We had two nights here in Jan 2009 before travelling on to Belize. We paid US$50 per night which included breakfast, served in a cute open sided cabana at the waters edge. If you are looking for the all inclusive resort experience then this is not for you, but if you just want somewhere clean to crash for a few nights then I would recommend it.
The main hotel zone is just along the Boulevard and the Downtown area a couple of miles the other way.
We ate at a nice restaurant which is in a hotel a bit further down the side street that this hotel is on. Turn left out of the hotel and La Palapa Belga is about 100 m. along though the lobby of the Calle Quetzal Hotel. We had a reasonably priced, lovely meal at the waters edge overlooking the lagoon.

The hotel was what i expected. I booked online and pre-paid, and got the room for $42.00 US per night, what a good deal in Cancun! As a frame of reference, I am a flight attendant, and stay in hotels A LOT, from 5 stars to total dumps. Also, i speak spanish, so my experience might go more smoothly than for non-speakers in certain situations.

The hotel is on a side street with mostly expensive, big, private homes and condos - a very pleasant area. The pool area is small, but clean. The bar/restaurant was small, and had a view of the lagoon (which is rather slimy,green, swampy and not a place to hang out on the shore/dock for much time) the TV was always on (in spanish) and the servers were indifferent. I decided to eat elsewhere after day one. (I ate most of my meals at VIPS, across from the NH Cristal Hotel - its like "Denny's", but mexican, and very clean, with excellent service, and you can eat a full-on breakfast/lunch or dinner for about 5 bucks!)

The room had 2 double beds, an old but clean comforter and wool blankets. The pillows and beds were comfy, and the a/c worked very well - what a relief after a day in the sun! You need to get the lock-box key and tv remote control from the front desk. the key is $65 if you lose it... yikes! There was a small closet and desk/table, and thats about it, the room was rather small to have 2 beds, but oh well. I was on the ground floor, so perhaps the higher rooms have balconies/more space.

The bathroom had a nice shower stall that had lots of HOT water (be careful - its HOT!!!) and a nice window.

The room was fresh and clean every time i came back from a day at the beach - housekeeping did a wonderful job!

I recommend this hotel for those that really don't want to spend their time at their hotel on vacation. There are plenty of beaches to walk to, and lots of options for food/drink in the area, so i was happy. however, if you are looking for the type of vacation where you laze around all day at a resort/hotel (ie.from room-restaurant-beach-room-etc) this is not the place for you. also, if you are expecting a Sheraton or Hilton for $42/night, keep dreaming.

The room was clean, quiet and all staff was wonderful. We had good meals there and over all a great place to crash while you explore the real Cancun.

We only had one concern - the Cubans who stayed while we were there were selling scamers and selling drugs. Not something one expects after their country just got hit with a devastating storm a couple weeks ago. Other than that, all was good. One request - have the courtesy to at least learn some Spanish before traveling here - the population may speak a little English but Americans continue to look arrogant when we don't try.

I just want to warn anyone who is thinking of staying here - I got my cell phone stolen from my suitcase in my room!! The security here is nonexistant and the manager was unhelpful and tried to tell me that we must have brought guys to our room (definitely not the case!!) It took a lot of effort just to get him to let me use the internet (which he denied having access to at first) to report my phone stolen. The hotel is definitely bare bones and small and the rooms aren't very nice but there is AC and the rooms are pretty clean. The pool is cold and very small. It was a decent budget hotel but unfortunately I return from vacation with no cell phone!