The Royal Mayan Acapulco is a beautiful resort but needs updating in a few areas. The grounds are simply magnificent. My friends and I stayed in an ocean view (though the first floor - more palm tree view) 1 bedroom suite in the main hotel. The rooms are decorated beautifully however, the beds and pillows are very, very hard (no pillow top or even padding for that matter). The room towels felt like we were toweling our bodies with card board.

All of the restaurants throughout the resort, including the pool area bars had excellent food. We never had a bad meal.

The staff was warm, welcoming, and very, very helpful. The majority of the hotel staff were fluent in English or knew enough to assist with any questions.

The good: beautiful, great pools, great food, great drinks.

The bad: check-in took over 5 hours, hard beds and pillows, rough towels, too many sand fleas on the beach.

Overall, I would recommend this hotel for families and newlyweds. The hotel is quite a distance from the downtown area, however, the hotel has enough to offer if you're not comfortable leaving the grounds.

As recommended by other people on trip advisor, we contacted Roberto Alarcon. Lovely gentleman, however, Roberto and his staff were not allowed to drive into the hotel property after dropping us off from the airport. We were told that they would pick us up outside of the gates. We did not use Roberto for an Acapulco city tour (we used another lovely driver named Mario) and upon speaking with Roberto and finding out that we would have to have hotel bell staff bring our luggage outside of the gates to return to the airport, we opted to use the hotel's airport shuttle (very, very, very reasonable - I recommend this form of transportation).

As is evident from the reviews of many others, no trip to Acapulco is complete without the expert guidance of Roberto Alarcon (robertoalrey@yahoo.com.mx). He was always prompt to take us where we wanted to go. His tours are interesting, informative and entertaining. His restaurant recommendations were perfect. He lent us a mobile phone (for which we purchased prepaid minutes) so that we could call him or call back to the US for a reasonable price. He always surprised us with something unexpected, such as a stop at a sea-turtle farm, where we released baby sea turtles into the ocean. I think we could have asked for anything and he would have happily complied.

Our suite was fabulous: two large bedrooms and bathrooms, and one large living/dining/kitchen area. Everything was new and clean. The staff were all very friendly. The grounds, pool, etc., were expertly maintained.

It was very refreshing to not have to pay for an "all inclusive" plan. We were afraid that the resort's food prices would be outrageous, but they were very reasonable. The breakfast buffet that would cost $40 in the US was only US$18. You could easily order a breakfast entree for US$10 and have plenty to eat. The lunches and dinners and drinks were reasonably priced. Drinks at the pool were a little high, but there are 2-for-1 happy hours at noon and 4:00 p.m. The food is all very good, but you will be glad you have the flexibility to spend your dining dollars at local restaurants where you can experience the real local culture.

You will be charged for using the internet (at the business center; no in-room internet), the exercise equipment, sauna and steam room, and the water park (which is built for little children; teenagers and adults won't enjoy it unless they enjoy watching the little kids play in it), but the charges are reasonable. These charges are a small price to pay to avoid the enormous mandatory "all inclusive" fees that other resorts charge.

FACILITY
Just returned on 6/27/08 from the Grand Mayan in Acapulco. Truly a 5-star facility. My wife and I had exchanged through RCI and was originally booked to stay in the Mayan Palace. Upon check-in, which was a breeze, we were asked the standard - we will upgrade you to the Grand Mayan if you will do the 90 minute sales presentation tomorrow morning. NO BRAINER!!! Sales representative was very nice and not pushy at all. Our 1-bedroom unit unit was very nice and very big. Easily can sleep 5 adults as there are 3 large couches/pullout units as well as a king size bed. Kitchen was well equipped. Only thing it did not have was an oven. Did have a nice range top, microwave, 2/3 refrigerator,.... Can easily seat 7 for meals at the kitchen bar (3) and seperate dining room table (4). The large balcony has two lounge chairs and a nice wading/dip pool. EXTREMELY CLEAN room and facility. Plenty of pool lounge chairs available.

