Brisas Guardalavaca

“Better than 3.5 star rating on Selloff.”

We just returned from this resort and I was pleasantly surprised. As a teacher, I have to travel during prime time so we decided to book a 3.5 star to save money as the August prices were high. I was surprised by the size and variety of amenities it offered. There were 5 different A la Cartes (we… lisää

We just returned from this resort and I was pleasantly surprised. As a teacher, I have to travel during prime time so we decided to book a 3.5 star to save money as the August prices were high. I was surprised by the size and variety of amenities it offered. There were 5 different A la Cartes (we went to one every night except our first 2 nights). The seafood A la Carte had Lobster!!! You can also eat Breakfast every day at the Cuban A la Carte (around corner from snack bar). You can sit and order fruit, eggs, bacon, toast, cheese... They also do lunches, but we didn't find out until our last day. The snack bar had pizza and hamburgers. We also found out that you can eat lunch at the seafood a la Carte every other day. Each A la Carte was a beautifully decorated restaurant. 2 were in the Villa section, the Italian was in the main hotel up the stars around corner from the lobby (where we also found a coffee shop and store), The Cuban was outside beside the snack bar, and the Seafood was down the ocean walkway near the end of the Villa section. There was a bar (open at night) at the West end on the 3rd floor. We found this while trying to watch the sunset. They had a churros station near the snack bar that opened a few of the days. I had them one day and they were great. I'm not a drinker, so I can't offer opinions on that but the iced coffees and cappuccinos (at the coffee bar near the buffet) were great. I drank a lot of water and the kool aid type orange, pineapple and strawberry drinks. My boyfriend was able to get beer and red wine with his meals. The staff were all friendly and helpful. We got water and toilet paper every day in our room. You could change your beach towels at a little stand just down the walkway to the left by the beach. There are beautiful tennis courts, basketball nets, a giant chess and giant checker board all in the Villa section. We also saw a little playground there. There is the main pool with a stage and tonnes of activities and entertainment along with a quieter pool in the Villa section. Both Pools have swim up bars. We also found a "lobby" near the Villa Pool with lots of chairs, bathrooms, a store, the doctor station and very quiet to sit and use internet. Just done the road from the Villa lobby was an market with quite a few stands with local items you could purchase (purses, belts, shows, hats, necklaces, keychains, etc.). There is a paved walkway the runs along the ocean past Club Amigo and ends with another market with restaurants and stands. Right before The Grand Mutha. It was nice to walk this after dinner when cooler. We stayed in the hotel section on the 4th floor (room 504). The room had a beautiful ocean view. The room was nice and clean, but a little dated. The bathroom mirror was rusty and the tub old, but that didn't affect my enjoyment. We got a tour of one of the Villa rooms and they seemed more updated. There were shows every night on the stage by the main pool. We usually listened and watched from our room. :) The main cons we found were the design and variety of food at the buffet. The buffet was a zoo. The people lining up for grilled meat, block most of the food stations. There was only cheese at breakfast. There was always a pasta grill, fried rice grill, omelette at breakfast grill, and meat grills which were nice. There was a small section with some fruit. There was bread every day, but the buns were not fluffy and fresh. The desserts were not good. They were mostly cakes that tasted like they had no sugar. The line up for ice cream was long because of this. I was recently at Sol Luna y Mars and their desserts were donuts and cookies, mango pie squares, delicious rice pudding with cinnamon etc. which were so good. I wish they would have their bakers call and get some better recipes. The cookies in Cuba always taste like shortbread, but this resort never had cookies once. There were about 8 pans of food choices other than the grills, pasta, rice stations. They usually had rices, potatoes, chicken, beef, beans. We wished we had found out about the sit down breakfasts/lunches at the Cuban A la carte earlier, but were thankful to avoid the buffet for most dinners. The food at the buffet was good tasting, except for the desserts, and we never went hungry. The other con was the beach area. It was so crowded with local people and resort guests. There were beer cans and garbage littered everywhere. I know this was summer vacation, so it may not be as crowded during other times. We wanted to snorkel, but the water was not clear so it was hard to see. I will warn you that when we were snorkeling over the grassy area where people were swimming, we saw sea urchins. I highly suggest only walking on sandy spots unless you have a mask. I warned a swimmer who was about 4 feet in front of a sea urchin. We did pay the catamaran guy ($20 each) to take us to the coral reef one morning so we could snorkel with the tropical fish. Alberto was a great guide and swam with us showing us the reef area. That was well worth it!! In summary, this resort could definitely be 4.5 star if it updated the rooms and elevators (we got stuck in one for 10 minutes) in the main building and redesigned the buffet to make it bigger, to have more sections for food and separate the grills, and to get better dessert recipes and better selections of cheeses and fruits at ALL meals. We had a great week. We discovered so many things near the end that we want to go back and take advantage of them all! :)

