Holiday Inn Express Guadalajara Vallarta Poniente by IHG

This was my first stay here, and it was a good one. The hotel is brand new and cozy, with a pizza place and coffee shop in the same area, which is handy. It’s also close to several routes around Guadalajara. If you can choose your room, look for a lower number on the floor, below 10. That puts you away from the road right out front, which should help you sleep.

I had a great time here. The hotel and people were great, and I didn’t run into any problems.

Rooms ending in 04 or 02 face away from the highway but toward train tracks. The train whistles start as early as 6:30am and are loud, so bring earplugs. Rooms with higher ending numbers face the highway and get road noise all night. Neither is a huge deal, but light sleepers may want earplugs or earbuds with music. Still, it’s worth the price. I love Holiday Inn in general, but they do things so much better in Mexico. The rooms are immaculate, service is outstanding, and the food is so good it doesn’t feel like hotel food. There are different choices each day, along with reliable chilaquiles with green or red sauce, beans, and eggs. I had carne guisada one day, and pancakes and chicken with vegetables in sauce another. Members get a snack on arrival, water in the room, and can request a 2pm checkout. The gym is a decent size, has a TV, and looks out over the pool. The indoor pool is heated and warm for year-round use.

The pool area was great, there’s plenty of parking, and the location makes it easy to reach the highway. Breakfast was delicious, the coffee was great, and the hotel is new with clean rooms and plenty of towels. Gabriella was especially helpful: when I needed eggs without ham, she made sure to get them for me. Staff were very friendly and accommodating, but front desk employees didn’t speak English, so it was challenging to communicate. Keep Google Translate handy. The main problem was the train nearby. Its loud, persistent whistles woke our whole family several times every night. Also, we couldn’t get the air conditioning to turn on. We tried everything and called the front desk, but the language barrier made it hard to explain. The room was very hot, making sleep difficult. A mix of good and bad, but still a good experience.