My sister and I stayed two nights at the Terracaribe, and we thought it was terrific value. Upside: really friendly staff, very comfortable beds, spotlessly clean, good shower, decent linen. Fabulous chicken soup in the restaurant inside the hotel! Lots more than we expected for the price. Downside: surroundings are a bit grim, but when you are inside the hotel the charming courtyard and pool/jacuzzi area give an alternative focus. Shuttle to beach fine, beach club okay, but we were en route to other parts of the Yukatan so beach wasn't a big deal. Anyone wanting a beach holiday should get out of Cancun, anyway, in our opinion!

I booked a 5 star time share at the Royal Sands in the hotel zone, but booked a flight which arrived a day early (long story), so I needed a place to stay for one night and didn't want to spend a fortune just for a place to crash for an evening (my flight arrived late).

I called Terracaribe direct, they quoted me $80 for a night and I was able to bargain them down to $60 OVER THE PHONE hahaha. I was a little reticent because I've never stayed in a "non-hotel zone" mexican hotel and was half expecting roaches and spiders - and I hate even the site of ONE ant in a hotel.

Let me tell you what a wonderful surprise this place was!

SUPER clean. VERY aesthetically pleasing: the pool glows brilliantly against the white hotel at night - I felt like I was in greece or something. This is among the cleanest hotels I have ever seen. The room was brand spanking new with shiny new marble floors.

The room was a bit minimalist looking but in a good way - like one of the art deco hotels in south beach. The lobby was pretty basic - like something you'd see in a best western back home in Canada. You know, a small front desk, a wall of brochures, a little restaurant with a bar (loved the tequila shots with the night staff at 5am on my way home from a long night out hahahaha).

The location is decent. Walk about 2 blocks down the main drag to a bus stop and take the R-1 dircetly to the hotel zone. It's about a 10 minute bus ride - but kind of interesting to watch the "real" mexico go by as you relax in the breezy tropical warmth.

Felt completely safe and had a chance to learn a little spanish from an old fellow at the bus stop while waiting.

For one or two nights, this place is great.

This hotel was a very terrible place. We booked it through thotels.com and it was nothing liked they showed online. The room looked so differernt. In the double room we booked, there were cables and wires for the electricity and the cable hanging from the ceiling to the device- it was very tacky. Their laundromat was facing a major road and was just noisy and open for all to see. There were stains on the bedding in the rooms and the bathroom was dirty. We told them it was false advertising and we did not want to stay there. They said they had complimentary internet but when we got there we were informed it was only in the lobby. We even used the computer in the lobby and pulled up thier page on hotels.com to show them and still we got no help
The male receptionist was extremely rude to us, informing us that they don't have control about what was on thier site and that we could leave if we wanted but we will still be charged for one night.
My husband then called hotels. com and they worked out a way for us to go to another hotel which we had to pay and additional $100 for, but in the end it was worht it.

I took my son(14Years old) on a trip through the Yucatan Peninsula and to Palenque. We started the trip in Cancun but I couldn't fathom staying in the hotel zone. I chose this place only because of the cheap price. However, my son and I felt so welcomed we stayed 2 nights and one more at the end of the trip. I even had our clothes cleaned. The front desk took care of everything. How lovely to return home not to do laundry.
The beach club that the hotel has rights to is really nice. They have cabanas, chairs,towels 2 pools and the warm ocean. The food was tasty as well. They gave us 2 free drinks for helping out when the wind blew the unbrella over.
Happy travels