Below expectations

There was no special area for star prestige checking in, reception staff did not explain all the privilege of that level. We know that food variety is limited but the problem the chef also has limited skills. The other staff was very friendly. There was a problem with hot water in rooms but solved after 2 days. Rooms, in general, are clean and comfortable. There are 2 elevators only for a huge building and most of the time one only is working. The beach is clean with no see weeds but the current [... read more] is very high and the ocean becomes very dangerous with even mild wind.

Gorgeous beaches

We had a mostly wonderful time at this hotel. The pools and beach were gorgeous and we made sure to make the most of them! Unfortunately the restaurants were almost completely booked out so we only managed to try one - we were disappointed that we couldn't try the others, but the one night we got in to the Italian restaurant was fabulous and worth the 4 day wait! The entertainment at the theatre was a lot of fun on the night we went. Everywhere we went, we were always surrounded by friendly smil [... read more]ing service. Buffet food was okay - just a matter of finding the things we liked among the large variety of options. Room service forgot to bring us cutlery, making eating dinner a little difficult - when we asked for it, the staff member did not return (he may have misunderstood the request) so we had to go and raid the buffet for spoons and our food was stone cold by the time we got to eat it! Overall we had an excellent stay, with only a few minor hiccups. Would definitely stay again.

Above average Cuban resort

Hotel is nice, 2 years old, but low craftmenship is obvious considering cracked tiles and non-functioning doors etc. Food was good, not great varieties, but much better quality then expected. Beaches in Varadero never disapoint, so this time is the same. Staff is very friendly, quick service, much quicker with a few CUC (Cuban Pesos) tip. Sports bar open 24 hours have very good menu and friendly staff. Highly recommended spot.

Nice vacation

I was overall satisfied with our vacation. Rooms are spacious but we had a room on the first floor without a view and there was strange smell in the room. I don't know if we could ask for another room on higher floor without additional payment. Food and entertainment were very good.

Awesome vacay in Cuba

The hotel was amazingly upkept and clean for such a large resort Clean room, friendly staff Service was A+ Typical of Cuban resorts the food was what we expected. Regardless, there was always something we could eat Our only negative is the halls and stairways need to be kept clean. Overall I’d rate this resort at least a 4

Amazing

We had a really good time, my son love the kid club , the room service was good and clean . Beach was nice and the pool very clean. The food in the buffet was ok no complain was varity to eat. The ladies in the kids club amazing my son love them.

Unfortunately, would not recommend this resort.

We just returned from our trip to Varadero and this hotel. We did a lot of research before booking at this hotel and wish we had done more. I will not return to this resort, ever! First, the positive parts: beaches are beautiful, entertainment is great and very professional, a-la-carte restaurants are very good, one of the best cappucino I have had and the majority of staff are wonderful. Unfortunately, these positive parts did not override the negative parts of the vacation and this resort. We  [... read more]had issues with both our rooms: shower head in one room did not stay on the wall (reported this 4 times to front desk), safe did not work in one room and patio door in the other room was so difficult to open (again, reported this 4 times to the front desk). None of these issues were resolved by the end of our stay. I also left a note with the person at reception when we checked out in the hopes that we can make someone else's vacation a little less stressful. On a few occasions, we came back from a long day at the beach to find no bath or hand towels in our roon - time to chase down a maid.One room smelled musty and not sure why. The A/C stopped working in this same room and after hours of waiting for someone to come up, it seems that the issue was the patio door wasn't closed all the way, so the A/C turns off. Why the person at reception couldn't have troubleshooted this is beyond me. I am shocked that this hotel is supposed to be newer (some reviews say 2 years old!) as it definitely looks worn: stains on the cushions of the lobby, broken tiles in lobby and hallway of our floor. One of the pools (and there are only two adult pools) was closed for 5 of the 7 days we were there. Half of the cabanas on the side where the out of service pool was were out of service or under construction. At least 4 of the showers coming off the beach were out of service the entire time we were there. Many broken beach chairs on the beach. All umbrellas look very worn and some were broken or ripped. We weren't able to replace beach towels on 3 of our 7 days there as they were out of clean towels. Buffet: reasonable assortment of food both prepared and in stations and made to order although the made to order lines (for pasta, grilled meat and omelettes) were long. For example, the cooks at these stations would only do one pasta at a time even though they had 3 or 4 areas to prepare.....please, speed up this process so people don't get frustrated waiting for their food. Same issue with the omelette station at breakfast. Although they tried to vary the assortment, the food all seemed the same to me. Breakfast included french toast, sunny side up eggs, made to order omelettes, scrambled eggs etc. There was lots of fresh fruits and desserts each day. You won't go hungry but you will get tired of the huge dining hall with loads of people. Unfortuntely, 3 out of 4 of us had stomach issues while we were there. Although we tried to drink only the bottled water that they provide, it is almost impossible to avoid drinking water that is not bottled. I also witnessed on many occasions, the cooks using the same utensils for raw and cooked food and for different types of meat - can you say cross contamination? Drinks: I suspect the alcohol is watered down and I don't know if this is so the resort limits their liability or to reduce costs. Beach towels must be replaced first thing in the morning - ie at 9am when they open. We went later in the day 3 times and there were no more clean towels. I would think they would just keep washing these towels all day but when they are out, they're out. My one recommendation for the person responsible for reading this review and addressing it is to have more maintenance people working at the resort. With a hotel this big and with so many people using the facilities, I don't doubt that things will break or wear down but a good part of the annual operating budget should go towards maintenance: fixing things, replacing things etc. It really dampers a vacation when you have to deal with issues that you shouldn't have to deal with; and when no one addresses your issues when you bring it/them to their attention - it's like they either don't care or really don't have enough people to deal with things. In reading other reviews, it seems this is a common theme.

