Hotel Cozumel & Resort — Hotel in San Miguel de Cozumel

Divers beware, this is the recommended hotel on PADIs website for Cozumel and the place has been resting on those laurels for quite some time. What a catalogue of screw ups! We had a real 2 star hotel experience. TLDR: overpriced, bad service, avoid.

The place is old and worn like it hasn’t been changed in 20 years. When we arrived there was a huge crowd at the inefficient front desk, and no welcoming efforts or drinks until I went to complain that we’d been waiting for half an hour in 30 degrees Celsius with all our gear just to check in. People next to us in the queue were loudly complaining as well for being there even longer. Next they put us in a twin room with two small beds even though we booked a king sized one. That room looked old with dirty broken furniture and no ventilation for the sweltering hot bathroom - no surprises that’s what all the rooms are like. When we went to reception to ask to change room we again had to wait 15 minutes only to end up next to another guest complaining they had just checked in and got the wrong room - so the hotel said they were swapping us. That clearly wasn’t the case as when we got to our new room it was a mess - used and dirty bedsheets, water and towels all over the bathroom and the stink of half eaten room service plates lying around the room. Again we had to complain but the hotel told us to leave all our bags there and they’d make the room up right away. We went to lunch… 2 hours later we returned to the room and no change. We asked for them to make the room up again, tired and hot from long flights and desperate to shower we were told to wait another hour! They offered no compensation or anything, even when we asked for it they said they could do nothing for us because they knew they would be busy that day - well if they knew, they clearly did nothing to prepare and prevent the negative experiences us and others had. The safe in the room was also locked and the reception didn’t know how to open it, though they said they would send someone who never came - weirdly that night the last people who stayed in the room showed up to open it because they had forgotten their passports inside (lol). Later we asked the front desk to break a note and they would only change a small amount ($20) refusing to break 40 dollars. They also said only one staff member would do it and, you guessed it, put us in a queue behind 2 other check ins for 15 min to get that cash while there was 2 free staff members doing nothing at the desk. In the end the security guy saw us stuck there and took pity, recommending we change our money with the bar tender instead, who was much more helpful.

The food on the resort (one buffet restaurant and one other restaurant that was always closed so couldn’t try it) was pretty average, and bar snacks at the pool were the best thing available, though the club sandwich advertised with chicken and bacon had neither, and the chicken quesadillas definitely were heavy on cheese and light of chicken. Very happy we didn’t pay for all inclusive! We ate downtown, where there’s much better food, as much as possible.

The dive school is decent but I’ll review them on their page, just note that their gear lockers are controlled by the hotel and you get one per room - which barely fit gear for the two of us. Good luck if you have larger gear or are diving with your kids. One good thing - the balcony has various hanging pegs and rails you can dry...

UPDATED: After posting the review below, I did take the time to read the reviews, PLEASE DO READ THEM BEFORE BOOKING. To the hotel management that responds to these TRUTHFUL REVIEWS, please don't bother to say how most guests have great experiences and mine was some exception. The reviews actually SHOW MANY that say exactly what I said here and worse, MANY referenced their safes were broken into and things were stolen from their room. I travel light and often, I don't leave any valuables behind for this very reason. You should be shut down. What a scam!

I had to work in the lobby because the wifi connection was unreliable in my room!

I have traveled quite a bit for work and pleasure. This was the MOST REGRETFUL booking of all my travels. I paid 1800 dollars for what was advertised as an All Inclusive hotel for 5 days. It is not, when you get there, they call "all inclusive" their basic package which includes breakfast only. They want you to upgrade 50 dollars a person for their cheap drinks and lunch and dinner.

I have had better rooms at Motel 6 LITERALLY. My room was GROSS, the tub was in desperate need of repair (room 1127). The toilet required I remove the top and physically reset the floater every time I flushed. There was literally NO decor AT ALL. The tiles were old, cracked, and disgustingly dirty. Not just in the room but in all the hallways toward the room. I knew before even opening the door, this was an EPIC FAIL.

I might give it 1.5 stars only because the guests all seemed cool and I enjoyed the couples and people we met, but that really isn't the hotel's doing. I also do think the location is nice if you want to be close to downtown. The staff were OK at best. I guess because I don't drink or eat that much and felt a "surprise" 50 dollar a day charge was absurd so I didn't upgrade, I wasn't worth treating like a the rest of the guests with the "red upgraded bands". No staff ever talked to me, or even acknowledged me.

This was my third visit to Cozumel and my previous two were also at "all inclusives" but they actually were all inclusives as advertised upon booking, no surprises upon check in and I would go back in a heartbeat to either...but worse, I paid more here for less!

I literally checked out 2 days early and paid extra to change my flight to go home...that's how bad it was.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Seriously read the low reviews, without reading them myself, I would bet my life, they validate everything I just said. They must be paying people to post positive reviews.

The ONLY thing that might make this place better than a one star is if you are a diver and just want the convenience of being across the street from where you will be boarding for your dives. LITERALLY nothing else about this place was remotely acceptable to me for the price.

I couldn't even get a refund, but left anyway it was that gross and felt like...

First of all, we didn’t get any information upon arrival at the hotel reception. The workers were very rushed in the check in process, they gave us our keys without explaining anything about the hotel (how to get to the beach, where are the restaurants, how to get towels, etc).

Once we were able to figure out where the evening buffet was, we stumbled upon the worst food we’ve ever tasted. There was no variety and whatever was there was cold as it was sitting there for hours and hours. Since we didn’t like the buffet food we tried the room service menu thinking it was different (they charge 5$ for it) but it was the exact same food as the buffet only with sarran wap on top of the plate. Don’t order the “steak” unless you want to have stomach problems (which was our case).

The breakfast was the only passable meal served at the hotel, so don’t miss it. Service from everyone at the hotel, from reception to bartenders to waiters, was horrible. They seem annoyed at every request you make and good luck trying to get something more than a glass of water when you first arrive, they seem to forget you exist after that.

There was no entertainment whatsoever, on their schedule they say that they have shows/activities planned every evening but from our 7 days stay, there was only a karaoke night with a head count of 10 and a trivia game night which 5 people attended because of the bad entertainment and organization.

The rooms are clean and have working air conditioning, but the wifi reception is bad inside the rooms, it only works outside. The rooms are old, the bed is as hard as the floor. The water pressure in the shower is bad and the bathtubs are disgusting. They badly need renovations. We hear everything from the hallways as there are cracks in the door’s frame…

The beach isn’t the usual beach we are used to but it was okay. You have to go down by stairs into the water and its pretty small but once you cross a little reef wall then you’re in open sea. You can snorkel right there and it was nice, lots of fishes and the water was hot. There’s a dive club in the hotel but we aren’t divers so we didn’t get to enjoy this. If you are, you can have lots of fun.

The pool was very big but ice cold, the only enjoyable part was the hot tub which was pretty small. It can only fit around 4 people but it gets overcrowded since the pool is so cold and nobody goes in it.

All in all, we were disappointed as we didn’t get the type of service we’re accustomed to and the food was truly horrible. We enjoyed the beach and the nice Cozumel weather. We wouldn’t stay here again. If you’re looking for a dive hotel and you happen to find it cheap it can be an option but you...