Originally Posted by cswriter

I stayed at Hilton Cancun three nights late August. Agree with most of the good and bad list by kcdude higher in this thread from a December stay when I think property had just opened.

Couple of additional notes:
-I did see snorkeling desk open out by kids/family pool area so presumably they have at least that up and running.
-Hotel has a pretty good value golfing deal with El Tinto, an above average though not great course. Was $70 including cart and warmup driving range; I didn't have a car so it was another $30 RT for course to come get me and return, etc. All in all a good feature.
-I was skeptical at first about the wristband room key concept but with exception of one glitch when their key system was down, it worked well and simplifies things when you are in and out of pools, etc.
-Unsurprisingly the beach was plagued by sargassum in August, the smell of which would probably ruin things for some people; I didn't notice after arrival.
-Live events and music were fine but somewhat contrived as you would expect for a resort property. Although the street corn and margarita booths on mariachi night were fire.
-The driveway (with the hilarious, rocky first 100 meters others mentioned) is 5km long! And with 17 (yes I counted them) big speed bumps, just getting to and from the main highway is a SLOW process especially with any other vehicles on the road. This is not a property where you will likely go into the hotel zone or other day trips very often. But it's fine for just hanging out by the pool, eating and drinking for a days.
-Steak restaurant was actually pretty good; Italian place probably the best outlet. Room service was better than I expected. The little breakfast place on the north end of the lobby has some traditional food in addition to more common buffet items. The main buffet place in the hotel you can skip unless you have kids who just need quick calories and lots of options. Pretty weak.
-This was my first time ever in Cancun, and I can't emphasize enough the benefit of prebooking airport-hotel transfer. NAST was my choice and they were great, including adapting on the fly pun intended to significant changes on both arrival and departure flights for me.

I used three Hilton FN for this; It was a solo trip, and I probably would choose another property if taking wife or other family.