Hotel Iberostar Playa Pilar

This could absolutely be a great resort. It has a lovely layout and a gorgeous clean pool. It is advertised as beach front and there is zero , none , no beach, There is a protected coral reef shoreline . I liked the pools. There are enough sunbeds and lounge chairs and that's because if you look at my photos this resort is a ghost-town. There was never more than 8 people in the whole pool area. That's the positive. The gym has no working AC... when in fact it was closed most of our visit. I walked around the resort and spoke to other guests and it was very hard to find anyone that was enjoying or liked the resort. So I believe I am not alone in my opinion. We were a group of girls and dislikes our experience with this resort and ultimately requested being moved to another resort. Check-in was terrible. We had a person in our party with mobility issues and I pretty much had to cry to get her on the first floor. I sent an email in advance asking for our 3 rooms to be together but .. nope...of course they say they never received it. I am going to find, my request it as I did save it somewhere. Unfortunately the whole resort is very poorly cleaned and not maintained at all. This resort is very neglected, which is a shame, as it could be beautiful, under proper management. All the staff was rude; except the maid. Although one night my room was made up with no top sheet , only a bottom. so I went to the lobby in my pajamas since my phone didn't work, stumbling in unlit paths. Half the bulbs are out or either broken. The rooms are old but still look decent. Telephones in the rooms did not work, The AC worked a bit; but wouldn't cool below 24 degrees. So it was fairly warm. Minibar had no beer or pop, just .Ants, beetles and lizards can enter the room because there are huge gaps on the bottom of the doors. Food is terrible! Likely partly because the resort had such few guests. Cold food is served for lunch and dinner. What you didn’t eat yesterday and the day before yesterday you will eat today and tomorrow. The choice is small, but poorly prepared, not tasty. The meat station is the only place where you can get normal, and most importantly, fresh food, but be prepared to wait for 20 minutes, because only 1 person works there and it's very slow and extremely hot in the miniature buffet. Vegetables and fruits are dry, dehydrated. There was no lettuce... so no salads. Flies are everywhere. I sat on a chair full of bird poop every day. I can't believe they are never cleaned. The windows in the buffet are filthy. Never seen anything like it. Staff are always chatting and besides the maid and the chef; everyone else stands around and talks way too much. No work gets done. I really could go on and on. This was a horrible experience. In my opinion as a experienced traveler; this is no where near a 5 star resort!

Nice hotel, on the beach, good staff, good foods. WiFi works but could be better and does not work in all rooms. Option to take boat and go to island for 30CAD, very nice

The beach is beautiful, keep in mind that the beach is mostly docks but the docks are very nice and have many comfortable beds. You can book a pedal boat and go a bit deeper where the water is even nicer. Pools are very nice and drinks are very good.

The resort is great and all of the staff members are friendly. The beach is also very nice. At night, there are many events that are very fun to watch.

It wasn’t too bad, the rooms were okay but if you get a room that’s far away you won’t have wifi. The activities aren’t too bad but you should probably have someone who your going with to do these activities with.

A very honest review of my thoughts: Pros: - lovely boardwalk along the ocean with access to catamarans that will take you out to the reef for 30pp. There is a 100 year old shipwreck to explore for the adventurous of us. Diego is amazing! He works at the dive shop. - They are eco friendly with reusable glass water bottle, no plastic and only paper cups! So awesome! - Staff at the hotel for the most part were extremely friendly and went out of their way to be kind and helpful. There are a few who treated us like we were an inconvenience though, to be addressed in cons section. - The weather, blue skies, hot weather. - The food at the Japanese restaurant was really great, as was the chef show - Access to Playa Pilar which is a 20 minute walk down the beach. Rocky, shoes required. The frontage to the hotel is all rocks. - The beach band on Thursday was amazing! Dancing, singing, beautiful and fun. - Wine and beer was always available, which was awesome, as I’ve experienced shortages of both at other hotels. Mixed drinks were tasty and made with care by friendly bartenders. Cons: - Very few old decrepit, dirty, hard beach chairs - when I arrived after the flight there was no water. I went to the desk to ask for water and they said 9pm. Four hours later still no water. It took a full five days of asking for water twice a day at customer service to finally have fresh water in my room. As a hotel you need to ensure guests have fresh drinking water! This is table stakes! - Safety. The doors adjacent to my room didn’t lock. A guest walked in on me when I was in the shower and the hotel tried to pass the responsibility of wrongdoing off to the guest. Their “fix” for the problem was to jam a keycard into the door. They never fixed this problem because a week later the same thing happened. Terrible. - Food shortages are honestly pretty severe, even for Cuba. If you can’t get eggs for breakfast for three days in a row, maybe you shouldn’t have guests. After five minutes all of the food in the serving trays were gone. If you don’t show up promptly at 7:20, you don’t eat or get very minimal food. No salt and pepper, no bread most days, no eggs three days in a row which for a vegetarian sucks. Snack bar was glacial, even in Cuban time. An hour or more for cold fries. - After visiting the buffet the day of arrival I was violently ill. We did not drink anything day one after arriving so it was something at the buffet. It may have been sitting too long. - In the entire ten days I spent at the resort not one waitress asked if I’d like a drink in the lobby, whether I was alone or with my friend. Guess what, single ladies tip large. We’re down in Cuba cause we’ve got cash to spend and love tipping for service! Your loss in tips went directly to the maid staff. - The internet sporadically went down, and was coincidentally out the day I needed to check in for my return flight. Cell service is often n/a due to it’s remote location. - The morning cof

I had a great time here! It was my first time visiting an all inclusive resort and I went by myself (solo female traveller) and I felt very safe the entire time. The pools were amazing - slightly cool so it was refreshing to jump in. The beach/boardwalk area was beautiful and as long as you don’t mind going up and over the boardwalk when you need a dip/cool off, it’s great. It’s also only a quick trip to the Playa Pilar beach which was absolutely gorgeous! During my trip, there was no shortage of food at all. It got repetitive, but given the current issues in Cuba I have zero complaints. Even the pickiest eaters should be able to find something (there was ALWAYS at least pasta and/or rice). My room was very clean. My only issue was that my keycard stopped working one day, but the front desk quickly rectified the issue. The staff were also so great. They were always kind, always had a smile. Diane & Johnny Cash at the swim up bar deserve a special shoutout (ask them for a Banana Mama!!) The lobby bar also has the BEST iced coffee I’ve ever had in my life. I would definitely return and definitely recommend to other solo females who want a spot to relax safely.

Amazing place. You cannot beat the cuban people. Special shout out to Luis and Leo, the animator team. They will make your stay extra special. We will be back.

I had a very nice time staying here. Leo , Luis were really helpful they helped to make sure we had a very enjoyable time at the resort. With staff like them that helped make our birthday in Cayo coco memorable.it helped that they understood English cause it was hard with the staff that didn't.