My thoughts on the Holiday Inn can be summed up by saying you get what you pay for. This was our second stay at Holiday Inn in two years. I love the location and you can’t beat the value, but I think next year we may change it up, if our budget allows. I usually say who cares about the room, I am only there to sleep and shower, and while the bed was comfy, the shower was cold most of the time.

Here are some things that jumped out at me:
• Check-in is still slow and there really is no explanation for it, but who cares, you’re on vacation, start relaxing! Talk to other people in line, get ideas for what to do and see.
• I do not recommend all-inclusive here. We did it year 1, but not year 2. The food is below average compared to other places on the island. There are limited options so we found that even though we had pre-paid for our meals, we double dipped by going off the resort for better variety and flavor last year. We like to drink on vacation, but we actually spent less by not having all inclusive this year. For AI here, the only beer option is draft Balashi and house brand liquors. We brought duty free liquor with us and then purchased mixers and can beer and a small collapsible cooler for the beach.
• We booked through a 3rd party travel site, not Holiday Inn directly. We asked for a king sized bed at check in and were told they only had them in Superior Ocean View rooms which would be $50 more per night. This threw a red flag – good thing I had my paperwork – we paid for a Superior Ocean View room so what was the issue? Turns out Holiday Inn was going to put us in a lower room than we paid for. Had it not been for the double beds, we may never have known. Keep your paperwork with you and make sure to verify you are getting the room you paid for. The front desk staff took care of correcting the room assignment with no problem and we were satisfied.
• Hot water is hit or miss. Some days we just had to deal with cool or lukewarm showers. We called but they just told us to try moving the handle of the shower to the cold side then back to hot. We tried earlier and later, mornings seemed to be the hardest time to get a warm shower and we are early risers – I’m talking 5-6am so I can’t imagine it was a volume issue.
• Good job to Holiday Inn for taking out the rain shower/mushroom thing from the adults only pool. It seemed to attract kids, this year we really never noticed children in the adults pool.
• Palapa sign up is now in the afternoon at 4pm. The problem is people start lining up at 1-1:30. I don’t get this. What is the point of even getting a palapa if you are going to leave it in the middle of the day to go stay in line? This is not the hotel’s fault though. I guess the only thing they could do is not allow people to line up until 3pm. I know I am in the minority, but I preferred the morning sign up – at least waiting in line then, you didn’t ruin your whole afternoon. They also line up around the building, so there is no shade or chairs unless you bring your own. The old line went down the sidewalk where there are benches.
• Some of the palapas should just be removed. For example – Number 1 is bumping up against a watersports rental, you can’t even get two chairs under it. There were others in odd locations but I didn’t get the numbers. Number 2 view is completely blocked by watersports rentals and almost on top of the beach volleyball court – keep your head up here, but not as bad as number 1.
• There was a lot of seaweed on the beach, didn’t appear to be cleaned or raked like some other places.
• The hot tubs are not hot – at all, not even warm really.
• Beach chairs are starting to get really worn. It appeared that some had been replaced, but they have a long way to go.
• Room was fairly clean, but could have been better. I did notice dust in the corners specifically the bathroom floor looked clean, but not as well as I would have liked.
• Beds are comfy, air conditioning works well. Sheets and towels are decent quality, not the best, but bright white and clean.

We have been long (42 Years) fans of the Holiday Inn. Yes it is older, but we go for the beach and friends we have made at our home away from home. I don't think there is another hotel where you are only steps from the sand. Once there you are greated with folks like Smitty, Erol, Miquel, etc. Always a smile and very helpful. The location is perfect and as so many have mentioned through all of these years we have never been on the all inclusive. There are just too many wonderful spots to eat. As for the rooms, not sure what everyone needs. We just returned after a 2 week stay and had no problems. The Bonaire tower is always our choice. And thanks for John (the doorman) for always saying "Welcome Home" and keeping his head down as I leave with tears in my eyes. Love to Aruba and the Holiday Inn.

I booked this hotel at the LAST minute (5 days before departure) with Delta Vacations (parent company of DV is MLT Vacations who also services United Vacations). Requested an Oceanfront room with 2 double beds. Here is the experience:

1. Arrival - took forever to check-in; I was 2nd in line and it seemed like the check in process for everybody ahead of me took about 30 minutes. There is no reason for this. It was an hour from the time I got in line until the time I was presented with keys. Not a great way to start a vacation, especially with a 3 and 5 year old that wanted to hit the beach. I know people who have gotten into jail quicker than this....

2. The Beach - Though renting palapas are free, the official time to start waiting in line for the next day is 4pm. This is an advantage over the 7am/8am start times other places. The line at the HI actually starts around 2pm and when the line gets going, people cheat by cutting in line. Congrats to Miguel who keeps this as orderly as possible. The same people are in the line early everyday and many of them have been returning to the hotel for years so it was great to get tips on places to eat (especially places to avoid).

3. The room - Standard 2 bed room with refrigerator. We were on the 6th floor on the corner and the view of Palm beach was decent. The LG flat screen TV was a bonus; hooked up the iPad to it to keep the kids entertained. The refrigerator is large. For people who complain of a moldy smell, welcome to beach living. The HI has done a good job to minimize offensive odors compared to some other luxury hotels that I have visited in the Caribbean.

4. The bathroom - We didn't have any hot water our entire stay. Tried to call once but never got through to anybody. There was always a line at the front desk. Not sure complaining would have mattered anyway.

5. The property - Being on Palm Beach is great. The location next to the Pelican Pier where many boat tours leave from makes the water a little less clear here. Overall we spent about 8-10 hours a day on the beach. Forget the HI's beach pavillion lunch; opt for daily pizza from Pizza Del Mar which is located at the base of the Aruba tower....very overpriced but some of the best pizza I've had outside the US.

6. Parking - Is ample but it is a short walk from the main entrance. Also, if you have a car, you can buy a cooler and plenty of booze from the grocery stores there. We got the cooler plus a remarkable amount of beer and wine for about $60 total. Not bad for inflated island prices. We did better than we ever would have done buying drinks from the hotel.

Overally, the hotel provided us with a place to sleep and store our bags while we were at the beach. The free wi-fi was useful for email and skype but was generally slow and clunky with frequent disconnections. There is no room service here. I felt that the hotel catered to the South and Latin American crowd more than the North American/European one and perhaps waiting in line and cold showers are more tolerated by our South American neighbors.

I booked late for a busy weekend on Aruba, and the Holiday Inn was one of the few resorts left with a reasonable price. And there is a reason for that. Apparently it is one of the oldest on Aruba, and that's what you feel. They have a prefect location at a wonderful beach, and the rooms have good beds and a big flat-screen tv.
But almost everything else is outdated and on the border of being acceptable. A lot of the reception staff is very inefficient, expect queues at most times. A small beer in a plastic cup for $6.50 is too expensive. A coffee in the morning is cheap, even cheaper is its quality (cross the road for Starbucks).
Within the room the wifi internet cuts out on you every 15 minutes or so. The airco would not listen to its controls but decide that I always wanted the preset temperature. Hot showers were not available, only lukewarm.
If price is very important to you then this might be an option. If you prefer quality above price, go elsewhere.