by Jessica Wick

Created on: August 25, 2008   Last Updated: January 04, 2009

Cancun's Hotel Zone is littered with beautiful, oceanside all-inclusive resorts. Each of them have launched extensive advertising and marketing campaigns in an attempt to get your business. They all promise good food, clean rooms, and great service.

Read online reviews and you'll likely find mixed opinions of each hotel, so it can be difficult to choose. I had been to Cancun twice before and had found the all-inclusive options to be wonderful. The food was good, the rooms were comfortable, and the service was amazing. In fact, I had never been treated as well by hotel staff as I had in Mexico. Maybe I was just spoiled by my first two trips, but I assumed every hotel chain had the same standards. The Great Parnassus proved me wrong.

I booked the Great Parnassus for a family trip to Cancun. There were six of us- three couples- so we booked three rooms. When we arrived, we waited at the front desk for 20 minutes before being told that my husband and I did not have a room. We had booked the resort four months before our arrival, so this should not have happened.

"We will put you in a suite tonight, but in the morning, you will either have to move or pay for it," the employee, Karla, said bluntly.

My husband and I rode the painfully slow elevator to the top floor only to discover that our "suite" was a mess. It had just been painted and smelled awful. It had not been cleaned. When we rode the elevator back to the lobby, we were told to wait "30 minutes" and they'd clean it.

We waited an hour. Needless to say, the room had not been touched. At this point, my husband spoke to the manager, who assured us the room would be done... in 30 minutes. The manager argued with my husband- who sells paint for a living- and assured him the room had not just been painted. The room absolutely reeked of paint.

We put our luggage in my parents' room, freshened up, and had some dinner. Another two hours went by. Finally, we went up to our suit to discover it had been cleaned... and given away. We accidentally opened the door on another couple!

To make a long story short, after complaining to the manager, we finally were given a suite and told to keep it at no extra charge for the remainder of our stay. The suite was beautiful. It was also directly above the all-night karaoke bar. Well done, Great Parnassus.

Cancun is known for its crazy nightlife, so we made sure to book a resort that advertised no Spring Breakers and a quiet, adults- only atmosphere. Unfortunately, this could not have been

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