available was a single blanket that was so badly stained, stinky and dirty. We called down for bedding, which the front desk sent up, and we handed over the dirty blanket. I also requested (kindly) a room change and was told to come down at 8:00 am, at which time I could view a room that would become vacant later that day. So I did, and we changed to a room only slightly better (the best I can say is that it had less black mold, and no spots where the plaster was off the wall, and the doors all locked). But - this night when we asked for bedding for the pull-out, they brought what my daughter was sure was the exact same filthy blanket we'd given them back the night before. She was in tears! It was about this time we noticed the air conditioner had leaked all over the closet, and that water had soaked up the bed-spread in the main room. I'd been conversing politely with front desk for two days and still had a dirty, wet room with yucky bedding. I was ready to head to Walmart and buy a jug of bleach and bag of paper towels and make the place habitable on my own. Finally, my husband made the trip downstairs to explain what we found so unacceptable, and then they sent up a management type guy, followed by a painter (who painted over all the black mold, telling us that some of the rooms are fixed up and much nicer), then a maintenance guy who fixed the a/c, and a maid who was there well over 2 hours, and who made the room visibly cleaner! Nice, but why did we have to waste 2 days of our holiday to get basic cleanliness? I found front desk to be terribly unhelpful, as they would insist they'd send someone up to look at this or that, and to wait in the room for them, and after an hour or two of waiting, down we'd go again to remind them - some holiday! I give the initial room a 0/5, with the painted/cleaned room becoming a 3/5, and the front desk crew are about a 1/5, because they made me wait around and fight for a decent sleeping area.

Other than the room issue, here's what we thought: the food in the buffet was okay - we'd give it 3/5 - although basically it's fish, beef, pork and chicken in a variety of sauces, with some kind of pasta, potatoes, overcooked vegetables and soups (my friend enjoyed the soups, which seemed to be made of left-overs so that there was "banana bean" and such yummy recipes). The guacamole was very good and nobody (9 of us all together) was sick the whole time, though we met some people who'd been sick from the salad dressing, which we avoided. It's just that one gets tired of the same thing every day, with little variety. The Mexican restaurant was disappointing, as it seemed to take some of the stuff from the buffet and plate it. The Italian was better, but there isn't a lot on the menu so you get tired of that quickly too. However, reservations were easily made and kids could come during a certain sitting each night. AND - the Spanish coffee was truly amazing, as was the service in the Italian restaurant in general - like being in a real restaurant!

The kids club was excellent, and our girls (5 and 8) really enjoyed it - went nearly every day and made some cool crafts. Those girls do a good job in there! I can't say enough about them - and they really "made" the vacation for our youngest! I give the kids' program 5/5

The pool was superb - clean and huge and warm and wonderful, as was the entire beach area. The vendors really weren't a problem, and the time-share folk didn't bother us after the first day. I'd give the pool area a 5/5

The all inclusive drinks were not great - cheap mixes, no garnishes, everything tasted the same and the only beer available was Sol. And, much of the time the bar tender seemed to just want to give you whatever he wanted, regardless of what you'd ordered (a lime margarita could look an awful lot like a chi-chi when handed to you LOL). I'd have to give the drinks a 2 or 3/5

Entertainment at the HI is a joke. The water arobics daily at 12:00 was fun, and there were water toys - kayaks and the such - available free of charge, but the night-time stuff was basically non-existing. The best thing we saw was karaoke, believe it or not, although the really drunk people (and there were a few) appeared to be having a great time in the lobby bar most nights. My kids and I were really bothered by the smoke, being from BC we are used to eating in a restaurant without somebody billowing smoke beside us - obviously this isn't the fault of HI, just a fact of life in Mexico, but something to think about if you're thinking of coming for the first time and don't tolerate cigarette smoke well - it's all over the resort and especially thick in the Lobby Bar, which is where the only evening "entertainment" takes place. Oh, wait! If you find it entertaining to listen to the people in the room beside you passing gas in the morning, fighting drunkenly at 3 am or watching TV as though you were in the room with them (that's how thin the walls are) then you can count that too. Pool exercises aside, I'd give the entertainment a 1/5

Overall, I'd say to come here only if: the price is REALLY right (it really wasn't, in our case, and we could have stayed at a MUCH nicer place for about 40 bucks a day).......if you don't want/need to be entertained.......if you expect to be drunk most of the time.........
if you have small kids who will appreciate the kids' club...........if you are not a fussy eater...........and if you can be gauranteed one of the updated rooms. IF the answer is "yes" to all or most of those, then you'll probably be satisfied at the Holiday Inn.

