Amazing Staff

I can't say enough about the staff. Our maid was always friendly, Alex the tennis pro was great, bartenders, waitresses, staff don't stop working. Don't go if you're looking for a beautiful beach. It was off to the side making it a long walk to the washroom and it's uphill to get back to the main area. The chances are you will find something at the buffet to eat. I'm a little fussy and didn't starve.

I don't recommend this hotel in particular

I've traveled to Cuba before, this was my first time in Cayo Guillermo which was a beautiful place. The hotel however was not as great as my other experiences. The food was not that good and very repetitive. I actually felt sick a lot. The beach was very beautiful but very rough, the service was very poor and the hygiene was not great. I've been to 5 stars in Cuba and this I would rate as a 3.5 star max compared to my other experiences.

Not 5 stars hotel

room service was so poor .bar tender refused to give black label but he gave to other guest. I am not heavy drinking its only for having nice time . I don't have say anything to you. as you know your resort is not five stars. your put law and resort on high level .

Disappointing Resort

This resort is only one year old, however it is suffering from electrical and water pipe issues. The rooms are large and pleasant. The bathrooms are also good sized. The shower walls leak onto the bathroom floor, and the rainfall shower head dripped continually. The maid "Yaitza" was very disinterested in her job. The towels were changed only once during the week. The balcony was never swept even though there was a noticeable covering of sand. The fridge was to be restocked every day with so [... read more]ft drinks, water, and beer. She seldom followed through. When I asked her for water and beer she told me she would replace it later. She did not. The daily tip money and "presents" were seemingly accepted as her due and did not provide better service. The food in the International Restaurant was delicious, as were the options in the buffet restaurant. Even though Cuba has severe shortages, the meals were varied and well prepared. The pork was expertly cooked and was both moist and flavourful. The buffet was badly laid out. The line of guests waiting for omelets blocked other guests from the hot service items (sausages, rice, etc). This was repeated at all of the service stations. The hotel is built on the side of a hill. The beach is located at the bottom of the hill and is quite a walk from the main lobby building. The sand is soft and doesn't seem to get hot even in the late afternoon. The best place to walk is near the water where the sand is harder. The water is clear and warm. Unfortunately I did not apply insect repellent and I became a large target for the sand fleas. I had many, many bites. These bites are itchy and last for three or more days. The servers in the lobby area, in the bars, and in the restaurants were friendly and pleasant to deal with. Since none of the service staff lives locally (at least a 1 - 1 1/2 hour commute to and from their homes on the mainland) you would expect a tired, grumpy hotel staff. Not so. I speak a little Spanish and tried to use it as much as possible. The staff were patient and permitted me to practice my limited communication skills. To a person, they were good humored about my Spanish. Some even encouraged my attempts. We brought soap, tooth paste and brushes, shave cream, and dental floss. These items are in short supply in Cuba and were accepted with much appreciation by the staff. We also brought tennis balls for the children. Laundry detergent is in short supply and will be included in our "gifts" next year. The rum sold in the hotel store is priced competitively with the stores in the markets, as were the cigars. This hotel did not seem to have any shortages in the lacquer department and the servers were not stingy with their servings. The entertainment was quite good.

Not What We Expected

While the rooms and the grounds were lovely, there were definite maintenance issues in such a new hotel. All the showers leaked and many sliding doors didn't slide. There were many tripping hazards throughout the resort, especially at the entrance and exit from the buffet. It was obvious that our housekeeper didn't like her job. Our towels were changed once and we had to ask her almost every day for a bottle of water. She rarely replaced the beer in the fridge. The room was clean, though.  [... read more]Most of the staff were very pleasant. The food in the buffet was pretty good but the coffee was awful. This was our third trip to Cuba and the coffee is one of the things we look forward to. Not this time! The International Restaurant was excellent, as was the Chinese Restaurant. We heard negative things from other guests about the Seafood Restaurant so didn't try it.

