Holiday Inn Resort Aruba – Beach Resort & Casino – Aruba
J.E. Irausquin Blvd 230, Noord, Aruba
Holiday Inn Resort is located in the High-Rise area, right on Palm Beach. It is located about 2 hotels down from the Radisson Resort on the same beach. A free night at this hotel costs 30000 IHG rewards points. Just before our stay, IHG was running a 50% off points promotion and I switched our reward night booking to Points + Money booking (70$ + 2500 points). Since the rooms go for about $180/night – $300/night, I was pretty happy with this redemption.
The exterior of the hotel makes the resort look very unimpressive, as if it has seen better days. The lobby and common areas also leave much to be desired. The interior hallways and corridors looked like they needed a facelift also.
The best part of the resort is its location. Located in the heart of Palm Beach, the beautiful white sand and palm trees make up for some of the cosmetic shortcomings of this hotel.
Another positive regarding the resort is that there are plenty of dining options (fine dining, tapas, fast food) and even a movie theater within 5 minutes of walking distance. There is also a fairly medium sized mall right in front of the hotel.
Upon arrival, it is not obvious where the hotel parking is located so we pulled up at the front to go and check in. There was a very rude security guard that stopped us before we could even enter the hotel and told us we had to move the car. Not a great way to start.
However, the front desk clerk made it up when checking-in at the front desk by giving us 2 welcome packages (water and a snack) and mentioned that he hoped we would love the room because he upgraded us to an oceanfront balcony room. The view of the beach from our balcony was unbeatable.
We loved our patio location so much that we ended up spending some time just sitting there and enjoying the view.
There are quite a few pools and jacuzzis spread around the property.
Thumbs up:
- Excellent location on Palm Beach !!
- Plenty of dining options (fine dining, tapas, fast food) across the street from the hotel.
- Very responsive front desk. We were given a room with balcony right on the beach. We loved the views from the balcony.
Thumbs down:
- The exterior and interior of this resort needs some major facelift. The buildings look very tired and the hallways and corridors are unimpressive.
- The security guard was very offputting upon arrival.