TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Iberostar Tucan/Quetzal My fiancé and I visited the Iberostar Tucan/Quetzal for our engagement and my birthday from 16-APR-2024 for 10 nights. Read applicable parts or whole review: This is our review on the first impressions; room; pool; beach; bars/drinks; restaurants/food; staff; location/resort; daytime activities; evening entertainment; hotel setting; guests; timesharing Sales and; summary. First impressions Upon arrival to the Iberostar Tucan, my fiancé and I were very excited to get our holiday started. The hotels reception was a very beautiful setting and we were immediately greeted by the hotel staff, who had taken our luggage bags to our room. Room When we arrived at our room in block 17, we were exhausted from the flight to Mexico and were ready to sleep after a shower. This room had three plug sockets; one for the TV; one for the desk lamp; and one for the Floor lamp. The bathroom was equipped with a hairdryer, towels, shower, sink and toilet. The shower has two heads, one mounted and one hand held. We had to use the handheld shower head because the mounted head did not project the water out at all, instead it was like water gushing from a broken pipe. In addition to this, the shower area is fully tiled however, one of the tiles in the shower tray had a very big hole - a safety and hygiene hazard for sure. The next morning, we had discovered a cockroach under the sink area - if there is one cockroach, there’s normally more hiding. We returned to reception and asked for another room, highlighting the issues above, which they did have availability for three other rooms - we decided to go with block 22 (two blocks from the beach), this was in the Iberostar Quetzal side. The reception staff didn’t apologise for the inconvenience but were quick to reserve our changed room. We had to wait until 15:00 to move our suitcases (with the assistance from the bus boy), no problem at all. When we arrived at our room in block 22, this room was a carbon copy of our room from block 17, minus the cockroaches but adding two tiny lizards into the mix - I didn’t mind having the lizard in the room as it escaped the room soon enough. One 20 year old, tangerine coloured room. We had noticed on both the hotels’ website and tour operator website used images that have been heavily edited. Pool The Iberostar Tucan and Quetzal share four pools: - A large lagoon style pool, with a jacuzzi in the centre and a fountain. This pool is surrounded by sun-beds (some with parasols), deck chairs and several cabanas (reservation required). This pool also holds events and activities. - A smaller rectangle pool used for laps and a calmer atmosphere with fewer, uncomfortable, sun-beds. - An adults only pool, located down a few steps and has a pool bar with seating. - A children’s pool surrounded by a small Pickett fence and climbing frames. Towel hire is available and the reception will issue you token cards to exchange for towels free of charge. There is an ice cream bar at the lagoon pool-side which is a very nice touch. The hotel does have signs that prohibit the reservation of sun-beds, despite staff surrounding the pool, this still seems to be looked over. The pool-side staff are forever cleaning the interior of the lagoon but the pool is not actually clean. Several times when entering the pool my partner and I would come across green scum and leaves floating in the pool. The maintenance team and cleaners are out with a leaf blowers and brooms from 09:30 every hour, wafting the smell of gas over the pool. Beach The hotel has their own sun-beds with parasols on the beach. The beach has no faults except for the seaweed which is washed ashore frequently. Less frequently are tractors that skim the sand to clean-up the seaweed. The hotel does offer, paddle boards, small catamarans and one/two person kayaks free of charge. Beaches in Mexico are federal owned and therefore are not private property. Bars/Drinks The hotel has two pool-side bars and one pool bar (adults only pool). The majority of the alcoholic drinks taste very similar and there only a handful what are considerably nicer. Restaurants/Food The hotel has six restaurants: - The buffet restaurant: where a continental breakfast is served from 06:30-07:00 and the full breakfast menu is served from 07:00 to late morning. This restaurant also opens later in the day for evening meals, there are lots of options that they put on display and like with any chain hotel, lacks a lot of flavour. - The Mediterranean restaurant was our favourite and opened at 18:00, located on the Tucan side of the hotel. The starters and desserts were self served, while the mains were ordered. The menu has seafood, poultry and vegetarian dishes. - The Japanese Restaurant was another favourite of ours and opened at 18:00, located on the Tucan side of the hotel. This restaurant requires a reservation. The restaurant offers no menu but instead a chef will cook rice, prawns, beef and chicken dishes at the table. The restaurant consists of four grill areas surrounded by 16 guests each. - Uxmal restaurant was another favourite offering several Mexican dishes in the evening. The food is very tasty and the three milk Tequila Cake is a must. This restaurant also opens in the early afternoon for snacks and has no themed food. - The Smokehouse restaurant offered a set menu with one two options, one vegan and one non-vegetarian. Nothing special, just different. - The Gondola restaurant is the hotels’ Italian restaurant and disappoints from 18:00 and is located on the Quetzal side of the hotel - the restaurant is a disgrace. We visited this restaurant on my birthday and was very underwhelmed and disappointed. We had tried to visited the restaurant twice before but had seen the very long queues to get in so ate elsewhere - I couldn’t understand why this restaurant was so busy the whole time. I chose the Spaghetti Carbonara - which was very watery, undercooked and very tasteless with soggy bacon. My partner had ordered Spaghetti meatballs, he describes it as watery, bland and full of gristle. Give this restaurant a miss. Overall 3 out of six restaurants are worth visiting. Staff Alicia and Alejandro first invited us to the foam party and various other daytime activities. You can tell the duo very much enjoys interacting with guests and cannot praise them enough! On the other hand, the barman, Daniels, did not make a positive impression on us, as he ignored my partner and would rather look at his phone instead of serving. Location/Resort The hotel is located in Playacar which is a secure complex with RIU (lots) and Wyndham hotels, houses and few shops. The location is very safe and we had no worries leaving the hotel grounds. Daytime Activities Daytime activities are in abundance and the staff are always happy to invite you to them. Activities range from diving, foam pool parties and table tennis etc. Evening Entertainment The evening entertainment was mainly aimed at children rather than families and was on every night. Strangely, Bingo was available later in the night? Hotel Setting Iberostar is very big on sustainability, this is evident from the reduced amount of single use plastics, reusable glass water bottles and the preservation of wildlife on the grounds. The wildlife consists of monkeys, Coatis, mini-capybaras and Iguanas. The hotel keeps Tortoises (Leo and Sosa), Flamingos, peacocks, two parrots and cats. The cats are fed by the hotel and therefore do not bother guests. Other Guests The hotel has various EU nationalities staying there. And a large American and Canadian population. It’s clear to see the hotel caters to the American Tourists as the rooms/food/drinks dip in quality. Timesharing Sales Me and my partner were offered one of three incentives to sit through a 1.5 hour time share presentation. Incentives were; ONE (total) massage; one (per person) 30 minute snorkelling dive or; $70USD resort credit. As this was at the end of our holiday, we chose the snorkelling dive. Please be aware that if you are a travel agent, airline staff or hotel staff, you cannot partake in this waste of time sales presentation for a timeshare. The “presentation” began in ‘The Club’ lounge. The staff were friendly and explained the presentation would be very relaxed, have breakfast and be shown an on-site apartment. We were taken to breakfast by our concierge which I thought was odd that the three of us would sit together and eat? He asked questions about our employment and explained what the programme was about. We then walked to the apartment which was three floors up, overlooking the beach. The hotel has only one of these rooms at the time of writing this review. We visited the apartment and played the part of being interested. The concierge then told us that the apartment/timeshare/plan was for 30 years and withheld the price and what the subscription actually included. We were then taken to an annexed building that looked like its only purpose was to sell this timeshare. We sat down with our concierge and he told us that the timeshare was $159,000 for 30 years, plus you’d get an additional 25% off an advertised price online. Sounding like a scam we declined the offer to subscribe. The manager is called over and he has a calculator and writes more figures on the paper laid in front of us, to which we decline again. The manager leaves and the concierge was then able to reduce the cost of the subscription down to $89,000 and you would get that full amount back, after the subscription had lapsed, in 30 years. My partner had pointed out that $89,000 in 2024 would not have the same worth in 2054, it would be less. The concierge did not understand at all about inflation. The manager then comes over a second time and is able to reduce monthly costs of ‘savings’ of ~$4500 and scribbles on the paper declining a third time he’s able to offer a free holiday back at the Iberostar Tucan/Quetzal. We had pointed out we would not be returning to this Iberostar, our package holiday costed less than his ~$4500 ‘saving’ and the inflation issue again. The concierge thanks us for our time and another man comes to the table and is able to reduce the length of the subscription - which we decline for the forth time. He thanks us for our time and leaves the table. Then a woman visits the table and states “they really don’t want you to leave without paying for anything” and she manages to drop the amounts again. Which with decline for the fifth time. She thanks us and then we received out snorkelling dive. Which we didn’t even use. If you’re looking for a timeshare, don’t accept the first price. If you’re looking to get a free incentive, don’t waste your time at this hotel. Summary Would revisit Cancun and Playacar however, not at this Iberostar hotel. Overall the hotel is very pretty and welcoming but let down by the rooms and food.

