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Resort Details
General Policies & Fine Print
Check-in Policy - Hotel requires a credit/debit card authorization or cash deposit upon check-in for incidentals; this will place a hold on your funds.
Convention Policy - Individuals attending a convention cannot book this property for their stay. If found attending a convention, guests may be subject to higher room rates upon arrival.
Hotel Spring Break Policy - Student Groups (Spring Breakers) are not permitted at Hotel.
Transfer Policy - A price may display when children stay free, if your vacation includes transfer to your hotel.
General Information - Room taxes and service fees are included in vacation price.
Minimum night stay restrictions may apply.
Reservation changes may not be permitted unless authorized by the hotel.
Customer Ratings & Reviews
TripAdvisor Traveler Rating
12260 reviews
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Jan 13, 2025Not so great..
For the price you can do better. We went early Jan 2025, had two rooms on the 7th floor - 'Preferred Club' incl a ocean front double and a king balcony. The door for the balcony is a plexiglass (?) storm door which did not seal correctly and the wind howled consistently. It looked like a quick fix to something that was broken and then left there permanently, but it is there in the pictures of the hotel on the website, so it was designed like that(?). The balcony is pretty narrow, so maybe 12' x 3', kinda tight to walk past each other. The main pool is tiled and missing a significant amount of the tiles. Beach chairs are typical, 1st come - we had no problem getting chairs before 930 am. Chairs in the sun seem to go faster than those under the shade. Significant portion of the beach is used for a volleyball court, reducing the sunny area for sunbathing. They ask that you leave personal items not just the beach towels to reserve your chair. The Preferred Club up-sale provides access to 2 bars - one adjacent to the 1st floor preferred check-in area and the other adjacent to the preferred pool area, and breakfast at a smaller buffet that doubles as the Mexican restaurant (El Patio). The preferred bars offer some "upscale" liquor like Belvedere or Jose Cuervo 1800. The smaller preferred breakfast buffet offers the same food as the primary buffet - called World Cafe. As we used these facilities no one ever asked if we were preferred club - the only uncertainty here is you need a keycard for the 1st floor preferred check in area, not sure if any keycard will work. The bartenders at all the bars were great. Although some bars were frugal with straws citing sustainably for their reluctance to provide straws with frozen drinks. The hotel does not take reservations for the restaurants, with the exception of Himitsu's hibachi tables (see below). In general, anytime we went to a ala cart restaurant we were told 45 min wait and given a pager device to know when the table would be ready - which in reality was closer to 75 minutes (sometimes despite empty tables). Lunch is generally only offered in 2 locations, World Cafe or Olio. The World Cafe (buffet) is bad, seriously I wish I took pictures to share. The selection did not change, we never saw chips, salsa, guac, tortillas, etc. The "fresh" area would have a few full leafs of lettuce, carrot shreds, etc. no pre-made salads or sufficient ingredients to make a nice salad. I try to eat salad with lunch and dinner and didn't have one from this buffet restaurant during our entire trip (very disappointing). The World Cafe gets subdivided in the evening with a curtain patrician and that is called Portofino which is the dinner Italian restaurant. Portofino food was pretty good. Olio is a open air lunch restaurant by the pools and only open for lunch. The caesar salad was good, as was the fish tacos, chips and salsa (nachos are on the menu w/o guac, we just asked for chips and salsa). Gaucho Grill is their dinner steak house and the quality is low and the food was repeatedly under cooked, medium rare orders were served rare and medium steaks were served med/rare. The steaks are thin, the filet looks like your being served one half of a butterflied filet. Same with the strip steaks, thin, small and under cooked. The chicken classic salad, empanada and crab cakes and strudel were good. Himitsu is the dinner Japanese steak house (hibachi). There are only 3 hibachi tables, the other tables are served food from the kitchen. The hibachi tables and tables served from the kitchen are all good. The menu is nice, with lots of options. The draw-down is to eat at the hibachi tables you have to get in line at 2:30 and wait till 3 when they take the reservations. Since there are only 3 tables, seating 8 people at each table those that arrived after 2:40 and waited till 3 were sent away without a reservation. There is some back access as there were only 8 or 9 other people ahead of us and we were the last reservation they accepted (quick math 8 seats per table * 3 tables = 24 per seating and since they are open from 6-11 there should be at least 3 seating's, accommodating 72 guests). El Patio - we visited for the preferred club breakfast buffet. Turn over on the buffet food seemed slower and cooked items were stale. Looking back we should have revisited the facility for dinner as it is their Mexican restaurant (they are not open for lunch). Coco Cafe - "coffee, snacks and ice cream" was disappointing. They offered the same pre-made crust-less sandwiches on white bread cut in quarters the entire trip, 1 option that's all you get - hope you like mayo. Ice cream (3 flavors) is cut off at 5pm, and is offered on a cone, no sundae, no shakes. On occasion they had stale warm pretzels. Mind you this is their day & evening snack shop. In the evening there are usually two separate events, one by the pool (3 person band), and a singer in the main lobby bar singing to a sound track. We also had a nice couples massage at the spa which was nice, no issues or complaints. If you are going to take the ferry to the island be aware that the terminal nearest the hotel (Caracol - 10-15 walking distance) isn't open daily (not sure how they determine this) and you may need to catch an Uber (~15-20 min) to the primary port Playa Tortugas.