Best resort

Staff was exceptional Rooms were spacious with modern decor. No bath tubs but oversized showers. Unit 5 had all rooms with partial ocean view. It was also just a short walk to the beach. Lovely beach. Great for swimming catamaran or snorkelling. Would recommend water shoes due to some coral. Can rent a cabana for the day for a few pesos (Recommended) eternity pools were beautiful but most people reserved loungers night before or 6 am. Very clean resort. Gardeners always out watering or [... read more] grooming grounds. Drinks were great. Bars everywhere even on the beach. We brought our own snacks but there is a great snack at to get fries drinks and great Cuban or Louisiana chicken sandwiches. Open 24 hours. Great for a fast omelette and coffee before going out on excursions. Night life in lobby was good local entertainment. A bartender made the most incredible Spanish coffees pouring the different liquors from carafe to carafe while on fire. Beautiful job and very tasty. Nightly entertainment in the theatre started at 9:30 pm. Local entertainers. Food is typical Cuban food. Did and chicken. Chicken and fish. They do have a few beef dishes but beef not tasty. Pork is okay. They offer pasta dishes but meat and pasta not tasty. Not much choice for salads as most vegetables not grown locally. Coffee not available with milk for evening meals only morning coffee with milk. Water is all purified so it’s safe to drink. Just don’t use tap water in your room. Would recommend as a adult resort. Next door is a family resort and on the other side is a rainbow resort.

Very nice resort

Very clean and we'll maintained pools and beach beautiful food was typical for Cuba kinda bland and repetitive but not bad staff was very attentive and friendly nightly shows were just okrooms were very nice modern and we'll maintained no major complaints would return again

Great resort! I'll be back!

Clean, quaint and amazing staff! Had a great time! Will definitely be going back! Pools were fantastic! Lineups were minimal. Couldn't ask for better. Beach was great. Water shoes were helpful as beach has lots of shells. Food was repetitive but always fresh. Definite 4.5 out of 5. Enjoy!!

Needs some improvement

What turned out to be my fiancé’s birthday , turned out to be a battle with front desk . The resort was beautiful with nice grounds , unfortunately our rooms fridge wasn’t stocked for days and we didn’t have room towels also and had to constantly fight with front staff to send some. The food also was repetitive with no flavour and almost everything was dry! Will not return after second visit . I also got food poisoning from the food so no thank you !

Mediocre at best

This is definitely NOT a 5 star hotel. The food was absolutely terrible, even at the à la carte restaurants. For example, one restaurant served onion soup which was clear water with 5 pieces of white onion and half a melba toast floating on the top! The only good meals we had were off the the resort on the excursions. The maid was lazy, barely cleaning or restocking amenities. We had to chase her down to get more toilet paper. The "stocked mini bar" was a juice box, one bottle of water, a [... read more]nd two cans of beer that were never restocked. The resort cut corners everywhere possible - powdered pineapple juice, canned fruit, luncheon ham scored to look like a roast ham, etc. On the first day, the electricity and phone in our room did not work and there was a bad sewage smell coming from the shower. When we retuned from dinner, the ceiling was raining water from a blocked AC drainage hose. The hotel refused to move us and did nothing to correct the problems. We could not to get to the bathroom without walking through a huge pool of water. They did move us the next day, only because I was not taking no for an answer. They really did not care that we were upset and said there was nothing they could do for any compensation. The positives of this resort was the nice groomed beach with beautiful blue water, ample seating near the pools, and good coffee at the lobby bar.

Very good resort

I thoroughly enjoyed the resort & all the entertainment provided. The only issues I had was the maid was not very thorough in her cleaning & checking whether the fridge or water were supplied when needed & had to be asked instead of taking it upon herself to check. There was a problem closing the bathroom door. It appeared to be off the track & couldn't be closed. We reported this at least three to four times & it was never repaired

Relaxing Resort

Overall the resort is very clean and well kept.The service is great but delivery of service is inconsistent. Upon checking in we where told your room is that way, given a map, in the dark, to a room on the far side of the resort. Next day guests are being taken to the room by golf carts on the daylight!?! Food was typical for Cuba. Would recommend the Seafood alacarte. The beach to the left of the resort is very good lots of lounge chairs and bar service.

Great quiet resort

I enjoyed the hotel; the courtyard at night was lovely. Entertainment that 'popped up' in lobby was amazing, as were the shows. The grounds were maintained and it was clean. There were 3 different style pool areas. My criticism would be maintenance. Bathroom door didn't close (slider) the whole week and no one fixed it. Also our maid wasn't the best. Had to ask to restock fridge; she did bare minimal. The beach was nice but sand not as nice as some beaches I've been to in Cuba. I enjo [... read more]yed the adult resort.

