Something is very seriously wrong with this place Impending bankruptcy maybe? Being run by a drug-cartel gang perhaps?
Sociopathic management? I stayed there over the 4th of July holiday and everything seemed OK. The light was burnt out in the bathroom, the mattress was squishy but ,no big deal. The exterior is impressive and the interior, especially the "mall" was eerie and weird but, no big deal. It is Tijuana Mexico not Tokyo, San Francisco or Toronto after all. At checkout I went through an experience that was purely bizarre. When I checked in a room service guy came in and checked the mini-bar. He counted everything and gave me a receipt to sign verifying the inventory. I didn't use the mini-bar or buy anything and usually never do because the prices are jaw-dropping high. All mini-bars everywhere have high prices. So, when I check out I see a $1.86 charge for a 1 minute local phone call. Fine. Tha'ts normal. Room rate was OK. Tax OK. But then I see a 250 peso mini-bar charge on my bill. Ooops. a simple mistake. I point it out to the desk clerk and, Nope. Nothing we can do about it. He calls someone and has them do another inventory while I was waiting at the desk. After several minutes of explanation and complaint I ask for the manager. I explain that there is a mistake on my bill and I have mini-bar charges
that shouldn't be there. She calls someone and has them do another inventory. I ask her to just tell me what it was that I consumed, ate or drank from the mini-bar that created the $25 charge on my bill. She stared at me an just blinked. No language problem. Just to be sure my business partner said everything I said in Spanish. We got nowhere. The room service guy who did the final check out inventory finally, after I had to demand to see it, showed me and everyone the receipt and it matched exactly the one I kept and signed when I checked it. Everything single item was untouched with nothing gone. I showed the proof to the manager and said "tell me what I bought
from the bar that resulted in these charges". Get this. She sends the room service guy back upstairs to the room and he comes back with six beers and places them on the front desk counter in front of a dozen witnesses. Six brand new unopened cans of beer. She says that these are the beers I drank. The clerks behind the counter were stunned and obvioously embarrassed. My jaw dropped. I said, you send a guy up to a locked room to a locked and inventoried mini-bar to take out six fresh new UNOPENED cans of beer while I am standing here checking out, put the beer on the counter and INSIST that I am being charged because I drank them? Despite being an undisputable fact, repeatedly verified that nothing was missing or used from the mini-bar she refused to correct the mistake. It was clear by now that I was being robbed....not by a maid lifting a few pesos or a waiter adding an unauthorized tip. No. The MANAGER of the hotel, in broad daylight in full view of everyone was insisting that I drank six new full unopened beers. Sure, every place has bad days and makes mistakes but this is completely different. No. It was not a race or language issue or anti-american stuff and I wasn't being a jerk or a lout. who deserved getting ripped. Just pure and simple theft...and there's not a darn thing you can do about it. Cal the police? Ha ha ha. Sue'em? Har har har. Not in Tijuana. I guess they know it too.
Anyway, you have been warned!

