TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Writing this review as I sit in our room on our last night....be prepared to WALK and Walk and Walk! 1. Rooms - we were in a Caribbean Sand Suite in building 1 which is farthest from the lobby area, but close to the beach and pools. Rooms are very spacious but ZERO drawer space to unpack clothes for the week so be prepared to keep everything in your suitcase except for hanging clothes. Our AC stayed on 65 all week and room stayed cooled and we also kept our shades closed as well. 2. Pools/beach - we are a HOF members so stayed at the members pool all week and the beach a few days. The beach is massive and gorgeous. It's fairly windy, so while on the beach it feels good. Service at the pools and beach was great and never really went thirsty or hungry. The main pool has a DJ daily, so it's the more lively pool and the biggest. Seems like there are pools wherever you turn, so plenty of space for all. Chairs get reserved early, so be prepared and there seems to be one umbrella for 4 chairs, so finding shade can be tricky. We had 6 chairs every day and couldn't find more than 2 umbrellas. 3. Food - pool/beach side food is good and plenty of options. There are a few food trucks near the beach access points, so it's convenient not having to walk up to the restaurants. All of the restaurants are good, but we had a horrible experience at Impanema....think the A/C was out as they only had fans blowing and the service was terrible. The meat options only came to our table twice, so we left early due to lack of service and it being terribly hot. Our favorite was actually Split (sandwich shop) in the main lobby...kind of like a Subway but scaled down. For breakfast we ate at Isla every morning since it was nearest our room. Plenty of options for every age of life. If you get to breakfast after 9am, be prepared to wait. 4. Staff - Our butlers Jose and Jean Carlos were great. Satisfied every request we had timely and effectively. Pool staff was attentive and helpful. Overall - we would come back at some point. The hotel is dated and you can tell in some areas, but always seemed to have staff doing regular maintenance.

My husband, 17-year-old daughter, 19-year-old son, and I traveled from late July to early August. We stayed 6 nights and 7 days. Made a reservation with the member and saved money. Check-in was easy since I booked with a member. There was a separate desk for member check-in pass the regular check-in counters. It was hot and humid. I am from the Midwest, so I am used to the weather. I expected it to be hotter, but it wasn’t. In the pool, you don’t feel it. The place is huge. We took about 10,000 to 15,000 steps a day, sometimes more. Once you know where everything is, it gets easier. It took me one day but only a few hours for my kids. I am slow. Lol. We stayed at 7B and walked everywhere. It was faster than waiting for the tram, which could be full. There are many pools and pool chairs are always available. It’s a bit hard to find shaded areas, though. We arrived around 9:30 am and got an umbrella with four lounge chairs. Many people reserve seats and don’t return for hours. There is always a nearby food place. The beach was beautiful. Rough sea but clean. Lounge chairs were available. Food was okay. We tried all the places. My favorites were Isla Gastro Market for lunch and Bistro Med for breakfast. Arrived at Zen and Toro just before they opened and we were seated. It’s busy everywhere around 7 pm and later. There were a bunch of food stands during dinner in the lobby area near the restaurants. All the employees were very nice and friendly. Some are a lot nicer than others. The room was okay and as clean as it could be. I didn’t use housekeeping, just got new towels each day. The casino is small but fun. I lost some money but didn’t expect to win any. Enjoyed ice cream during the late afternoon in the main lobby area. I wished there was a bit more entertainment in the moon lounge. We really enjoyed the music and games they played. We enjoyed our stay.

This is our third HR hotel experience. This is a huge property which we knew. This didn’t bother us because we have teen kids that are active. We found it easier to walk than wait for the shuttle. We were in building 1. Furthest from the lobby. However right beside the Isla restaurant and pool. We enjoyed both. I already had low expectations for food to so I wasn’t as disappointed as others. Nothing here is great but didn’t mind Zen and the small Italian place. Kids had fun with the escape rooms, bowling and laser tag but they are costly. Spa was great. Night life lagged. Pools closed at 6pm so no night swimming. Waterpark was geared more for smaller kids. Beach was great when we were there. Service at the beach bar was quick because not many people were there. Most of the places to grab food by the pools took way too long to get food. With a hotel this large it should be more efficient and half of the time they were out of most things. We’re glad we came for the memories but won’t be back.

While the hard rock is generally amazing, the shift to making the resort a far more family friendly environment has created an unwelcoming vacation spot for young adults looking to celebrate & party. If you like kids knocking into you a few times a day, this is the spot for you. (Club hours & on resort bars used to be far more exciting with longer hours, closed walls + karaoke pre 2020)

Arrived at the airport the same time as other planes. Plenty crowded and luggage was already there when we reached the carousel. Private transportation picked us up and drove us right to our building at the resort. Butlers and support members were there to greet us. There was no communication with the Butlers before we arrived. No reservations were made in advance. I believe they may have had the wrong phone number given to them for What’s App. They connected with our daughter when we arrived and she was able to get the situation fixed. Disappointed that we were in building #1 since we were told we would be in one of the casino High Roller Suites. While our suite was ok, we have stayed in nicer suites. We were there to celebrate high school graduation with our grandson and the rest of his family. It was never acknowledged even though we had told people. After dinner we returned to our rooms and discovered the air conditioning was insufficient. Sleep wasn’t the best in a warm room. Maintenance came the next morning to make an adjustment. It may have improved the temperature by 1-2 degrees. Still on the warm side. The thermostat had to be adjusted one more time during the week. Our poolside chairs were reserved every day. Our Butlers, Jose and Anderson were there to reserve chars, make dinner reservations, and handled all of our needs. At the pool, Scooby Doo, always had a smile and attended to any wants. Several days we had Nury as our server. Always there when we needed something. One thing we did notice was HOF members seemed to get better service than we did as a Chairman. Asked to have a cooler to keep water and ice at the pool. HOF received it, but we never had a cooler the entire week. We usually went to Isla for breakfast where we met Katherine. She always had a beautiful smile. We sat with her each day at breakfast. At Toro, we were served by Winde. Great service. All restaurants had good food. Ciao was our favorite. During the week we had mani/pedis. Veronica & Gisselle did a great job. Our Chairman massages were done by Angela & Gabriella. We were picked up by our building when we left. The drivers we had both ways got us where we needed to be. The airport was a disaster. We couldn’t believe how long the lines were for each section. First through security, then passport control, then immigration. All lines were very long. It felt like cattle being herded through several gates. If we ever come back, I hope there is an improvement there! We missed seeing Osman but Alexander met with us. I did communicate with Osman and he did say he wouldn’t be able to see us.