We had the displeasure of staying at the Occidental Grand September 24-29th. I’ll begin on a positive note and say the only aspect that makes this hotel four stars is the architecture. I’m thoroughly convinced you can find better food and service at a Motel 6 than at the Occidental.

Check-in: After the usual hassles that accompany flying, we had a most unpleasant check-in process. The bell boy told us to leave our luggage and follow him to the front desk. At the front desk he had a discussion with someone and then told us we were going to be upgraded to the Royal Club so follow him back outside. Back outside the man had a conversation with someone else and then told us we weren’t being upgrade so come back inside. Once back inside we were now in line behind other people who had arrived after us. It was lunch time so we just wanted to check in and eat, not be shuttled around in the heat for an hour deciding where we were allowed to check-in. Back in line 6 couples were waiting for one desk clerk who said it was his second day on the job and he didn’t know how to do anything. An hour later we were finally checked-in but our room wasn’t ready. That was fine, we just wanted to eat. We were directed to a woman who said she would take us to the lunch restaurant. She proceeded to take us directly to the timeshare salesmen. I’m sure I must have been very polite when I told them I was going to eat, and proceeded off in search of lunch. After returning from lunch and finally finding someone who said our room was ready we found our luggage still sitting out on the curb (good thing I locked everything as soon as we arrived).

Food: You can enjoy better tasting food and larger portion sizes on the McDonalds dollar value menu. During our stay either the restaurants or buffet were closed every night. The way the staff handled the reservations it seemed like the closures were a big secret, but it was very obvious to everyone. The buffet food was bland and scarce. After the first day I learned from watching other people that you must threaten to throw a fit in order to get the staff to refill food that is empty. The food at the ala carte restaurants was worse than the buffets. I weigh 100 pounds. I could have eaten every bite of the four course meal and not been full. A salad equals three pieces of lettuce. A steak equals two bites of an inferior cut of beef.

Service: Stay very far away from the timeshare salesmen. They are prominently located so that you have to walk past them everyday several times a day. After being harassed by them for 3 days, we finally stopped to talk to them one rainy day. They offer you a discount coupon for listening to a few hours of their sales talk. I was interested in a spa discount. The man kept going on about how great of a deal he would give us and repeatedly told us the exact amount if would cost with the coupon. I had been to the spa earlier in the day and looked at the prices of the services I wanted. There was an $80 difference in the price of the massage service on the spa list and the fake list of prices that the timeshare guy had shown us. When I pointed this out he tried to deny it, then finally admitted there was but said it wasn’t his fault. I told him that was fine, but I was not willing to participate in his games if he couldn’t give me enough coupons to make up for the $80 lie he told. Oddly he wasn’t interested in being fair, only people who were willing to be ripped off. Another warning sign with the timeshare reps is that they want to see your credit card before they begin the presentation even though they aren’t going to charge you anything. A further example of the terrible service is the dive shop staff. First we went to the shop to borrow snorkel gear. They told us we could only have it for 1 hour instead of the regular 3 hours because there was bad weather. Bad as in it was slightly cloudy outside and had rained several hours earlier. Our second trip to the dive shop was an afternoon at 4pm to borrow a kayak. The dive shops posted hours are 8am-5pm. We had to wait almost 15 minutes for an employee to assist us because they were all sitting out on the dock talking. When a man finally came up to the shop he told us we could have a kayak for 10 minutes because they were closing at 4:30 that day. I don’t find it acceptable to deny guests a service they have paid for because you feel like going home early after a 7.5 hour workday.

In all this I have failed to mention quite possibly the worst aspect of this hotel: the mosquitoes. The hotel is built across a swamp. Then they proceeded to build shallow ponds and fountains which all over the property for additional mosquito breeding grounds. I started the 5 day vacation with 3 full bottles of Off. I returned having completely used my stock of bug spray, but with over 100 bites on my body. We went to trips in town and throughout the island and did not see mosquitoes. But walk 5 steps onto the hotel’s property and you are covered in them.

Beyond all the issues noted above, my overall assessment of the hotel is that it’s falsely pretentious. Sure they have nice large rooms, but it doesn’t make up for everything else being awful. We walked down to the Iberostar one day and immediately noticed a different ambiance. Both the guests and staff were smiling, laughing, relaxed, and having a great time. I would have gladly taken one of the Iberostar’s smaller rooms for a much improved vacation quality.

