Star Palace Beach Hotel

This trip was booked through Sunwing Vacations and we are from Canada. The main reason we chose the Star Palace was price, but also because of its proximity to the Golden Zone and other amenities. This was our third time to Mazatlán, with the first two times staying at the Riu Emerald Bay a decade ago. I am giving the Star Palace (which includes the Oceano Palace and the Luna Palace) a five-star review mostly because of the fantastic people working there. I wish to thank all the staff for a wonderful two weeks. I am going to mention a few by name as they were, of course, our servers and bartenders, but there are many working there who work hard throughout the properties that do not get the credit they deserve. Thank you all and thank you Leticia who works behind the scenes. First, Augustin is probably the best server I have ever had at any pool at any hotel. He was tireless serving everyone at the very busy pool and beach at the Star Palace and because of him, I rarely had an empty drink. As well, the snack food (burgers, hot dogs, fries and pizza) at that pool was quite good. If you love cheese, the pizzas are a must. Secondly, the servers at the buffet at the Oceano Palace. All were great, but Adolpho, Jesus, Daniel, and Napoleon gave us very attentive service considering that it was a very busy restaurant. I would like to thank Napoleon (and all the staff) for putting up with our Spanglish and taking the time to get through the language barrier to give us the best service possible. And now the bartenders. In the evenings, you are most likely going to spend your time at the Oceano Palace bar and luckily you will have Philipe there most nights. He makes very good drinks and his service was incredible. He seemed to be able to make time for everyone and I enjoyed the personalized attention he gave me. Another great bartender was Victor Hugo at the Pacific Palace pool and Italian restaurant. I have never seen an all-inclusive bartender give so much care and attention to the drinks he was making. It was quite entertaining watching him work. Another bartender that stood out was Jorge. The “all-inclusive” selection of alcohol was somewhat limited, but no complaints as this was a budget-friendly vacation. They did have a selection of “top shelf” liquors at an extra cost but I was satisfied with settling for what was included. As a tequila drinker, I stuck with El Jimador Reposado and my wife was happy with the Bacardi Anejo Rum. (I was a little surprised that Cazadores tequila and Malibu rum was considered “top shelf”. The did not have an off-brand coconut rum option.) I did enjoy the margaritas, especially the mango. The food was as good as any hotel in this price range and always found something I liked or something new to try. We had the option of eating at the buffets at the Star Palace or Oceano Palace (with a third breakfast option at the Luna Palace). The buffets leaned towards Mexican cuisine but there were many international choic

We have stayed at many places over the years, called all inclusive, this is not one of them, trust me when I say this, I’ve worked in many places around the world, some not very good, but this is likely the worst I’ve seen! We will end our three week trip on Jan 29/2023, and all six of us will be very happy to leave this chain of resorts called the palace group! Star palace, Oceania, pacific and the Luna palace, suppose to be sister hotels, shared services! Again this morning I was refused breakfast, other in the group could eat, yet we all booked together! We are in the star palace, pool bars don’t open until noon, then only have about five choices of drinks, run out of water and make no effort to get more! Inside bar never open! The only restaurant meal has been the same food 90% of our trip! And not great! Pool staff walk right buy Canadian guests to sever the locals, 90% of guest are local, Beach bands constantly blast, we often leave because of the noise! Beach is disgusting, bird poop on the the busted chairs they set out, which is few, walk buy dead rats and cockroaches for several days before they get cleaned up! Loud, noisy, dirty disgusting place! Not expat friendly at all! Out group of six, over three weeks have spent about 15 nights, average 120.00 usd on outside meals and drinks to enjoy our trip, this is not and all inclusive resort at all! We all had to buy coolers for our rooms and ice from across the street to keep things cool in our rooms. If you want beers buy the pool or beach before noon, you have to go across the street and buy your own! I could go on all day, bottom line, horrible place. Expats stay clear!

Great music and great entertainment. Close to the beach and clean pools. The employees were really really friendly and nice. The only thing is that I went thru a travel agency and the organization at the beginning lacked.

the service is bad and if you don't have branded clothes they don't take good care of you

This hotel has its strengths and weaknesses. Brush up on your Español because English is not commonly spoken here. Do you like banda music? Then this is your heaven. All day and deep into the night, banda is being played by full bands as loudly as possible. Do you love open air nightclubs that blast terrible top 40 music until 4 am? You'll hear all the action from the comfort of your comfortable bed. The cleaning staff is the glue of this establishment! Our room was always spotless! The pool is the party spot from morning til night. Remember to bring your own speaker so you can join in on blasting your personal tunes like everybody else. Good luck getting a lounger there, it is competitive! There is hot water on the weekends but not during the week so get on training yourself for wim hof cold bathing. There are tons of awesome restaurants within blocks of the hotel which I would utilize because the food looks heinous. This was cheap, which was great, but remember you get what you pay for.

We have only been here a few days and are having a great time. I will give a full review at the end of the trip but wanted to give some initial thoughts. I first wanted to give a shout-out to Augustin at the pool and beach at the Star Palace. He has given us 5 star service and works very hard. The bartender Jorge at the pool bar is also excellent. Other bartenders and servers throughout the Star Palace, Oceano Palace & Luna Palace have been good and remember what I am drinking, but there is one bartender at the Main/Sports bar at the Oceano that is always particularly good (I will get his name and post it in a follow up review). I did not get is name but the desk clerk when we checked in on Friday, February 24 was very professional and are very happy with our room. The one possible downside to the hotel is the surrounding noise as there are mariachi bands on the beach during the day (which cannot be controlled because they are public beaches) and there are a few night clubs right across the street that are open until the wee hours of the morning, but upside is that there is a real party atmosphere at this hotel. (But the reason I come to Mexico is for the constant celebration and passion for life that is part of the culture.) Bring earplugs and/or white noise for sleeping, but that being said I have slept very well. We went to the show at the Luna (book with the concierge at the Oceano) and the food was very good and the singer was entertaining.

Expensive hotel. Awful customer service. There was a leak on the toilet that flooded the room. I had to go to the front lobby more than 4 times when trying to resolve the problem but the rep kept us sending me back saying that someone would take care of it. After two hours of this back and forth, we demanded a new room and finally we moved to another room. The rooms are dirty and the beds are uncomfortable (concrete base)

Staff were extremely friendly. The beach is beautiful and rooms are simple, but have the necessities

it's on the beach, but pols are really only for kids. insufficient service poolside for snacks etc. this is more a family style hotel and not a good fit for seniors. the security staff didn't attempt to keep any nightime music on the beach at bay so they played till 4 in the morning. room cleaning was very good and front desk service also. but cold to luke warm buffet meals and noise won't bring me back to star palace