OUR HOME AWAY FROM HOME

For context, this is our 5th time returning to Iberostar Origin Playa Pilar (Nov 29/25-Dec 6/25) in the last 3 years. It is now our "segundo hogar!" (second home). Pour a drink and kickback this will be a long review and can hopefully give you an expectation of IPP. It is perfect for us but may not be for you. In the past four years we have also been to much more expensive all-inclusive's in Antigua, Jamaica, Cozumel and the Dominican however we always return to IPP. We always book using Tripcen [... read more]tral.ca and choose Air Transat. The Trip central website is excellent to use, and the aftercare provided by your personal travel agent is amazing. Air Transat is a financially stable airline and we have found there check in, boarding and on-time service delivery exceptional. We always but the Option Plus package that provides for priority boarding and an extra 50lbs checked bag. Because we have been 5 times, we have made lasting friendships with many of the staff who we talk to throughout the year. ill talk more about this later in the review. Please read the previous reviews and apply copious doubt as to their authenticity as some of the comments are ridiculous. LOCATION This is one of the most confusing subjects for some. IPP is located on Cayo Guillermo which is a 45-minute bus ride from Cayo Coco airport including several stops at other resorts enroute. It will likely be the last stop as its located near the top of the Cayo. The resort itself is on a sheltered bay unlike the other resorts that are on the east side (look at Google maps). The main feature of the waterfront is an elevated boardwalk with Cabanas. This is where we spend most of our time during the day. There is a convenient bar right in the middle. Access to the water is from the pier or by the water sports building. The water itself is crystal clear warm Caribbean water with a coral and sand bottom. You can walk out 500 meters at low tide and still be knee deep. There is sand behind and around the elevated boardwalk however it is on top of coral. It is not like a conventional beach where your kid can dig a hole to China with their bucket. there are plentiful loungers as well and Beisel and Andres will help you with picking the best spot, they are the best! If you still arent happy with the IPP beach, the good news is Playa Pilar beach is only a short 15-minute walk up the bay or a $5 cab ride ride. There is also a trail in behind the watersports building you can take. I highly recommend meandering along the coral and in the water during your stay. Playa Pilar beach is stunning and is much better than Varadero. When there you may want to rent a palapa for $5, beer $5 and there is a restaurant where you can get a lobster lunch...Never had it but I have been told it is $30 and exceptional. FYI, Canadian and American currency is generally interchangeable. If you are told $5, you can pay either....just my experience. FACILITY Iberostar Playa Pilar is approximately 10 years old based of what I have been told. Cosmetically, in some areas it is worn. There are broken tiles and hardware throughout the property but the staff do their best to keep the property very clean. I have been told that the property is jointly owned by the Cuban gov't and Iberostar (Spain) and supply chain issues are very complex. A solid investment would make this resort spectacular. During our stay we had several minor issues that were promptly taken care via the amazing Olivia Hernandes, Customer Service manager. During our visit, there were approximately 120 guests, and the capacity is over 800 people. There were zero lineups or waits for anything! One of the main reasons we come here is because it is so quiet! The grounds for the property are kept in great shape by workers like Yaniel! They work exceptionally hard and are extremely friendly. Please make sure you say Hola to them if you see them working. ROOMS This visit we were in an Oceanview Junior Suite in building #4 (416). The OJS is a very cheap upgrade and definitely worth it! They are a good size, clean and the bed was decent. We were hoping to get building 11 however a family of 30 took precedence over us, no big deal! Compared to many other resorts, IPP is very well designed and you are not far from the main building or beach regardless of which building you are in. RESTAURANTS The main building has the buffet restaurant which is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is a large space and anytime we have been there during our 5 visits, it has rarely been even close to half full. There is a 24 hour snack bar located down behind the beach. You can get an variety of sandwiches, hot dogs (good!), hamburgers (not good) and fries....and an ice cold beer! There are several ala carte restaurants and lucky for