El Cozumeleno Beach Resort

It was a bare bones resort- long wait to order food from menu, limited food options. They could do small things that would make this resort amazing for a dated resort- fix the cappucino machine, add some other food choices and wifi extended to rooms. Even though the resort was dated, it was laid back, not a party resort, very quiet and relaxing, ocean was amazing, and the resort was always being cleaned! We enjoyed our relaxing stay and knew what to expect from the reviews and will definitely be back! I would have been upset if I had paid more than I did- but feel that for what I paid we got a good deal! [Details]

Enjoyed our stay at this small hotel on the beach close to town with good swimming and snorkelling . [Details]

Just came back 2 days ago from El Cozumeleno . IF YOU ARE TRAVELING WITH BABIES , THINK TWICE BEFORE YOU GO THERE
My family has been traveling to Mexico for 10 years (2-3 times per year) however this was the most disappointing resort we've ever seen [Details]

GREAT SERVICE AT ALL POINTS. ALL ROOMS ARE OCEAN VIEW. BUT NO FRIDGES IN ROOMS SO I BROUGHT MY OWN FRIDGE. IT HOLD 6 CANS OF BEER. [Details]

At this hotel we had a great experience. We were first time visitors. When we arrived at the hotel at 10:30 our room was not ready. We waited til 4:30 before we got our room. [Details]

Looks beautiful on the outside. Fabulous location and amenities. Went in prepared for a three star rating. BUT some things spoiled my trip: chronic shortage of loungers, frigid pools, unappetizing food on buffet, inconsistent service from waiters in restaurant, long waits for menu items. [Details]

L'hôtel est très propre, les chambres sont grandes, la plage est petite mais l'eau est claire et on voit les poissons. Parfait pour les amateurs de plongée. Il n'y a rien d'autre à faire.. pas d'animation, pas de musique, rien! Si vous aimez jouer aux cartes le soir c'est l'hôtel parfait. 95 pesos pour aller au centre-ville. Attention les fumeurs vous avez droit a seulement un carton de cigarettes pour le voyage... il y en a qui ont payé 900$ d'amende à l'aéroport pour ne pas avoir respecté cette consigne. Le buffet est très limité mais vous pouvez commander de la nourriture à la carte. Le personnel est très gentil. [Details]

Fantastic staff and service
Close to airport and town
Not a big nightlife but I was ok with that as I'm in bed at 9!
Rooms ok but very clean.
Food buffet ok but not a lot of variety.
A la carte ok menu changes 3 times a week
Impressed with their impact on environment, bring your own straw! [Details]

Hotel is conveniently located near the airport and downtown. Our check in time was delayed and when we got to our room, there was water on some parts of the floor. Room was very spacious and near the water. [Details]

The El Cozumeleno is a beautiful property located only 10 minutes from the airport. The external grounds & building including pools, beach, gardens & stonework as well as the internal common areas are maintained very well, however the rooms are becoming a little dated & worn. The mattress is also very hard & although this is a personal preference it seemed extremely hard. A la carte restaurant was very good & you can go every day as long as you register for the restaurant sitting in the morning. Great trip for the price! [Details]

Overall pleasant. yes [Details]

Hotel is one of the older hotels on the island and as such would benefit from a little TLC. The bathroom features a step in bathtub that is a little high and since there are no bars to hold onto, getting in and out can be a little difficult. Towels need to renewed as they do not dry very well and remain humid for quite a while. There were a few issues such as air conditioning not working properly but management did their best to resolve the problem as quickly as they could. What this hotel excels at is hospitality and cleanliness. The staff are always friendly , curtious and willing to help as best they can. We were never bothered on the beach by loud animation teams or music. Buffet was small, but food was good. Always something for everyone. It is the perfect place to go to when you need to relax and just unwind. [Details]

