We stayed at Holiday inn, PDC for 10 days and really enjoyed our stay. The breakfast was really good and the staff was excellent. The hotel is located 15 mins walk from the main area i.e 5th ave. We walked all the time from 5th ave to the hotel. Cabs are $4 each way which is not too bad. The only negative I have is that there are no restaurants close by ( holiday inn does not have a evening bar).. so if you want to have a snack.. you need to go to 5th ave. There is a grocery store "Chedraui" walking distance from Holiday inn and we went and brought snacks from there so when we were in the room we had some things to eat if we needed.

The Front office personel was very friendly and helpful and so were the gals at the travel agency ( conceirge service).

The Beach club was a good feature too as they have a private area to hang around on the beach. There is a bus every hour from 10 am to take you to the club.

Overall the place was clean, good value for money, room was quite and not problem. We will go there again in a heartbeat.

My adult daughter and I stayed at the HIE the first week in March. I booked the room using Priority Club points.

This was my 8th trip to this area so I knew where the hotel was located and planned accordingly.

We took the ADO bus from the airport and jumped in a cab for the 3 minute ride to the hotel.

Checkin was fast and easy, I had requested a pool view away from the elevator and I got just that. I had requested 2 beds and got that too. Thanks to Ceasar for making sure my requests were granted.Everyone at the desk spoke very good english, I just wish my visitors spanish was as good.

The large room was very clean as was the pool and all public areas. The airconditioning was cold and as mentioned in the title of this review, the beds were on a par with this chains' very comfortable beds in the US. Not the typical cement slab that passes for a bed in this part of the world. The first day our room did not get cleaned till after 4 so I asked at the desk if they could clean our room early in the day, guess what? Every day after that it was clean by the time we came back.

The breakfast each morning was very good, specially the coffee and fresh sliced fruits.

The shuttle was fairly useless to us in the morning as we were on the beach much earlier than 10:30. That said we did use it most evenings to go into town. Catching a taxi was very easy, just step outside and they will look for you as they drive by or the very helpful sercurity staff will hail one for you.

We never did go to the "Beach Club" the ladies in the lobby were urging us to go to but that was because I have seen and heard just about every timeshare come on there is in Playa and I knew better.

There were a few hiccups in service, the maid would leave coffee, but no cups or bottled water. We did have lukewarm showers one day. Our key cards didn't work more than once, thanks to the secuirty guard that saw me struggling with it and literally ran it back to the desk to have it fixed!

We stayed here to save some money this trip but I would be very likely to stay there again even if I had to pay for the room.

The hotel is quite comfortable and kept very clean.

The outdoor pool & seating area was very nice, though not as large as photos make it appear. It more than met the needs of my teen son.

There is a grocery/department store (a lot like a Walmart) about two blocks away. I was able to pick up some fruit, sunscreen, and some other sundries conveniently. (But definitely not any cheaper than the U.S.)

I was pleased with the generous buffet breakfast which offered fresh fruit, sweet bread, yogurts, eggs, toast, bacon, cereal. I was particularly fond of the Mexican hot chocolate, which I hadn't had in years. However, it was the same every single day with the exception of the "chaquiles" breakfast casserole which had a slightly different recipe every other day. Still, it was of sufficient variety and gave us more than enough fuel for much of the day, AND it was complimentary w/ room.

The shuttle to downtown is quite convenient. Keep in mind, it does not provide a return trip. The walk back from the beach or beginning of 5th Ave is about 1 km or leisurely 15 min walk. Definitely not arduous. I took a taxi once, after dinner, because it was dark and I was tired. However, one can walk back to the hotel on a pleasant Playacar (gated community) street that runs parallel to the Aeropuerto Drive (which is grimy or under construction for a block or two).

The staff are pleasant and try to be helpful - but weren't always able tor resolve problems.

I reserved two rooms for our trip. One room was very musty smelling and air conditioning helped but didn't eleminate. I think they need to ensure good ventilation even if the room is not occupied. The other room seemed much fresher. Unfortunately, one of the rooms lost air conditioning the last two days. Despite two visits from the mechanic who "fixed" it, my sister slept w/o a/c two nights. Nights were fairly cool, and even though the windows don't open, the fan did work and it was tolerate. However, I think the room would have been unbearable in any warmer month.

Also, we didn't have hot water for 3 days. One could get clean, because the water is tepid, but it wasn't pleasant. Again, it took 3 days to get the boiler fixed. This hotel is obviously very new and I can't understand why there wasn't any kind of backup built in.

There are no onsite laundry facilities. It's impossible for a swimsuit to dry overnight, so bring a spare.

My biggest complaint: The hotel is a "feeder" to the Fisherman Resort on the beach (a Sunset property). On our first afternoon, I agreed to listen to a 90 min "fractional ownership" presentation (i.e., timeshare) on the resort. (I'd never gone to one before) The resort was pleasant, on the beach, etc. I did not discount the possibility of perhaps purchasing. However, my husband, sister and I were kept prisoner for nearly 3 hours trying to extricate ourselves from the "good cop (a lovely young woman)/bad cop" routine of salesmanship. I was certainly NOT going to make a commitment of $70,000 with 12% interest rate and sign on the dotted line within 5 minutes of having contract pages shoved under our noses. I finally stopped trying to be polite and just said we'd had enough and not to bother with the free Xel Ha ticket but that we just wanted to get out of there and get a ride back to the hotel. We were funneled through two more sales people before we got our ride back. The ticket was offered - somewhat belligerantly. (If I'd known my way around already, I could easily have walked back.) I can only wonder at the very diverse comments I've seen at the Fisherman Resort reviews and am suspicious that some of the positive reviews may be "plants." I would never make that financial commitment without investigating the company, the management, the legal contract, etc. The sales reps are extremely pushy in trying to get a signature on that piece of paper.

I may indeed use Holiday Inn Express again. My nightly rate was $60 and w/ the generous breakfast, pool & shuttle service, I feel I got a good deal. But, I will never let the travel agent/concierge convince me to listen to a timeshare presentation again. I'm still thinking about a timeshare, but I think I'll try to work directly with an owner when I'm ready.

This hotel was very clean and good value for money.

I paid $65 a night. It goes up a little more at weekends. Can probably be had for $55 on hotwire.com
There is a 12 % tax to be added.

Breakfast is included in price. Suprisingly good coffee, good juices, fresh fruit, eggs refried beans and tortilla chips, salsas. Toast jam and yogurts.

Hotel is a 10 minute walk from town ( 5th Avenue ) and 15 minutes to the beach.

There is a shuttle bus that runs to the beach club abd town, every hour but it starts at 10:30 AM and ends at 6:30 PM. The shuttle service could be a lot better.

A taxi will cost $4 - 5 in peak season. Best to ask if they will take you for $3. Tipping is not given for taxi unless exceptional service is added.

There was little sign of management at the hotel and few english speakers, even at the front desk.

Rooms have coffee makers, cable TV, air con, but no refrigerator. Beds comfortable. A free bottle of water put in room every day and usual soaps and shampoo.

The hotel is on the outskirt of the main town. It is a 5 minute walk from a supermarket and McDonalds.

On Sunday evening there was a lovely church service in the breakfast room with locals and hotel guests.

There is a bar by the pool area but only saw open on Saturday night.

I would recommend this hotel as good value for money.

It would be a super hotel if:

shuttle bus started at 8:30 AM
refrigerator in room
english language classes for staff
a computer was available in lobby $5 for 30 minutes
bike rental for $ 5 a day or $3 for half day
hotel was non smoking in lobby area
a clock in the lobby area
a notice board in lobby area with information given out in English and Spanish