Girls trip---Arrived around 12:00pm and the room we requested was not available, finally after about 45 minutes and a few phone calls between the desk and whoever, we got adjoining rooms in #17. The room was ready about two hours later-we went to the beach lunch hut and melted away in the jungle heat. Got to the room after that and none of the keys they gave us worked. had to walk all the way back up to the check in counter (this is a long walk). Had them re-keyed and then returned to find out only one worked. Later the one that worked stopped working and we went through the whole process again. Between four of us we shared one key out of 8 that they gave us. (also, our luggage didn't get delivered for 3 hours even after 3 calls)
When you go into the room you must use a key in the light box-this is the only way the power will work in the room.
Weather was o.k. it was rainy season and it typically poured at least twice a day for about 40 minutes. The mosquitoes will eat you alive. We bought two cans of OFF for four days and they were gone when we checked out. They do fog and it is nasty until it settles, however it didn't seem to do any good. They ate through the spray and the foggers.
The disco is closed and they had a dj play some cd's in the lobby-very lame. go into town and request Paulina taxi 574 she is awesome we tipped her very well. It cost 20 dollars usd to get into town and we tipped her another 20. She told us what shops to avoid and where to go for awesome Mexican food (la mission) we arranged for her to pick us up at 8:45 at the restaurant and she came back for us which we paid 20 back and again tipped her well. WOMEN you will want her I trusted her completely-she was educational about the island and spoke awesome English. I was a bit nervous with some of the other taxi people in town who tried to tell us that she wasn't coming back and that they would take us instead. We waited thank god.
The hotel food was disgusting-I ate a lot of carbs and desserts. the flies at the beach side buffet was ridiculous. The cheeseburgers I think were made from dog. (gross).
Snorkeling and swimming off shore was totally awesome-I don't normally swim in the ocean because I am afraid of currents and other things. This was beautiful, you could see the bottom and if you snorkel out to the orange buoy there is a man made concrete fish crib with lots of different fish, saw two sting rays and crabs super fun, you will love this. The mosquitoes will not get you on the beach during the day-you'll be good.
Our room was often not ready and had to call to have beds made and new towels delivered. If you are on the bottom floor of the building, roll a towel in front of the door to keep out the bugs and the scorpions. (did not see a ton of these but they are there, also others saw the tarantulas-I did not thank goodness.)
The iguanas are awesome to see, look at some of the pictures from the other reviews they are exactly what you will see.
The beach is aways away you will have to cross a long bridge over the jungle swamp (look for the alligators). And the smell everyone talks about-is absolutely true but in spots and you couldn't smell it in your room.
Overall we had a good time just getting away, however this was not the Hilton so don't come to Mexico expecting it. The beds are hard and the mildew small gets into everything. Buy a can of Glade and spray everyday-just pack it in your suitcase cause it cost 12.00 usd there.
Go to albertos on the beach (you can walk there) Great seafood the snapper was awesome and the king crab is too, however remember it will be warm water crab and not the kind you are used too-a bit more slimy but the taste is awesome.
You will have fun if your expectations are not to high.

This was our first trip to Cozumel. I will say that the water was beautiful, and the beaches were nice, but the Occidental Grand was HORRIBLE. The air conditioner in our room ran constantly, and never cooled the room to a comfortable temperature. The mosquitoes were so bad we had to buy $12.00 bug spray at the gift shop just to keep from being eaten alive. I came home with about 50 mosquito bites (a nice trip souvenier!) The food was terrible. The buffet was a joke! There were two "specialty" restaurants, but you had to make reservations to eat there. Our group made reservations, but when we showed up, it was CLOSED! Our reservation was for 8:00 p.m., so by then it was too late to do anything but eat at the buffet again. We were given coupons for a "free taxi ride" to town,...only to find out they had been expired 3 months and had to shell out about $100 for taxi fares. It was not uncommon to see lizards and iguanas everywhere you looked -- ranging from 6 inches to several feet long.... but when they caught an 8 ft. alligator by the pool, I was blown away! There were a couple of staff members who were very friendly and accommodating, but I'd have to say for the most part the staff was not very "customer service" oriented. I may return to Cozumel some day, but I definitely will not stay HERE!

So let me start by saying my wife and I have stayed at Occidental Grand 3 other times before this last trip. My wife and I used to loves this hotel with it's beautiful grounds, nice rooms and wonder people. BUT.... on this last trip we were so disappointed, we now realize it's time to move on and find another hotel.

My wife and I arrived to a filthy room with dirty floors, hair in the bathroom (not ours) and ants crawling everywhere. In the past the rooms were immaculate but because the hotel was on a skeleton crew and don't think they had the time to thoroughly clean the place.

When it came time for dinner my wife and I were both shocked to find not all the restaurants were open. You only had the choice of whatever the management decided from the previous day. Now we realize it's the low season but I expect to get what we paid for in the vacation when it comes to choices. And set aside from breakfast and lunch the food was lacking. Heck even the disco place were you could hang out and play pool was closed.

Also this hotel chain has sold out to the timeshare idea. I could not enjoy my breakfast when three couples around me were getting a sales pitch on how good a timeshare deal was to get. I think they could have found a more appropriate place to conduct these meetings.

And again because it was the low season and half the staff the service was lacking (unless you were getting a timeshare pitch). We had to repeatedly ask for drinks, food or we just got up and got it ourselves.

All in all the hotel is in dire need a makeover. My wife and I are sadden by this once great hotel going downhill and selling out to the timeshares. Please feel free to contact me about my experience.