us, Olivia had pre-scheduled 4 of them for us on our arrival: Japanese (2x), Mediterranean and Creoli. The Japanese restaurant is a bit of a show and a lot of fun! The food in the ala cartes is very good! FOOD As previously mentioned, IPP definitely has supply chain issues however they have definitely improved over our past 5 visits. Yes, you can go to other islands and be a gluttonous slob and eat till you explode. When you are at home, do you have 3 meals a day? 3 egg omelets with bacon every morning? Probably not....IPP has enough choices for just about everybody. I am a picky eater and always find enough to eat. I usually lose a few pounds each visit and this time I lost 5....which was a surprise. You need to lose weight too and you know it! Allthat being, bring said, bring condiments from home if you like mustard/ketchup/jam, salt and pepper etc. as it is rare to find those. If you have never been to Cuba, don't believe it when people tell you the food is terrible....they are likely comparing quantity over quality. Yes other islands have massive buffets with a hundred choices, but this isn't 1970 Cuba, you will survive. ACTIVITIES There is a watersports building at the boardwalk where you can use a paddleboard or a hobbie cat. You can also have one of the staff take you snorkeling to a nearby sunken ship off the coast of Media Luna Island. For $60 we went snorkeling and finished off on Media Luna with a lobster lunch and a few beers all included! There was no rush and it was very enjoyable afternoon! Johnny and Eduardo were great to deal! You can see Media Luna Island from the boardwalk. The pool is a very good size, clean and with a swim up bar. There is a spa onsite where you can get a massage and lounge around their private splash pool after. There is also a small gym located in the spa. EXTERNAL ACTIVITIES IPP is located on an isolated part of the chain of islands. Moron is the closest town, and it is 90 minutes away by car. This is where most employees live and are bused from everyday (2-hour commute!). You can hire a driver and do a city tour if you wish. We have not done this yet but may do so in the future. We did go Scuba diving at Coco Diving Centre which is only 10 minutes from IPP. We did a 2 tank dive on the Acuario and Servimar reefs and had an "interaction" with a 9-foot silky shark! We also saw some 2-4 foot Blacktip reef sharks. If you want to see my shark video it is on IG at john2266 . It cost $110 for 2 dives which is exceptional compared to what we normally pay on other islands. Every week, one of the local hotels hosts a party night at the nearby Plaza Hemmingway! Transportation, booze and food all included! If you are at IPP, this is a must do! MONEY/TIPS/GIFTS Do not worry about converting your money to Cuban pesos. This would only benefit you if you were travelling outside of the resort system and throughout the non tourist areas of Cuba. Canadian and American money are the norm. I brought US $1 bills and $5/$10/$20 CDN for tipping.....yes you can also tip with CD loonies and toonies, but the staff end up having to trade them with other tourists for paper money as they are worthless in Cuba. I don't mind taking the exchange rate loss and budget accordingly. For reference, the Cubans we have befriended over the years have disclosed to us that their monthly salary is the equivalent of $25-$35 a month! Most of us make more than that in an hour at work so please keep that in mind. Also, the employees will never have their hand out for a tip, they are a very proud people and grateful for anything offered. Because we have befriended many staff members over the years, we know what their needs are and bring clothing, medications, sports equipment etc. for them. We also bring full cases of assorted gifts and stuff they would not be able to get themselves. Even if they have money, it is impossible for them to get some things. If you visit IPP, take the time to get to know some of the staff! STAFF OK, almost done and saving the best for last! The staff are amazing! Olivia Hernades (Customer Service manager), Beisel and Andres (Beach), Yaniel (grounds), Luis (security), Jorgito (lifeguard), Anarelys (manager) Oney (cigar bar) are just some of the great staff members Iberostar is very lucky to have! CONCLUSION IPP is the perfect resort for us, it checks all the boxes and grounds us in what is important in life. If you want to party, drink and eat like a fool, stay away from my IPP! If you want to relax and have a serene time in paradise your next stop is trip central to book. The staff are the real reason we keep coming back! The waterfront and cabanas over the turquoise water help too! I only hope that upper management at Iberostar take my comments into consideration and give this property the care and investment it needs.