Good Clean Modern Resort

Overall my wife and I had a great relaxing vacation. Food was good, room was clean and the hotel beach and pool area was great. The only issue we had was that we were on the 7th floor and only 2 out of 6 elevators worked. Therefore I would not recommend this resort to people with any mobility issues

BEST MINI CLUB FOR KIDS EVER, BIG THANKS TO THE STAFF

STAYED 2 WEEKS AT THIS HOTEL IN JULY 2019. THE STAFF AT THE MINI CLUB FOR THE KIDS WERE JUST SO AMAZING (PROBABLY THE ONLY GOOD THING THAT HAPENNED). THE HOTEL WAS CONSTRUTED OVER 2 YEARS AGO BUT LOOKS LIKE IT WAS 10 YEARS. CERAMIC IS BROKEN EVERYWHERE. BATHTUB LEAKING INTO THE ROOM. LIGHT BULBS WERE NEVER REPLACED. THEY REALLY SHOULD PUT SOME MONEY TO RENOVATE SOME AREA. THEY WERE REDOING THE BEACH (PUMPING SAND ON THE BEACH FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR) SO WE COULD EAR AND SMELL THE BIG DIESEL TRUCKS  [... read more]MOST OF THE TIME. THE BUFFET WAS QUITE GOOD AND THE SERVICE WAS FINE. THEIR RESTAURANTS WERE REALLY BAD (BETTER IN THE BUFFET). THE STEAKHOUSE WAS CLOSED. THEY CLOSED THE KIDS POOL LOTS OF TIME. I HAD ACCESS TO THE KAYAKS AND KATAMARAN ONLY A FEW DAYS WITHOUT NOTICE. I CAN KEEP GOING BUT I'LL WRITE FOR HOURS... REALLY NOT WHAT I BOUGHT ON THE INTERNET... THERE WAS NO BEACH AT ALL LIKE ON THE PICTURES...

Not as good as the first time...

This is my second time at the resort, in a span of 4 months. I enjoyed it so much the first time because of the customer service and the beautiful grounds, that I decided to go back with a group of ten. Honestly it wasn’t as great as the first time. Customer service was horrendous from the beginning of check-in. The attendant at the front desk was full of attitude and gave my group some serious side eyes because maybe she didn’t want to deal with a group of ten! Who knows?? The room was dirt [... read more]y with stained sheets and the house chamber maids did not replenished our water and some members of my group also had the same problem. The dinning area (buffet) was not maintained quickly to service the next customer sitting down, so you had to call them over to clean the tables before you can actually use it. There was always a shortage of something, such as plates, glasses, napkins etc.. I don’t think the pool was clean, there were lots of debris, bugs and clear plastic cups. On the other hand, the beach is awesome and gorgeous. The front office personnel’s are all rude with a side of attitude and provide no apologies or compassion if you had a complaint. They would tell you “there is nothing we can do” my room door was broken and instead of them looking after it, they made me walk back and forth 3 times to test the door, I had to do this along with my four year old son! And we were not close to the front desk. After pleading my case that it is not the key but the actual door it self, they sent a mechanic to fix it - only to be broken again the next morning. I had to repeat the whole ordeal again. Such a waste of my afternoon. Again, no apologies or compassion. The bartenders and waiting staff on the other hand are super nice. On the last day, let me remind you that check out time is 12p. We had 6 rooms in total. Out of the 6 rooms, 3 rooms got a call at 10am saying they had to check out of their room by 1030am. My family did not speak English so well and it was their first time, so they evacuated the room by 10:30am. I was not aware about this situation until we left the resort, otherwise they would’ve heard it from me. The reason being was that there were new guest checking in. Anyways, I also found another fellow Canadian who found the service terrible and she quoted “I will not be coming back here again” she too also visited the resort twice. I am very embarrassed to bring my family here because for most of them it was their first time. With that being said, I too will not recommend my friends or family or see myself back here again.

