Second Visit to Barcelo Huatulco

Enjoyed our return visit to Barcelo Huatulco very much. Both times we paid a little extra for the ‘Premium Level’, which upgrades the stay to include express check-in in the air conditioned Premium lounge (otherwise its a lineup with everyone else that just got off the bus), wifi (otherwise there is a limit of 1hr/day), ability to book a la carte restaurants for dinner well in advance (otherwise there is a lineup starting at 9am to try to book for that day), preferred room locations, a quie [... read more]t beach lounge chair area (although many folks without the Premium bracelets were using this area), and access to the bartended Premium Lounge with better liquor and a limited wine selection, seating area with big-screen TV, and hot & cold food available throughout the day. The Premium Level isn’t necessary to enjoy this resort, but we appreciated these benefits. The two buffet restaurants offer plenty of choice and are open most of the day. We didn’t try the Japanese a la carte for dinner, but enjoyed the Mexican and Italian restaurants. The service in the Italian was the best and included a musician on the baby grand piano each evening. It’s a cheap 60 peso/10 minute cab ride into town if you want to go in and poke around, shop, or go for an off-resort meal. We were on the hunt for vanilla and found a wide variety of pricing and quality. Ended up paying 180 pesos for 1L of natural vanilla. We looked in the Chedraui (like a Mexican Walmart), but that wasn’t the place to buy vanilla, or booze. Last year we took a catamaran tour which was great and included snorkelling and a stop where a nice beach lunch could be bought... this tour is a pretty good excursion to do in this area. This year we did the city tour, which was OK, but a lot of time spent waiting around for the guides to herd the tour, and scripted stops to flog mescal, woven carpets and jewelry. Would definitely recommend this resort for those looking for a quiet destination. I would not recommend this resort to anyone with mobility limitations. We did see a couple of guests with wheelchairs and walkers, but the resort is not very friendly in this regard.

Best beach waiters!

Although we were quite unhappy that our “free wifi” was only one hour a day, we were more than thrilled to have such great waiters deliver drinks to the beach! Even if we only wanted cups of ice and bottles of water, they never complained and brought us anything we asked for! The grounds were kept very clean and well looked after, the rooms were comfortable, clean and the A/C worked great! (Thank goodness!)

Second visit, lovely vacation!

This was our second stay at Huatulco Barcelo, and was very nice. We upgraded to the Premium level, and appreciated access to the private air condition lounge with bartender and TV, and the priority booking of restaurants. Enjoyed food in the buffet and al a cart restaurants. Room was lovely.

Fantastic!

I can't say enough good about this resort, and that might be why this is our 3rd stay here. The updated rooms are wonderful, the food always has many variations and the chefs are obviously talented. We will be back as time permits.

Barcel Huatulco

Staff was very good. The food and restaurants require more effort, and also the special restaurants aren't open every day. The location is great, rooms were fine. Did not use pools beach was very nice. Few more showers from beach would helpful. May want to add a few more beach chairs and huts. Enjoyed the people and found it to be very safe. Thanks for a relaxing vacation.

Good resort

Everything was good but did not like the slope on the beach, very hard to walk on and that is what I go for, very uneven ground in the ocean as well, felt unsafe.Long line ups at ala cartel and you could only book for the same day.

Huatalco 2019

Barcelo is a great vacation resort. Second time here and it was great. Staff is amazing. Always willing to accommodate most times. I had asked the front desk if I could have an additional mattress cover or some additional blankets for my bed in order to increase the comfort of the bed. (too hard for me) they said they couldn't help with that. I did find that unusual. This year we felt the food wasn't as tasty as in the past. Beach and pool were terrific. Premium Level was gre [... read more]at. Would recommend it. Check in and out was quick. Great Sunwing staff.

