I just came back from a 6 night stay at FA Condesa Cancun. My experience there has gone from negative to positive over my stay. It was my 2nd trip in 3 years in Cancun. I stayed at Le Meridien last time. In comparison, I'd say Condesa is definitely a better choice for family or people who'd like more choices and look for more to do at the hotel/resort.

Here are the pros/cons in my opinion -

Cons -

Be aware of the fact that the view/balcony at Condesa is not guranteed. Because of the design of the village style of the structure, some of the rooms have balconies while others don't. Even you pay for an ocean front room, you may not get one w/ a balcony.

We had to change rooms 3 times during our stay due to various problems, view, air conditioning and noise. Like other reviewers have noted, the hotel certainlly has serious structural and facility problems such as flucturating shower water temperature, poor insulation and air conditioning. All 3 rooms we've stayed in had the same problems. Although they're not serious, they could be annoying at times. They're definitely things even the friendly hotel staff would not be able to address right away. The hotel really needs to put forward some effort to correct those problems, if they want to provide better experience to their guests.

The prices of the menu items offer at the hotel restaurants are certainly high, I'd even venture to say eating at the hotel could be more expensive than at most American 4 star hotels. Although the food's very good, it does not warrant the prices they charge.

Pros -

Condes has the most friendly service staff I've met. They're simply THE BEST. They're extremely friendly and courteous. Anyone you meet would offer the best service. That's what I liked the most about my experience staying there. On the other hand, I wouldn't have to interact with them much had I not had the problems w/ the room. When I stayed at Le Meridien, I hardly noticed the level of service they offered since I had absolutely NO problem w/ anything during my stay. So... you be the judge of it!

No matter the pool area, restaurants or lobby, the hotel's squeaky clean at all time! I noitced that their staff's always always cleaning... detailed cleaning.

Condesa has 3 pools connected by beautiful water cascades.. one kiddy pool that's very shallow and safe and one for kids/easy going adults and one adult pool that's deep and has a swim up bar. I thouroughly enjoyed the pool. It's clean and has a great view of the carribean sea.

Tips -

Be sure to join the FA program. You'd get free continental breakfast and 10% off lunch/dinner at the hotel restaurants. It's not worth it to pay additinoal for the full breakfast buffet in my opinion especially if you're health conscious dinner. They serve a lot of greasy meat dishes, e.g. beef/port stew (yeah... for breakfast). Unless you're a big fan of having BIG breakfast, I'd opt for just the continental section.

If you're particular about the view/ balcony of your room, you might have to make a few trips to see different rooms (if available) to pick one that suits your taste. As mentioned earlier, the room arrangements are inconsistent. Even the hotel staff is not able to tell you what kind of view or balcony access you'll have. I believe one reviewer mentioned that rooms 214-218, 314-218 are good. Those rooms have partial ocean view. I think those are good and you don't pay premium for them. I stayed in 212, which has an ocean front view that's simply magnificent. If you could go higher up, it'd even be better. So be ware of the room selection if you're partcular about what you get and if you've a long stay.

Overall, I'm satisfied with my stay at Condesa despite the few issues we had. I'd go back again if traveling with my family. If you're looking for a quiet problem free stay, I'd recommend the Le Meridien a few hotels north of Condesa.

My wife, two sons (aged 20 and 23) and I stayed at the Fiesta Americana Condesa Cancun for five nights in February. We were originally booked for the Hilton but because of the hurricane, we had to choose a different hotel. This hotel opened a few days before our arrival and we were somewhat skeptical that it would be fully operational. To our surprise it was 100 percent up and running. First let me say it is a beautiful hotel. The rooms are tastefully furnished and immaculate. The grounds are beautiful as well as the magnificent lobby. The food is exceptional because this hotel is not an all inclusive but does offer that option. We had a continental breakfast included which was sumptuous. One night we had dinner in the hotel restaurant and the buffet was one of the best ever. Lunch was always a special occasion. They offered a reasonably price buffet or you could order from the menu. The beach was spectacular and for those who will be going soon, even better. Because of the hurricane, all of the beaches were being restored. It will be better than ever. We took a side trip to XCaret that we booked through the consierge desk. It was a nice experience. The people who work for the hotel are the best. They can't do enough for you. The only exception were those at the front desk. Very standoffish and not too friendly. Don't let that give you the wrong impression. When the bellman brought us to our room we were not satisified and he immediately had us moved to an ocenfront room. If you are returning to Cancun have fun. If you are going for the first time you are in for a treat. My wife and I will be returning to Cancun for the 6th time in February. I don't think there is a more beautiful place on earth.

This is probably one of the best hotels that I've had the pleasure to stay at. The staff was friendly and were willing to go out og their way to make us feel welcome. The layout of the hotel is beautiful and elegant. Will stay there again. They made our trip extremly pleasureable. Food was great too!!!!

Our family stayed at the Fiesta Condesa from 3/23 to 3/31. Originally were to stay at the Mariott Casa Magna, but were moved over to Condesa since they were still closed. We had our 2 little girls with us. As many of the other postings I have seen, we also had to deal with the distractions of the Summit meetings at the resort. It was an experience to see all the heavy security around. The resort did do an admirable job of keeping things as normal as possible under the circumstances. But you still had that feeling you were being watched all the time. The following is my review of the different parts of our trip.