Great quiet resort

I enjoyed the hotel; the courtyard at night was lovely. Entertainment that 'popped up' in lobby was amazing, as were the shows. The grounds were maintained and it was clean. My criticism would be maintenance. Bathroom door didn't close (slider) the whole week and no one fixed it. Also our maid wasn't the best. Had to ask to restock fridge; she did bare minimal. The beach was nice but sand not as nice as some beaches I've been to in Cuba. I enjoyed the adult resort.

Amazing resort

New hotel, great food and absolutely beautiful. Night shows are ok but a lot of ballet. Wouldn’t mind seeing that change up a little, staff was pleasant!! Snack bar waiters are the best!! Dinner buffet was super busy and sometimes crazy lines, layout could be better.

Beautiful Resort - 2 weeks of relaxation

If you have been to Varadero then Cayo Coco is a different experience. It is a very beautiful and peaceful place with long white sand beaches and very little traffic. The Imperial had one of the best lobbies that we have seen and I think that was because of the different seating areas (and the large no smoking area). The cleaning staff worked non stop to keep everything beautiful. All of the staff were fantastic throughout the complex. We did, however, spend a lot of quality time in the Spo [... read more]rts bar as there was a married couple that made the most amazing drinks and made everyone feel so at home. The rooms are very nicely appointed and the beds are wonderful. We had ocean view and while we were not looking straight at the ocean it was very nice from the balcony. Reminder to Canadians to bring a power converter and not an adapter as it is 220v. At least the TVs have a USB so we could power our things with that. WiFi is cheap and worked almost everywhere at the resort. Note: bring your own face cloth... as they do not provide any. The food was wonderful. Travellers need to remember that "you are not at home"... things will taste different. Cuba does not have access to the same products as Mexico or the Dominican does. So go with it! Also you are on vacation, try something different, you may like it. They had 3 a la cart restaurants which were all fun and enjoyable. The best kept secret was a 2nd lunch buffet close to the beach. The snack bar was also always there for something different. I will finish off my food review with the bread. I do not know if they were cooking it in house but it was fantastic. Loaf after loaf of the most beautiful and fresh bread that you will ever find. Between the 2 Muthu resorts they have built a nice market that has all of the souvenir shopping required.(They sell the same things everywhere) It also had a spa, (which was lovely), bowling, and a restaurant. So there were a few things that I don't want to be too negative about but they are worth mentioning. The beach, while beautiful you really needed swim shoes unless the water was calm. There is a lot of coral in the water closest to the hotel. If you went further down it got better but you still needed to watch your toes. Some signs warning swimmers of this would have been nice. We are not pool people so we spent a lot of time at the beach. On the calm days we were able to snorkel in front of the hotel and saw amazing coral and fish. In the 2 weeks we also visited Pilar beach 3 times which was amazing. The lobster lunch for 2 was amazing at their little restaurant. All resorts, everywhere, need to come up with a better way to reserve pool and beach chairs. Putting a towel on a chair and then not using it until 2pm is not acceptable. Please, please, someone, come up with a system that gives everyone a chance for a seat. If you are going to use the chair right after breakfast then great, put a towel on it. Overall we had a wonderful time. Thanks to Wendy at Tripcentral for the recommendation and the coordination.

What a Disaster!