NOT "All Inclusive" Unless Upgraded to PREMIUM

Our Barcelo Huatulco experience was disappointing. While this Barcelo is nice it lacks the Barcelo branding we are familiar with. Here are a few examples: 1. Booking All-Inclusive at this destination doesn't really mean "all-inclusive." To really experience "all-inclusive" at this Barcelo means one must upgrade to "PREMIUM." The cost to upgrade to "Premium" is $35.00 US per person per day so $70 per day for a couple times seven days equals $490 US, converted to Canadian dollars roughly $650 [... read more]. For this extra $650 we could have had a King bed in an Oceanview room, premium drinks in our room refrigerator, premium drinks at the bars and wine at dinner. It was disappointing to learn the extra costs for wine at dinner, and that the Corona beer at the bars are reserved for "Premium" guests! 2. You have to stand in line EVERY DAY to book the ala carte restaurants. We were only able to get two ala carte bookings because most of the premium supper times are taken by the "Premium" clients. This means that out of the 18 meals we had at this Barcelo, 16 of them would have to be at the buffets, which gets old after 2/3 days. Booking the ala cartes starts at 9:00 am in the morning and several days we were there at 9:00 am, stood in line for 30-40 minutes and couldn't get a dinner reservation before 8:30/9:00 p.m. 3. The food facilities are only surfaced cleaned. The serving spoons in the buffets are not changed often enough. The sides of the tables feel grimy to the touch, as do the arms on the chairs -- seems these surfaces do not get washed which is very unsanitary (take your own disinfectant wipes!). The Barcelo Huatulco was rated 4.5 Stars. Our ratings: facility 4; systems/processes 2; and buffets 3. While the ala cartes were nice (Italian and Mexican) having to pay extra for wine at an all-inclusive isn't the norm.

Sun always shines

Another great time. Sun always shines here. Stunning views from our room to the great food. Premium alcohol. Beautiful beach, terrific snorkeling. recommendations when families book please try and keep families together as it took us two days to resolve this problem. Second tip would be to heat the main dishes at the Italian restaurant properly. Food overall was great their main course needed to be heated thoroughly. Love the Japanese restaurant and seafood

Nice resort

Enjoyed this resort..very clean and friendly. Comfortable beds, food is good. Long lineups to book a la carte. Had the Italian a la carte, it was terrible..was fried mozzarella with tomato sauce, chicken parmesan and dessert..the fried mozzarella was cold and sits on tomato slices (no sauce), the chicken was so tough you couldn't cut it and the dessert was so hard it was like a rock. The food on the buffets is good, lots of variety. The beach is ok..the sand is hard to walk in. The pool is n [... read more]ice, not too crowded. If you want a lounge chair you have to get up real early to put your towels out to save your chair. This resort is fairly quiet..had a good time.

Good Resort

The grounds are very well maintained. The beach was good but hard to walk due to the slope and sand you sink in pretty much up to your ankles. Staff are very good and very clean rooms. Downsides were you need to get up at 5:30 a.m. to put your towel out on a chair or you are not getting a spot. Also, line ups to book an a la carte restaurant are ridiculously long.

Beaufiful but some challenges

Huatulco is a beautiful area, safe with amazing people. The Barcelo is clean with wonderful people who work there. The challenges were lining up every morning at 8 am, as hotel services opened at 9am to book an a la carte dinner for that night. Reservations are only made day of for the a la cartes. This is really a waste of your morning as sometimes the line up ran through the lobby. The second challenge is there are no towel cards. You can take as many towels as you want. So people cover mul [... read more]tiple chairs around the pool and beach area with many towels. If you come down at 8 am to find a chair they are all taken with a towel. Sometimes nobody even shows up all day. This is very frustrating and should be monitored by the resort. The food was ok at the resort. Not great but ok. Sometimes items ran out like, butter, cream for coffee, jam and guacamole etc.

