My Iberostar Quetzal Review

[Libby]

I did not stay at the Iberostar Quetzal myself. My husband and I live in Playa del Carmen. 11 members of his family (6 adults & 5 children) came to visit Playa, and stayed at the Quetzal from February 4-11.

They were looking for something that was very family friendly, didn't break the bank, and was close to the town of Playa del Carmen. Anna Lynne of Lone Palm Travel recommended several resorts to suit their needs, and they settled on the Iberostar Quetzal. My husband and I snuck in several times to see the family, and also purchased a day pass, so we were able to see the grounds and rooms, and sample the breakfast and lunch.

The Quetzal is located on the southern end of Playacar. See map. It's about a 15 minute walk to the ferry at the southern end of Playa del Carmen.

Grounds
The Quetzal shares facilities and beach with the Iberostar Tucan next door. I thought the grounds were really well done -- very natural, jungly feeling. Lots of wildlife, which the kids loved -- peacocks, monkeys, coatamundis, tropical birds, iguanas, etc.



The Quetzal, even when combined with the Tucan resort next door, is a small resort relatively speaking. I just looked it up, and I'm surprised to learn that the Quetzal & Tucan each have 350 rooms. It didn't feel that big. The kids range in age from 4 - 12 years of age, and the parents appreciated that they could get around the whole resort pretty easily.

There was a small playground that some of the kids enjoyed. The resort had one large swimming pool with a swim-up bar and supposedly a children's pool that I never saw. It seemed like the loungers at the large pool filled up quickly, and I believe the resort was not even at full capacity.

Beach
About a week before the family arrived, the beach at the Quetzal started eroding pretty severely. We haven't been back to see if it's changed, but at the time, there was a huge dropoff before you could get into the water. There were stairs leading down, and they were sandbagging. The waves were quite rough that week. The youngest kids mostly played in the sand and only went into the water with adult supervision. Quite a few people were trying to swim on the other side of the sandbags and finding themselves rescued by the lifeguards. The lifeguards were VERY alert.









Rooms
The rooms were clean and simple. Kind of Days Inn like, but with fancier bathrooms and a Mexican flair. I was told that the beds were hard, but that everyone slept well, and a few found they slept much better than usual. One of the rooms had a leak in the celiing of their bathroom. I keep forgetting to ask my sister-in-law how well that was resolved. I'll update this if I ever find out. The mini-fridges were generally well-stocked, and the kids just loved the towel art!

Food
Okay, I have to give a disclaimer. John and I are food snobs. We hail from Chicago, one of the greatest food cities. And now we're lucky enough to live in Playa del Carmen where we have access to some incredible food. We generally do not like all-inclusive food, but we usually do enjoy the breakfasts. We had breakfast & lunch at the Quetzal when we bought a day pass. We really did not enjoy either. We had planned to stuff ourselves silly (to get our $56 value), but we had a hard time just getting satisfied. The family is not quite so snobbish, but still, they're from Chicago. The adults were disappointed at the quality of food. Although they did have some good dinner experiences at the theme restaurants. Their favorite was the Japanese one. The kids loved the food! I think they pretty much lived on fruit and cheese fries all week.

Bar
So, we tried to make up for the food at the bar. I'm also a beer snob. (Yeah, I should stop being so snobby.) I think the beer on tap was Sol or something similar. Sol doesn't do it for me, so I started experimenting with mixed drinks, but of course the liquors available are like bottom shelf. A few cocktails down and I hadn't found my drink yet. The rest of the womenfolk were really enjoying their pina coladas, but I'm not really into sweet frozen drinks (unless they're the blueberry daquiries from Babe's). And then it all turned around! It's not on the menu, but the Quetzal bar will make mojitos & caipirinhas. And they're good!!!! Or at least they were on Feburary 6th. I make no guarantees of future performance. This made me very happy and tipsy. And the rest of the family started consuming and enjoying mojitos and caipirinhas as well. Life was good.

Entertainment & Activities
The entertainment staff did have some activities during the day. From what I could tell, they weren't real pushy about it. Kayaks and small sailboats are available. Each day, a photographer would come around with some wildlife for pictures. Some of the kids had their picture taken with a monkey and a macaw. They thought that was great and the parents had a nice memento. There is a Kids Club and the parents really appreciated this, but the kids didn't seem too keen on it. I didn't see the entertainment at night, but the family seemed to enjoy it. Some of the kids kept talking about the Star Friends, the entertainment staff there. One night, my brothers-in-law were involved in some sort of tequila game that was part of a show. Details are vague.

