We stayed at the Wyndham Cozumel for the 5th time, 1st since Wyndham took over. We have always loved it there and it has improved under new management. The food is excellent, plentiful and replaced often. Luis and the activities crew work very hard, are entertaining and keep things moving. The bartenders are friendly, understanding and really get after it. The employees at this resort work very hard. The hotel was at 100% and handled the crowd well.
We are divers and used Dive with Martin again for another excellent experience!

Just returned from five great days at the Sabor!

The entire resort is beautiful, lots of palm trees and flowers. The grounds are well maintained and our room was wonderful. The support staff from check in through maid service was outstanding.

The buffet (La Isla)was fine but we made reservations in all of the specialty restaurants (Mosaique, Robeto's and Vista del Mar) and found them to be a unique dinning experience. Excellent food and atmosphere...remember this is a resort in Mexico not downtown Chicago....

We spent a lot of time at the beach and yes it is rocky at the edge of the water but this is well documented and a cheap pair of water shoes took care of the problem. Great drinks and snack bar, again remember you are at a family friendly resort in Mexico there are going to be a lot of people...

If you are traveling without young children I would recommend the Sabor section...a great adult only experience with friendly guards controlling access. Our room was lovely and had everything we could ask for....we had two opportunities for a free upgrade to the AURA but choose not to take it...the AURA was beautiful but we couldn't smoke in our room there..it was only about 40% percent full.

Our group had 3 rooms at the Wyndham from March 14-21and during our stay we got to stay at the Wyndham Resort (1 night), Sabor (4 nights) and the Aura (2 nights). While confusing, the changes had to do with my 2 different reservations and an upgrade to Aura during our stay. Our group included 2 couples in our 50's to early 60's along with our 2 sons who were 20.

First of all, our check-ins at each of the locations were handled very efficiently and without any problems. Our thanks to Carlos from the bellhop staff for handling all our moves - he was really a trooper and a great guy to get to know.

I will give my impressions of each location because they certainly are different in price and my expectations. At the main Wyndham resort, there were numerous front desk staff to handle the many incoming visitors. I believe there were 5 or 6 when we arrived. The lobby is an open air design and very nicely appointed and has Wifi. I had read all the diverse review about this hotel and my expectations were that it would be about a 3.5 star hotel. We stay in building 15 and overlooked the children's pool and had a great view of the ocean. I think the rooms were set up in six plexes with 2 rooms on each level and were 350 square feet, very clean but were a little dated especially in the bathroom/shower areas. I estimate that the resort was probably built in the late seventies or early eighties and the HVAC and plumbing probably needs some attention in areas. One of the rooms in the group had a problem with the shower diverter on their tub that did not work and when I took a shower, I only turned on the hot water but then it was nice and warm. There was a nice little balcony with a table and two chairs. The grounds and pools were well laid out, very pretty and very well maintained. The beach had plenty of sand and we always seemed to find chairs when we wanted to use them but be aware that getting into the water is a bit tricky because of large rocks in the water (bring your water socks and swim over the rocks). The beach is not real wide in comparison to other resorts we have stayed at in the Caribbean. You can also do wave running at the beach ($55 for a single for a half hour). And you can also arrange all kinds of outings (scuba/snorkeling/ATV/excursions/ horse back riding etc..) in the lobby. My wife and I played golf at the Nicklaus course twice and that is really a treat but bring extra balls. The price is $99 per round with cart when staying at the Wyndham and only $63 after 1 pm. We had a car so we had mobility to get to the course north of the airport, into town for shoppping and taking tours around the island which is really a neat trip. The restaurants available include Robertos, Mosaic and Vista del Mar which were only available by reservation at night. We ate at each and they were very good. There is also a snack (hamburger/fry) restaurant open during the day and also a nice buffet restaurant that was open during the day and night. The buffet had a nice selection of salads, breads, entrees and deserts - drinks of any kind were provided by the wait staff. At breakfast they also had a nice omelet bar. Over all, the food variety and quality was definitely above average in comparison to other all inclusive we have been to. My advice is to plan your time and get reservations to mix up your eating variety. There are two bars, one by the beach and another by the lobby. During our stay, lines (4 to 6 long) seemed to develop at the beach bar at the busy times that could have been alleviated with an extra bartender or two. There is a good selection of mixed drinks but it is limited to pretty much bar liquors (don't be looking for any single malts). There is only one beer (Dos Equies [sp]) that was a little sweet for my taste but still pretty good. There was usually entertainment each night in the courtyard and theater. Certainly not Las Vegas, but generally worth watching and many times includes audience participation. In back of the lobby there is a building with some shops and the Spa Many others have talked about a "sewer" smell in the resort. There is an area along the pathway outside the general lobby and before the entrance to Sabor that definitely has a distinct odor. Not enough to knock you over, but it is there. In summary, I would rank this location equal to or higher than my expectations and overall a good value for the money. There were times that if I were impatient or expecting too much, I suppose I could have gotten angry, but then again, I can go with the flow and learn to live with a 4 minute wait here and there. After all, this is a vacation.