Somewhat tired, but well cared for resort!

This resort is well cared for by friendly staff. It appears due for renovation, however all areas are clean and tidy. Was fairly empty when we were there (less than half full), which made for easy use of the buffet and snack bar. Buffet food was good for breakfast, okay for lunch and dinner. Not a lot of fresh vegetables (my first time in Cuba). Two a la carte restaurants, Japanese was quite good, the other switched between Mediterranean and Spanish, although the food for each was quite similar. [... read more] Theatre onsite was seldom, if ever used during our week long stay and no night club, so after dinner the place was a ghost town at night. Beach cabanas were quite nice and the bay the resort is located on was nice, but quite shallow (so safe for those who dislike deeper water). Catamaran rental for snorkeling and lobster lunch at Cabo Media Luna (2km away) was a highlight of the week.

Bed resort

horrible resort rude attendant bad food bad breakfast bad cleaning the resort needs maintenance cold food horrible sandwich everything ended nothing there was the snack bar attendant was a rude man never came the same

Iberostar Playa Pilar

Buffet needs more variety - red meat/steak...different types of fish other than sea bass (ie smoked salmon..tuna) mini bar was never stocked iwth pop /beer like in previous Cuba Iberostar resorts Every bar was running out of beer and 'cocktails' every day..very strange as this never seemed to be an issue at previous Cuban Iberostar resorts previous years buffet restaurant was too warm..a/c did not work well..along with too many flies landing on food/table face etc. disturbing every me [... read more]al More variety at breakfast..no smoothie station.. Pools were way too warm..never swam in them..algae build-up noticeable as well..swam in ocean everyday

Iberostar Playa Pilar

The resort was absolutely beautiful. Grounds were beautifully kept. Rooms were very clean. The dinning room for the buffet was a quite warm -a/c was not working properly during our week stay and had a lot of flies flying around our table and bothering our mealtimes. The beach was absolutely amazing and tranquil..spent most of our day there instead of pool decl/ The pools' temperatures were way too warm and needed more cleaning as algue was clouding the water. It would have been nice t [... read more]o have more 'staff' to engage guests in beach/pool activities during the day (like bingo/games)..this only occured at the tail end of our trip

Pilar-great hidden gem

We, ( a family of 4) just spent a week at Playa Pillar resort in Cayo Guillermo. A quick note: we have been to a number of caraibean resorts before: DR, Cuba, Mexico. Overall: Great experience, a pleasant surprise, so here is why: 1. The beach is typical “post card” Cuban beach, just that because for the majority of it it has Rocky enter into the water, the hotel built a big deck on top of these rocks which serves now as enter to the water because multiple stairs into the sea but also equip [... read more]ped with beds for laying in the sun/ shade. Behind the deck there is the sandy beach with tons of umbrellas and chairs. Also this hotel beach is located into a golf which is a blessing when the wind picks up in the area. The neighborhood hotels had huge waves conditions when we had the calmest water on earth. AND great for snorkeling. 5stars 2. Food What a great pleasant surprise. As I am always aware that Cuban resorts don’t excel in food, this resort produced a great surprise. Definitely the best food I had in Cuba. With 2 grill stations and stations for : salads, cooked meals, deserts, breakfasts, I believe it checks all boxes. I could clearly see their effort put into elevating the quality of the buffet restaurant. They also had a snack &grill restaurant by the beach wich was opened 24 hrs (!!!!) AND a great Japanese restaurant that can compete w any I have seen in North America 4.5 stars 3. Rooms Initial rooms we got were not prrfect: ground floor that my wife hated plus maintenance issues with sliding door latch, bathroom door that got my daughter locked in, etc… We complained at the front office and they changed to two connecting rooms with an ocean view in an impecable condition. 4 stars 4. Entertainment Poor design, limited resources. Same 5 dancers every night doing pretty much same thing. One night they had a hard rock band with pieces from 80’s which I thought was inappropriate for a crowd that comes to a caraibean land expected to immerse in a different sound. 2.5 stars 5. Service and cleanness Great. Everyone at the resort is very willing to help, they all put a great effort to please. Just keep in mind that these employees go back home to a place that has no electricity for a number of hours every day. 6.Bars/ restaurants Great service but they are face with shortages of supplies so to see days with no Mojitos or Cuba libre, in Cuba, it was shocking. But they had alternatives. And eventually mojitos re appeared. Japanese restaurant:5 stars, the other two restaurants: 3stars. Overall I would give this resort a real: 4.5 stars rating.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