This was our fifth visit to El Cozumeleno and is our last. Since our last visit in 2017 the resort has overall deteriorated considerably . Our room was a garden view on the first floor of the original building and we thought when we entered we had returned to Cuba. Shower dripping, toilet constant running and it took maintenance 3 hours to repair the dripping AC, which only circulated the air. Our clothes were damp our whole stay. We discovered from neighbours in the next unit that the previous occupants had similar problems.
The buffet was repetitious with lunch and dinner same choices and we believe was a source of bacteria which caused intestinal problems for not only ourselves but from what others told us many, many more, in fact some required Doctor and hospital visits. We feel lucky having digestive tract problems that imodium helped to ease. We had access to the only ala cart which was an improvement in food quality, but requires you to stand in line beginning even before 7am each morning to try and book at 8am for that evening "only" with some not getting a reservation, yet at the evenings when we were there some tables remained empty during our time frame.
Since we were return guest the staff remembered us and treated us like Family. You can not blame the staff for the problems as they did their very best with what they had to work with. We will surely miss them.
Even though we can not recommend this resort anymore, we had to put something, so it's shopping as it is not far and it's always fun to negotiate when making a purchase. [Details]

Arrival :
Outside tour companies pounced on us rhe moment we exited the customs area,misrepresenting themselves as Tour Operator who we flew with.
Hotel is a 7min drive from the airport. Its aged,with some "lipstick" treatment to make it look better.
Rooms- in the older part, the rooms are huge, 27x40 . All facing the ocean.
In newer part are smaller but also need love.
Entertainment - almost non existent. Movie night, bingo night, a band for and hour -we stayed 14 days.
Beach- rocky and small but good snorkeling. [Details]

Service was great! Friendly & fast. Room was great. Bed was OK, doubles have plastic mattress protectors, kings don't. View is great. Far from diving on south end, but doable. $7 cab into town of 50 min walk to the edge of town. Fridges $10 a day to rent. Can only use bikes on their tour which kept getting cancelled. [Details]

Not a place to go if you like a beach where you can walk into water. Food was cold (Not even warm) on all buffets and mediocre at best. [Details]

Overall we enjoyed this resort. Being used to 4-5 star resorts, we were aware of the potential for disappointment with El Cozumeleno's 3 1/2 star rating. Our first impression was good, easy transition from the airport (beware of time share sharks, go straight outside, don't stop) a short drive to the hotel, a warm welcome and drink on arrival, speedy check in and a very nice/clean room with king size bed. The bed was very comfortable, one of the best beds we've had a resort to date. We didn't have a fridge in our room and we thought we would miss coming back to our room in the afternoon to a cold beer but we didn't. Every day the maid would leave bottled water for us that we could refill with cold filtred water at the buffet as often as we wished so we never lacked sufficient water for the day.
The pool was loud and it seemed most of the party crowd stayed around the pool. If you prefer the pool, you are going to have to get up very early to get chairs. The main pool is small and from what we saw from our balcony, all chairs are reserved by 6:30am. All the pools are unusually cold so we never went in. It wasn't a disappointment because we're primarily beach people but it would have been nice to have some time at the pool.
The beach was nice, but different so if you are longing for the perfect beach experience take note. The beach is small with limited shade areas but we always found a good spot to relax because my wife gets up early to reserve a spot. The sand is white and soft but the entrance to the beach is a mix of sand, rocks and coral. You can still swim and lounge in the water but its mainly for snorkelling and the snorkelling is excellent!!! The water is warm and crystal clear and there is an abundance of marine life to see. The beach service is excellent, we never had to leave our chair for a drink or snack if we didn't want to. We always tip our servers and are not sure if the service would be the same without tipping though I can't imagine why people wouldn't want to tip the hard working staff.
Many of the older beach chairs were ridiculously uncomfortable but if you get up early you can reserve the newer chairs. The buffet is disappointing ONLY in the limited selection, the few items available each day were always tasty. We preferred the a la carte restaurant as the food was fantastic and it was open for breakfast and lunch everyday for walk ins. Reservations are required for dinner and you must line up every morning at 8am to book for that evening. We opted out of this exercise because it seemed ridiculous to waste our vacation time in a very long line up. We simply stopped by at the end of the day to see what time slots were remaining (always 8-9pm) and had a late lunch to hold us over. We would highly recommend doing this if you enjoy a quiet dinner with excellent/attentive service.
It was difficult to find a drink we liked. My wife loves mimosas and they were awful. The orange juice is more like tang and they don't have champagne so their solution was tang, white wine and gingerale. She admits this was her one and only significant disappointment. I tried many drinks and had a hard time finding something i liked, finally settling on vodka and lemonade for most of our stay. The red wine and mojitos were good as well.
The lobby had free wifi available and we found the connection to be adequate for email, instagram etc. Though you must be careful to connect to the working wifi, one works, one doesn't and sometimes our device would automatically connect to the non working wifi. Not sure why the two connections existed.
The gift shop had a wide variety of items at reasonable prices.
The volley ball court was terrible bordering on dangerous with a small culvert, rocks and sandbags around the edges so we did not play and rarely saw anyone else playing.
This was our first time flying in at night and leaving at night and we will never choose this option again. We had to check out of our room at noon and even though the hotel does store your bags and allow you to stay on the resort, they didn't have a courtesy room available for shower/change etc so we spent our last vacation day doing very little (hanging in the shade and not swimming) and had to change in the public wash room which was a pain.
We had a relaxing week in the sun and if the resort improved the drinks and buffet selection we would have had zero complaints. If we found a good price again we might return. [Details]