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“Better Before”

Brisas Guardalavaca is a medium size Cubanacan resort hotel located on a nice stretch of beach outside the village of Guardalavaca, about an hour shuttle bus ride from Holguin airport. Probably built in the 1990’s (?) and reasonably maintained/renovated, but not ‘premium’. I have stayed here a numb… lisää

Brisas Guardalavaca is a medium size Cubanacan resort hotel located on a nice stretch of beach outside the village of Guardalavaca, about an hour shuttle bus ride from Holguin airport. Probably built in the 1990’s (?) and reasonably maintained/renovated, but not ‘premium’. I have stayed here a number of times since pre COVID for vacations of various lengths and at different seasons and like many other Cuban resort properties, it is losing some of the appeal that it once had for me. The food in the buffet dining room & the alacarte restaurants is now lacking in variety & quality. Likewise variety & quality of drink selections is ‘trying’ most of the time. Many cocktail type drinks are just not available & have not been for some time. Even a Havana Club 7 year old dark rum can often be difficult to obtain. Soda water or club soda or tonic water is now non existent. Even the once great coffee & espresso is not the great taste they served a few short years ago. Rooms are okay but sometimes in need of renovations/paint/repair and can be loud & noisy due to staff and some guests yelling at each other down the common hallways without regard. Chambermaids do a good job of attending to guest rooms each day. Gardeners keep the grounds fairly well maintained & looking good and janitorial staff do a reasonably good job of maintaining common areas. However someone needs to pay more attention to a daily inspection and cleaning of the main pool area loungers/seating as bird poop from the blackbirds can be a problem & seems to go unattended for long periods. The main pool plaza & area can be pretty loud with various entertainment & canned music, etc from about 10:00 in the morning until well into the night and this can be a little overwhelming if you are looking for more peace & quiet. A pretty good beach but can be a little uncomfortable at times due to strong winds. The tropical breezes while impacting swimming are great at moderating the heat & discouraging mosquitoes & other biting flyers. Overall I have enjoyed many good experiences at Brisas Guardalavaca but I am not so sure I will return. One of the most annoying things done recently at this hotel was total elimination /removal of what was once a great ‘LobbyBar’ adjacent to the hotel entry hall & the main check in/check out area. It was popular with a huge number of returning & new guests & it’s elimination was extremely disappointing to many of us long time clients. Like all Cuban resorts that I have frequented, the staff mostly go above & beyond at providing friendly service.

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“Love Brisas”

Always love coming here! With this past trip, we came as a family. We were invited to the repeat customers catarman ride. While it was beautiful they had a student (lady don't know her name) that was working as animator who was absolutely drunk and falling everywhere. She was throwing empty beer ca… lisää

Always love coming here! With this past trip, we came as a family. We were invited to the repeat customers catarman ride. While it was beautiful they had a student (lady don't know her name) that was working as animator who was absolutely drunk and falling everywhere. She was throwing empty beer cans at me and other guests. As well as hitting on my husband in spanish. When I spoke up in spanish she apologized and stated she didnt know i could speak spanish. Just very unprofessional and not a good look. But with that being said we were so greatful to have a young man name Jose , who took care of everything we needed and made sure we always had a cold drink in our hand and something good to eat. He was our go to for most of the trip and always had a big smile on his face!

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“Elevator malfunction”

We’ve been to this resort over four times I went with family and friends had a great time, but on the second day, the elevator malfunctioned and a group of people got stuck in the elevator for over half an hour. Inmy opinion was unacceptable. This was on our second day there we were on the fourth f… lisää

We’ve been to this resort over four times I went with family and friends had a great time, but on the second day, the elevator malfunctioned and a group of people got stuck in the elevator for over half an hour. Inmy opinion was unacceptable. This was on our second day there we were on the fourth floor in the building after that incident they shut the elevator down, so we had to walk up and down the stairs for the rest of the week, which was tough for some of my family members.

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