Travel suggestion

[Guest]

Not sure what their guest policy is but it's a big resort. I'd be surprised if they had time to stop and check every visitor, especially if you're coming in with him.

 

You would be surprised. These security guys all of a sudden seem to come out of nowhere. And then you're screwed--or not. Once in Acapulco, a guy I met on the beach wasn't allowed to come with me during broad daylight (about 4 PM). Fortunately he knew of a "day hotel." I don't know of any such "day hotel" in Puerto Vallarta. I once stayed at a straight hotel in PV and simply had to accept not hooking up with guys. Never again. I could understand if they made the guests show ID and sign in, but they just won't let paying hotel guests take visitors to their rooms even in broad daylight.

[+ purplekow]

You would be surprised. These security guys all of a sudden seem to come out of nowhere. And then you're screwed--or not. Once in Acapulco, a guy I met on the beach wasn't allowed to come with me during broad daylight (about 4 PM). Fortunately he knew of a "day hotel." I don't know of any such "day hotel" in Puerto Vallarta. I once stayed at a straight hotel in PV and simply had to accept not hooking up with guys. Never again. I could understand if they made the guests show ID and sign in, but they just won't let paying hotel guests take visitors to their rooms even in broad daylight.

 

 

I lived in Mexico for a year and back then, No was Spanish for How Much A few well placed pesos would likely have gotten your friend in and probably for less than the day stay hotel.

[Epigonos]

As far as I'm concerned the problem with the large name brand highrise hotels is their location. The majority of them are located north of town nearer the airport and the cruise ship dock. Unless you plan on spending nearly all of your time using the hotel facilities this area is very isolated from the action and a taxi ride is required to get into "centro' and the "zona romantica".. Additionally the beach there is not particularly nice. This area is frequented by families with children and although the hotels may be gay friendly the clientele will be more straight than gay. If you are looking for a "gay vacation" this is NOT the area where you will want to be -- stick with the smaller hotels in the "zona romantica" where the best restaurants, bar, and clubs are located.

 

P.S. Over the years I have decided that there are two types of travelers, crashers and goers. Crashers enjoy going some place and crashing, spending their time using the resort/hotel facilities and seldom leaving the site. Goers go someplace and enjoy sightseeing, shopping, dining out, and clubbing. I am most definitely a goer -- sitting on the beach or by the pool all day bores the hell out of me.

[+ FreshFluff]

As far as I'm concerned the problem with the large name brand highrise hotels is their location. The majority of them are located north of town nearer the airport and the cruise ship dock. Unless you plan on spending nearly all of your time using the hotel facilities this area is very isolated from the action and a taxi ride is required to get into "centro' and the "zona romantica".. Additionally the beach there is not particularly nice. This area is frequented by families with children and although the hotels may be gay friendly the clientele will be more straight than gay. If you are looking for a "gay vacation" this is NOT the area where you will want to be -- stick with the smaller hotels in the "zona romantica" where the best restaurants, bar, and clubs are located.

 

P.S. Over the years I have decided that there are two types of travelers, crashers and goers. Crashers enjoy going some place and crashing, spending their time using the resort/hotel facilities and seldom leaving the site. Goers go someplace and enjoy sightseeing, shopping, dining out, and clubbing. I am most definitely a goer -- sitting on the beach or by the pool all day bores the hell out of me.

 

All of this is correct; most of the guests were straight couples with a few families. We took a taxi downtown every night.

[robberbaron4u]

New Orleans, yet a splendid venue for sight-seeing and dining; the "Easy Living Boy" is an excellent "tiger" and guide to the City that Care Forgot. . .San Miguel Allende is compelling as a sight-seeing venue, but, a long flight from Atlanta; too, the "gay" community in that place is very discreet.

[+ Axiom2001]

EPIGONOS, I send you sincere thanks for your posting. Shall print and use when I venture to this part of our hemisphere! Muchas gracias! - -

[Epigonos]

If Mexico happens to be in your sights let me recommend a wonderful hotel site: http://www.differentworld.com. An interesting aside is that it is located in the U.K. but their knowledge and expertise regarding Mexico is outstanding. I used to use them all the time when I was visiting different areas of the country. Their employees were always helpful and courteous. I can and do recommend this site without reservations.

 

Now if you are a couple and you want to go someplace ultra-romantic in Mexico, to crash, let me recommend Las Brisas in Acapulco. The hotel is absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. It consists or a series of bungalows (casitas) cascading down a very steep hillside. I would definitely suggest a Brisas Beach Club Casita. These rooms all have very private individual swimming pools and spectacular view of Acapulco Bay. A breakfast of bakery items, fresh fruit and coffee is delivered to each room in the morning. The hotels restaurants are definitely not cheap but room service is efficient and not overly expensive. Now the major drawback is that the actual city of Acapulco (a major port of two million plus people) is very uninteresting. The restaurant scene sucks and the shopping is very mall oriented. There are, however, some nice restaurants and hotels in Puerto Marques which is a short taxi ride from Las Brisas back toward the airport.

 

The Different World web site will provide hotel information on ALL major Mexican beach cities as well as cities in the interior of the country. Even if you don’t plan a trip to Mexico check out this site – it is wonderful.

[Guest]

As far as I'm concerned the problem with the large name brand highrise hotels is their location. The majority of them are located north of town nearer the airport and the cruise ship dock. Unless you plan on spending nearly all of your time using the hotel facilities this area is very isolated from the action and a taxi ride is required to get into "centro' and the "zona romantica".. Additionally the beach there is not particularly nice. This area is frequented by families with children and although the hotels may be gay friendly the clientele will be more straight than gay. If you are looking for a "gay vacation" this is NOT the area where you will want to be -- stick with the smaller hotels in the "zona romantica" where the best restaurants, bar, and clubs are located.

 

Yes, the nicer non-gay hotels are not near the action. If I were to go to one of he nicer non-gay hotels, I would pick the "Southern hotel zone" which is south of the center, rather than the "Northern hotel zone" which is closer to the airport. The beaches tend to be nicer in the south. The cabs are not that expensive, and the buses are frequent, so that wouldn't be the deal-breaker, although it's nice to be able to walk to everything. The security guards which bar visitors don't seem like they're trolling for bribes. I think if I could have bribed them, my Mexican friends would have let me know. Maybe someone else has had better success, but they seemed like they meant business. Not being able to bring in visitors is a complete deal-killer for me. The Hotel Mercurio simply takes a copy of the visitors' ID cards, which seems a quite reasonable (and simple) way to provide security. I have wanted to stay at the InterContinental, which is in the South hotel zone, and has rooms with prices for an ocean-view room similar to the Mercurio's (and I have Platinum Ambassador status with the chain). But being able to bring someone to my room is an absolute sine qua non for me.

[Epigonos]

I agree totally with Unicorn about attempting to bribe security at the large hotels to allow you to take a local (for whatever reason) to your room. Bribe or no bribe they will be fired if management find out they did so and they aren’t about to take that risk. I found myself in a very embarrassing situation a number of years ago at Las Brisas in Acapulco. I tried to take a stripper to my room but security was adamant in refusing to allow me to do so. I explained that the guy was the son of my maid back home and I had a gift for him from his mother in my room – NO GO. I finally gave up and did what I should have done in the first place – I rented a room in a rather seedy hotel on an hourly basis. Part of the reason that I rent a condo in Puerto Vallarta is that I’m not questioned when I bring in a guest and the place is MUCH nicer than either the Abby or the Mercurio.