Barceló Gran Faro Los Cabos

This was my first trip to a Barcelo branded resort when I visited the Gran Faro in San Jose for a 4 night, 5 day stay over Christmas. Due to high occupancy for the holidays and prices at other resorts, I decided to try out Barcelo. I did not have high expectations for this brand due to the equally dispersed wide range of reviews it has received (vs. a hotel where there is a greater % of 4-5 comments); that was a red flag that this would be a step below in quality to what I’m used to. Turned out it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Here are some things that I noticed just for reference and comparison purposes to other places I’ve been to. This is not to say it’s a negative per se, just observations: • No welcome towel or drink offered upon arrival...but I saw a tray of drinks delivered to guests at reception the day we checked out. • No direction for arriving VIP/Preferred guests to be sent to the Preferred reception desk, but rather they sent to the main lobby reception to stand in line only to be told they were in the wrong place. • 25 minutes for bags to be delivered to room despite it being a very short distance from the lobby and very light traffic around the time of our arrival. • Room decor is old, tired and dated with simple furnishings. Toiletries are a basic Mexican company brand that is also used at RIU hotels in Mexico. • Nightly entertainment is on a stage is in the lobby bar area, not a theater. Problem is that there is not enough seats to accommodate all guests. • Room service is an extra charge (not included in the AI price). While I can understand and have seen paying a flat service fee for this additional service, here you pay PER item ordered. • There is no coffee shop/café to get snack and drinks. • No game room as advertised on website. • No computer/internet stations. • Schedule of buffet themes was not as listed on the printed schedule. • No dedicated/separate line when checking out of room/hotel, so you have to wait in one line with arriving guests and those asking questions to return your wristband and get the ‘check out’ ticket for bellmen/security before departure. • No reliable or available WIFI at the pool or in the gym. • No homemade tortilla chips in the buffet restaurants, only packaged variety. • No guacamole served in buffet. • Sporadic beverage service by servers in buffets restaurants as there were repeated occasions were drink orders were forgotten, mixed up or delayed. On one lunch outing where there were only 5-7 tables filled, nobody ever came to us; we had to wave down a server. Drinks were delivered 40 minutes after we sat down. • No ice cream machines out of service in both buffet restaurants for 2 days, either broken or out of product. • Items not cooked thoroughly at the buffet grill (e.g. omelets & quesadillas) as cheese wasn’t melted and vegetables still raw. • No staffing at buffet’s Mexican grill station; always empty and what food that was there was basically all premade items with nothing hot or cooked to order. • No separate evening entertainment programs for kids; they say their nightly shows (at 9:00 pm) are ‘kid friendly.’ Those observations aside, there really are 3 specific reasons for not generating a more positive review: 1) The biggest complaint is their policy regarding going to the a la carte restaurants. This property has 4 distinct restaurants and depending on how many nights you stay will dictate how many times you can visit places other than the buffet. For a 5 night stay, you can only visit them TWICE. While the buffet is good, you are forced to eat there 3 nights while only visiting 2 of the 4 restaurants. And securing a reservation first thing in the morning can be a frustrating experience as you will wait in a line and many times be told that they are already filled up. With rotating operating days, there is a chance you may not be able to try a place during your stay. On both nights we visited places, there were only 5-7 tables filled during our stay. The policy is a big issue for me, something that I have not experienced or seen at 7 other all-inclusive brands I have stayed at. 2) Inconsistent operational hours of the kids club was the norm, not an exception. There is apparently only ONE person capable of running the club and they rely solely on this individual. Other resorts staff their club with 3-4 folks. The facility’s overall hours of operation is quite minimal. There was an issue when it didn’t open at all. Other days when it did, it remained closed past its scheduled afternoon opening time after lunch. This was a disappointment. 3) Another disappointment in service came when my child had an accident and fell on the floor outside of a restaurant. (This was not the hotel’s fault). There were many lapses from the on-site staff who witnessed the incident in how they reacted and handled the situation with one person leaving the scene to not have to deal with it. There was no care or concern for the child after he fell or asking if he was OK or if they could do anything. After immediately going to the front desk to report what had happened, I was told that the Guest Services Manager would be in at 9:00 am the next day. Again, there was no offer to do anything or have the manager on duty reach out to us to see if everything was OK. (A similar incident happened to us in the lobby of a Dreams resort over the summer and the response and overall care and concern was night and day compared to this, not just with the employees who witnessed the incident but with the others like the cleaning crew who weren’t even there at the time). The next morning I went to the front desk to find/speak with the Guest Services Manager and explained how they dropped the ball in handling this. He apologized for how the staff handled everything. I wasn’t looking for any compensation, room upgrade, cabana or other freebies. However I did ask for a later check out which was gladly given. I was told to come back the next morning, go to the concierge table and the concierge would call him to come down to lobby reception. The next day when I did that, there was a line of people (all making their restaurant reservations). I happened to see the GSM walking in the lobby and told him I was there as instructed. He then went to the front desk and told a person there to extend my checkout time by 2 hours and reprogrammed my room key. I got lucky I saw him....otherwise, I’d be waiting in one line at the concierge desk for the GSM to be called, then wait for him to come to reception to tell someone to process the extension. Why not just have the guest go directly to reception, have them call/radio the GSM for the OK and eliminate the extra steps and additional wait time? It’s just another example of the overall service not being buttoned up, efficient and guest focused. Was the overall experience awful? No, it could indeed have been a lot worse. The staff were friendly, the grounds were clean and the buffet restaurant was decent. Would I return to this hotel or try another Barcelo all-inclusive property elsewhere? No, once was enough mainly due to the restaurant policy restrictions. Could the service issues and other shortcomings I experienced here be better elsewhere? Possibly, but based on my history I pretty much know that a brand is consistent with their offerings and customer experience across the board. At the end of the day, it comes down to what your expectations are, what you can/want to spend and what you are accustomed to. Because I know I can get a better overall experience elsewhere, I wouldn’t come back nor recommend it.