🔆LOVED THIS RESORT🔆

We have been to Varadero three times and this resort was by far our favourite! The room was really clean(thank youSonia) and the staff were very friendly and helpful. The drinks were fantastic and, amazingly, we thought the food was pretty good too! We had a la cartes 2 different nights and they were both delicious! Overall we were really impressed and would definitely come back!

Great Resort

The only problem the hotel has is elevators, they work every other time and every other day, the rest is great -fascinating balcony view, an amazing beach, food was very good, lots to choose from, the best coffee.

Great resort

This resort is great. Grounds and rooms are clean. Beach is amazing and pool is just as good. Close walk to the beach which is a bonus. I have found a difference between last year to this year with the service and food. Food is very repetitive and not enough staff to accommodate the amount of people at the resort. But I must say all the cooks and staff did there best. But we go to Cuba for the beach. I would return to this hotel in the near future.

Terrible experience

Resort was dirty. Rooms smelled very musty and damp. The grounds were dirty as well-litter on ground, cigarette butts all in the beach. Elevators disgusting. Service was extremely poor. First and last time in Cuba.

Iberostar Bella Vista - It could be great - but its just good

Our first impression was that the hotel was modern, bright and clean. It is a very beautiful resort. Although the beach is very small, it is quite stunning. The only problem with the beach is that you need to save your spot by 6:00 a.m. or you won't get a spot with shade. Also, the lounging area around the pool is small. We felt that the common areas for guests is small to accommodate the amount of people at this resort. The rooms are bright and clean. Our maid was great. We  [... read more]were actually surprised most with the food. We thought the food was great. We didn't enjoy the buffet dinner, but the al a cartes were great! The only downside is the booking system for the al a carte restaurants. You can only book one day in advance for the next day and you need to line up at least 1 hour before booking starts if you want a reservation. They really need to improve this system! The problems we had with this resort is the way it is managed. We waited 2 days for a beach towel because our maid was off work for a day and NO ONE else would give us our missing beach towel. We also had 2 days with no clean beach towels to exchange! It is a ridiculous process. We also had a lot of problems with the door mechanism to our room and couldn't get in a few times. Very frustrating, especially when you are ready for bed. The accumulations of these little inconveniences is really what made us annoyed with the hotel. I don't think I would return there.

Nice Resort

The resort was beautiful, the rooms were kept clean, but I found the rooms damp. I must say for Cuba the food was good, very tasty not bland. The beach is beautiful, the only problem I had with the beach is the size, it’s not big enough for the capacity of people this resort accommodates. Overall we had a good stay at the Iberostar Bella Vista.

Beautiful resort

We just go back from iberostar bella vista,I'm varadero cuba,all I can say, it was fantastic.thanks to tammy Templeton from tripcental for booking us,i will call you again in October.again thanks bella vista for a beautiful week.

Fabulous holiday!

This resort is lovely. The grounds and pools are well tended and it's obvious the staff work very hard to keep the public spaces and rooms as clean and as orderly as possible. They take pride in their work and it shows. The staff treat you well and are very friendly and accommodating. Regrettably, our room did not have hot water for two days, so the staff graciously transferred us to another room a few floors up. That was fine, except the elevators in that wing didn't always work, so we used t [... read more]he stairs more and used the elevators on the other end of the resort. It added more exercise to our routine, so rather than complain, we just made the best of it. Since the food in the all you can eat buffet was quite good, the exercise going up and down 7 or 9 floors (depending on where we were headed) was not begrudged. I read a lot of reviews about the food in Cuba before we went there, but we found that the food at this resort was quite delicious.

Ok not amazing resort

This hotel is not good for people who has mobility problem. It has almost 900 rooms and only one elevator works. All the others were broken. I was stuck in one for 15 minutes and press the emergency button but no one came. There were no air in the elevator . I was terrified. I reported it and all they said were sorry. I will not go back.

Nice ressort

Beach is nice and clean. The rooms have a modern feel. The good is ok, but far from amazing as to be expected in Cuba. The resort is spacious and not too over crowded, especially in the evenings. Would recommend to a friend.