OK, so you’ve seen my article 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 general area, perhaps even have your plane tickets in hand, now how in the heck to decide which Hotel is “right” for your specific desires?

First question:

How much effort and time do you want to invest? 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 to make an educated choice.

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

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

Travel Agencies.

Individual hotel or chain sites.

On-line reservation sites.

Individual Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo sites and forums.

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

Travel Agencies Simple right? Walk in, pick up a glossy brochure and peer at the 2 inch pictures. Choices? Let’s see (I am actually looking at one as I write this). 8 choices in Ixtapa and 3 in Zihuatanejo. Not bad you say? There exist hundreds of hotels, bungalows, villas, condos etc. In the Ixtapa Zihuatanejo area!

These are the hotels that do business with the agency. Period.

You can form your own conclusions. I am not in any way against travel agents or package tour companies — in fact you can often 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 complete unbiased reviews of their properties, but they do have one big advantage:

You are in direct contact with the hotel.

Calling their phone number or sending an email will put you in contact with the Hotel (or chain) directly. This can very often result in:

Cheaper rates — they don’t have to pay a commission to someone else.

Last-minute cancellation deals — who knows better than the front-desk or reservations clerks?

More room choices. Especially with package deals, you choices may be few. For example, the rooms with the nicest view may not be available in a package deal as it would “break” their $999 package price.

NOTE: you can tell if a telephone number is within the Ixtapa Zihuatanejo area very easily — the area code is “755″ 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 financially rewarding market to be in. Think about it, no inventory, no physical product to deliver, just charge commissions.

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

Know who you are dealing with. The big boys are well established, but some of the little guys… who really knows. Save yourself some trouble and do a little checking. As a hotel owner in Zihuatanejo, I can say from past experience that not all reservation services are the same. There are times when I haven’t been paid, or it has taken months to receive payment. Meanwhile of course, the guests have come and gone, they have paid and had every expectation of receiving what they paid for, and justifiably so.

Ignore the stars!. Well, up to a limit. Bear in mind that star ratings are entirely subjective. Especially in small towns like Ixtapa or Zihuatanejo — indeed most of Mexico, there is no, repeat no “star rating authority” (AAA for example). I have seen hotels that have one star on a particular site and 3 stars on another!

If the site boasts reviews or user-comments, read them. Read the reviews or comments with a grain of salt to start. If a hotel only has one comment… well, obviously it can’t be the consensus view can it? Also, depending on which site, the user comments can be a little dodgy too. Not on the big sites, but the smaller ones. It is painfully easy to “seed” positive comments about your own hotel.

Not all hotels are available online. The biggies in Ixtapa of course, but the majority of smaller ones, especially in Zihuatanejo, are not. Nor will you find apartments, bungalows, private villas etc. Look to the local sites to find them.

Ixtapa Zihuatanejo Sites and Forums These are not reservation services per se, although they all have advertising. I am now going to suspend my rule about not giving a site a recommendation, but if you haven’t already been to the site, you should: TripAdvisor. They have user-forums for both Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo.

Try it out. By far and away the majority of users are honest and helpful and the site makes it very hard to engage in self-publicity.

Lonely Planet can be useful as well, but they just don’t have the volume. There are also forums on some of the local sites but they are generally populated with two types of people — those seeking information and locals trying to promote their own interest. Not useless by any stretch, but again, take it with a grain of salt.

In summary, the more homework you do, the better chance you will have of being content with your choice.

Roberto Gonzales, a hotel owner, writes about Ixtapa Zihuatanejo Mexico.

Article Source: EzineArticles.com

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Although future resort development is a possibility, Puerto Peñasco remains for now a leisurely sun, fun and fishing destination for RVers and campers. An extreme range between low and high tide, which can be more than 20 feet, characterizes the local waters. This phenomenon also occurs at San Felipe on the Baja peninsula side of the gulf. About 30 miles (48 km) north of Puerto Peñasco Mex. 8 passes near the crater-strewn landscape of Pinacate Desert National Park; the park entrance is off of Mexico Highway 2, west of Sonoita.

My Take

Puerto Peñasco or Rocky Point as it is known to most “gringos” north of the border had eluded me for several years, especially since I was only four hours from this small but growing beach town. Family living in the Phoenix area had always made several treks per year to enjoy some sun and “Pollo con Mole” and on more than one occasion made formal invitations to join them but always declined for one reason or another.

Then on the last weekend in September, I decide that I had to check out what this little Mexican town was la about.

The drive from Phoenix was roughly 4 hours mainly because we obeyed the speed limit – we didn’t want any altercations with the border patrol or highway police in the area. The border and the few towns near the border are full of insurance agencies selling Mexican Insurance. You definitely want to buy some insurance; in fact it is the law that you must carry insurance while in Mexico. Makes sense to get the basic coverage and perhaps a little bit more, if you can afford it.

Upon crossing from the US side, you instantly realize that “we were not in Kansas anymore.” Once we cross the border, there is a one hour stretch to Puerto Peñasco. You want to beware of the poorly posted traffic laws and the endless stray dogs.

Arriving into Puerto Peñasco, again your remanded that this is Mexico, streets are not paved with the exception of the main drags into town and towards the new developments going up on the beach.

Beachfront condominium rates range from $120 per night all the way to $1500 for some really plush pads worthy of any celeb or high roller. We chose to stay at La Princesa, which is right on the beach. Our stay cost us $179 bucks but since we went as a group of four, we ended up paying just over $45 per person. The staff was very courteous and prompt, the rooms were top notch. For a minute I forgot that I was not in the US enjoying the many comforts like hot water, cable TV, and typical American staples in the pantry.

After settling in, we decide to take a ride into town to enjoy some authentic food. The Malecon as is known, which typically is the boardwalk, was replete with shops vying for your dollars. It doesn’t matter if you need it or not, most likely you will not escape some local selling you a bracelet, hat, or $5 sunglasses. It’s part of the experience, really. Once we made it past the many shops, we found a nice little place right at the end of the Malecon. We were seated on the second floor where we could overlook the entire beach area, an amazing site to behold and well worth it whether the food was good or not. To our luck, the food was great. Most eateries along the Malecon are pretty good; however, always use some common sense when trying certain foods that you might not be used to back at home.

Returning to the condo in the early evening we found that the tide had gone out. This was an interesting sight, which invited us to do some exploring close to 100 yards from where the water line had been all day.

The following day we made it back out to the beach for some sun and fun. There is no shortage of stuff to do if you are active. The locals are quick to offer banana boat rides for $5 bucks per person. Jet skis are also available for about $50 per hour. Beware though with some units as they are very rough and maintained even worse. Para gliders are also available if you dare. As with all water sports, always demand life jackets and use some common sense. If you have been enjoying too many alcoholic drinks, it’s best to watch and wait till you are 100%.
The trip back was inevitable, no one in the group wanted to leave this fun little beach town. The afternoon was sunny and the trip back through the desert was quick and uneventful.

I highly recommend this small Mexican beach town. Condo prices are still affordable but with the impending construction of a main highway straight from the southern California are, this hidden gem will not stay hidden for too long, and affordability will say “hasta la vista, baby.”

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