We just spent five wonderful days at the quetzal. The staff is amazing and very helpful and friendly. Food was excellent but the lack of reservations is a significant issue especially for the Italian restaurant. We especially appreciate the Star beach area staff of Yarida Emanuel and Javier who were amazing. The buffet staff was also excellent and Leticia and Abigail were incredibly sweet and attentive. We went to their area everyday for breakfast and lunch. Almudena with the Club was also very knowledgeable and helpful. Thank for a great vacation. One negative was room temperature which was always on the warm side.

We visited this beautiful hotel as a family of 3 last week and had such an amazing vacation! We are very grateful for each member of the staff which provided us with the best service to make our vacation really special. Special thanks to Yahely and Scanda at the front desk for their welcome and setting us up for a wonderful room. Very grateful to all the beach bar crew, Jose, Ivan, Ricardo, Raul, Gamaelle, Alejandro and all of you even if not named, you were all wonderful and made the best maracuya mojitos along with very delicious other cocktails. To all the lovely people who offered us great service at the restaurants and the awesome chefs who cooked the delicious meals, thank you. Having an allergy is not easy but at this hotel, I felt safe and enjoyed the food very much! Thank you to the enterntaiment team who made our days and night special! To our bell boy Iran and to Jesus at the towel area who were both so smiley and helpful, thank you! To the kind lady who cleaned our room, we are grateful for your service and for the cozy bed you made for our daughter on the sofa. My family and I come back with the most beautiful memories and we can't wait to be back!

We found the resort to be very clean and staff were friendly and accommodating. For an all inclusive the food was really remarkable. Our entire party had a great time and look forward to going back with other family and friends.

We just came back from our trip to the Quetzal and wanted to thank you for the wonderful vacation. Everything was perfect: very clean room and surroundings, excellent food at the buffets and restaurants, amazing service and drinks at the Prestige lobby and beach area. Every staff member we met was very kind and professional, thank you all for making us feel welcome.