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Jan 11, 2025Pleasantly Surprised
We were pleasantly surprised! We had read the reviews before booking & choose this as the best spot for our family vacation needs (4 rooms/families; 4 kids (10 months - 11 yrs old) so here's the Greats & Needs attention Greats: Excellent staff; made you feel like family The resort is big enough but not too big; the kids were able to navigate between the pref club pools & the "warm" pool; it wasn't one of these resorts that takes you 10 minutes to walk to a pool or beach World Cafe buffet - excellent staff & food; loved the crepes, omelettes, crispy bacon; guacamole etc Excellent beach area; kept very clean of weeds, & well protected on the windy days; I would say best on the strip & great for young kids Restaurants - enjoyed most - Himitsu, El Patio, Olio; Portofino; Least favourite was Gaucho Grill Size - yes the rooms are smaller but I knew that from seeing the reviews; you really don't spend much time in the rooms so this was not a big deal Room maintenance - anything we requested to be fixed they were on it right away- excellent Mini bar - stocked well & would bring what you wanted if you were able to catch them one day Kids club - the grandchildren enjoyed the activities there too Beach aquacise - great to do them in the ocean; Diana is great host Floaties & kayak etc - there were lots available there, so ask if in need Night shows/entertainment - the kids loved the shows; most were very family oriented & enjoyable Hotel Trf - we used Amstar their preferred transport company & they were superb & reliable Needs Attention: Pillows - are quite firm & even though we asked for softer, it was the same so you may have to ask them to take stuffing out (lol) Beach chairs - Some of the beach chairs needed repair Beach food service - on the slow side so plan ahead or go take in one of the buffets; they always had made to order special too Getting the right rooms - this was a little challenging at first but once we got it sorted out it worked out fine; they perhaps need more cot options; bunk beds or something to accommodate family needs. Temperature - restaurant temperatures were on the cool side so bring a sweater Pool Temperatures - only 1 was on the warmer side; others could be a tad warmer Water smell - there is a bit of that but that's common for that area. We've visited the various east coast areas over the last 20+ years & it seems to be a problem Overall - I think I would book with them again if we were doing a family vacation for the period of time that we did; everyone enjoyed it Other notes : the airport jungle scene has improved immensely You are no longer bombarded by all these companies & people; you simply walk out & find your transport company.
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Jan 11, 2025Great food, very clean, staff wonderful, best of all no reservations required for specially restaurants. Well done
Everything was great. The hotel and staff were great, the grounds very clean and people cleaning and painting everyday. No bracelet required, no towel card , plenty of towels every day. Best of all no reservations required for the specially restaurants, we tried all of the restaurants and at no time did we have to wait in a line up to get in, You won’t be disappointed in the variety of foods , lots of choices and we never had one bad meal. The staff I can’t express how friendly,knowledgeable and helpful they all were. In my mind this is a 5star resort,without 5 star prices.Entertainment every night ,which was very good. The only draw back, that really is out of the resorts control is the disrespectful people playing the towel game, putting towels on chairs 6.30 in the morning and not coming back until 11.30.
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Jan 11, 2025
Fantastic Trip to Dream Sands
Best service I've ever had anywhere. Incredibly friendly staff -- they couldn't be more accommodating. Always smiling. It seems like this resort always had something going on...something for everyone. Whether you just wanted to lay on the beach and drink pina coladas (which I did a lot), go to a water aerobics class (loved it) or if you wanted to dance salsa by the main pool (didn't do but could've if I wanted to), lots to do or not, which was nice. Food and drinks everywhere. I would go back in a hot second.
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Jan 10, 2025
Great resort - beautiful beach - good food - but the staff at this resort that were the amazing wow factor!
From the moment we arrived the staff showed us first hand that they were here to make this the best vacation ever! When we got off the Amstar bus we were greeted with a refreshing cool towel and were escorted into the lobby and introduced to our personal concierge Daniella - she was very welcoming and informed us about the hotel and got us checked in very quickly which we appreciated very much as we had been up since 4am and spent 60 minutes getting through the airport. She then handed us off to Thomas the Bellman who went above and beyond in every way - guiding us through the hotel on our way to our room - he went above and beyond providing information about the hotel and giving us pointers where everything was. The hotel was very clean and the room was spotless - Fully stocked with every thing we needed and as promised per our reservation. The food in all of the restaurants was very good. They had entertainment every night and a plan for rain if needed. We did try the spa and were very impressed. We were met by Benjamin who showed us around the spa and was incredibly knowledgeable and we had an incredible experience with the sauna- steam room - Cold Plunge and the couples massage that followed with Deymi and Karla was amazing. The staff at this resort are simply amazing!!! We were so impressed by the service we received at the World cafe every morning at the breakfast buffet. The omelet bar was a nice touch and Oscar and Jorge could not do enough making sure we had full glasses of OJ and coffee. Food was always fresh and refilled. Beach was pristine very well kept. Entertainment staff were very engaging but respectful if you didn't want to participate. Sergio at the beach in front of Olio cafe was incredible and made sure we had a beverage and were very well taken care of. And at the end of each day - our room was very well taken care of by Gualalupe - (cleaned our room from Jan 1 to Jan 8 2024). Every day we came back to a very clean room and a stocked Mini bar. We were very impressed with this resort and the staff truly works so hard. Every day they even had someone sweeping sand off the walks which is a never ending task. It's really the staff that makes this resort a great place to visit. While we unfortunately did not get everyone's name while there, we can't think of one person that wasn't great to interact with. If you stay there, please take the time to get to know the staff. Thank you for a super holiday!