DISGUSTING

The rooms were dirty....especially the floor, your feet were black if you walked on it so I wore sandals the entire time. The beds were the only thing the room attendants touched...nothing was cleaned, water marks left on tables the entire time. Hit and miss with towels. I asked for a coffee pot on Monday and never did get one, so I couldn't make coffee. Coffee was only served at breakfast which didn't sit well with us Canadians. Room leaked from under the floor and down the walls in so [... read more]me rooms. Floor was flooded in one room. Heard the same comment from other guests as well. Food was digusting....tasted terrible and meat was full of gristle...couldn't even separate beef from the gristle....was uneatable unless you like greasy fat loaded beef. Glasses were dirty at times as well as dinner plates were not always clean. Cook at pasta table warmed pasta in a pan and from time to time would grab a dirty cloth (rag really) from under the counter and wipe the pan out and continue on ..not acceptable. I had a bun one morning with breakfast and I pulled it open and there was along hair in it. DISGUSTING....no more bread for the rest of the stay. Buildings were really in need of a facelift and walkways were cracked with holes here and there... I think you get the general idea regarding the resort. Staff at the front desk were useless...anytime you asked for something or needed anything it never happened. The desk kept our passports overnight which is NOT ACCEPTABLE....CANADIANS TRAVELLING MUST ALWAYS HAVE THEIR PASSPORTS ON THEM AT ALL TIME. In fact they lost one of our groups' documentation and she had to travel to Havana to the Embassy twice during the week to replace the document she needed to get back into Canada. This would not have happened if the passport was given back promptly on check in. No need to go on. Very dissatisfied with service but Cuba was a great place to visit and beach was beautiful... Carolyn Parr

Old & needs work!!

The grounds & beach were beautiful - could do with a little more flowers around the grounds. However, they have big plumbing problems - one friend was flooded out of her room upon arrival & phone didn't work. We were OK until our last night when the bathroom flooded completely & the sink plugged up. The hotel expected us to stay in the room for our final night & only moved us when we became aggressive - told them if we had to get up in the night to use the bathroom & slipped on the floor tha [... read more]t we would sue them - they promptly found us a room. The front desk was very unfriendly when we approached them about another room!! Also, the phone didn't work due to bare wires on the end of the cord. I would not recommend this hotel to anyone & wouldn't return myself.

Amazing surroundings

We truly had a wonderful vacation in Cuba. I had read many negative reviews about this hotel and was very surprised when I entered the room and saw my surroundings. It was clean and nice. There is work that needs to be done such as plumbing and new windows. There were no mosquitoes, no fleas and I didn't see any cockroaches roaming about. The pool and beach area are beautiful. The food was exceptional. I truly enjoyed eating in the outdoor area by the pool and overlooking the beach. This eating  [... read more]area is one of a kind. I've gone to many other resorts but none had an area quite like this. The 5th floor of this resort has been somewhat renovated and it's very, very nice. The cost for an upgrade is extremely reasonable per person. We had a wonderful vacation. Thank you to all the staff. I would recommend this hotel to a friend.

I love Bella Costa

Everybody was super amazing, especially at the pool bar !! Stayed in a bungalow and it was awesome. Had a little seperate living room and then the main room and bathroom. Corner wrap around patio. All the restaurants had good food & the snack bar was awesome! The beach is amazing and very accessible! Overall loved my stay !!

Mediocre at best

the staff make this place! but the hotel is very old, the food is fair at best and the grounds aren’t really kept up! beach isn’t swept at night and the pool is rough bordering on unsafe- but the staff truly make this place!!!!

Don’t book Bella Costa

there were many issues with our hotel. The pictures online simply do not reflect the reality of this hotel. There were ants and lizards on my room, ceiling leaking , fridge not working . We only got water after complaining to the reception desk. The room didn’t look hygienic at all- bring shower shoes! In addition, though the entertainment team were extremely friendly , it didn’t follow the schedule , didn’t facilitate all the activities it published, and didn’t engage the guests very we [... read more]ll. Don’t even get me started on the food. I nearly starved for the week- thank goodness for the snack bar and pasta- but a week of pizza and pasta isn’t worth the all inclusive . The staff didn’t make us feel welcome at all and service was awful . My suggestion?? Pay a bit more and enjoy a much more relaxing trip at a different resort .

Amazing stay

Hotel was amazing. Food was better than expected. Bartenders and wait staff were so nice. Beach and pool were great along with other hotel amenities. Rooms were decent but did not matter because you are only there to sleep.

Amazing Family Vacation!!!

Last year, 4 of us vacationed at Hotel Bella Costa. Our expectations were passed with flying colours. We decided to return to Cuba with our children and grandchildren. Now the family has 8 people to please, ranging in age from 6 years-to 75years. Your resort, our excursions and Varadero managed to keep us entertained. The end of each day was the same, 8 tired happy vacationers. Each of us always found good food at every meal to our liking. Hard to believe how well the staff went out of there w [... read more]ay to meet our needs and wants, with only a minor language barrier. The rooms and facilities were clean and well maintained. We all agreed the mattresses and pillows should be up graded (minor complaint). We are already planning to return and recommendBella Costa to others.