Everyone had a great time! Sorry that I don't have more pictures. I was really enjoying spending time with my niece and nephews, and I sorta forgot to do my job. So, pretty much all my pictures are of the kids. If I can get pics from the family of the rooms, grounds, restaurants, or buffets, I will post them here. Feel free to ask any questions.

[Jillian]

We stayed at the IB Tucan in 2005 for our Honeymoon and we loved it. My husband is super picky about food because he is a chef and he thought the buffets were great, as did I. We also ate at the Japanese place and loved it. It was kind of funny actually because they serve sushi as a first course to everyone and when the waiters brought it around everyone at the table was looking it it like WTF is this, we told them all just pass your plates down to us, we'll eat it!

When we come back with our son, this is where we wil probably stay, although not if the beach is lookin like that

[Joana]

I used to hop in and out in those AIs as several friends of mine were working for them years back.
While I never tried the food the drinks weren't bad (not spectacular either........but they made you tipsy, so hey!) and the entertainment at night was great for a hotel (well- I am biased as some friends were working in entertainment).
I also enjoyed their disco back then.

To be honest if I had to pick an AI to stay at it would probably be one of those two. The RIUs next door (except the Palace) can't compare imho.

[redhairgirl1]

Wow!! Thank you so much for the review Libby! Sounds like a great resort, but the beach pic's changed my mind. if i am gonna spoil myself for a day, i gotta have a good beach. Other than that, i loved the report, and pic's, and thanks for putting together that info

[rodman]

That beach was sooo nice in Feb 2005........ahhhh....let me see if I have a pic or two

or this one, a little more on the beach, which is now about 8 feet below where it was, from pictures I have seen elsewhere!

We rated the food there better than RIU's in Jamaica, and not as good as Secrets Punta Cana or Capri.....just my opinion.....
3 years ago, the RIU properties just north had those sand bags in the water, and we were glad about our hotel choice, but now....wow.......what is the cause? I have a hard time believing it is hurricane action......were there more mangroves in that area previously? Were those cut out/dug out to put in the resorts? Don't mess with mother nature, if that is what brought on the screwed up beaches! We learned a lot about the mangroves and what they do while on a jaunt in Florida, and if you ever get the chance to hear that talk, get an earful....as those are what make an island out of nothing......!

[130taKen120]

Here's a pic from 3-26-08. Compared to the pic abov ein this post, it's amazing what's happened.

[Streckman]

Originally Posted by 130taKen120

Here's a pic from 3-26-08. Compared to the pic abov ein this post, it's amazing what's happened.

Holy crap!! WTF is going on in Playa with the beaches??? I've been to this resort twice, though it was 1998 and 2001 and the beach was nothing like this. I'm a beach guy at heart, and when I go on vacation I have to have a nice beach....period..end of story. Is the whole coast beat up like this, or is it just in certain areas?? Yup, gotta have a spectacular beach as that's where I hang out. I'll venture into Playa once or twice, but the crowds chase me back to the beach.

Here's a pic at the Tucan beach back in 2001 I think. No drop off here as you can see!


And another

[130taKen120]

North of the Sandos the beaches we saw were iffy at best or nonexistent like the Quetzal. I hear north of PDC they are much better, as well as places south...

[Streckman]

Originally Posted by 130taKen120

North of the Sandos the beaches we saw were iffy at best or nonexistent like the Quetzal. I hear north of PDC they are much better, as well as places south...

That's good to hear!! We prefer the Tulum/Akumal area anyhow for the beaches and less crowded aspect.

[130taKen120]

We went on day trips to Akumal & Tulum & they were awesome! Is nightlife poor in those areas? Next trip maybe.....

[Libby]

The beaches in the town of Playa del Carmen are still very nice, although we've had some issues mainly by the Gran Porto Real resort next to the "illegal" pier. Unfortunately, Playacar, where most of Playa del Carmen's resorts are located, has really seen a lot of beach erosion. It kind of makes you wonder why all the beach erosion seems to take place by the huge all-inclusive resorts. Hmmm ...

The beaches at Akumal are still great, and Tulum's beaches are fabulous as ever. But yes, there is not much nightlife there. In Akumal, you have La Buena Vida. And in Tulum, you have Mezzanine. That's about it.

[rodman]

Has anyone come up with any logical conclusions as to what the cause if beach erosion is? Is/was it the tearing up of mangroves(read that somewhere.....?) the installation of the "illegal pier" and it changing the currents......? Seeing the pic that 130taken120 posted, 3 years after we were there is just incredible! Hard to imagine, but knowing that mother nature is a strong woman, look out !

[130taKen120]

Rodman:

I read this post from another forum in January - was ai intriguing explanation of what's happening in Playacar. What do you think?

http://forums.locogringo.com/forums/fb.asp?m=767707