We have been gong to this hotel for 7 years and will be returning next year. The weather is perfect in Acapulco during the UK winter and we go every February. The hotel has 2 great pools, one for the kids, the beach side restaurant has recently been refurbished and produces excellent food all day. The top 6 floors have been refurbished to a very high standard and the staff are terrific, quickly knowing who you are and knowing your needs. I don't think we get better value anywhere else and if you want to see life and go to Acapulco then go to the Grand Hotel Acapulco.

For the past 14 years we have visited your fine hotel and watched the seamless transformation from Hyatt to the Grand Hotel. Your staff has always been inviting and professional. The Restaurant is outstanding and the staff will accommodate if you do not see it on the menu. I could not have asked for a better vacation. You will always be our number one choice for Acapulco. We stayed for 2 weeks in February and also visited the restaurants in the area with no issues. Thank you to all ~ especially Elizabeth, Mary and Judith.

We got a very good deal (roughly USD 450.- for three nights including breakfast except for the last day) on one of the recently renewed Grand Rooms. It was all new and also very clean. Both pools were very clean and the beach was well guarded by the hotel's private security so the hawkers were not a pain in the rear.

The location is excellent (Icacos beach), it is at the far end of the Zona Dorada so you don't have to deal with the horrible traffic of the Zona Tradicional and the Zona Diamante is just 5 min. driving. The beach is very clean and the tide is very calm perfect for swimming with young kids.

The buffet was delicious and with good variety in mexican breakfast dishes.

The staff was very polite and helpful. There was just one small problem with our shower one night and we were able to fix it before the maintenance guy arrived (took him about 10 min. to get to our room, which, standing wet outside your shower, can seem like an awful long time). Outside of that our stay was just perfect!

Staying in Acapulco creates a dilemma. Staying in the Zona Dorada, gives walkable or quick cab access to most restaurants and clubs as well as good value, but the hotels are often seedy or outdated. The Zona Diamante, by contrast, has outstanding high end resorts, but you will feel it in the wallet, and also be tethered to the resort unless you rent a car or regularly pay high cab fares. Being travelers who love to walk (we walked through the entire Zona Dorada and then to the Zocalo in old town), we decided to stay at Grand Hotel Acapulco because it seemed to be a bit higher end but was still in the Zona Dorada.

Note, this hotel was dropped by Hyatt a few years ago and now operates independently. The hotel is in the middle of renovations which apparently have been halted. We stayed in a "deluxe" room which is larger than the standard room but has not yet been renovated. The walls and the bathroom were a bit worn, but we had plenty of space and a comfortable king size bed.

The hotel is shaped so that all the rooms have at least some view of the ocean and the pool area. And therein was the real problem with our stay. Our first night, there was some private event at the pool. After dinner, around 10:00 pm the band starts blasting bad American wedding music songs. I sleep through almost anything but this was just too ridiculous even with the window closed. When I called downstairs they insisted that the noise was not on their property, even when I told them it was at the pool area. When I went downstairs to complain they finally admitted that, yes, it was on their property, and we could switch rooms. Being close to midnight at that point that really wasn't an option. We basically had to suck it up until 12:30 when the music finally died down.

After that the stay was pleasant enough. The hotel is located at the far western end of the Zona Dorada. It is right on the beach and you can rent a pair of chairs for the day for 100 pesos. This section of the beach has really calm waves, as well as fine sand. If you walk along the beach (we walked the length of it each morning) the waves become rougher and the sand becomes much coarser. One drawback to this, however, is because the waves are so gentle, that all the fishermen and "thrill ride" boaters park their boats right outside of the hotel's roped off area in the water.

There are two pools which are both very nice. You can get reasonably good drink and snack service both on the beach and at the pools.

The main restaurant, Pescador, is a little pricey but serves good seafood. There is another restaurant which serves breakfast. The buffet is good if you really want to gorge yourself but a bit expensive for the quality offered. We tried it once and then decided to go to VIPs across the street for breakfast. There is also one more restaurant which is glatt kosher that we did not have the opportunity to try.

The hotel layout is nice but is aging, which I gather is common in some of the more expensive Zona Dorada hotels. It remains to be seen how much more they will put into the renovations.

They make you pay to access their wi-fi network. Side note - Why do small hotels offer wifi as an amenity but large hotels use it as yet another way to suck money out of the customer?

Not having stayed at other hotels in Zona Dorada I can't say whether the others are so worn down and seedy to justify the premium you pay for the higher end stay here. The hotel is generally very nice and, except for that hiccup the first night, provides for a pleasant stay in Zona Dorada. I do think they need to complete the renovations and perhaps pick it up in the customer service department. I'm tempted to knock this down to 2 stars for their unprofessional and dishonest behavior the first night, but on balance the place is nice enough to keep it in the 3 star range.