Great resort!

The wi -fi was limited but it was not an issue for me since I knew that it's how it works in Cuba. Great variety of food. Amazing pool. Great service everywhere. Great beach. I had an amazing time. Thank you trip central.

Wonderful resort

Bella Costa was terrific. I travel alone & was there two weeks ( jan 20-feb. 3) The weather was cooler 1st week. The Grounds were nice..5cucs to get the bus all day. Beatles bar downtown Varadero was great. Rented kool scooters 25cucs 3 hrs. When I was there I had a health scare...The staff, Nurse & Dr were amazing and took great care of me ...(I was travelling alone) The food was wonderful fresh & sooo much to choose from. The rooms needed some updateing. Thank You Tammy at Tripcentral 😎

Awesome Vacation

The Bella Costa was probably one of the best resorts I've stayed at for a number of reasons. First - when staying in Cuba you have to know that there are a number of standards that may differ from what you expect. With that being said, the food at the Bella Costa was good. You won't go hungry and the fresh orange juice at breakfast was amazing! It's a smaller resort which I actually tend to enjoy. The room we stayed in in the Villas was amazing; clean, working A/C, 2 bathrooms, large bed, wi [... read more]th a large balcony overlooking the ocean. The beach is gorgeous (though we only had a few days of sun to enjoy it - can't change the weather!) and the water is crystal clear. What really makes this hotel experience though is the staff. They care about their guests and really do truly seem to want to make the experiences amazing. Everyone is friendly and eager to help. Bartenders are good and - lets just say the drinks are not watered down like some places I've stayed! If you're on the fence, don't be. Negative reviews happen because people like to complain, and are used to the comforts of home. Even with limited services, poverty and everything that comes with it - Cuba is a wonderful country. The people are great in and out of the resort and the Bella Costa is one of the gems of Varadero.

Worst experience

We stayed at this resort last week and let me tell you- the rooms were fitly. The first day we walked in there was blood on one of the toilet seats. The bed sheets were dirty. We had to ask for the room to be cleaned and sheets to be changed. The room smelled like mold. The grounds were not safe- there was a lot of safety concerns especially with the pool area. I will never ever go to this resort again even if it was offered for. Dust all over the counters. The public bathroom near the lobbies w [... read more]ere not working and not cleaned at all. You had to pick up several plates in the buffet area until you found a clean one. I wouldn't recommend this resort to anyone.

It is very nice hotel.

My husband and kids like the hotel very much! The hotel just a little old. However, the food is good. The hotel is fare clean. The beach is very clean and good. Just public washrooms are not very good, sometimes run out toilet paper. My room hair dry is not working. There is a lot mosquito, my husband had a lot bit. The weather was cold when we were there. The trips are good too.

Beautiful beach!

Hotel overview- common areas are nice, pool is fun but needs repair, rooms clean but need updating, lobby nice, restaurants good, renovations in progress, plumbing issues: leaking ceilings, water in hallways, foundation cracking, paint chipping, structure needs a complete overhaul Staff works hard to please guests, lobby bar for best coffee, beach restaurant for atmosphere and lobster, Japanese a la carte for tempura, champagne delivered for anniversary, varied pool activities, beach activit [... read more]ies available.

