Myself and two friends stayed at this hotel for 2 weeks in August 2008. The hotel was very clean and the staff were very helpful. The rooms were of a very good size and were cleaned adequately. There is a wide variety of food at the hotel buffet to suit everyone's needs. The restaurants at the hotel are well worth booking as the food is better quality and the restaurants are generally quieter than the buffet restaurant. You can also order room service once per day for free and have anything you want on the menu. We did the Catamaran and Xel-Ha trips which we booked through the hotel. Both trips were very enjoyable however we found the visit to the ruins as part of the Xel-Ha trip quite dull. However, there is the option to stay at Xel-Ha all day. We also booked to swim with the dolphins which is a must. The hotel is not in a bad location, but its not close enough to walk to the bars/nightclubs. However, a taxi is only about £4 and the bus also takes you straight there. Overall, a very enjoyable holiday.

Having read all the negative reviews about this hotel i have to say i was nervous, but from the moment we arrived the experience was outstanding. From the atmosphere to the service everything was perfect, the beach is small but has everything you need, the food was amazing - especially the mexican restaurant - Say hi to Cesar the waiter for us.

Tiz - Sussex

Having just returned from our hard earned two week Easter break here are a few tips and pointers regarding the Barcelo Costa. Once you fight through the ever present touts at the airport in Cancun and find your representative and agree your transfer arrangements you are on your way and at the hotel within the half hour. As you approach the main entrance you compare it with others you have stopped off at on the way to let other guests disembark and you feel slightly let down but once inside the staff are professional and courteous checking my wife and I in quickly and efficiently. The room is a good size with A/C - which works well throughout our stay, a large double bed which could sleep three or four at a push, bathroom which has a large shower which also works well throughout our stay with more than enough supplies of shower gel, shampoo and conditioner. These are also replenished during your stay. We advise you make use of the safety deposit box and do not leave valuables and cash lying around in the room. We heard of some unfortunate/stupid couple who locked everything away but then left the safety deposit key on top of a bed side table resulting in the theft of some their belongings. You have been warned - temptation is a world wide trait! The hotel and its surrounding area are pleasant and we agree that the local buses are the cheapest way to travel. Pay in pesos for the best deal, seven pesos each to the hotel zone where you find most of the shops/malls and night clubs and restaurants. Talking of money I would advise that you take plenty of small notes either US dollars or Pesos for tips. We found that the staffs attentiveness did not alter if you tipped in the beginning, during or at the end of your stay but I think you get a feel for this and use your own descretion. Bar Staff could be persuaded to dispense international brands e.g. Smirnoff Vodka, if you tipped at the bar for this service. The beach bar staff - Felix and Ariel - were especially adept at this, one or two dollars per visit/session was more than adequate. The overall cleanliness of the complex was very good with the beach cleaned of seaweed and raked every day and we had no trouble obtaining a sunlounger at any time even over the busy Easter weekend when the hotel was full to the rafters with visiting Mexican families. We had thank fully missed the majority of the American Spring Breakers and did not suffer from an influx of large groups of beer swilling Brits either. There were a good mix of ages and nationalities but mainly French Canadians and Americans from all parts of the states - it's an easy and manageable 3 to 4 hour flight for the majority of them lucky so and so's! The food was of a good and varied standard, there are a few repeats on the menu but that’s what you get with 4 star all inclusive packages. There are six different eating options, The Albatross – buffet style morning lunch and evening meal, the Lobby for 24/7 refreshments, The Beach Bar for snacks served 1 til 5. And the three separate themed restaurants Don Quixote – Spanish, The Lindo – Mexican, The Claraboya – Seafood. The restaurants with waiter service provided some relief from the buffet and on the whole are very good. Unusually you can book tables at these eateries more than once during your stay we would recommend that you take advantage of this facility and don’t forget that you can also avail yourself of a lunch time menu at the Clarboya without making a reservation. There are various trips to look at for all budgets. I would advise you shop around as there can be savings to have. Our son and his girlfriend went on the Royal Swim with dolphins which was expensive but well worth it and viewing their souvenir DVD I would tend to agree – a once in life experience unless you are made of money or have an infinity with the intelligent mammals. The Pirate ships which are moored close by are good value and great entertainment for all ages – OOH AR! Me hearties. Coco Bongos is just out of this world and has to be on the to do list, be warned it is a long night starting at 10.30ish to gone past 4 in the morning but that’s what the beach is there for to recover on the following day/afternoon!! We wanted to see some of the historic culture and instead of paying in time and money for a trip to Chitzen Itha we opted for a much quieter, relaxing and far cheaper visit to a smaller archaeological site El Rey (30 min bus ride down the main strip towards the Hilton Hotel and Golf Complex and took some great photos of the lizards roaming around there) the whole trip cost us less than 100 pesos – a bargain. If you do take this option go early in the morning, it opens at 9 AM, to miss the heat and take liquids with you as there are no cafe facilities on site. A visit to downtown Cancun offers no real architectural splendours but does offer you the chance to try your hand at bargaining in the reasonably priced Market 28. The vendors can be very insistent and pushy but a polite stern NO should keep your money in your wallet. Other shopping areas are based in the hotel zone and consist of high end Malls and lower end flea markets. The flea Market Coral Negro is colourful but once again staffed by pushy sellers and market stall holders if you stick to the price you are willing to pay you should survive and pick up some good deals into the bargain. Cigars are very popular here but beware you get Cuban if you want Cuban as the Mexican equivalent are a poor imitation. Look around to pay about $20 USD for a pack of five large Cuban coronas. We also found the Mexican Outlet situated at Playa Fiesta in the hotel zone to be ideal as it worked on a fixed price policy so no hassle and they had good promotions on at the time of out visit. We managed to spend $100 USD and qualify for $40 USD worth of free silver jewellery. Last bit of advice is to make sure you have your exit tax in cash for the journey home. You are reminded about this but we understand the rate can change so recheck before you leave the hotel for you trip back to the airport. You are not told that the collector of this tax sits at a little table halfway down the queue where you check in so it was a scramble to get the money together when you are trying to hold your passport, travel documentation and luggage etc. If your a struggling he will accept all forms of cash, sterling, pesos and dollars or a mixture of all three although the exchange rate is in their favour of course. If you have any queries and I can answer them I’m willing to do so. If you notice previous reviews for this resort/hotel are mixed and although I agree that these reviews are subjective you will notice that nearly all the bad reviews are from our Colonial Cousins!! Enjoy we did.

