Hotels near Mercado Popular Cozumel, Cozumel

The dishes in the restaurant are too salty

I was spied on in the shower by a hotel employee, and management tried to cover it up. It wasn’t until we involved the police that they became cooperative. What happened? Look at the photos, and you’ll see a sliding window in the shower that opens to a hallway closet. While I was showering, I looked up and saw a man’s face in the window, watching me. I screamed, grabbed a towel, and ran out to the hallway. When I opened the closet next to my room, I found that same man wearing a hotel uniform, trying to climb down from the window that overlooks my shower. He tried to push past me, but I caught him by the sleeve and took his radio. I shouted for help, and he said over and over, “Please, don’t tell.” Other guests arrived to assist me, and started taking photos and video of the scene. The desk clerk named Angel came upstairs and initially claimed that he’d told the pervert peeping tom named Vicktor to get a broom from that closet. Observe from the photo that this is not a utility closet, and is empty except for pipes. We also found footholds carved into the cinderblock beneath the shower window. Once we pointed out the falsehood of his claim, Angel then said that Vicktor was never in the closet, that it’s his word against mine. Angel refused to call the hotel manager, and then refused to call the police. He took Victor to the office behind the hotel desk, and we saw him on his phone, smiling and laughing. Members of my group called the police and contacted the hotel owner Gilberto, who said he would come in 2 hours because he was not nearby. I give credit to the local police in Cozumel, who responded quickly, and also called their supervisor to the scene, who took our reports and investigated the closet. We discovered that many rooms, on all four floors of the hotel, have these fake utility closets with windows opening to the shower. None of the closets were locked, and only women had been assigned to these rooms by the front desk clerk. When the owner Gilberto arrived, he initially denied everything, then once the police sergeant supervised the interaction, the owner finally conceded that “because it’s bad for business,” he would repair the shower windows and lock the closets, and he also said Vicktor the peeping tom would be terminated. However Gilberto the owner denied that Angel the desk clerk had any part in covering up the incident or funneling female guests to those rooms. I was very concerned about what appeared to be a serious safety and privacy problem—who knows many staff are involved in their peeping tom operation and how long they’ve been doing it? How young are their victims? Are they taking photos and video too? I’ve never felt so violated and disgusted. There are plenty of nice places to stay in Cozumel, go someplace that takes the privacy and safety of their guests seriously.

Really lovely stay with especially friendly staff in the restaurant. Gorgeous resort with two beaches and nice pools - the food at the hotel restaurant is excellent so we ate there happily every night.

This was my second stay at the Westin Cozumel. The property is beautiful and well-maintained, and in a nice location - just a 5-10 taxi ride into town. There are several restaurants that are excellent and just steps away. The private beach and snorkeling steps away is a real plus. The staff is very pleasant and kind, particularly Damian at the front desk. We also enjoyed a massage at the Zazil spa on-site - excellent services with hydrotherapy and very skilled masseuse. The rooms were clean with comfortable beds and amazing views. Would recommend! The only I thing i foresee needing an update would be the bathroom tile work - it's starting to look a little dated/ragged. It's a short ride from the airport so, traveling from Houston, we can be on the beach with a drink in hand in under 4 hours. Win. win.

PROS: This is the best beach and ocean location and the main reason we chose this resort. Employees work hard - some are very friendly and helpful, others keep more to themselves but are happy to help if asked. The ocean water is divine - crystal clear and abundant with life and an ecosystem that you can explore for hours! The hotel grounds are well kept, the pools are lovely, there is fresh cold drinking water available at many sites on the resort. The lobby is comfortable. CONS: Food - there is so much waste because of taste and quality especially in the only a la carte restaurant. They try too hard to impress with appearance, while the flavor and quality is awful. We tried so hard to like it. They Serve a spaghetti with a liquid tomato juice they call a sauce, and serve it to hotel guests! Stick to what you know - Mexican food made well, made with local ingredients using traditional recipes! Why try to serve a pasta carbonara when they clearly don't have a clue what that even is - and every dish that uses cream - and there are many, has this artificial sickening flavor about it, what a shame! If they could just tweak and understand that guests deserve to eat decent food, everything else would be great. ROOMS: dated but clean. They have many rooms with very old and dirty fold-up couches. Replace the couches that belong in the garbage, not in guest's rooms, it isn't a big deal, but will show respect to your guests. AIR CONDITIONING: very controlled and never gets cold. Hotel can lower the temperature by at least two degrees and provide much comfort. BUFFET: Repetitive and low-quality food. If you make it repetitive, at least stick with quality and local specialties so that the guests can enjoy some authentic Mexicans cuisine. BIRDS: This is a problem. Allowing vultures to enter your buffet restaurants to eat and defecate where they want is not acceptable! At night, so many mosquitos - we could not eat there. Find a way to enclose the buffet resto. add air conditioning, eliminate the BIRDS and MOSQUITOS and your guests will be in heaven. END note: this hotel capitalizes on their location which is ideal, but they could so easily tweak a few details and improve guest experience by 100%.