I just returned from six nights/days at the Occidental and was profoundly impressed, mostly by the layout and location of the resort. Firstly, this is one of 5-6 hotels in the 'southern' hotel zone of Cozumel, which is far more relaxing than the many hotels in bustling, noisy San Miguel (town). The property is immaculately maintained, a veritable tropical Palace of Versailles. The rooms are quite nice, with a large bathroom and separate shower and tub. The beds were a bit firm, but I didn't lose any sleep over it! The separate hacienda-style buildings lend an intimate atmosphere to the property. Honestly, I can't understand how people can complain about the food! What the heck do people expect for this price range? (Is this the KFC and McDonald's crowd sounding off because this place serves tasty, nutritious food ?) There is a day-to-day sameness in buffet food, but they varied the supper buffet with a different theme each night. There were folkloric musical and dance shows for entertainment each night. As a previous reviewer has stated they keep the gringos well-watered with good quality liquor and cerveza. The staff really busts their humps to keep the guests well fed and taken care of. The separate relax and activity pools are a good idea for holidaymakers that have different goals in mind. Heck, they even have separate p.m. maid service to 'turn down' your bed, draw the drapes, and to leave chocolates and more towels. I would return here in the future, but I will do so in the winter, when the sun ins't straight overhead in the sky. The sunburn factor is off the charts in southern Mexico this time of the year.

We stayed at this hotel 11 May 2008 on arrival we found the hotel to be quite small but well kept.
The gardens were nice and the rooms bright and the pool clean. The special restaurants we not very good especially the grill. The food choice was not very good in the buffet restaurant or in the lunch time restaurant. But overall we were happy to carry on our stay. That is until the second week of our stay. The management had booked in a party of 79 American students who saw fit to go on a wild drinking and vandalising spree. Smashing televisions kicking down the bridge that connects to the main pool smoking and vomiting in the pool. And totally taking over the main pool area and bar. I and a party of other guest staying at this hotel confronted the manager about the behaviour of the students. He was very unhelpful said that he would warn them and see what happened the next day. Unfortunately nothing changed and that night there was fighting to go along with the previous behaviour. I confronted him again and he was prepared to do nothing .after a previous stay at a hotel in Cuba we decided not to put up with this anymore and asked our first choice rep to move us out . She arranged this for us and we spent the rest of our holiday at the iberostar.
The manager of this hotel must decide what type of client he wants to stay as is was far from being a family friendly hotel more like an 18 -30 holiday !.

The grounds were magnificent! Service with a smile. Loved seeing the iguanas so close up. Since being back we are having Pina Colada withdrawls. Rent a jeep and see the east side of the island its not to be missed white powder beaches and huge waves not to mention solitude. Stay away from the people at the hotel who want to offer you a "gift" its a hoax to get you to listen to their "time share" speal. We knew ahead of time and passed on the offer and were only asked one other time. As long as you say no and mean it, just walk on by, they leave you alone. Buy jewlery from the guy on the beach not the store in the hotel waaayy to pricey. There was only one guy selling stuff on the beach, he walks by asking all you have to do is say your not interested and he will not bug you again. This was a nice change from other parts of Mexico I have been in. Everyone here was so extremely nice! We were treated very well, there is no way we could have had a vacation like this in the US. Not for the money and the service. Its nice to be in a place where you can eat and drink as much as you want, then play on the hobie cat or snorkel from the beach or do nothing as long as you want. We loved it. We were dissappointed in the two reefs seen better.

Our family of seven just got back from the Occidental and our visit was not as super as many had mentioned. Before I start let me be sure to state that I am NOT a complainer by nature and I am NOT picky either. Overall, we had a good time...but we DID have some complains and the only reason I decided to do this review was that I look each year on this website to decide where we will stay for our yearly family vacation. We started out on a bad note, as two of our three rooms were together and the other was VERY far from the others and from the beach.We had requested to all be in the same building. Then it took over an hour to get our luggage to our room and all the luggage was delivered to one of the rooms and I had to go retrieve it from their room. My husband had to get firm with them as we waited and waited and not sure it would have been delivered in an hour if we had not called about it. Did not like the front desk and how it was set up. It was small and so hard to get someone to help you. I did not find the service to be all that everyone had said. We have taken various trips all over Mexico and we did not find the staff to be that friendly or helpful. Some were, yes, but overall, not impressed.
The grounds were BEAUTIFUL and so well taken care of. The rooms were lovely and very comfortable, although we had to ask for things at times and didn't have all the attention many other reviews mentioned.
The food was good....and that is it...just good. Again, the service was not as friendly and helpful as other places we have been.
The beach was quite a hike, but that I knew about when we made the reservations, but it was more of a hike than I imagined. But really not too bad. The beach itself was okay, not that great, and some of that due to weather this week I am sure.
Overall, we had a good time, but there were these things that we were disappointed in. Honestly, I am uncomfortable writing this as I am not a complainer by nature, but we probably would not go back to this hotel.