Reviewers Rating: 
Great
In October 2001, my husband and I stayed at the Presidente Intercontinental in Cancun. We had never been to Cancun before and we researched our hotel choice at length before deciding on the Intercontinental. We chose this hotel primarily because (1) we wanted to stay on the quieter, calmer beach at the top end of the Zona Hotela, (2) we wanted to be closer to El Centro (the downtown area), (3) we wanted to be within walking distance of the Convention Center and its numerous restaurants, and (4) I thought I read somewhere that there was a dive center close by. We noticed immediately upon our arrival that the hotel was one of the older hotels in the Hotel Zone. The building was painted a garish yellow, but the lobby was tastefully decorated and the Front Desk staff was extremely accommodating. I often used their services to get directions, learn how to use the city bus system, get change, take personal items in and out of the hotel safety deposit box, etc. I was greeted in English and they always called me by name (correct pronunciation, even).
Our room was a "run of the house" room, but it was large with a wonderful bathroom, bright, modern furniture, slate tile floors and brightly bound area rugs. I was very pleased with the room, even though we had a Lagoon view, which was more like a street view. We just kept the colorful draperies closed and we weren't in the room all that often anyway.
The hotel had a wonderful pool area. I was disappointed that the "swim-up" bar was closed the entire time we were there, but the Bar wait staff often made rounds near the pool & beach area, so beverages were still easily accessible. The pools (2) were clean and large and to our surprise, there weren't many guests the week we went. We had a lot of privacy and we spent a good amount of time at the pool. I was a bit disappointed with the whirlpools, too. They were lukewarm, which I understand because it was 90+ degrees most of the day. But in the cooler evening, they were still lukewarm and they weren't relaxing in the way I had hoped they'd be.
The Beach was everything the Cancun guides said it would be. Powdery, white sand that never got too hot to the touch. The hotel offered wonderful hammocks and numerous reclining chairs for laying out. We laid out every morning on the beach and several evenings, we relaxed in the chairs and listened to the waves. The water was clean and the temperature was perfect; although visibility wasn't very good. We tried to snorkel in the waters along the hotel property and we didn't have much luck. The hotel provided a large, roped off area in the water so you'd know the boundaries of the shallow areas. That was great for the kids and families that were vacationing there, as well. It kept the kids safe. There was a representative from a local watersports company, Aqua World, there that rented out jetskis and such right there on the hotel property; but we didn't use those services.
As it turned out, the hotel was nowhere near any of the local dive shops as I thought I had read; but there was an representative from Aqua World near the pool area that we helped us set up our dives with their company.
Cancun had too many great restaurants so we never ate at the hotel restaurants, so I cannot provide any information on that subject.
I'd recommend this hotel for vacationers in their 30s & up. We chose it since it didn't have offer an All-Inclusive package, we thought we'd stay clear from 20 somethingers....and we did. Apparently, the week we were there was a National Summer Break for Mexican families, so most of our fellow hotel guests were Spanish-speaking families. But, again, the hotel couldn't have been more than 30% occupied because there were so few guests. We really had a lot of privacy; but maybe it was the time of the year.
Christine Brandt
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