The Sabor is definitely a step up from the general resort. It is much newer (certainly built in the last 5-10 years) and set up for adults only (18 and up). It is set up with all the units overlooking the pool area and many have a pool area that leads to a slide into the main pool. The complex is really nice and has two bars (one with swim-up) and the Mosaic restaurant that is open anytime for breakfast and lunch (diner is by reservation). It has it's own registration/concierge headed up by Enrigue, the director over Sabor. I must ad that he does a fantastic job and I saw him go above and beyond his responsibilities (like going into to town with a couple that had their rental car towed and negotiating with the city towing department). The bar selections also goes up here with a better variety of scotch blends (e.g. J&B and equivalents) - but still no single malts. Each room is 500 square feet, nicely appointed with a walk in shower and a larger deck that includes a hammock. There is no beach view from this complex but is only a short walk to the regular resort which is available for for all Sabor guests. This complex is definitely worth the extra money. There were a number of other college kids staying here but they were pretty well behaved and they all mixed well with the other "older" set. Surprisingly, our kids said that they thought this was one of the best vacations they ever went on (including Miami Beach, Key West, St Kitts Outer Banks and Punta Cana). They also hand out free passes for taxi rides into town to Carlos and Charlies where they were able to mix it up with more college kids. Overall, to me this is a solid 4 star resort when combined with the general resort.

Finally, we got upgraded to the Aura resort for the last two days. This was really a treat. It is brand new and just impeccable for service, rooms, bars (top scotch blends and 12 year single malts), restaurants (including 24 hour room service), fitness center and beach/pier. To begin with the regular room is 750 square feet, walk in rain shower and a separate jacuzzi tub. Without going into great detail, this is definitely a solid 5 star resort. Go to their web site for all the details. While there is a definite price increase from the Sabor, if you want this level of pampering, it will definitely deliver.

Finally, I have to add that wherever we went in Cozumel, we were treated with meeting a citizenry that were just great people. Very friendly and making it one of the safest areas we have ever visited. It is definitely a place I would return.

Our trip to the Wyndham Resort in Cozumel was not good. In fact it was terrible. A combination of inexplicable disorganization at check in, apparent understaffing for a busy time of year, a lack of drive among staff, and the fact that what the place offered really wasn’t for us led to a vacation from which I could not wait to return home.

From the moment we (my husband and I, and a group of friends with whom we were traveling to celebrate friends’ 40th birthdays) emerged from the airport we were met by people who provided use with a litany of stories all of which ended with “you will be staying in another hotel tonight and then you can move to the Wyndham tomorrow.” Stories ranged from “the air conditioner is broken,” to “there are no rooms available.” On our guard and aware that these tourist destinations are often teeming with ploys to get unsuspecting vacationers to tour hotels or time share offerings we didn’t buy the stories. We demanded to be taken to the Wyndham.

Unfortunately it was true that there were not enough available rooms. Some of us firmly demanded rooms in the hotel and were successful in getting accommodation on site, while six folks were transported to another hotel. We began to think that this situation might have been due to the fact that we were traveling as a group and that because of that they treating us differently. But throughout the three hours that we stood in the lobby trying to claim rooms which we had reserved months in advance we witnessed many other visitors being met with the same reality.

