Galeria Plaza is a great top-end hotel in the center of Mexico City. The hotel is ideally located in the Zona Rosa within two blocks of the "Angel de la Independencia" and Paseo de la Reforma. Its central location makes it very easy to get to the historical center or Chapultepec via taxi (40 pesos during the day) or Turibus (100 pesos for all day use). It is also withing walking distance of Avenida Insurgentes with its Metrobus transit system. The hotel has a taxi "sitio" in front.

The hotel staff was friendly and knowledgeable. I accidentally booked my stay to arrive a day later than my actual arrival. The staff worked with Expedia.com to cancel my Expedia reservation (even though it was withing 24 hours I did not get a penalty) and then gave me a new reservation matching the Expedia rate. The concierge was always helpful and answered any questions we had.

The rooms were spacious and comfortable. The entire floor we were in was non-smoking which was a pleasure, as many hotels in Mexico continue to permit smoking in all the rooms. Note that the beds in this hotel are somewhat harder than average. If you like extremely soft beds, this could be a problem.

One final comment about the neighborhood. The Zona Rosa, is very hip and happening with lots of night life. However it is also the center of the gay community in Mexico City. The scene is equivalent to any major city in the U.S.; however, if this sort of thing bothers you, you may want to look for a different neighborhood altogether.

Tip: When taking a cab from the airport, Galeria Plaza is in Zone 4, $152 pesos as of Nov 07.

In despite of the fact that the rooms are nice and renovated, the hotel looks very dated (lobby, restaurants, etc). It is centrally located, but the neighborhood isn't nice at all (especially at nights). Breakfast is very mediocre, and they charge you 21 USD if you want to use the Internet.

Pros: Location is fantastic, right at La Zona Rosa, Paseo De La Reforma and a few short blocks from the Metro station. If you can handle a 30 minute walk you can easily get to Bosque de Chapultepec. Concierge was very helpful, self-service cappucino machine by the elevators, roof top pool and gym was easily accessible. Hotel has parking if you have a car.

Cons: The bed was very hard and the pillows were too soft. No in room Internet access unless you buy an access card ($20/day) and the business center charges $2 for 10 minutes of use. For 4 stars it should be free. Chairs were attractive but not relaxing to sit in (just lie on your bed I guess). The key to the safe is not in room; you have to get it from the front desk. Bathroom is not well lit, so you shower in near darkness. Also if you're tall (6' and up) you may have to hunch over in the shower too.

Stayed 5 nights on the 11th/ Executive Floor.

With easy access to the incredibly efficient, cheap and seemingly safe subway this Zona Rosa location is equidistant from all the sites. Yeah there's lots of public displays of affection on the surrounding streets by the very young and out gay community....Good for them and their recent legal victories ! ..straight latin lovers have been kissing up a storm all over for ages.

Hotel staff was very helpful. While executive lounge attendent was good for check in/ check out (there was never a line in the lobby !) and tending to breakfast they were useless in helping confirm an ongoing reservation and other things referring you to the conceirge in the lobby who was nice enough. Yes, beware those phone charges, OUCH ! And note you are invited to a glass of (pretty good) Mexican wine in the evening but liquor and beer are not free in this lounge ! The evening appetizers were often laughable compared to other lounges. Also while the 11th floor is all nonsmoking, half the lounge (the half with the big TV and sofa) are smoking and they leave the door open so the hall occasionally smells of cigarette smoke (although the room never did).

Breakfast was continental in the exec lounge, adequate and certaintly a calmer affair than downstairs where business folk fill the restaurant each AM.

Housekeeping was superb. The beds are firm, a common Mexican issue). The bathtub is very shallow so don't expect to soak in luxury. OK the dark brown decor isn't the cheeriest. It wasn't so bad for a few nights.

The rooftop pool was nice enough for a little break even if the weather wasn't cooperative and others seemed to have no trouble ordering room service to the roof.

The bottom line was that this was great value for the money. It doesn't have the glam factor of the Sheraton/ Four Seasons/ W/ Nikko/ JWMarriot etc but cost about half to two thirds. And having dined at Solero at the W, I was pleased to pay less and not to have to walk through a noisy, trendoid filled lobby filled with cigarette smoke.....with the windows closed you couldn't escape it in the restaurant either.