This was our first trip to cancun - spring break for our high school daughters. Overall, we had a great stay at the Fiesta Americana, and we would go out of our way to stay there on a return trip. We booked through HGVC, and upgraded to a 2 bedroom plus to have a unit on the end that faced the ocean.

The resort is a nice size in that it is not so big that you are in some high rise building or crowded together on the beach, but yet is big enough to offer a nice restaurant and amenties that you want from a resort. It was easy to get around the resort, to go to the beach/pool/restaurant - or to go to the entance to catch a cab (or bus a block away), or to walk to several hot spots a few block away.

Highlights:
Check-in was a breeze. We arrived at 9:30 a.m., were immediately welcomed by name by the staff and checked in. Monica was very helpful. Our unit was even ready for us.

The unit - though showing its age - was very spacious.

Our main deck was roughly 15 x 35 feet, great for relaxing away from the others and/or watching the sunset.

Our location was on one end of the horse shoe shaped resort, which was very convenient to the beach, pool and restaurant. If not staying in an end unit, I would recommend facing the pool (with gives ocean view as well) and as far toward the beach end as possible.

The beach setup was better than any of the other resorts in the immediate area, with plenty of space on the beach and a good swimming area. It was also protected from the wind and pounding surf.

Calm atmosphere - mostly families and adults - which is what were looking for. Not the place to go for the wild spring break crowd.

Lowlight:
Really only one. I ordered room service breakfast for my wife's birthday as a surprise. It didn't show up. After 10 minutes I had to call room service several times over the next 15 minutes to essentially re-order the breakfast (language issues). So our day started an hour later than planned. Fortunately the other birthday activities for the rest of the day went according to plan.

Other comments:
WIreless in lounge was sometimes slow (not working for a while on our first day), but it was free and easy to connect to.
Restaurant was decent - but would like to see broader selection/variety (same every night).
We had to have them replace the toaster and dvd players that weren't working - both done quickly.

Our high school aged kids really enjoyed the restaurant Perico's (downtown Cancun) - be sure to order the Banana Flambe.

Also we had a taxi driver, Mauricio Vasquez, that we really liked. We will call him to take us around on our next visit. Let me know if you would like his contact info.

This was our first trip to Cancun together and we booked our stay at the Fiesta Americana Villas Cancun through our Hilton Grand Vacation time share. The location of this hotel was perfect and close to almost everything. We checked into a 1-BR unit rather late but it was quick. They accomodated my request for a high floor room and view of the ocean. Upon walking into the room, you can already see the "age" of the hotel. There were several issues with our room: 1) noisy fan in the kitchen; 2) water leak from the ceiling vent in the bathroom; and 3) broken light bulb in on of the lamps in the living room area. All these issues were addressed immediately when we reported it. There was one problem that they could not do anything about - there was a shrill high-pitched whistling sound which seemed to only occur when the hot tub of the RIU Palace next door was running. This constant whining was heard from 8 am to 9 pm so it made it difficult to sit on the porch and enjoy our coffee in the morning. We could have asked to be transferred to another room but we decided to stay and keep the sliding door closed.

La Palapa was a nice restaurant by the beach. They had an awesome breakfast buffet and you could also order off the menu. Most lunch and dinners was ordered from a menu. Food was good and very decently priced. My only complaint was I would have wanted more variety in their menus. It seemed like we had very little to chose from. Drinks were good and again decently priced. The Lobby Bar was a nice place to sit and use the free wireless internet (bring your own laptop or they will charge you to use theirs!) and to have a few drinks. The mini store was adequate and I actually enjoyed the sandwiches they made for me!

Although their beach front isn't wide, it is adequate with many "palapas" available for shade and beach chairs for those wanting a great tan! Water was awesome - clear blue and sand was fine and white! Waiters/waitresses come along for food/drink orders. Pool was very nice also with a Bikini Bar but we opted to stay beach front everyday.

All in all, we enjoyed our stay here and would do it again with one exception: we would ask for another high floor room facing the pool instead of the side close to Riu Palace (no more listening to the constant whining of their hot tub!). Learn to take their local bus system - it's very cheap and we felt safe. We even opted to take the ADO bus to Playa del Carmen (MX$38 pp). You must do the Selvatica Zip and Snorkle tour!!!! It's the best ever!!!
Xelha was a blast, too!

My wife and I are in our mid forties and have stayed at this resort for the last four years which we book through HGVClub. We have brought teens, younger & older friends and everyone has loved this resort. The Building is a bit aged but has much charm and still is the best location on the hotel zone. The staff are professional and will do their best to make your stay pleasurable. Mr. Arteaga, who is a manager, is friendly and attentive to every request that we made of him and has made our stays even more memorable. We can't wait to return in a couple months. If you wish to contact me to ask me about where we shop for food, who we use when scuba diving and what we thought about Xel Ha, Isla Mujeras, Selvatica ect. Because of its great location this resort will eventually be removed and replaced by a larger new building ..... that will be a sad day for the people that have fallen in love with this Gem of a property. Enjoy it while you can.

After reading the reviews here, I was a little worried. We booked through our HGVC points system. We had a decent experience though, and were overall pleased with our stay.

There was some confusion at check-in because we had originally booked a single room, and then upgraded later to a one-bedroom. They put us in a single at first, then moved us next door to the one bedroom suite with the jacuzzi. However, I wasn't happy with the view, and asked for a poolside room. Gabriela at the front desk was very nice about it, and they moved us to a new room the next day, no problems. The new room had a much bigger balcony, and a very nice view. Also, Gabriela sent us a lovely gift since it was our honeymoon trip.

The suite was spacious, and just what I expect from HGVC. Yes, some of the remodeling details are shoddy (such as sloppy caulking, etc), but the materials used were good, and the design is nice. The bed was very hard, but if you've ever traveled in Mexico before, you know that is basically standard. My only real complaints about the room itself are 1) that the floors were always dirty - the bottoms of my feet were constantly black if I went barefoot in the room, and 2)that the walls are very thin and there was a lot of noise from the adjacent rooms, and the room above. Heehee, and I'm sure the families in those suites weren't too happy to be next to a couple on their honeymoon either :-)

The restaurant, La Palapa, was lovely, and I thought decently priced. The food was quite good, no complaints. The breakfast bar was well stocked, and I was able to order from the menu each day because I have a restricted diet. The cheeseburgers we ordered from room service were great, as well as the desserts. The drinks there were the best we had in Cancun, and they were cheap as well. Sylvia, the waitress for the beach and pool was awesome - that lady ran her butt off, and took care of so many people - I don't know how she manages! We enjoyed our beach and pool time very much, largely in part to Sylvia's excellent service. She remembered us every day, and always knew what our favorite drinks were.

I used the fitness center a few times; it was adequate. They have a sauna, but it wasn't very hot. The spa was too pricey for us, though. They had a convenience store, as in any HGVC property, but it was only stocked OK, and the deli there wasn't good at all. The staff didn't speak English, so we couldn't order what we wanted, and half the time, there was no one working that we could see. They also charged 15 pesos per 1/2 hour for using their computers for internet - a little tacky, if you ask me....

But we really did enjoy our stay - I would recommend this hotel to friends. It's especially good if you want to be near the action, but not quite in it, if you know what I mean. It was quiet and relaxing, but within stumbling distance of a lot of fun stuff to do. A very good experience!