OK RESORT

The resort was ok .. It didn't really meet our expectations . My wife and I have used the Barcelo hotels for the past 5 years and we both agree that this hotel didn't stand up to the Barcelo standards . It was disappointing to stand in line every morning at 8 am with half the guests to book an a la cart only to find out at 9 am when the desk opened that there were no more spots available for that evening. Apparently from talking to the other guests everyone had the same issues. Usually you co [... read more]uld book 3 sittings all at once and have done with it for the week. This is the way we have done it at the other hotels. The other issue we had was trying to find a chair at the pool or beach in the morning .. People were going down at 5 or 6 in the morning and putting towels on 4 to 6 chairs then not showing up till noon to claim them ? Sometimes not till the afternoon when they returned from there day excursions . Apparently from talking to other guests the management was aware of these two important issues and were reluctant to do anything about it . I guess the rooms were full so they were happy !!! With the exception of the wonderful staff we were overall disappointed . We would defiantly return to the area but would choose a different hotel for sure

A charmed visit in a stunning setting

A great choice for those who like a more moderate sized and intimate resort as opposed to the 1000 room plus mega properties. Standard room was very comfortable and view was great. The buffets and a la carts very well done. Service was very efficient, friendly and personal overall. The beach service really had to work hard... to our great appreciation. Catamaran sailboats are well looked after and I got in lots of sail time. Saw a turtle while sailing and watched the pelicans diving for fish a [... read more]ll day. Full moon, total lunar eclipse and even a 6 am minor wake up earthquake that gave us all lots to talk about the next day. Competition for palapa shade and chairs was a bit over the top week 2 when it got busier. This should be fixed along with busier weeks a la cart booking system as mentioned in other reviews. One thing I'd like to mention is the acoustics of the property was very well done! Water fountains, water walls, foliage and thick concrete stucco finish on the building walls, along with the birds, really helped break up the harsh echo you so often get from all the flat surfaces at even the most expensive resorts. This really helped the atmosphere.

Amazing ocean view

Very clean, staff very friendly, bartenders around the pool were very prompt. Nice having the kids pool and the adult pool. Variety of different foods, each night. The el la carts could be managed better.

Fantastic Resort

We would highly recommend staying at the Barcelo Hualtuco. The staff were friendly and efficiant, the room was clean and comfortable and we had a beautieful pool and ocean view. The food was great and the ala carts were also very good. The grounds were beautiful and very well maintained. The beach was clean and amazing. We will definitely be back!

Repeat....little disappointed this time.

Hotel greeting & check in great, fast & efficient. However did not room type we requested, had to go back to reception, just a pain, not what you want to do when you arrive. We did get a room change, thanks to Cosetta. No free internet unless you were a premium guest. Kind of felt second rate, had paid for deluxe, but it meant nothing. Same with drinks. Food at buffet was not hot, lukewarm at best & sometimes cold. We did notice hotter food our last night. Only went to Italian restauran [... read more]t, had to line up each day to book the restaurants at 9 AM. Unless you premium, you could book anytime. Pool good, lots of chairs & could usually find some shade. Beach, very nice, lots of chairs & palapas. Water very rough, black flag one day. Ok resort, but will not be returning, previous visit we did not feel second rate, but we sure did this time.

