I stayed at the Howard Johnson Kokai during a two week visit to Cancun. This hotel was less expensive than many of the other options that were available to me. Plus, I was familiar with the manager of the hotel through mutual acquaintances.

I found the hotel to be charming, but less so than I had anticipated. This was mainly due to ongoing renovations, though. The pool was not functional while I was staying there, thus it was inconvenient to do some of the activities which I had planned. However, there was a four-time daily shuttle from the hotel to another hotel with beachfront access. So, I was able to spend most of my days at the beach.

As always, the evenings were open for going to a variety of different locales, but I chose to spend most of my time in the downtown area. There is always a large selection of restaurants, nightclubs, and other tourist-friendly activities for one to see. As always, I was able to spread out my activities into the other areas of the peninsula and go to Chichen Itza and Isla Mujeres from the hotel.

The room that I rented was smallish, the bed was too soft, and the pool was being repaired. Otherwise, the stay at Hotel Kokai was decent. I enjoyed my breakfast at the restaurant. They had a Vera Cruz style meal that I enjoyed tremendously. If you are on a low to moderate budget, I recommend that you try the Howard Johnson Kokai.