EL Cozumeleno is a great please for diving. [Details]

wonderful.. room on 7th floor perfect!! People, some of whom we met in our last holidays here are still there and fun to see them again are so friendly and helpful. Food again was good and we had a very enjoyable holiday. A few more beach chairs might be a good idea. [Details]

El Cozumeleno was actually a very good resort for the money. Facilities, rooms, staff and snorkeling right on site was awesome. Food was average to good. This is a quiet resort in evening which is great unless you want to party. [Details]

Thank you for a great time. We enjoyed the resort very much. The rooms were wonderful and the snorkeling just at the resort was the best. Even though it was a little cool at night and we missed the entertainment we had a great time. Loved it! [Details]

The good: The people that work at this hotel are the friendliest I've ever come across in 20 years of travel. Every single person from the front desk personnel, bartenders, waiters, and bell hops were extremely friendly, helpful and responsive. 5 Stars to customer facing employees at El Cozumeleno. This hotel has a great location. It is only 8 minutes or so from the airport. It is easy and quick to get to after a long flight. The beach was beautiful, however, small. The water was very clear and lots of fish for snorkelling. The grounds are kept immaculately clean and beautifully groomed.

The bad: El Coz has seen her day. The furnishings and room appointments were modern some time in the mid 1980's. The towels, once white, were grey and a small, once white shag carpet sat in front of the toilet. The shower was very outdated. The toilet paper dispenser was more than two arm lengths from the toilet. Carpets are extremely worn. Hall tiles cracked and stained from decades of use. Now I did understand that there was an “old” and a “new” tower. I presume we were in the old tower.

The ugly: The food was horrible. I really love good food though so I may be biased. I don't consider, however, vegetable mash with chopped hot dogs to be acceptable fare on holiday in the buffet restaurant. I really had to search for something I could eat. The buffet is in a large palapa in the open air so there were birds perching in the ceiling. I did observe some bird crap in the chicken at the cooking grill one day. There is nowhere in the buffet restaurant for food handlers to wash their hands so they are cooking for hours without washing their hands. They have to go into the main restaurant building to wash their hands. I was sick in bed with food poisoning for 24 hours (and trust me it was not due to alcohol or the Mexican food being too “rich”).

