My boyfriend and I spent two weeks at the Grand Royal Lagoon from Jan 17-31 2012.

LOCATION

This is probably the biggest selling point for this hotel. The hotel itself is withing walking distance to all of the big clubs and restaurants in the Cancun Party Zone, but it's also just around the corner from a little super market and some great cheap local restaurants. The supermarket has everything you might need if you're looking to save on eating out. Milk (17 pesos) 8 cans of beer (65 pesos) cereal (9 pesos) cigarettes (32-48 pesos)...
Beside the supermarket there are a few restaurants that open for early lunch and close around 8 pm. A great Mexican restaurant where you can get quesadillas for around 15 pesos. There is also a Argentinian restaurant Che Tanos that serves delicious sandwiches made with hot bread, steak, ham, egg, cheese, lettuce, tomato.. Ty Coz is another sandwich place that is always busy during the lunch time where lots of locals come to eat. Beside all of these there is also a laundry mat that is convenient for those on longer stays.

HOTEL

The hotel itself is very basic but perfect for what we needed. We only used the pool once, but it was clean and refreshing. The rooms were clean as well and did the job for us. The shower took a bit of time to heat up, but once it did it worked great. The air conditioning could be a bit noisy at times, but at least it worked. All of the hotel staff were very friendly. The wifi works only by the pool and tended to be pretty slow, but we were able to return all of our emails and even upload a picture or two.

I would recommend this hotel for budget travelers and those looking for an alternative experience to the All Inclusive hotels.

BEACH

We would go to the beach that was located behind Coco Bongo. You can rent day beds for $30 a day. The drinks are a little pricey, but there is nothing stopping you from bringing your own food and alcohol. All the beaches in Cancun are public, so if you really wanted to you can hang out at any Hotels beach, just as long as you don't use there amenities.

I had a really hard time faulting our 5 night stay here, I really enjoyed it knowing many guests along 'hotel zone' would be paying per night what cost us for our bargainous 5 nights! Room was clean and tidy with free in room safe. Breakfast was good with choice of egg or pancakes along with tea. coffee, juice and toast all made better by the happy gentleman server.
Internet was faulty on day one but came back online for the remaining time we were there and the pool was pretty cold, but thats hardly an issue probably just me being a big girl!

Great way to save money for you days and nights out!

very good value for short stay but certainly no frills hotel.
reasonable location.
basic amenities.
wouldn't bother with the breakfast next time.

this smaller hotel is pretty close to some of the big resorts but, this is a very modest place. on this trip, i just wanted to hang out at the beach and see the ruins in chichen itza. the hotel is not a big mega resort and doesn't have it's own beach like a lot of the places down there, but there is a public beach(playa tortugas about 15 minute walk from the hotel). you can always go to the other beaches at resorts if you like...it's not like anybody really cares or will know(unless you act like you don't belong there). there are a few places around the corner from the hotel...some small places to eat that are open early, a place to do laundry, a farmacia(grocery store), a sushi place. you can walk about 10 minutes and get to several other places...or take a taxi...whatever you are into. the hotel has a very small pool and a little outside cabana type place to eat. i didn't try it, but it seemed ok. my room had a comfortable king size bed, an old tv that worked and clean towels in the bathroom.

in all i would say...go ahead and stay here if you can get a good deal around $30 US a night or less..but, if you are looking for a luxury experience...you may want to shop around somewhere else.

also, the guy at the front desk was very helpful and laidback.