My parents have been to Cuba 11 times, we came as a family for the 3rd time together and unfortunately it was objectively the worst experience we’ve had. We are not picky but the 2/5 rating is based on the customer service and upkeep of the facilities. Due to the nationwide food shortage Cuba is experiencing, it wouldn’t be fair to rate the food. Pros: - lovely gardeners, very friendly, lovely landscaping, helped us source coconuts - beautiful water, cold though in March-April Cons:  [... read more]- my bed broke and collapsed on one side just before I went to bed (I weigh less than 120 lbs) - toilets flushed only once every few hours (…“if it’s yellow let it mellow”) - for about 18 hours our entire building ran out of water - internet was out for several days, therefore unable to use credit card for late check out payment - glum looking staff who seemed annoyed with requests or questions - all towels and bedsheets were stained with old makeup or what looked like blood - multiple rounds of keycards not working - front door handle fell off - previous guest’s hair was on the shower wall and remained there all week Honestly.. it was not a relaxing vacation at all, we just waited for one thing to go wrong after the other. Perhaps this is now the case for resorts across Cuba post pandemic but we certainly wouldn’t come back here.

Pretty good resort

Overall, not a bad resort. Staff very friendly. Food was good. No shortages on anything. Was disappointed that it was advertised resort had a disco but there wasn’t one.Would have liked more of a night life. The nightly shows were decent

Ok

The hotel itself is nice and clean however the grounds are not so much. There was broken glass on one of the pathways off to the side and it never got cleaned up, there were cups and utensils all over the resort, the pathways the beaches etc that were there for a few days. There was next to no entertainment. A couple of days at the pool didn’t even have music playing. Obviously problems with staffing and last night we were there there was obvious drama with the entertainment staff on stage.  [... read more]The manager herself ran off and didn’t stay for the last dance with everyone and the same for one other dancer. Overall it was ok the worst thing I can comment on is the rude staff. I have never gone somewhere where the staff were Soo rude and unhelpful. In the dining hall we got ignored every single night, we had to get up and approach someone to get water. Service was terrible.

Not the best experience

As a frequent visitor to Cuba to various areas and different resorts I can safely say that I will not be returning to this one. I won't be repetitious and complain too much about the food as I am aware that Cuba is currently experiencing supply issues but this was my worst experience with food in the 25+ years I have been traveling to Cuba. I think what was the most disappointing was the lack of beach. With Pillar Beach within a 30 minutes walk (bring water shoes) I was expecting a beautiful str [... read more]etch of beach not a small patch of shipped in sand over grass and rocks. The boardwalks were lovely if you could get a spot. The rooms were adequate but could use some updating and the beach views were great. The resort appeared to be understaffed so line ups were the norm. I did enjoy the one excursion that I went on which was out of the resort on a small catamaran to an island for snorkeling.

Dull

Waiting around for stuff to start. Constantly chasing to lobby for wifi connection. Uninterested in shows from the beginning, hopefully they got better we never stayed through one bc they were not that interesting. Water off in rooms for toilets flushing between 12-6am. Food never hot. Pictures didn’t make it seem that far from a good beach. But to the larger beach it was a 5 min bus ride.

The surprise

So I have traveled to Cuba about 7 to 8 times and I have never had such a bad experience. The maids stole from us as well as they didn't really clean the room. There was even one day my door wouldn't lock. There were three staff members that were amazing. There were also some rude staff members. I am used to Cuba standards but my toilet wouldn't flush and in the room my boys had the shower would flood. I would not recommend going here.