Ok I will try and get everything into this review to help those of you like me who was worried about the negative reviews!

When my 2 friends and I arrived (3 girls between ages 25-35) we thought oh No it’s like a hotel in Benidorm, not because of how it looked but because of the people!! This thought went as quickly as it arrived, I'll explain.

The hotel was full of groups of young people mostly lads (not a bad thing for us) but we were surprised at how many groups of young English lads were there, turns out they were well behaved and didn't live up to the 'drunken yobs' title that us English have got, they lived up to the drunken but fun title. We met so many good friends that made our holiday fantastic.

SERVICE: - The service in the hotel was great and we can't complain. The towel guys (you get provided with beach towels although if lost its a $25 charge) were always happy to see us and asked us to book trips but never pressured us when we said No. Bar service is a little like home, you have to wait! Mary the waitress in the lobby bar was fab and kept us topped up every evening, likewise Sandra did whilst we laid around the pool, we tipped them every few days which kept them sweet (anything from 20 peso to 50 peso, which is about a quid or 2)

ROOMS: - The 3 of us shared a room comfortably no problem. We had an amazing walk in shower which was lovely in comparison to the tiny over bath thing you get in Europe. The room was cleaned daily and mini fridge containing beer/coke/sprite etc stocked up daily and we never had to ask. We had a TV with many English channels so had something to gaze at whilst getting ready to go party on a night. Beds changed every few day and we tipped the cleaner twice, once each week about 100 peso. We had a little balcony but not one you could fit a chair on but then again we were hardly in the room. Lovely job.

BEACH/POOL: - Beach is lush, it is small but was plenty big enough for us, water and sand lovely and clean and we always got to watch the lovely boys play volleyball very entertaining!! Whilst there is only 1 pool, it was big enough for everyone and clean which is most important. never struggled to get a sun bed and I think we stayed there at the busiest time. Bare in mind you can go topless on the beach but we were asked to put tops back on round the pool, fair enough.

FOOD: - This was my only problem, the girls just ate the food whatever was on offer but I'm a little fussy. Breakfast was cool pancakes and toast and stuff. Lunch and dinner were pretty much the same, beef and rice, chicken and rice, beef and rice... you get the picture, by the 2nd week I just stopped eating lunch and choose to drink my way through it. There are 3 restaurants you have to book into on an evening but you can go as often as you like, not once a week like some hotels I've been to. The Mexican restaurant was horrible and the girls agreed when they usually like everything. The seafood one was ok and you can use it on a lunch time without booking where you can get great burgers and fries. The Spanish restaurant was not my cup of tea either. When it says mash potato expect Smash and you won't be disappointed. There is a 24hrs snack bar which is stocked with salad, pizza and hotdogs, it is stocked regular but can sit there for sometime if no-one tucks in but at 5am when you stroll in from coco bongo's your not gonna care so just eat it, I did and I'm still alive.

LOCATION: - we had no problem with the location at all as we didn't venture out during the day much, you have a beach and a pool (both of which were clean) no need to move. On a night we hopped on a bus into town which is about a 5 min journey and bus worked out at about 30p.

TRANSPORT: - as above the bus is dead cheap and runs every few minutes 24hrs so getting back from town was no problem at all. Taxis are not much if you compare them to prices here, we were told not to pay more than 120 peso from town but we managed to get away with paying 50 peso!! The boys were not happy. lol.

NIGHTLIFE: - What can I say, it’s amazing. We did all the big clubs and pubs, Coco Bongo's (you have to see it to believe it) Daddy O's, Daddy Rocks, The City (we missed seeing Snoop Dog and Akon by a few days, Gutted) Bulldogs, Basic, Carlos and Charlie’s, Dos Equis and Senior Frogs, we had wicked nights in all of them, they did get very busy due it being Spring Break but made it all the better. I guess on average you pay about $50 to get into each place, once your in all your drinks are included however they heavily rely on being tipped, we tipped and get looked after but did experience seeing people not being served if they did not tip!

TRIPS:- Not much to say here as we only did one to Isla Mujures, which was fab, we swam with Dolphins and Manatee’s which was great (we did it in Cuba but was better here) I also did a zip wire out across the ocean which was mental. Well worth the money but seeing as though we spent all ours on nights out this was it. Oh hang on we did do the Pirate ships which was on a night but I think that counts as a trip?! Well worth it, very entertaining and fun evening out on the sea, you get fed and watered and the food is yum. (Pirate ships are right by the hotel so no excuse not to do it)

MONEY: - We didn't take enough money and quickly run out not realising how much we'd wanna go out every night, however the hotels had cash points so we were saved.

We spoke to a lot of people out there who were jealous that we had such a cool hotel and that made us appreciate it more. We would definitely go back; in fact we are in the process of booking to go back for next spring break only this time we will take double the money. You will love this holiday, people moan about the rooms we only slept in ours for a few hours every morning, people moan about the food eat elsewhere is my answer, people moan about only having one pool, how many do you wanna swim in at once? All in all I loved it and think don't knock it till you try it.