Overall: This is a budget hotel that has seen her day. As a middle aged, middle class income earner who has vacationed in Mexico more than 20 times I would recommend staying home or paying a few hundred more dollars to stay at a 5 star in the Mayan Coast. [Details]

The El Coz maybe older and a little dated, specially the rooms, but the service and attention to details maybe closer to a four plus star hotel. The food at the al'acarte is second to none, and easy enough to book each day or everyother day as the menu changed. There is always something at either grill station in the buffet for breakfast,lunch or snacks. The hotel is constantly being cleaned by a very diligant staff, who make you feel as if Hotel Coz is your new home away from home.
Was very surprised by how attentive the beach service is with three waiters always hard at work and very personable.
The beach is small but the great snorkeling makes up for it. We can't wait to return!
We would like to thank the whole staff for a great vacation! [Details]

Nice clean room with great view. Shower needed plumbing repairs. Leaking shower head and very low water pressure. Alacarte was very good. Bed was too hard and woke up with stiff back each morning. Still a great place due to staff and their eagerness to please. [Details]

The staff is friendly and very pleasant, the rooms are clean as is the entire facility. The food and drinks are poor, however that may only be my impression as I observed many people enjoying the drinks and food in large quantities. There is no cream for coffee only evaporated milk and no butter only terrible tasting margarine. There were tiny spiders and ants all over the bread and rolls daily. Fresh fruit often had a slight onion taste or the taste of papaya, I think the cutting board were transferring taste. The buffet style food was ok, however I think the executive chef didn't have a very creative mind or poor taste buds, combinations of green peppers with potatoes, and bland fish were the norm. There was a chicken mole done that was very good but it was only available on a single night. [Details]

Found this hotel to be exceptionally clean, safe and enjoyable. Staff were friendly, food was plentiful, and sights were amazing. We have no reservations in recommending the El Cozumeleno. [Details]

We had a good vacation at the El Cozumeleno. The front desk staff were great, we had booked ocean view but due to an error were originally given garden view - they fixed that right away and we had an amazing view from our 6th floor balcony. The wait staff and restaurant staff were excellent - always someone to bring you a drink. A solid 3-3.5 star. The buffet did not have a great selection but the Veranda restaurant was excellent - we ate most breakfast and dinner there, the beds were a little hard but the rooms were very large and the grounds were very clean. The beach was lovely, the snorkeling was great. Overall, we were pleased with the trip and felt that for what we payed, it was well worth it. [Details]

We were nervous about staying at the El Cozumeleno after four of our co-workers became ill there during their March 11-18 stay. However, we were fine. The hotel conducted temperature checks of their food, there was ample hand soap and hand sanitizer. The food in the a la carte restaurant was terrific. The buffet was typical but we could always find enough to eat. Our drinks were not watered down...we watched! And, there were various brand names available upon request if you were looking for Absolut, Smirnoff, etc. The hotel and grounds were immaculate. Staff was friendly and eager to assist. We travel to Mexico every few months and this hotel is worth going back to. We spoke with numerous returning guests who said they always enjoy their stay here. We celebrated our anniversary the week we were ther and hotel management presented us with a nice gift to celebrate the event. Water bottles were replenished daily. Towels were in great shape contrary to negative reviews, in fact, better than in the Hilton Garden Inn we stayed at prior to our flight. There was free Internet in the lobby - unheard of in most Mexico hotels. Our room was spacious. The hotel provided bags of bread to feed the fish which was a huge hit with the children! Snorkelling was popular for all! Our only complaints were that upon check in the front desk requested an imprint of a credit card, and asked that you sign it in case of incidentals (not a good idea and not recommended by VISA) and that there weren't enough lounge chairs or umbrellas on the beach! All in all, we had a great time and look forward to our next stay. [Details]

It was a very relaxing vacation. The staff was very friendly and made your stay enjoyable. If you are looking for a quiet motel then this is for you. No loud music or partys at night. Very peacefull. The food was ok, but your in Mexico so what can you expect. [Details]

This was a great place if you just want to relax which was fine by me, because that is why I went, It is clean, the food was good, could have had a bit more variety, but good. We had a great vacation at this resort [Details]