Ok, first off the cons - the sand in the ocean is rocky (and at least when we were there the ocean was too cold to swim in), the doors to the room are not sealed or insulated (so noise from the hallway is a factor) and the beds are hard (but this is every hotel in the tropics).

But the pros strongly outweight the cons, the hotel and rooms are beautiful, very high end, clean, great location. The ocean view rooms are gorgeous, you are less than 50 yards from shore. The staff are incredible, very helpful and friendly enough. I highly recommend this hotel!!

Ok, useful info... Tony's is a fantastic mexican restaurant (just head left after leaving the hotel, 3 blocks and it's on your left), Sushi Salad has the second best sushi I've ever had (right about 10 blocks), Villa Italia has incredible italian food (right about 3 blocks), book your tours online with mazatlantours.org, way cheaper and a good tour company.

I just got back from a 5 night stay at the Holiday Inn Sunspree with my girlfriend. We booked through Orbitz after reading all the positive reviews on Tripadvisor, and we're glad we chose this hotel. The hotel is rated as a 3 star resort, although I'd call it a 3.5 star at least. It's pretty small, which is a good thing in my opinion as there was never a wait at either of the 2 on site restaurants or at the pool. It was very clean, and the room was spacious (we were forced to stay in a double room since they had no other rooms available due to high demand). The room had the 2 beds, a closet, mini fridge, a table and either a view of the pool/beach or of the 'tennis court" (actually the adjoining street).

The pool, while not huge, was large enough, and had a swim up bar as well. For the second year in a row (including last year in Puerto Vallarta), we were unimpressed with the beachfront at our hotel. The beach in front of the Holiday Inn has large rocks in the water which make it unsafe for swimming, and also the sand isn't as smooth as other resorts we walked to. Still, if you do want to bathe in the ocean, just walk a few yards in either direction (or take a 5 min walk to one of the adjacent resorts and bathe there).

The food at the hotel was great, definitely one of the strong points. We didn't go all inclusive (as part of the great things about a trip to Mexico is exploring the food on your own, in my opinion). Still, we did have breakfast once and 2 separate meals at the hotel, and we loved all of it. They also have 1/2 priced drinks from 4-7 pm everyday.

They also had hotel activities for children and for adults, which we didn't participate in. Internet access for short email checks was affordable (2 pesos or 20 cents per minute; we checked our email and surfed for a bit each day and didn't spend more than $2 US on any day).

This is definitely a more family oriented resort (judging from the large amounts of families and very few younger people 20-25 like us). However, we were able to have fun nonetheless as did the many families at the hotel. While we were forced to stay at a "tennis court" view room, I agree with the other reviews and get an ocean view room if you can.

Overall I would recommend it to anyone who doesn't want to spend $250 or more a night at another Golden Zone resort. The service was great and the location was pretty good too (close to adjacent restaurants and right on the main road - easy buses and taxis).

Summary

Pros:

- clean rooms and clean hotel overall
- nice lobby and exterior appearance
- right on beach
- not overly crowded with people
- cheaper than the other Golden Zone resorts
- location; near restaurants and buses/taxis

Cons:

- not as nice or fancy as the other hotels
- still somewhat pricey (although it could just be due to the high demand of Holy Week / Spring Break)
- although it is in the Golden Zone, it is slightly farther down from nightlife than the other resorts; if you wanted to walk to the nice nightclubs, it is about a 25 min walk (or a short taxi ride)
- beach is pretty poor compared to some of the other golden zone resorts; it has large rocks and the sand isn't great either

We booked a one night, non-smoking room with double beds online to stay at as we traveled through Mexico. I'm so glad it was only one night!
When we arrived, we were told that we would have a room with one king bed, even though I had booked a room with two double beds. I explained that I had two children (not little, either!) and two adults and was told that they had nothing else to offer me. They had no availability of a roll-away, either! All hotels in the area were apparently booked so we stayed though an uncomfortable night with four in a bed and the smell of old smoke lingering in the air...so much for the non-smoking room!
The next morning, we tried the on site restaurant. I've never had such terrible service. The waiters were cursing and couldn't remember which table they were supposed to be waiting on. In addition, they screwed up our orders and forgot to bring drinks even after being asked several times.
To tie it all up, several of the staff---starting with the bellhop to the concierge were pushy and rude. The last thing we wanted to encounter after having spent the last two weeks on a very pleasant vacation throughout the rest of Mexico.

First time in Mazatlan. First time in Mexico also. I was so pleased. We booked through selloffvacations.com and got an awesome deal. Our room was ocean view and very clean. We (my husband, and our two girls -8 & 14) really loved this small hotel. The staff was very friendly. The lady at the coffee bar was super nice....lattes only 25 pesos. ! The margaritas were very good.....not used to them being so strong though..lol. We were there from Jan 9th - 16, 2008, the weather was warm during the day but in the evening you needed a sweater. I was told that this was colder than they usually expect in Jan. They have a laundry room which was very clean and it cost 50 pesos to do one wash and one dry (you buy coins from the front desk) and they give you a small bag of soap which does 2 loads. Oh yeah, and high speed internet in the rooms....we brought our lap top so our teen was happy too. The pool was very clean! The only thing that I wish it had was a hot tub. If you sit by the rocks near the bridge in the pool it is warm...that's where the pool heater is I guess. Happy hour is from 4-7! Margaritas are only 20 pesos during happy hour! Fabulous hotel, staff and accommodation's! . We will be going back! Loved it!