I've stayed at this hotel nine times over the past three years including a two night stay on the Club Level. Overall, it is a fair value if you book a room using a AAA, AARP or Grand Rewards rate and pay less than $80. The Grand is not a Five Star hotel with superior service or decor. If you are expecting luxury and consistant quality you will feel ripped off and disappointed. But,
if you are looking for mostly clean, mostly secure and generally
comfortable place to stay at a reasonable price (i.e. <$80) put Grand Hotel on your list of options. A few observations:
1) The Grand Rewards program does not compare favorably
with other frequent guest programs at the Camino Real or Marriott. The only value is the rate discount. The program is poorly managed and the few "perks" advertised are just hype.
2) Tijuana has always been dicey in terms of personal safety, scams. rip-offs and costly dangerous exposure to crime, especially from the so-called "Police" who are nothing more than
crooks in costume with guns. Today, Tijuana IS a very dangerous place, and you need to take serious precautions. The threat to your personal safety is not exaggerated and it is much worse than it was just a few years ago. Violence and robbery in all forms occurs with impunity.
3) The Grand Hotel is poorly managed and service is not consistant. Anticipate and keep your guard up. Front desk staff,
WILL steal and sell your credit card if they see an opportunity. They WILL rack up phoney charges or inflate your charges. Double check everything. Don't expect management to resolve
any problem or "make it right". Do not think they are interested
in retaining you as a customer. But, this bizarre anti-guest, anti-tourist business "shakedown" attitude is pervasive throughout
Tijuana and the Grand Hotel is no exception. You'll get ripped off here as well as anywhere else in the city.
4) The Club Level is nothing more than the top three floors and the chance to pay $30 for about $8 worth of amenities and a small in room safe.
5) Keep a clear perspective. Lower your expectations. By Mexican standards you could do much worse than the Grand. Mexico is rapidly becoming a failed state, corruption is rampant and nothing really works as it should. If you emerge from a visit
unscathed your trip was a wonderful success.

I came here for a conference in May. I've read some of the other reviews from 2007, and I can't really agree with them. Maybe the hotel has gone downhill since then. This is easily the poorest price-quality trade off i've seen for some time. Here's why i've suggested this:

1) The name. This hotel was probably grand in the 1970s. The relevant dictionary definition of grand is: 'used in the name of places or buildings to suggest size or splendour'. In this hotel's case, it reflects size not splendour. The place is very dated and has the looks of a budget chain hotel, but the price of something more upmarket.

2) The shower. The bathrooms are basic and the showers so low pressure the experience feels more like standing under a dripping tap than a shower.

3) The darkness. It's dark in this hotel. Everywhere - the room, the elevators, the corridors. Bring a torch.

4) The staff. I really don't like to give the staff a hard time in reviews, but in this hotel I experienced at least four or five different instances of rude staff - at check in (where there was a mix up with my booking - and the staff showed no motivation to sort things out, forcing me to pay again and sort it out with the conference manager in the morning), in the restaurant, where the first thing they asked me was how I was paying - before I even sat down! I'm not going to run off from a $15 dollar breakfast. The bar, where table service seems to only extend to a few of the patrons. The reception, where when I asked them if I could call the operator they initially told me to go to my room and do it. And finaly at check out, where they initially tried to charge me for someone else's laundry and wanted me to wait for an hour for laundry to open before I checked out.

5) The view: If you do have to book this place, make sure you ask for a view of the golf course. You really don't want a view of the main road outside.

There were a few positives:

1) Free wireless internet (although they change the access code so often if you're staying for a few days or more you'll get irritated by the number of times you have to call down to get a new one)

2) The breakfast, priced at $15 was pretty good

3) the air conditioning was very quiet but effective.

4) The location is away from the main tourist areas (but not really near anything notable other than the golf course)

In summary, there must be hotels with better price quality trade offs than this one. My advice to you would be to take a risk on one of them.

This is an ideal place to stay in Tijuana, especially if you're looking to get away from the vulgarity of Revolucion.

A hotel from the San Ysidro border crossing costs $8-10 (settle on a price with the driver before you get it) and the hotel is hard to miss - two huge mirrored towers.

The interior design is eclectic to say the least - classic 70s postmodern hotel design: a little bit camp; a little bit sci-fi. There are several restaurants and bars, a small, vaguely eerie shopping mall - with a cosmetic surgeons office, of course. The standard rooms were comfortable, but unexceptional, with free, fast wifi and Mexican and US network and cable TV.

What made this hotel special, though, was the staff. All spoke excellent English and were friendly, welcoming and knowledgeable especially - if you generally take an interest in local culture. Staff dropping by the rooms late afternoons with chocolate was a nice touch, too.

Worth mentioning also is the Grand Bistro serving fantastic Mexican and fusion food at great prices, with wonderful staff who made us feel at home.