The Holiday Inn in Puerto Vallarta, was just terrible!
My father and I drove from Canada to Mexico, we stayed 21 days in a nice hotel at a very nice location, then drove to the Holiday inn to meet my mother, boyfriend, Aunt and Grandfather who flew from Canada to Pueto Vallarta, and got a week all inclusive! We tried to book in, no reservation, they were booked, becuase it was the weekend, so we went to leave, and ran into a lady who told us about more suites in the hotel, we talked to a man he gave us a timeshare sweet, for 2 nights then told us we had to move, we had to move rooms and go to another time share room, quite the hastle, becuase i had a month and a half of luggage with me, and no doormen, to help with luggage, there was no roommaide she maybe cleaned the rooms twice since we were there, we ran out of clean towels and toilet paper twice!, the room and view was nice tho! they were doing construction two rooms down the hall and it started very early in the morning, if you are paying that much for a room is it too much to ask, to sleep in, in the morning of your vacation and have clean towels and toilet paper??? My families rooms, were facing the construction on the side of the hotel, and you could NOT lean on the balcony railing you would have fell, the railing was hangin on by two screws! The man who booked us in, gave us a price it was 145 a night without all inclusive, so that is what we paid, he said he was giving us a better deal, but the night before i left they phoned my room at 11:30 pm when i had to get up a 5:00 am to start the long drive back to Canada, to tell me I hadnt paid for my room!!! Well as soon as we booked in the man wrote down 145 a night for 7 nights and i paid with my visa and they charged me a $5.00 for using my visa, so i go down stairs in my PJ's half sleeping, argue for an hour and a half, now they are saying I owe for one more night, because the other man, did not charge me for 7 but only 6! then said they are charging me 160 a night!!! so we paid $250.00 a night for a room and so we could have the all inclusive option! Unbelievable, how they quoted me one price then gave me another and then made me use my visa again to add on another $5.00 charge!

The hotel, as soon as we walked in we did not feel welcomed! the people who worked thre were rude! there was only 2 bar tenders that were friendly the whole time, the others were pushing there Tip jars at us! the drinks were unconsistant, I would order a double Margarita, it would be strong as heck and full of ice, and my boyfriend would order the same and his would be just liquid no ice and warm! My aunt ordered a beer, and he gave her one that was sitting on the bar that a man long before didnt come back for! The hotel was not set up well, there was no bar on the beach, which is nice, your in mexico to enjoy the beach and weather not to sit in the lobby bar! There was no bathroom for people to go to while swimming, so you have to walk through the restaurant where people are eating in your wet bathing suit to use the can!!! All in all the people were rude, i just felt I was getting ripped off the entire time! I have been to three resorts before this one and that was by FAR the worst experience i had ever had, and i am definatly not one to complain, I just dont want people to have the same experience I had! We paid $400.00 for 21 days in a very nice hotel, and the beers were 75 cents and a huge meal was $2.00 and we paid 400 for 2 nights at the holiday in for rude workers and food that made you sick!!!

I just got back from a week stay at the Holiday Inn Puerto Vallarta. It was excellent! The pool was beautiful, had plenty of chairs and is right on the beach. The buffet food was always good, offered a lot of different choices and didnt get old. However, the Piaceres Restaurant in the hotel was far the best food ever!! Definatly recommend to get a reservation there. The staff was very friendly and would get you anything you would need. The rooms were a little different but you dont go to Mexico to stay in your room. Overall it was a great experience and would definatly go back!

We arrived on mar. 15-22 our stay was good.The staff was always good,the buffet was good nothing spectacular they did mix it up with different dishes but some stayed the same.The door on 635 looked like it was kicked in,the maid service was on the poor side floors were not done all week and no face cloths.The only thing that really bugged me was if you had kids to sit by the pool in the shallow end you had to get to the pool before 7 am.The chair race was a bit much.Overall probably wouldn't go back for the little extra money there is nicer places.We did visit the Samba in nuevo and the maid service in our friends room was great as well as other things.