El Cozumeleño vs Fiesta Americana
 

We are choosing between these hotels. Using frequent flyer points I can get Fiesta Americana free but El Cozumeleño looks like a good value so we might save the points for another trip and pay out of pocket for El Cozumeleño. Opinions on both hotels are welcome.

Thanks.

Which Fiesta Americana? We spent our honeymoon at the F.A. Grand Coral Beach. The beach has probably the calmest, gentlest waves in the Hotel Zone. Very good restaurants, nice rooms, etc.

I am so sorry, I did not mention we are going to Cozumel. :-[

We have stayed at the El Cozumeleno in December, 2009. We enjoyed it. Nice pool. Rocky entrance into the water, but decent snorkling. Most of all the rooms are oceanfront. The rooms are quite large and spacious, but I found the mattress hard as a rock. The food at the buffet was rather iffy. Order off the menu. Drinks were good. Very close to town and we did eat out several times. It's a good basic 3 star AI hotel. I would stay there again.

If I got the FA for free, I would go with them.

Thanks for the advice KVR. My DH has a bad back and he would hate a bad mattress.

I'm slightly leaning toward FA and I welcome any input on that hotel.

You might check Trip Advisor and read the reviews and view the pics that people have posted on the resorts you are considering.

I don't think you'll find the mattress any better at FA than at Cozumeleno, so I wouldn't make the choice based solely on that criteria. FA is actually across the street from the beach, whereas Cozumeleno is right on the water. The snorkeling is better at the North end where Cozumeleno is located, although there is some snorkeling south of FA -- not great, but o.k. I just think that Cozumeleno has much more character. I don't recommend the all inclusive food at any of the places on the island. There are way too many wonderful restaurants in town to be stuck eating medocre food from a buffet. But you could try it for breakfast and lunch, then go into town in the evening to dine.

Hello again. I've been reading tripadvisor's reviews on a few hotels and hard beds seem to be a common complaint for several properties. Another thing I discovered is FA does not have in room safes, it has safe deposit boxes at the front desk. I really want a safe in my room, it would be a pain in the butt to keep going to the desk to get our stuff. Not that I travel with a lot of valuables but I like to lock up my wallet and phone while I'm at the pool or beach.

TC, even if we get an all-inclusive we will probably eat out a few times, but it would be nice to come back to the hotel for free drinks.

Thanks for all replies.

Sorry Deb, but that article doesn't outline anything other than the standard timeshare routine. Anyone who buys a timeshare without asking clarification questions and reading the contract is a fool. I have owned a timeshare for over 25 years and never had a problem. I negotiated everything I needed into the contract prior to signing and writing the check.

Wow, what a surprise to see this thread come up again after almost 4 years. But that's OK, others might need this info.

PM......Deb put her complaint on every single thread that had ever been posted with the words Fiesta Americana in it. That's seems to be the only contribution she has to make. :(

I know i know PM, I've couldn't help noticing the same. She dug up threads as old as 18 years(!!) just because they had FA in the title.

I like the FIesta Ametricana brand in general, I've stayed in a couple in Mexico and have no complaints. Haven't been to that one, though.

As far as the hard beds, I have had hard beds in every hotel I've ever stayed at in Mexico and the Caribbean (except one in Guanajuato). I gather that is just the way they like them there as it is at all price points. One was so hard it was like sleeping on concrete. I've had a lot of hard beds in Europe, also, but probably only about 50 pct of the time, but I rarely have super hard beds in American hotels, no matter the price point. I suspect part of this is hoteliers thinking better too hard than soft or they are cheaper, I really don't know, rather than people liking them that way. And sometimes it is because they have no box springs, it's just a mattress on a wood slab or even a concrete slab.

But don't blame it on FA as I'm afraid it is very common in Mexico.