Kids Water Park - fantastic. Highly recommend for children of all ages. Has several slides, a "floating" river in it that kids can ride the inner tubes around in, as well as other water related items for kids to utilize. Are many lifeguards diligently watching the kids as well.

Food & Beverage
Beer is $4.60 US, mixed drinks $8-$10 US. If you go to Walmart which is nearby, you can purchase your alcohol for your room. Many good restaurants on-site as well. For a couple, you can expect to spend $25-$60 for dinner WITHOUT DRINKS. With a couple of drinks each, just about double the price. Never had a bad meal. All of our lunches and dinners were really good quality..

Transportation
I would highly recommend contacting Angel Flores to pick you up at the airport, as well as for traveling around. He provides an air conditioned car, which is rare in Acapulco. He provides several 1/2 day or full day tours. He is very fluent in English and very trustworthy. Always on time and very cordial. His email address is [--]. He is prompt to respond. As he is very busy, don't be alarmd if he has one of his assistants pick you up. They are trustworthy and prompt as well, as well as having A/C. One thing to be aware of when using a general taxi service - ask for the rate up front. Once you arrive at your destination they will ask you if you want them to wait for you and take you back. There is an additional charge for them to wait. Don't assume the "wait" is free. For example - a ride to downtown to a restaurant is around $12.00 - $15.00 as well as the return home is $12 - $15. The wait for 45 minutes to 1 hour is another $10-$15, for a total of $36-$44 for the round trip.

My wife and I, along with another couple, just returned from a FABULOUS vacation in Acapulco. The Grand Mayan is beautiful and amazing, but what really made our trip was Roberto Alarcon, the driver we hired for the week.

Roberto was friendly, knowledgeable and spoke great English. He was waiting for us at the airport when we arrived and took us where ever we wanted, whenever we wanted the entire week.

Roberto knows the best restaurants for Americans (and he can advise you where NOT to go). The highlight of our trip was the Acapulco Tour Roberto took us on. We saw some of the most beautiful cliffside homes you can imagine, the world-famous Acapulco cross atop the mountain, the flea market, fine-silver stores and the world famous cliff divers show.

Roberto is very affordable. Trips (like to the airport and back or to a restaurant and back) range from $25 to $50, which is right in line with the local cab drivers. The thing is, the cab drivers aren't all as honest/trustworthy as Roberto.

The hotel itself is very cool. The poll is hundreds of yards long and very narrow like a river at some points. There are bridges going over the "river" so I spent a lot of time under those so I wouldn't burn while drinking my pina coladas.

The beach is cool, though vendors on the beach (off of Mayan property) can get annoying trying to sell you everything from horseback rides to boogie boards. Overall, though, a polite "no thank you amigo" would send them away so we could enjoy the massive waves in the Ocean.

There's live music, several bars, buffets and restaurants on the resort itself. Then we went out to a couple restaurants in the city a couple times (Both recommended by Roberto). The first was Su Casa and the second was Linda Vista. Both had AMAZING views and great food. The food at these places was better and cheaper than the resort food (which was still pretty good).

At Linda Vista, Roberto put in a word with the restaurant manager to get us a great table right along the railing overlooking Acapulco Bay!!

We also went snorkeling one day and, again, Roberto hooked us up with an outfit that was affordable, trustworthy and knew the great spots.

We also enjoyed the Acapulco Nightlife a little. We went to La Condesa, an area of 14 bars in downtown right on the beach. Very very cool. We had no 'anti American' issues whatsoever, probably because we knew the right places to go to thanks to Roberto.

My only complaints about the Grand Mayan is that meals are a little expensive and it is a little far from the heart of Acapulco. That has its pluses and minuses, though. It's a 15-20 minute drive to get downtown, but it's also nice to be away from the crazyness and some of the unsavory element that is in certain parts of the city.

Overall I highly recommend the Grand Mayan and I can't recommend Roberto Alarcon enough. If you have any questions or want contact information, please contact me.