My family traveled to cancun for spring break last year and had planned to stay at the riu palace until we found cheaper airlines to leave a day early. Unfortunately the riu was booked and after seeing the pics of the hotel, we decided to stay there. We arrived in cancuun in the late afternoon and we got a taxi to the riu for free. We tried to book one more time before getting a taxi to go to the laguna. When we got into the taxi, the driver laughed at us and told us it was a big difference. We got there and went to our 2 rooms. when we tried the first room the key card wouldn't work. we got to the second 1 opened the door and it smelled like a public restroom. We immediately complained and were upgraded to a "suit". The only difference between the 2 rooms was that the suit had 3 beds. We still needed another room and found 1 with only a smoke smell. That night there was yelling and you could hear the night clubs across the lagune. I woke up to find my son had not slept either and we left at 5:30 to check in to the riu. I will never stay here a night in my life. Please don't stay here!

We stayed at Imperial Laguna for one night before moving onto the Cancun Palace - we came in around midnight that night and didn't want to waste the all-inclusive for that day. I was actually very scared to go there after reading reviews (after we booked the hotel). I had read that it was in a crack den - I have no idea where that came from - the hotel is located on a nice residential street- with above average homes surrounding the hotel and relatively pricey cars. On the lagoon side there are several expensive boats docked at the hotel, so it clearly is not a crack den. I also read that the hotel was noisy and that people could be seen throwing up in the hallways. While we were there we only saw a few other families, and it was not noisy.

The hotel grounds are very nice and quaint. They have landscaped it with a bunch of ferns, flowers and trees, so it looks really nice in the courtyard. The pool is a good size, and by the lagoon they have a restaurant that serves food/drinks. The pina colada was excellent!!

The rooms, on the other hand, are another story. If we had been staying in the room for more than the 8 hours or so that we did, I would not have been happy. Maybe some of the other rooms are nicer, I don't know, but we immediately took the bedspread off - it looked really old. The bathroom had a musty smell, and the light fixture in the room was flourescent and hanging at an odd angle. Our room was on the first floor right next to the street and was not even locked when we got there. I didn't feel very safe. They need to upgrade the rooms, badly.

This hotel isn't that bad, but I would only stay here if I was on a tight budget - like maybe if I was a college student and wouldnt be in the room at all anyway. Or if you are only staying a night or two. Otherwise, spend a little more and go someplace else.

This is a budget hotel but very clean and comfortable and with a brilliant location. Its within walking distance of all the bars, restaurants and clubs which is more than can be said of some of the other hotels in the hotel zone. (its all just across the lagoon so a 15 minute walk gets you there).

The decoration isn't brilliant and admittedly it's quite basic but for the money I paid I had no complaints!

Its located right on the lagoon and has a waterside restaurant which served really yummy breakfasts but I didn't think much of the evening meals. There was a brilliant view from our balcony of the Riu Cancun some of Cancun's nightlife.

We read reviews AFTER booking our stay and we were rather apprehensive to say the least. What we found was no where near as scary as what was written. "Ghetto"? The single family homes were 3 story, they had open garages so we saw vehicles - Mercedes, BMWs, Jeeps and SUVs. They had pleasure boats on the lagoon side. Across the street was a golf course. The hotel was walking distance to tour bus pickups. There is a small store nearby for milk and cereal - I woundn't recommend much else as the kitchen consists of a small frige, microwave, sink and a rusted portable 2 burner hotplate. The sheets were clean BUT a mattress pad would have been nice. The spreads needed to be retired. We slept fine. The steel door was reassuringly strong and we were not kept awake by noise. The elevator worked and the staff was helpful with our questions. We were in Cancun to visit the ruins and not the night life. (Plan on a 12 hour day when you sign up for a tour to the ruins) Since we were gone all day we didn't get the push for timeshares etc. The restaurant was excellent and we had a nice view of the lagoon and hotels on the beach. There was no odor from the water!! We would not hesitate to stay here again.