We just returned from a six night stay at the Hilton Cancun. Overall, it was a great experience. Below are details:

Rooms: We booked an Oceanfront Villa, and were assigned the second one on the top floor from the pool. For the villas, the location was terrific and the views were unbelievable. We were traveling with our eight-year old son, and so we requested a king room which includes a sofa bed. The king bed was great, and the sofabed appeared adequate (at least for younger guests). The room itself is a bit spartan, and the bath counters a little dated, but the room was always very clean and everything was in working order.

Concierge Lounge: This is my major complaint with our stay. We booked the Oceanfront Villas with the understanding that we would have continental breakfast and evening drinks/appetizers in the Villas Lounge. I had heard rumors that it was closed, and so at check in, I asked if it was open. Unfortunately, it was not. I was told that it was booked for a private party (for the whole week?). We were given vouchers for the Spices buffet and free drinks in the main hotel bar each day. While some might appreciate the expanded breakfast options, it's not really a big deal for me. I asked if we could instead switch to a Junior Suite as the services would be in the main lounge for convenience, but we could not be accommodated.

Hotel Bar: The servers appeared to be overworked. I'm not sure if they had extra staff considering the villa guests would be there for the 5-7 happy hour, but it seemed that they did not. The service was friendly but inconsistent.

Beach: The beaches directly in front of the villas and the hotel pool have several rocky patches right at the water's edge, but there is plenty of beach space, palapas and chairs for everyone. My husband and son had plenty of room to play frisbee, and they even hosted two beach weddings near the villa. If you walk towards the seafood restaurant, there is a beach area that was usable with very few rocks and yellow flags during our stay, which is about the best you can expect along this stretch of Cancun. The beaches were much wider here than the Marriott/JW Marriott where we stayed in 2007.

Spices: We ate breakfast at the buffet each day as it was included with the villa. They had several regional dishes, bacon, sausage, toast, bagels, yogurt, cereals, etc. You can also get cooked to order items at one station. The food was good, but the service is spotty and we felt a bit put out having to tip, particularly one day when all the server did was bring us the check (zero charge but with a space for a tip).

Kiosko & pool service: The pool servers were generally very responsive, at least early in the week. The bartenders were very friendly, and the food was much better than expected from a pool-side restaurant.

Pizzeria: We were pleasantly surprised with the quality of food having read some negative reviews. It's not my favorite NY-style pie, but it was tasty enough.

Pool: In one word, beautiful. The hotel was probably at about 50-60% occupancy, so that may have had some impact on my review. To my delight, there were very few of those selfish chair-savers -- we never had a problem getting a nice shady spot under a palapa poolside or at the beach.

Overview: The hotel is a great value in the upper-mid range. Do not go there expecting Ritz-Carlton service or amenities, but the property is beautiful and the beach/pool is the best we have experienced in Cancun recently. Everyone was very friendly and met our requests. It is a great family choice.

We stayed for four days and three nights. Service was excellent and the facilities were great. My advice is to check in, head to the pool/beach area and don't leave until the last minute before your flight home! Prices at the pool bar and pool side restaurant are very reasonable. We got great recommendations for restaurants from the concierge. We took a bus (7.50 pesos per person each way). I wish I could remember the name of the seafood restaurant recommended to us, I've even tried to google it and can't locate the name. However, we took a five minute bus ride, were one of 3 couples in the restaurant, and had amazing food and service. The restaurant had windows facing west and a boat dock out back, so the sunset was gorgeous.

Downtown in the tourist/hotel area is not my idea of a good time. It's trashy, mostly bars and chain restaurants (Senior Frogs, Hooters, etc.) and people wanting to bargain with you for t-shirts and cheap jewelry. However, if you do want to go, the bus is safe, quick and cheap.

The Hilton Hotel is in great shape. Drinks are not overly expensive, neither is the food. Check the website for a copy of their menu. It was pretty accurate. The pools are amazing. Towels are available along with information about snorkeling, para sailing, and jungle adventures. One morning we walked 10 minutes down the road to go to the Ruins del Rey. It gave us a great taste of Mayan ruins without spending a whole day on it. The ruins only cost $3.75 pesos per person so it was a good bargain and a small adventure. There are iguanas everywhere in the ruins which was neat, and a great photo opportunity. The beach next to the hotel is beautiful. There are exposed rocks just beyond the waves, so several sections of the beach were red flagged and swimming was not allowed. There was one area with a yellow flag, and we did swim. I never noticed any sea life near the shore, but I wasn't wearing a snorkel and mask either.

Over all, I would highly recommend this hotel. Again, I would say that if you check in and never leave the property, you could have a low stress vacation in one of the most beautiful parts of the world.

My wife and I stayed at the Hilton Cancun in May of 2009. We enjoyed our stay very much. Here is a quick list of facts based on our stay:

1. BEACH: Yes there IS a beach, people who say there is no beach must have stayed at some other hotel or need a new pair of glasses. PLENTY of beach, NOT rocky like some other hotels. PLENTY of chairs and palapas by the beach.

2. POOLS: amazing pools! Wow! probably nicest set of pools I've seen at any hotel. There are also 2 large jacuzzis. Pools and jacuzzis open 24/7.