Horrible 2 star at the most

Lobby and hotel grounds- the hotel lobby, bar and grounds are very outdated and the only place that’s air conditioned is the premium lounge that you have to pay extra for. Not cool when you’re staying at a 4 star plus hotel. Pools- there is only two pools and one bar. The pools are outdated and have black mold. It’s hard to get a spot. We went for a wedding and there was 46 of us. A few morning I woke up at 6:30am to get some spots and someone took 4 of our chairs. We would only reserve a [... read more]bout 12 chairs or so and we all shared. There was no activities in the pool, sometimes music but even that wasn’t good. Rooms- the rooms are nice and spacious, we were on premium level, but some of the guests that weren’t premium had black mold in their shower ( we have pictures) Food- the food was repetitive and always cold. The seafood was always cold which was cooked seafood that was suppose to be hot. All food was cold unless you got it from the grill which wasn’t good. A few morning we had to line up for breakfast to get a table ( 15-20min) The a la cart restaurants hadn’t to be booked and they weren’t all available at all times. We booked Mexican for the second night we were there and when we got there they said we don’t have a reservation. One person in our group went back to the room and got the slips to show them. They did acoimediate us after. Ricardo Cortez The food manager was great and did everything he could to make our stay better. We also went to the Italian which was surprisingly great food. Spanish al la cart was horrible and it wasn’t Spanish food at all. On the wedding day- the bride and groom paid for platinum package but they didn’t get platinum service. The were told the chairs will be beige and they’re were dark brown. The decoration wasn’t what they were showed in pictures. When it was time for them to cut the cake they didn’t have a plate or a fork !! The groom had to put the cake in a napkin and give it to the bride with his hands. Come on now this is common sense stuff. The dinner arrived cold as usual. The appetizer was cold. The main course was over cooked steak I believe it was brisket that was cooked to death. They were promised fillet. It was companied by powdered mashed potatoes not even real mashed potatoes. Bar- one of the 46 guests had 1 year old daughter and asked one of the bar tenders for a bottle of water. The bar tender said since you don’t have a premium bracelet you can only get a cut of water not bottled water ( how is this hotel 4 plus stars) Room service- only premium get room service everyone else has to pay for it. One might I was ordering room service and the gentleman in the phone told me I’m oderering too much and asked if there are more ppl in my room !! I said NO I have a teenage son who eats a lot. Claudia lijehhulth, Flor Martinez form the premium lounge had incredible customer service and were always so polite and ready to help, They are truly great. This resort should never ever be recommended to anyone having a wedding or anyone under the age of 65. I emailed Kevin from there, because the bride and groom were very upset and he still hasn’t emailed me back. I felt horrible for the bride and groom because the most important day of their life was ruined. They can never get that back. I’m so disappointed that you guys would ever recommend this resort for a wedding. Excertions- we booked the 7 bays on a boat excretion with the hotel not Sunwing ( what a mistake ) They told us there would be washrooms both for men and women. They said it’s a boat for 46ppl. I asked over and over again is it a nice, will it be safe? We had lots of kids in the wedding group and elders. They picked us up at 10am in nice cars and took us to the marina. When we saw the boat we were all shocked. They told us to take life jackets that were scattered all over the boat floor. They were all ripped, none of the buckles worked, and they smelled so horrible. They hadn’t black mold on them as well. The sea was so choppy and the boat wasn’t the right boat for those big waters. Everyone got sick almost 90% were throwing up and sick. We had to cut our trip short and come back. When we got back to the hotel we told them and they said that they don’t understand what black mold is and we got a great deal. 49 ppl and we payed $30 each and $15 for kids. The hotel didn’t care that this was a safety issue with life jackets that are ripped and don’t have buckle that work. Honestly this resort is a 2 start at the most in every way possible. Food, grounds, service. Every single person in our group was unhappy. Most important what was suppose to be the best day in their life for the bride and groom was completely ruined by horrible staff at Barcelo.

