IBEROSTAR Grand Hotel Rose Hall

We booked an Ocean-View Suite at Iberostar Grand Rose Hotel through Costco Travel from 4/6 - 4/11. It was rated as 4.6/5 by Costco members with a 4.5 Costco Star rating. Since previous experiences had been very positive, we trusted the reviews and ratings again. We typically have a beach vacation at an all-inclusive resort once a year. This was our first time at an Iberostar. In short: this is at most a 4-star hotel priced as a 5 star. The rooms: 4 star The beach: It was great! We love spending time in the sea and it was amazing The food: 4 star - just good, but below the expectations for a five star resort Drinks: Drinks were barely OK and service was inconsistent Activities/entertainment: several fun activities in the evening The service: Some employees were outstanding others were rude The issues: We had problems / bad experiences every day during our five-night stay. The worst part is that every issue was handled very poorly. Here is a subset: We traveled to celebrate our anniversary and we mentioned it when we booked. We had celebrated our anniversary at other resorts several times before and we were always surprised with very nice details. At this resort: nothing (other than a “happy anniversary” when we checked in). I wonder why they even asked if there was a special occasion… The room: my wife was not happy with the cleanliness of the suite we got after check in. It was a long process to get another one The temperature could not be adjusted. The thermostat was set to 19C (66F) and the temperature could not get lower. 66F sounded too cold for us (we would normally do 70-72) except that it was very warm at night, the thermostat was obviously misleading. I called three times that night and was told nothing could be done. I requested a fan and I was told they would call me back… never happened. They brought the fan the following day, also the lady who brought it said she would have someone check the AC. We don’t know what they did but the following day they finally fixed the AC. And the thermostat still showed 19C 🙂 The following day, we came back tired after a long day at the beach and found out we had no soap, no shampoo and no conditioner… again unanswered requests and I had to go see a manager to get it fixed The following day, once again we came back tired after a long day at the beach and our keys were not working! I called an employee and she told us the keys needed to be reprogrammed. I asked to have someone open the door so we would go later to have the keys reprogrammed. Once again, it took talking to two people and about 30 minutes to get someone to open the door… While some employees provide an outstanding service (French restaurant and Surf & turf restaurant to mention a few examples), there others like the bartenders (bar close to the main lobby) and the lady at the towels station close to the pool that were simply rude To make things worse: we met a couple who had the Iberostar black membership. One day, they were at the VIP section at the beach and we sat for a few minutes to talk to them. After a few minutes, an employee told us that the section was members only. Our friends told her we were there just talking for a few minutes. Minutes later, someone dressed as some sort of agent (“beach police”?) showed up and asked us to leave that section. Another hotel employee told us later what we were doing was not against the rules but that a manager had requested that action!! We had already wasted too much time complaining about the service and didn’t do anything at the time. Also, it was very disappointing that Costco Travel offered a deal that was about 10% better than what I got online or by calling Iberostar. The agent I spoke with confirmed it and said he could not do anything about it. In a similar situation with Grand Velas, they didn’t just match but also improved the best offer I had found from a partner. Overall, we still had a great time and the beach was awesome, but this hotel is definitely overpriced and overrated. With the multiple issues and how poorly they were handled, we would not recommend it to anybody Read less

My experience with Christopher my butler was way above expectations. Not only did he keep me informed about what I needed to know but he also made the time get to know me and we had many interesting conversations. Since I am traveling alone I was very thankful for that He is a great representative for Iberostar. Jamie was also very helpful and was always there when I needed assistance. Read less