Gran Muthu Imperial was disappointing from the beginning During check-in there were many guests arriving at the same time and a long lineup and wait which is understandable. What is not understandable is that there was only one employee doing the task. Susanna was overwhelmed and disorganized. At the same time (Suzanna) became impatient and rude after my daughter suggested that the forms for check-in could be given to us before we approached the desk, so that check-in could go faster. She be [... read more]gan speaking so fast we couldn’t understand her, and when questioned she said she needed to speak fast because she was in a hurry, which only lengthened the process. After arriving in our room we discovered that the sliding glass door didn’t lock, the safe was not working, nor was the t.v. We had service people coming in and out of our room for a day. The t.v. didn’t work after many attempts. After returning from the beach late afternoon, the room had not been cleaned, nor the beds made. There was dark hair all over the top of the dresser. We reported this and were told that the maid said we asked for the room NOT to be cleaned. Untrue. When taking a shower we discovered that it was not draining properly, and the water leaked onto the floor, flooding it. When speaking to other guests, they said they had a similar problem. The following day we attempted to resolve the issues but the front desk did not always answer he phone which became habitual. We finally contacted the manager who moved us to another room on the same floor. Our housekeeper would hang up the same used towels, which were on the floor. One day she wrapped them up tightly into swans and when we unwrapped them they were our wet towels we previously used. Our beds were made, but the sheets not changed for the whole week. On the day before checkout, I was in the room when the housekeeper was cleaning and saw first hand as she picked up the towels to fold them and put them back for reuse. When I asked for fresh towels she seemed confused. When we went to the hospitality desk to report this, they were appalled but nothing changed. I’m wondering what level of training the have. It’s unfortunate that we were not aware that there was a new hotel, Gran Muthu Raiinbow, under the same ownership, which only had 50 guests, and we should have been given an upgrade instead of dealing with daily frustrations. The food choices were not great. Sometimes they ran out of certain things and were waiting for a shipment, which I understand happens on a regular basis. The highlight of our trip were our servers, Yanet, Lisandra and Yanexsy, who worked the breakfast and lunch shift. They could not do enough for us. They should be commended for excellence in their work, which the did with pleasure. As for the beach, there continues to be rocks and boulders in the swim area including seaweeds. We were told by other travellers who stayed at other resorts in Cayo Coco, that machinery removed the seaweeds daily as well as any rocks. We saw machinery on the beach daily, but it sat on the beach doing nothing. This was rated as a 5 star hotel, which it isn’t. It should be rated 3 star I feel that we should have been discouraged from booking at this resort and other suggestions made as we were dealing with a knowledgeable agent. That is extremely disappointing. As well, in speaking with other guests, everyone said they would never return. I feel that my daughter and I should receive some compensation for the daily aggravations we had to deal with. The lobby service was appalling. Most times the phones were not answered. When my daughter asked about the weather she was told she would have to come down to the lobby, or ask our rep, meaning Air Transat. The rep laughingly said that oh yes, she was responsible for everything!

Amazing Resort

My wife and I had an excellent time at this resort! The staff is very friendly, the service was great and The food was really good, especially the a la cartes! We will definitely be back to The Gran Muthu Imperial and will recommend it to anyone going to Cuba!

Amazing Resort, but more importantly...AMAZING STAFF!!!

I have stayed at the Gran Muthu Imperial now twice. Let me tell you, the second time I was treated like a VIP guest. They went out of their way to make sure that everyone feels like their most important client. From the reception process and welcoming spirit, to the feeling that you are now part of the MGM family! The bellhops are so polite and respectful....Kevin would do anything to ensure a guest is taken care of, so very patient and attentive! The rooms are excellent and views are spect [... read more]acular from almost everywhere in the resort. If anything isn't working, which we rarely saw an issue, they fix it right away! The chambermaids make everything look beautiful, the towel designs are awesome, bathroom is impeccably clean! On to the other areas of the resort.....the Bartenders in the Sports bar, in particular Yadianis, are so professional and yet it feels like you went to your favorite pub at home and they see you every week. Alexander, the tennis instructor (who also works with the entertainment crew), is the most professional and skilled instructor. Always has a smile and a kind word whenever you see him...a real pro at his instruction on the court! Liuba and Williams from the entertainment team are just so full of excitement and spirit! They make sure that the guests are enjoying themselves at all times, even when they are not doing a poolside game or lobby activity, they make a point to mingle with clients and see how they are enjoying their visit. The swim up bar has the best guys working to make sure you are enjoying yourself..Randy and Abel are a great team! Ask for the "Randy Special" it's amazing! The guys at the Snack bar (open 24 hours), Hector, Alejanro, Jose, - just amazing guys...try the Havana Special or a Spanish coffee!...so good! Now for Food....this is always the question people ask... It is good overall. We have to remember they are working within their limitations! They always do their best to ensure that you have what you need. The omelettes are awesome, Pasta is great!...depending on how adventurous you are will determine what your culinary experience will be. The Cuban nights have some delicious Cuban favourites and the pulled pork is beyond compare! The aLaCarte options are good, but again it depends on your taste. Our favourite was the Seafood restaurant. Close to the beach, they treat you like you are at an upscale restaurant and the Salmon is delicious! This is definitely my favourite resort of all that I have stayed at. I am definitely going back! See you soon MGM family!

Relaxing Trip

The resort was a relaxing and calming environment with the essentials for an all-inclusive vacation. The lobby bartenders were awesome and the entertainment crew did a fantastic job. The pools were clean and the beach, which was a short walk, was a fabulous way to spend a day.