Very disappointed

Lobby and hotel grounds- the hotel lobby, bar and grounds are very outdated and the only place that’s air conditioned is the premium lounge that you have to pay extra for. Not cool when you’re staying at a 4 star plus hotel. Pools- there is only two pools and one bar. The pools are outdated and have black mold. It’s hard to get a spot. We went for a wedding and there was 46 of us. A few morning I woke up at 6:30am to get some spots and someone took 4 of our chairs. We would only reserve a [... read more]bout 12 chairs or so and we all shared. There was no activities in the pool, sometimes music but even that wasn’t good. Rooms- the rooms are nice and spacious, we were on premium level, but some of the guests that weren’t premium had black mold in their shower ( we have pictures) Food- the food was repetitive and always cold. The seafood was always cold which was cooked seafood that was suppose to be hot. All food was cold unless you got it from the grill which wasn’t good. A few morning we had to line up for breakfast to get a table ( 15-20min) The a la cart restaurants hadn’t to be booked and they weren’t all available at all times. We booked Mexican for the second night we were there and when we got there they said we don’t have a reservation. One person in our group went back to the room and got the slips to show them. They did acoimediate us after. Ricardo Cortez The food manager was great and did everything he could to make our stay better. We also went to the Italian which was surprisingly great food. Spanish al la cart was horrible and it wasn’t Spanish food at all. On the wedding day- the bride and groom paid for platinum package but they didn’t get platinum service. The were told the chairs will be beige and they’re were dark brown. The decoration wasn’t what they were showed in pictures. When it was time for them to cut the cake they didn’t have a plate or a fork !! The groom had to put the cake in a napkin and give it to the bride with his hands. Come on now this is common sense stuff. The dinner arrived cold as usual. The appetizer was cold. The main course was over cooked steak I believe it was brisket that was cooked to death. They were promised fillet. It was companied by powdered mashed potatoes not even real mashed potatoes. Bar- one of the 46 guests had 1 year old daughter and asked one of the bar tenders for a bottle of water. The bar tender said since you don’t have a premium bracelet you can only get a cut of water not bottled water ( how is this hotel 4 plus stars) Room service- only premium get room service everyone else has to pay for it. One might I was ordering room service and the gentleman in the phone told me I’m oderering too much and asked if there are more ppl in my room !! I said NO I have a teenage son who eats a lot. Claudia lijehhulth, Flor Martinez form the premium lounge had incredible customer service and were always so polite and ready to help, They are truly great. This resort should never ever be recommended to anyone having a wedding or anyone under the age of 65. I emailed Kevin from there, because the bride and groom were very upset and he still hasn’t emailed me back. I felt horrible for the bride and groom because the most important day of their life was ruined. They can never get that back. I’m so disappointed that you guys would ever recommend this resort for a wedding. Excertions- we booked the 7 bays on a boat excretion with the hotel not Sunwing ( what a mistake ) They told us there would be washrooms both for men and women. They said it’s a boat for 46ppl. I asked over and over again is it a nice, will it be safe? We had lots of kids in the wedding group and elders. They picked us up at 10am in nice cars and took us to the marina. When we saw the boat we were all shocked. They told us to take life jackets that were scattered all over the boat floor. They were all ripped, none of the buckles worked, and they smelled so horrible. They hadn’t black mold on them as well. The sea was so choppy and the boat wasn’t the right boat for those big waters. Everyone got sick almost 90% were throwing up and sick. We had to cut our trip short and come back. When we got back to the hotel we told them and they said that they don’t understand what black mold is and we got a great deal. 49 ppl and we payed $30 each and $15 for kids. The hotel didn’t care that this was a safety issue with life jackets that are ripped and don’t have buckle that work. Honestly this resort is a 2 start at the most in every way possible. Food, grounds, service. Every single person in our group was unhappy. Most important what was suppose to be the best day in their life for the bride and groom was completely ruined by horrible staff at Barcelo.

Amazing beaches

Well to be quite honest, I have visited huatulco many times over the last decade. But have always stayed at dreams. This was the first time at the barcelo, on recommendation of our travel agent. Now any other time, we would have been a little disappointed. Unfortunately this was our destination wedding. With a group of 29 that booked with Kevin and another 20 who had come from over seas just to be there for us. Now considering the amount of people in our group and the amount of money that was ma [... read more]de from our group. I expected to be treated a lot nicer than we had. And by nicer I mean I felt like a second class citizen. Myself and all of my guests noticed as well. We will all be writing a scathing review on our own separate blogs about our experiences. We were not impressed at all. The only two respectful people that tried to be a little more accommodating was the food and hospitality manager and our wedding coordinator. But prior to having had an almost all out brawl in one of the a la cartes because there was a system error while booking, when half of our group was asked to leave until we produced our receipts for the booking that they didn’t seem to have. No one even asked how we’re were. Especially since the day of our arrival we were stranded on the highway on a sunwing bus for almost 3 hours while there was a protest happening. Now I understand that may be out of sunwings control but what was not, was to be prepared. So after 3 hours all the passengers had to disembark and walk a km and a half with luggage in hand through protestors over obstacles to another bus. Now I could go on and on but the more I think about the angrier I become. So I will leave with this, thank you so much for recommending this place, I hope you hit quota in sales and just to let you know we have 3 more weddings and a yearly family trip that will have approximately the same amount of people per year. And that business we will be taking elsewhere. And it’s a shame because we have been going with trip central for years.