3. FOOD: we had the European plan (not all inclusive) and we found the prices of food/drinks to be really expensive. It wasn't just expensive compared to Mexican standards, it was expensive compared to US/Canadian standards. (ex: $8 a plate of nacho chips and guacamole). Can't say much for the restaurants since we ate out during the entire trip. They looked nice though, but be prepared to shell out lots of $ if you eat at the hotel. We bought breakfast / lunch food at the convenient store 5 minute walk down the street, we used the minibar fridge to keep our beer / food cold. As long as you put everything back in the fridge before you leave they won't charge you. The restaurants in the Zona Hotelera are pricey. They tend to be fancier upscale restaurants, but there are also some 'cheap' places in the Party Center. In any case, most of the food is American and over priced. If you want real authentic mexican food and don't want to pay ridiculous prices, take the bus to the town where you'll find plenty of really good restaurants at really good prices. Check out the area around the Mercado 28. And when I say "good prices" I mean less than $20 for 2 people with drinks included!

4. DRINKS: as mentioned above, drinks at the hotel are pricey, expect to pay anywhere between $5-8 per drink. On the other hand, a 6-pack of beer at the convenience store down the road is about $4. they also sell hard liquor at the convenience store for really cheap prices. And if you want to pay even less, take a short ride to the town (20 mins in the bus) and go to Walmart. $10 avg. for bottles of hard liquor, and $3-$5 for six packs of beer (same exact beer that is sold for $5 a can at the hotel bar or $8 can in your mini bar). We did one trip on our first day and stocked up for the rest of the trip. Saved a huge amount of money doing this.

5. TRANSPORTATION: Some people will complain that the hotel is far from "everything". If by "everything" they mean the insanely noisy Party District with nonstop loud music and annoying drunk tourists, than yeah, you could say its a good distance away (which in my opinion was a good thing!). In any case, there are busses passing in front of the hotels in cancun every 3 to 5 minutes 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Cost is 7.50 pesos (about 50 cents). You can get to the party district in about 15 minutes, and to the downtown area in about 25 minutes. Don't even bother with taxis, they are ridiculously expensive. EVERYONE takes the bus.

6. HOTEL: The hotel itself is very nice, spacious, clean, etc. The hotel grounds are well kept. No complaints whatsoever about this.

7. ROOM: the room we got was a "regular" room on the 7th floor with an ocean and pool view. There was nothing "regular" about the view. Wow! Amazing view from this "regular" room. The hotel is built in such a way that everyone has an ocean view, so don't pay more for an "ocean view room" since they ALL have ocean view. The Bed was unbelievably comfy, sheets were also clean and very comfy as well. Large HD flat screen TV with plenty of channels both in English and in Spanish (a few other languages too: French, Japanese, etc...). cleaning service was very good and discreet. I think we saw the cleaning lady only once but the room was always made upon our return. We did not feel any risk with our belongings, but use common sense and put jewelry, cash, wallets, cameras, and any other valuables in the free room safe.

8. RECOMMENDATIONS & MISC: Cancun has lots to offer, don't just sit at your hotel all week, what a waste of money & time! There are lots of things to see and visit. I would highly recommend one of the Catamaran tours tat go to Isla Mujeres. Open bar on board, lunch on Isla Mujeres. Isla Mujeres is a must see. You can save a good 40% if you go buy your ticket directly from the boat owners at the Embarcadero (docks) instead of through the hotel tour desk. In fact, don't bother buying ANYTHING from the hotel tour desk, they markup ALL prices by at least 40%. Another recommendation for a day trip is Xel-Ha. Wow, probably the most amazing experience ever. Huge tropical sea inlet with tropical fish, stingrays, etc. and much much more. Save yourself $45 US per person that they charge for the bus to XelHa and rent a car. Renting a car for the day was $500 pesos (about $35-40). Go with another couple and split the cost of the rental in half, ends up being about $10 per person. If you do rent a car make sure you verify all sides of the car for scratches and make sure the guy writes them all down, most cars are full of scratches because most tourists treat them like crap. Also, some cars include radio CD player others don't, if you rent one with a radio make sure it works, ours didn't. If you wait until you return the vehicle to let them know, you won't get any refund. You have much more leverage with the company before you leave on your trip than after it is done. Obviously this is common sense and this advice should be taken no matter where in the world you rent a car, even at home. It is important to note that you can negotiate almost anything in Mexico. Whether its in the market (real price is about 1/3rd of what they initially tell you) or even with the car rental. We went to ask about the car rental the night before our trip and we ended getting the car at 6pm the night before for free. We only paid for the 24 hour period starting at 8am the next day. Try to negotiate everything. If you speak spanish, your negotiation potential obviously increases, but even if you don't, everyone in Cancun speaks pretty decent English.

CONCLUSION: Cancun Hilton is an amazing place to stay, don't even hesitate. We paid about $800 CAN for two people for the whole week and it was worth every penny. The other hotels on expedia at the same price (FiestaAmericana, Westin, Hyatt, Park Royal Grand, etc..) really have no beach, the Hitlon DOES. We would definitely go back to this place, especially for the amazing price/quality ratio.

We stayed for two nights here at the beginning and end of our trip. Both times were exceptional! The rooms were large and comfortable with amazing views of the turquoise ocean and pools. We dined in the little grillside patio and the beachside restaurant. The menu was sophisticated and upscale and the food was elegantly served! The grounds were clean, well-maintained and functioning. Easy access to beach, beautiful infinity pools with swim-up bar, and also kid-friendly sections available! The lobby is beautiful with plants cascading from the top floors trailing down the sides giving an air of openess and spaciousness. The staff were friendly and accommodating.