Along with its megalithic 11-story pumpkin-color castle-like facade next to Dreams Cancun, this huge hotel offers the multifaceted facilities of a large resort at rates that often undercut Ritz-Carlton's.
Straying from the usual all-inclusive format, this hotel's popularity is derived from its large upscale accommodations, high number of elegant tropo-contemporary suites, and new Grand Club, a top-flight concierge level with luxury perks and service.
This flagship Fiesta is no tropical wallflower, however, with grand public areas, and an epicenter location proving big draws too. (The epicenter locale gives guests the option to partake in Punta Cancun's ruckus nightlife.)
As well, it boasts Cancun's largest hotel conference facilities (5 salons with a capacity of 2,000 people and a business center), three indoor tennis courts and an enormous pool area next to the sandy (but shallow) beach. This place shares the top seat at this end of the beach with the neighboring, all-inclusive RIU Palace Las Americas.
The overall feel is more commercial than at other top resorts here, with the numerous function facilities, 85,000 sq ft in total, adding to the group-oriented atmosphere. Visually impressive, the lengthy front desk stretches for 30 meters through a spacious five-story atrium topped with a stained-glass skylight and laced with trailing ivy. Picture windows frame the impressive cobalt-blue pool and sea beyond.
Most meals are taken in a subdued, multilevel, all-purpose restaurant off the lobby, where the big buffet and a la carte breakfasts are served. A gigantic stained-glass wall illuminates a fine Mexican restaurant where mariachis play, a cigar-maker rolls tobacco, and the sommelier pushes tequila, not wine.
A third dining room serves French-flavored Mediterranean specialties for dinner. A coffee nook offers gourmet brews and pastries, and a poolside palapa grill provides seafood and light snacks.
The swirling tri-level pool is one of Cancun's largest, with two slides, an island reached by a suspension bridge and a swim-up bar. A children's club operates from 9 am to 6 pm, and nonmotorized watersports are included. The gym is free, but guests pay to use the revamped spa and three indoor artificial-grass tennis courts.
The studios have very functional layouts and meet lofty standards with split-level marble floors, silent air-conditioning and original watercolors. Furniture is marble-topped, and high-quality fabrics sport abstract tropical floral patterns. Nearly all of the accommodations have been fitted with hi-tech updates since the last inspection: flat-screen TVs and Wi-Fi.
Most of the TVs swivel to face either the lower-level sitting areas, where there are sofas and armchairs, or the upper sleeping areas. Beds are either large kings or double beds. Roomy balconies with verde-iron furniture boast blue-water vistas, and suites impress guests with their whirlpool tubs and double vanities.
Other amenities include CD players, clocks, phones with data ports, minibars, safes, robes, irons and coffeemakers (with a charge for the coffee).
The new Grand Club is a penthouse hideaway for guests in premium rooms, offering access to a rooftop lounge with all the expected perks, as well as free access to the oceanview gym, business center, and a private pool and exclusive swath of beach.
Around the clock room service, turndown service and twice-daily maid service keep the standards high. Pets are not permitted.
This hotel is a bull's-eye for incentive groups and commercial gatherings, but well-heeled individuals will find solace in the Grand Club. The neighboring RIU Palace Las Americas provides similar surroundings with an all-inclusive format.