A great place to relax

My wife and I just came back home from a 5 days stay at this resort. This is a beach front property with a boardwalk that will take you right into the warm, beautiful turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea. Our room was kept nicely clean and tidy by the housekeepers of Bungalow 5, (thank you very much Lia, Lauren and Carlos). The food was delicious, varied and abundant, and we got to enjoy many different Cuban Cuisine dishes. There was plenty of fresh veggies and fruits, that made our meals very  [... read more]delicious and healthy. The grounds are well kept and clean. I really have to commend the hard work and friendliness of the staff at this resort as they made us feel welcome and appreciative of our stay. This is definitely a place I want to go back soon again.

Always a great time!

This is our 7th time in Cuba, third time at this resort. We have always been successful with our travel in Cuba, beautiful people and great weather, a few drops of rain are refreshing. Food in Cuba can be hit and miss, come with an open mind and willingness to be open to new cuisine. This resort does not have typical beach, however the water is calm allowing you to see the starfish and other sea life. Please remember we are the guest, the starfish and most shells are living and should not [... read more] be removed from their homes.

Good Resort

The resort is good maintenance, very calm beach, room is OK , food is well cooked that I have no problem even I have very sensitive stomach. Staffs are very nice to help in need. The price for 7 days all inclusive is very resealable.

Terrible

Ok been there before and cuba 8 times No supplies no food no one at hotel 150 out of possible 100 Staff could care less if you were there Cuba is done for Poor buggers Wont go back !!! !!!!!!!!!🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺 [... read more]🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺🇨🇺200 characters why ?

You get what you pay for

The grounds are immaculate; Playa Pilar is fantastic and by far one of the nicest beaches we have been to; it’s a four minute ride from the hotel. The beach at the hotel is decent and once you are past the coral it is clear, beautiful and shallow. Service was impeccable. Food options are at the lower end of the scale however we were prepared for this and the beds could have been a little more comfortable. Our room was cleaned daily and towels were replaced daily unlike North American hotels

Never Again.

Thank you TripCentral Ocean 10 People 10 Checking in 2 Late-night staff at the snack bar 1 Accommodation 7 Room cleanliness 5 Bar staff at the beach 10 Spa Pool 9 Other pools ? Kitchen cleanliness 3 Clean beach towels 0 Flies 10 Mosquitoes 8 Property fumigation 1 This place could be a lot better if the upper management take more care of the place Cuba : Yes Iberostar : No

Ok

We ( eight of us) just came Back from spending one week at the Iberostar Playa Pilar resort in near Cayo Coco. Not sure what the issue is, but the resort had an infestation of flies. There was also an issue of cockroaches in the Main buffet. I witnessed a cockroach running across the counter where the hot food was stationed as well as on the floor. I do believe the Iberostar should look into why they have this issue. I have been to Cuba before and did not experience anything like that. On a pos [... read more]itive Side cuba has beautiful beaches. The sea at the hotel is calm and serene. However, if you are not fortunate enough to grab a Cabano bed at the seaside, you will be sitting without shade. The staff at the hotel are friendly and helpful. The hotel is in need of a renovation. I have no doubt that when it was built, it was a five-star resort. Now I would give it a three at best. We booked dinners in the A-la carte restaurants. They were in a closed area, so there was no fly problem. We especially enjoyed the Japanese restaurant. We spent one day at the spa. The staff there were truly customer service oriented. The food is kept covered and the pool is a quiet place to relax. Their washrooms are much cleaner than the main lobby. All in all we made the best of it and enjoyed each other's company.

The hotel has its good and bad

The entertainment, the pool area, the beach are all great. Great. The à la carte restaurants are very good too. The buffet and snack area are not good as they are full of flies. The buffet area even had roaches on the floor. The food in the buffet area is not even covered which would help prevent flies from landing on food.