We stayed at the Acapulco Princess for 3 nights in mid April for my husband’s 40th birthday. We were extremely pleased with our stay and would stay there again without hesitation.

The most important thing… if you have decided to stay at any Fairmont property, including this one, make sure to join the FREE Fairmont President’s club. You can join online at their website and it gives you many perks. First, it allowed us to walk up, skip the line, and check-in and check out in front of everyone. There is a special line for the president’s club. In addition, we were upgraded to a huge beautiful ocean front one bedroom suite. They said that we were upgraded for my husband’s birthday and because we were members of the president’s club. We were given free internet access, both wifi and in the business center, which others had to pay for. Club members are given a discount at the Willow Stream Spa. There are many perks, make sure you sign up if you stay at a Fairmont property, such as the Acapulco Princess.

About our stay: We were upgraded to a gorgeous suite, with a wrap around balcony that viewed the Pacific Ocean. We were in the ‘princess’ tower (as opposed to the Marquesa tower or pyramid main building). The tower was nice and not far from the main tower at all. I did not see rooms in the other buildings, but ours was extremely roomy. Even though our room was not one of the newly renovated ones, it was spacious and attractive and we had absolutely no complaints. We never heard any of our neighbors and it felt like we had the whole floor to ourselves even though we were told the hotel was at 60% occupancy. There was a king sized bed, living room and dining area. All of this for $210 a night. (Tip: Ocean view is worth the extra money)

The grounds of the hotel are beautiful, clean, and extremely well maintained. There is a golf course located on property. There are 5 pools, including a salt water pool with a slide, a pool with a swim up bar and a waterfall, and at least one extremely shallow children’s pool. We were there during the beginning of low season, so none of the pools were busy. The hotel provides large towels and even has pool boys who will bring them to your lounge chair and lay them out for you. Make sure to wear sunscreen! There is direct beach access that brings you to a big beautiful beach. There are many cabanas you can use (I think you rent them) or you can go horseback riding on the beach. Around the grounds of the hotel are beautiful birds (peafowl, swans, and flamingos) which you can watch as your stroll around.

Location: The hotel is located just minutes from the airport. A typical taxi fare from the airport to this hotel is $25. Just get a taxi at the airport, don’t pre-purchase anything. Also, ask EVERY taxi how much they charge before you ever get in. Everything in negotiable. A typical fare back to the airport from the hotel is $15. Everyone accepts US dollars, we never exchanged money once. We used our credit card whenever possible, as it gives you a better exchange rate than cash exchange. The hotel is about a 1 hour taxi ride to the cliff divers ($25 taxi fare each way) and about a 20-25 minute taxi ride to/from town ($20 taxi fare one way). Everywhere you need/want to get to is a taxi ride away, you really can’t walk anywhere from the hotel (but why would you want to leave such a beautiful resort?).

Food: We ate at two places at the hotel. We ate at the Beach Club restaurant. The food was ok. We didn’t have any alcohol and spent over $50 on basic sandwiches. We aren’t foodies, so we decided not to spend a lot of money on food after that, so we found the ‘Café Los Angeles’ which is a small café on the way to the shopping arcade. It sells excellent sandwiches, breakfast foods, and deserts, as well as coffee etc… The food is well priced and made to order. I would highly recommend it. The service staff is friendly and patient. We ate there anytime we were at the hotel. They are open late (11 or 12 depending on the night) and they are open early for the breakfast crowd (7am). There is also a little quick mart next to the café that sells snacks, water, etc… We shopped there for any little things we needed. There is a Wal-Mart right at the entrance to the hotel (quite a walk actually) but we just didn’t need enough to justify making a special trip to Wal-Mart.

The spa: We treated ourselves to treatments at the spa. We were the only 2 people at the spa the whole time we were there. My husband had the ‘Latin latte’ (over $200) which he highly recommends. I had the 60 min body polish (over $100) which I was very happy with. Both spa treatments were expensive, but we were treating ourselves. We also had manicures the next day, but they weren’t worth the $85 (for both of us combined). The spa and salon were very clean and the spa had some nice amenities (steam room, sauna, and whirlpool).

The hotel sent us a bottle of champagne and the spa sent us some free gifts since it was my husband’s birthday. We loved this place and we would absolutely return!

There is nothing special about Acapulco. If given the choice, I would visit other towns/cities in Mexico because I was disappointed with the beach (I am a beach person more than a pool person). My husband was there for business. They were taping an Oxygen channel mini-film, Romancing the Bride, in which they asked my friend and I to be an extra in our bathing suits, so that's an excitement.

The hotel however is very very big. It is probably the most massive hotel I have ever stayed in. The food, the room, the lobby and the location were all great. There is nothing special about it, it feels very American.

They even have a disco at nights which I didn't go to but I should have tried it, pretty sure it would be some kind of scene.

This property is not worth the name Fairmont. It feels like a cheap all inclusive hotel.

First of all, you need to get up at 7 am to get some seats at the pool or you will be sitting on the floor. If not bad enough, you need a ticket for you towels and there are no umbrellas to be found to have some shade. Went to Wall-mart (across the main road) to buy umbrellas, so the kids would not be exposed to the sun all day.

For breakfast you have to wait in line for 45 minutes before getting a seat. The food is greasy and poorly presented. Even the "healthy marked" items were deepfried.

There is complementary coffee in the room, however, the maid never replenishes the coffee pouches. Called to get extra, and waited one hour to have them received.

Checking out is the same misery, you would probably end up standing in line for 45 minutes before you can check out, so be prepared and check out early.

I have stayed at the Fairmont in Cancun before, and that hotel is much better managed compared to the Fairmont in Acapulco.

We booked this hotel right after Christmas , loved it so much we booked an additonal 10 days! The servce ,the staff attitude especialy the nite manager who has since been promoted to the Mayan Fairmont property with good reason, was top notch. Every effort was made to accomodate our needs. We have stayed in some of the finest hotels in the world such as the Adelon in Berlin, the Fairmonts in Barbados, Ontario, Quebec,Alberta, the Savoy etc. must say the Princess was outstanding deal for the price. Most hotels in that catagory chrage 2-3-4 times more. We loved it so much that we are planning our next winter holiday at the same resort. Can now see why Howard Hughes spent his last days there..