First of all, this hotel is in Zihuatanejo, not Ixtapa. Huge difference. Ixtapa has most of the American-style resort hotels, Zihua doesn't. There is no swimming pool for you to 'reserve' deck chairs with a towel first thing in the morning. There is no elevator. The front desk person may or may not speak English. You open your room with an actual key. The beach is sandy, but it's a public beach. I wouldn't recommend swimming there. If any of that is a problem, stay in Ixtapa.
(Psst, are they gone yet?) Then there are the positives.The 'rack rate' of $75/night buys you an oceanfront room with a view to die for. Gorgeous sunrises through the palms, a panoramic view of the entire bay and surrounding hills, from a balcony that's bigger than my house. (Okay, I live in a trailer). Step out the lobby street-side and you're in the pedestrian center of town, it's the only hotel that's both on the water and in the downtown shopping area. Step out the other end of the lobby and you're in the open-air beachfront restaurant. The room we had wasn't particularly large, but the air-conditioner was modern, new, had a remote with numerous settings, and worked great. We had a refrigerator. The shower was very good, plenty of hot water. The beds were what we've come to expect in Mexico, I'll just call them "firm".
For $50/night you can still get the same location, with a street view room. This hotel was perfect for our travel style, but will fall short of the needs of many Americans. We've never found a comparable hotel in the pedestrian center of Zihuatanejo, and we've checked out about a dozen.
