Choosing Ixtapa Zihuatanejo Hotels

A rough guide to choosing your specific Hotel in Ixtapa or Zihuatanejo, Mexico

OK, so you’ve read my post on choosing a location “Best Hotel Location – Ixtapa Or Zihuatanejo?” (if you haven’t, perhaps you should do so now!).

You’ve settled on a location, perhaps even have your plane tickets in hand, now how in the heck to decide which Ixtapa Zihuatanejo Hotel is “best” for your specific needs? First question:

How much time and effort do you want to spend?

This is the single most important factor in determining how well your hotel choice “fits” you. Obviously, the more (productive) time spent researching hotel choices, the better off you will be in making an informed choice.

NOTE: In the previous paragraph I said “productive time spent”, not just “time spent”. Especially while researching on the Internet, there are a huge number of “time-traps”… sites that are geared towards making reservations at any cost, with very little real, unbiased information. The goal of EVERY reservation site is to MAKE RESERVATIONS! Sure, they may have reviews (*see caution below*) and pretty pictures, but what they really want is your money. They do not care how.

OK, back to the topic. In increasing order of time invested, your choices are basically these:

1. Travel Agents.

2. Specific hotel or chain sites.

3. On-line reservation sites.

4. Specific Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo sites and forums.

NOTE: If you came here looking for links to recommended travel, hotel or reservation sites, you will be disappointed. I do not post links to any sites, although I may mention some that I (personally) like. The idea is not to promote one site over another, the idea is to impart techniques and “food-for-thought”. Who is to say whether WhizBang Bookings is better or worse than BestOnline Bookings?

Travel Agents

Easy right? Walk in, pick up a brochure and squint over the 5×5 cm pictures. Choices? Let’s see (I am actually looking at a brochure as I write this). 8 choices for Ixtapa hotels and 3 for Zihuatanejo hotels. Not bad you say? There are hundreds of hotels, bungalows, villas, condos etc. In the Ixtapa Zihuatanejo area!

Why these particular Hotels? I am not saying there aren’t any good ones in the list but the one and only criteria for being listed in a travel agency or package vacation company brochure is the following:

These are the hotels that have a deal with the agency. Period.

You can draw your own conclusions. I am not in any way against travel agents or package tour operators – in fact you can sometimes get a great deal from them, and if you happen to know an agent well and he or she has actually been to Ixtapa or Zihuatanejo, even better.

Hotel Web Sites

Obviously, you can’t expect a Hotel’s website to give you fair unbiased reviews of their properties, but they do have one distinct advantage:

You are in contact directly with the hotel.

Calling their phone number or sending an email will put you in touch with the hotel (or chain) directly. This can quite often lead to:

• Better rates — they don’t have to pay a commission to anyone.

• Last-minute cancellation deals – who knows better than the reception or reservations clerks?

• More room options. Especially with package deals, you choices may be limited. For example, the rooms with the best view may not be offered in a package deal as it would “break” their $999 super saver deal.

NOTE: you can tell if a telephone number is local to Ixtapa Zihuatanejo very easily – the area code is “755” or “753” as in 755-555-1212 and the country code is “52” as in 011-52-755-555-1212.

On-line Reservation Sites

There are dozens, even hundreds. Why? Easy… it is a very lucrative market to be in. Think about it, no inventory, no physical product to deliver, just collect commissions.

More and more there is very little difference between the big boys. The price differences are marginal between say Expedia and Travelocity (no endorsement implied!). By all means, use them, just keep in mind the following:

• Know who you are dealing with. The big sites are well established and trustworthy, but some of the little guys… who knows. Save yourself some trouble and do a little research. As a Zihuatanejo hotel owner, I can tell you from experience that not all booking services are alike. There are times when I haven’t been paid, or it has taken ages to get paid. Meanwhile of course, the guests have arrived, they have paid and have every expectation of receiving what they paid for, and rightly so.
• Ignore the star ratings. Well, to a point. Bear in mind that star ratings are entirely subjective. Especially in small towns like Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, there is no, repeat no “star rating authority” (AAA for example). I have seen hotels here that rate one star on a particular site and 3 stars on another!
• If the site boasts reviews or user-forums, use them. Read the reviews or comments with a grain of salt to start. If a hotel only has one review… well, obviously it can’t be the consensus opinion can it? Also, depending on the site, the user comments can be a little suspect too. Not on the big sites, but the smaller ones. It is pitifully easy to “seed” positive comments about your own property.
• Not all hotels are listed. The biggie Ixtapa hotels sure, but the majority of smaller ones, especially the little Zihuatanejo hotels, are not. Nor will you find apartments, bungalows, private villas etc. Look to the local sites for them.

Ixtapa Zihuatanejo Sites and Forums

These are not booking services per se, although they all have links and advertising. I am now going to break my rule about not giving anyone a free plug, but if you don’t already know the site, you should: TripAdvisor. They have forums for both Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo. TripAdvisor is owned by Expedia Inc., so expect a LOT of booking advertising in your face.

Check it out. By far the vast majority of people are honest and helpful and the site makes it somewhat difficult to engage in self-promotion.

Lonely Planet can be good too, but they just don’t have the volume. There are also forums on some of the local sites but they tend to be populated with two types of people – those looking for information and locals trying to promote their businesses. Not useless by any means, but again, take it with a grain of salt.

In summary, the more homework you do, the better chance you will have of being happy with your choice. If you haven’t done so already, make sure you read “Best Hotel Location – Ixtapa Or Zihuatanejo?”. If you have, move on to “Finding a cheap Ixtapa Zihuatanejo hotel”.