3 star resort on a 5 star beach

Fantastic location. Beautiful beach. Lots of umbrellas and chairs available during high season. Winter is dry season, so we had 7 days of excellent weather. Staff are extremely hard-working and friendly, but hotel is understaffed and seemingly underfunded since being sold by Breezes, evidenced by the wait for clean dishes and food refills in the buffet (at least at high season) and the long list of repairs/deficiencies everyone seemed to be trying to manage with limited or minimal resources.  [... read more] For example - our sliding door to the balcony was stuck in the open position when we arrived. This resulted in many mosquitoes in our room and multiple bites every night throughout the week. Maintenance came and managed to close the door with a lot of effort, but then we had no access to the balcony for the rest of the week because the door was now jammed in the closed position. (I'm assuming we paid more for a balcony since there were rooms available without a balcony that were less expensive when we booked this trip.) He had no time to make the door functional, but added our room to a long list of rooms with other deficiencies. We also reported our hair dryer not working and our TV not working all week.The AC did not have a working temperature control - either on very cold or off. We put it on during the night and slept in our warm clothes from the plane. The hotel needs updating badly. Our rooms had moldy chairs and blankets that did not seem to have ever been washed. I had blood on my sheets from killing mosquitoes from the first night and slept on the same blood-stained sheets all week. I asked for a flatter pillow and was told by reception that there were no more pillows available in the whole hotel, so I switched with my sister. They told me that my pillow was so high because it was new and the foam had not been compacted yet, but when I changed the pillowcase to give the pillow to my sister, it was horribly stained, so if that was a new one, I shudder to think about the state of the older ones. The enamel on our tub was significantly peeling off in big chunks and there was a lot of black mildew in the bathrooms. We had a hole in the ceiling panels of the bathroom, covered with a spider's web, which we were hoping had a spider that was eating some of the mosquitoes. I made the mistake of trying to kill a mosquito on the bedside lamp and we were engulfed in a thick cloud of dust that came off the lampshade. There were repairs going on due to the hurricane damage, so the beach bar and the beach buffet were not available to us, but will be beautiful once finished. The maid was wonderful and did what she could to clean up but this is not even a basic 3 star hotel...it is a 3 star hotel that needs much more than TLC. We mentioned to the Air Transat rep on site (who lives in this hotel) that Tripcentral had rated this hotel a 4 star and she was shocked. She said it was definitely a 3 star hotel and rated so in the Air Transat brochure. She recommended that we stay in the bungalows because they were in significantly better shape than the hotel rooms. This was confirmed by several other guests that we spoke to who rated the hotel rooms as 2 star with many maintenance issues. She spoke to her manager and Air Transat sent over a bottle of champagne and gave us $75 to spend on the plane because they felt bad that their package deal had been misrepresented by Tripcentral. I acknowledge that this is not entirely Tripcentral's fault as many of the reviews are rating this hotel highly. But if Air Transat is rating it as a 3 and Tripadvisor is rating it as a 3, maybe Tripcentral should take that into consderation to avoid unhappy customers like me, who now feel that Tripcentral's rating system is not credible. There is lots of evidence that staff and management are trying to update this hotel slowly, starting with the public areas like the beach and lobby. If they ever get around to the rooms, maybe this will be a nice hotel again, but folks rating it a 5 star hotel because they feel a connection to the people here or are sensitive to their plight, are doing travelers a disservice and are also making it harder for the staff who have to deal with disgruntled customers. When travelers expecting a 5 star hotel come here, they are very disappointed and many people we spoke to expressed this to management via the survey given at the end of the week. People who came with low expectations did not have many complaints, so it's important and considerate for all for reviewers to give the truest representation of the hotel. There will always be people who will choose this hotel and love it, but we will not return again (we were at this same hotel 20 years ago also), despite having a good experience with the staff and the manager of public relations who is a consummate professional and genuinely lovely person with the best intentions. We only have so much vacation and we would rather pay more and get a hotel that is not so run-down. We suggest Blau Varadero, where we went 2 years ago which exceeded our expectations for Cuba.

Unimpressed

My family and I were very disappointed during our vacation at Bella Costa. The hotel was rundown and the building looked like it was about to crumble at the seams. Our rooms were covered in mold and dirt, beds included. The food was inconsistent, with the best meal coming on Christmas Eve. The two saving graces of this hotel were the beach and the excellent hard-working staff. I would never come back unless serious changes were made to Bella Costa. I am also very upset that the representatives a [... read more]t Trip Central misrepresented the hotel as they rated it a 4 star hotel when in reality, it is barely a 3. Not happy with one rep in particular who told us to “just enjoy it” when we asked to switch hotel. This trip put a damper on the good weather and fantastic scenery of Varadero, thanks in large part to the incompetence of Trip Central.

Beautiful beach, beautiful staff...but...

We just returned from Bella Costa last week and had mixed feelings about the whole experience. The beach and staff are amazing and the food and drinks ranged from great to mediocre, depending on the day and the availability. Unfortunately despite the very hard working staff, the hotel itself is in need of much updating and repair. The rooms needed some freshening up in terms of beds, pillows, furniture, towels, TV's etc. Management tried hard to remedy whatever they could and it was much appreci [... read more]ated that the Air Transat rep and the hotel management sent letters of apology for what we complained about regarding our stay...all in all an up and down experience but not sure we would return unless there was some significant updating of the basics...again cannot say enough about how great the staff was and how they worked tirelessly to cater to all the tourists...Beach was gorgeous too and when we were there they had just finished repairing outdoor eating area which also looked amazing. Rooms are the main concern and if they freshened them up and did some basic repairs then we may consider returing to Bella Costa again.

Great Family Vacation

The hotel grounds were very good, there was a lot of construction going on repairing damage from Hurricane Irma, they did their best not to interfere with the comfort of the guests. The rooms and exterior could use some updating but everything was acceptable to our tastes. The food was good and the a la carte's were excellent. Great service from staff all round, made our holiday wonderful. Guests need to remember this is Cuba and they do the best with what they have.

Bella Costa

This was my sons first trip and he is 12. We met great people on the flight, bus and while checking in. He made excellent friends. The resort was great for kids as not huge so kids could easily be found when off playing. Lots of activities to do especially with all the water sport equipment. Famiilies all enjoyed the staff taking them out on cataramans for small tip to go out and enjoy snorkeling. The beach was beautiful. No one went hungry as always drinks and food available. Great chea [... read more]p vacation. If your looking for an expensive resort it’s not but it was enjoyable. The renevatoons continue and I’m sure it will amazing when completed but never felt like an intrusive construction zone.

Top Of The Line

Even thought they had the worst hurricane in history only 2 months ago this resort was up and running great. There was some construction going on to repair the damage but did not interfere with our vacation. We were told not to expect good food in Cuba but this resort had amazing food, I even gained 10 lbs in a week. The staff was super friendly and helpful. My wife is diabetic and can't drink regular pop so the staff went out of their way to make sure she had diet pop to drink. They upgraded us [... read more] at no cost to a villa and it was beautiful.