We stayed from December 18-28/18. We travelled from airport to Barcelo, via the bus transfer, New bus, but they did ding us 10$ per beer! Anyways arrival and booking through teh premium service was quick and efficient, Nice clean room, However it was on a side of the hotel that was under cinstruction and was noisy, we asked to be moved, It was quick move after one day and we were put on the 6th floor, All good, However upon our arrival it was told to us that the Hotel grounds are totally Non smoking except in a designated area, Initially it was a piss off, but we managed to find that sitting on the beach was priority and smoking was allowed. As well smoking "pit" was a good place to meet fellow travellers. ( i know we shouldn't smoke!) The hotel is very clean and the food from all buffets, from breakfast to supper were fantastic and we enjoyed all meals, The only exception would be the al'carte, Very rushed, and , well the food, not to our palette, But it was a nice Xmas day, because the beach is clean and not alot of people around. Except the beach vendors, but that's what to expect on a public beach. We were treated royally in the hotel , by the best Customer Service Manager I have ever met, Xavier!! Thank you for a wonderful Stay! Service from Luis on the beach, in the pool or at a brunch counter, he always seemed to be there!!, Thank you Luis!! Suffice to say the weather was a nice temperate climate and we had sunny days except for one, but it was still 27 degrees(c) We would give a hearty thumbs up for this hotel!! Setting up our one Sunset cruise through Carlos was pleasant and efficient, Thank you Carlos!! Lance & Glenda

The hotel was good. We asked for an upgrade to premium, which they were happy to do for $35USD per day, but no room upgrade, just the upgraded liquor, free internet, and lounge access. We declined. If they would have offered an upgraded room, we probably would have taken it. We paid for internet.... I think around $35USD for the week. Wifi wasn't great, some areas of the resort had no access. Food was ok, maybe 7.5/10. Beach was fantastic, pools were great, overall a nice property. We'd go back. Very clean, room was good, bed was comfortable enough. A tip for future travelers.... if you are a Barceló member, which you can sign up for online, you get free wifi. I discovered this after we paid for it.. It was a pretty tame resort, entertainment kind of lame, over by 10pm... pretty quiet.. Fine for us, but someone looking for more nightlife wouldn't like it.. Customer service was hit and miss and we tipped accordingly. The hostess at breakfast buffet was consistently friendly and we tipped her $10 on the morning of our departure. Some staff was more attentive than others and we rewarded those who went out of their way to make our stay more enjoyable. We went to one a la carte... Seafood... it wasn't great. Stuck to the buffet after that experience. Overall, it was a good resort. We would go back again and have already recommended it to friends.

Stayed the 9th - 16th. Got it cheap on a last minute deal. When we first arrived the hotel was busy, we booked an ocean view with a king, but received a double with hardly any view (3406) the next morning we were moved to 5520 which had an excellent room and a king bed. Room was good, maids kept it clean stocked our fridge daily. We tipped and asked for more beer which they provided. Food at the resort was good, we never got sick or had any stomach issues. I enjoyed the sushi my wife wasn’t overly impressed. The Italian was just ok, we went twice the pasta was pretty bland. Especially compared to the pasta they make at the lunch buffet which was great! The dinner buffet was always different and if you can’t find anything you like the pizza and calzones were great. Even though the guy making them was completely miserable and I felt like I was bothering him ordering food... Like I said when we got there earlier in the week it was busy, meaning we waited in line for the breakfast buffet (added a pic of the line) We had to get up early to save chairs. At the dinner buffet we had to go up to the bar and ask for our own drinks because the staff couldn’t keep up. The same happened at breakfast twice. Not the end of the world, but the first time that’s happened to us at an all inclusive. The draft beer like most all inclusives is like water... almost undrinkable. I tipped the maid and was given extra corona light. I brought a cooler down and filled it with ice. Sat pool side and drank cans of beer. The mixed drinks were good. The red wine we drank Cabernet Sauvignon Reservado which wasn’t bad at all. There’s a grocery store a 15 min walk from the hotel with everything you might need. Including a great wine selection! Starbucks, McDonald’s, subway... we went into San Jose the Thursday night for the art walk which is an absolute must! 125 pesos taxi ride were were blown away how nice it was! For the most part the staff were helpful and friendly. The hotel was nice and clean and anything I’ve complained about didn’t wreck our trip. Based on the price we paid (1100 Canadian) I’d go back. I wouldn’t pay anymore than what we paid though.

Good 3-4 star hotel, bathrooms are dated, if your a big guy you won't fit under the shower head, very low., sucks! you really can;t swim in the ocean there, bad under tow. It was all inclusive but cocktails were very weak, Not a big drinker, but i could drink there all day and not get intoxicated. Food was good, service was good, just needs some updating