When we (husband and I) reserved the hotel we paid the additional fees to stay in the adults only Sabor section. Our first night we were put in the Reef Club section which we were told was “an upgrade.” I am not sure how a room with a gap between the door and the door jamb, a rusted spot in the bath tub, and walls so thin I could have participated in snorkel excursion planning with my neighbors could be classified an upgrade from anything, but I guess there are those who would have thought that to be the case.

The next day we were moved to a room in Sabor, but only after numerous follow up conversations in person and by phone with the front desk staff. Another couple in our group who had also paid for Sabor when they booked their rooms were upgraded to the neighboring property Aura (also a Wyndham Hotel – one which was much nicer), while most of the remaining folks in our group were upgraded to Sabor. My husband and I were not offered any upgrade or consideration for our inconvenience. I guess they figure they made good with us by putting us in the section that we’d paid for.

Once we finally we were in a room we thought we could settle in to enjoy the time we had remaining in our vacation. Unfortunately my husband and I found little to enjoy about the Wyndham. This is not to say that some folks who visit this resort would not have a great time away and enjoy themselves. What it pointed out for us is that there are people for whom this is a perfect vacation and there are people for whom this is far from a great getaway.

Particular issues that bothered us include those listed below. I have listed what we assume might be happening with each observation, but obviously these are my opinions and have no basis in fact.

• It was impossible to get reservations in the three restaurants on the property, even though a nighttime walk past any of the restaurants revealed empty tables at dinner time. (Our assumption: The hotel is trying to keep costs down by keeping the number of staff down. The result is that they can not handle the volume of guests that want to eat in the restaurant.) (Note: we did get reservations albeit either really late or really early in the evening because we had a very strong negotiator in our group that took up our cause. One night in that terrible buffet was enough.)

• The wall of sewage laden air that you have to walk through to reach the main lobby area. (Our assumption: When the resort was built it had to have its own waste treatment facility. Overtime it may be that the resort has grown around and beyond the original location of the sewage treatment area and now means that sewage smell is a reality of daily life on the resort.)

• Service was inordinately slow. We are talking a minimum of 48 minutes for breakfast during which it often took more than 10 minutes just to get coffee, even when there was just two other tables seated. I have never bought the argument that is often made among travelers as “Mexico time.” Particularly after having had relaxed, yet attentive service in numerous places in Zihuatenejo. (Our assumption: Aside from the same assumption listed in the first point above about staffing levels. It just doesn’t seem like the employees care. They seem bored, and uninspired. This is potentially a training issue for the hotel management, and also suggests that perhaps these employees may not be treated very well.)

• Sabor’s designation as “adults only” is really only a distinction by age. Maturity level, class, and quality do not make that section worth the price premium. (Our assumption: This is a means of making guests think they’re getting additional quality, a bit of peace away from children, or maybe even a bit of luxury even though none of that is true. In fact we were shocked to find that the most peace and rest that we got while sitting by the pool was when we moved over to the less populated and quieter kids’ pool.)

• A general lack of customer service. (Our assumption: Aside from the assumptions listed about staffing, and employees not caring listed above. A majority of the clientele that were there when we were there were loud, drunk, annoying, and lacking in general tact and class. Serving people like this on a regular basis has got to get old fast. The staff may now just take out their frustration on any unsuspecting guest that may come around.

On our last day at the Wyndham I figured we’d made it through and we would not have to endure any further annoyance or shock. We were treated to one final display of outlandishness though. After we had packed and checked out we though we would sit down to a final slow and drawn out lunch at Mosaique. It was 12:10 PM when we took a seat at one of the outdoor tables. An employee came out immediately and asked us if we wanted lunch. When we replied that we did the employee explained that they did not start serving until 12:30. “No problem,” we said “We can sit and wait. We have a few hours before we have to leave for the airport.” The employee then told us that we could not sit there and that we would have to leave the restaurant. The reason was that if we sat there other people would think that they could come and sit and start ordering lunch.

Such was the story of our trip to the Wyndham. One mind boggling, disappointing surprise after another.

Though we knew, when we booked the Wyndham Resort in Cozumel that we were not booking a top market hotel, we figured that the Wyndham brand would offer at least a solid mid market and mid-range quality experience for our vacation. From the minute we arrived in Mexico we learned that we had thought wrong. We will certainly not stay at a Wyndham again, and we now know that if ever there was a case for the old saying “you get what you pay for” this is it.