Resort – The resort was in excellent shape considering what it probably looked like 6 months ago. Trees and grass were replanted, no significant signs of damage. They had one small part of a sitting area near the beach closed off that was being worked on. But other than that, everything else looked in good condition. The resort was clean, the beach had a dropoff to it halfway down which I assume was due to the rebuilding of the beach after the hurricane. But it was in much better shape than I expected. The one nice thing about being at the resort during the summit meeting was that there were plenty of available chairs and restaurant seating. All the presidential staff were taking up the rooms and were in meetings most of the time, so much less crowded than I expected.

Rooms/check-in – We just got standard room. Asked for nicer room at check in, gave us a nice pool view. Only problem we had was the safe was missing. Didn’t want to bother packing up and moving, so we lived with it. Room is nice size. Beds were not too hard. Did notice that housekeeping and maintenance just helped themselves to coming in room whenever they wanted. Found both in our room several times through the day when I stopped back. Would advise not leave any valuables out that can be seen. Had no problems with check-in. Exchanged money at front desk when I needed it. Is much easier using pesos when taking the buses up/down the strip. Conversion rate to US$ at restaurants was also not always very favorable too. They have a Fiesta discount card at concierge which you should get early in your stay. Saves a lot of money on resort expenses.

Pools – The kids liked the kid pool because it was shallow, was decent size. They had a nice pool separate at a higher level than the rest of the main pool area. Creates a nice look with the waterfall, but as far as practicality, it was inconvenient to have to walk around half the resort to get from the lower to the upper pool if you wanted to go back and forth. Seemed like most people stayed at the lower pool closer to the beach as a result. The whirlpool tubs were not hot, which I have seen to be the case at Riu Palace where we stayed before. Also, where the pools were very clean, noticed that these had bugs/dirt in them the whole time we stayed.

Fiesta Kids area – Brought our kids to this a couple times, as we met some other kids during our stay and they played together in this place. Erica, who was the monitor there, was really nice and did lots of stuff with the kids. She gave them Fiesta backpacks/water bottles and t-shirt before we left. The service is no cost to guests.

Food/Restaurants – The breakfast at the Condesa was good, but expensive as most good buffets are in the Carribean. With the 20% discount card, was about $18 or so, kids were half price. My 4 yr old was free with an adult buying buffet. We found out from another guest we befriended that this was not consistently told to all guests. She was being charged for her little one and only after she asked the next day did they let her daughter eat for free. We did not eat lunch at the Condesa. Food looked decent. We ate dinner twice at the Kalima restaurant. We had sandwiches the first night as it was late, and they were just ok. The one night they had seafood buffet which was at least somewhat worth the price ($35/person). Made fresh scallops/fish/prawn to order which was good. But we found much better food overall and value outside the resort. Definitely get and use the 20% Fiesta discount card from the concierge if you intend on eating at the resort at all.
As far as outside the resort, we ate at the following:
Pizza Hut – across the street down a block or so. Perfect for inexpensive lunch when you have kids. Deliver too. Coupon in booklet, was just like back home.
Convenience store- next to Pizza hut, bought bottled water/beer/sodas way cheaper than at the resort. From previous trips in the carribean, we learned to pack a fold-up cooler, perfect to keep beer/sodas/juice cold all day right at the pool or beach. Just filled it up with ice every morning out of the ice machines. You can also get supplies at places in the shopping areas up the strip.
Lorita Joe’s – Down the street about a mile or so. Easily walkable. You don’t think this can be a good place when you first walk in, because you have to go downstairs to get in, and they never seem real busy. But was easily the best value for your money and had seating right at the water. For about $40.00 per person (with coupon) all-you-can-eat seafood buffet that includes lobster tails, steak, prawn, crabs, fish, crawfish, fried/coconut shrimp, etc. It was all made fresh to order, you reorder whatever you wanted and it kept coming until you had enough. It also includes unlimited OPEN bar, soup, salad, large appetizer dish, risotto dish, bread, and a flaming banana desert at the end. If you drink at all, that alone makes it worth the price. Plus the waiters and manager are quite entertaining, always smiling. The one night they dressed up and were dancing around the tables to YMCA and other songs. After eating at several other places throughout the week, this was a no-brainer to come back a second time on our last night. One note, if you are in a hurry this is not the place to come. The buffet takes a little while to get through all those side dishes to the main food. They were great at taking only 5-10 minutes to cook up your next order of seafood, but still obviously takes some time. Start early!

Lorenzillo’s – Ate here after Lorita Joe’s and this was a harsh reality check. Nice scenery, view of the water. Have their own lobster tank, with an alligator who likes to hang around looking for handouts. But way, way overpriced on everything on the menu. No kids menu, had to split an adult dish. Food was decent, but service was absolutely pathetic unless you were willing to spend a fortune with them. They pretty much ignored us the whole time and concentrated on the bigger parties. If you value your money at all or have small kids, I would avoid this place.

Bubba Gump – We enjoyed their seafood. Kids loved it. Price was reasonable, food was very good. Highly recommend their crab-stuffed shrimp scampi. It’s huge.

Houlihans/Johnny Rockets – Similar to back home. Was nice to get a little American food too. Service and food was good.

La Dolce Vita – Italian food, right next to Lorita Joe’s. Was pretty good. Service was good, nice appearance. Can eat outside or in.

A year ago we stayed at RIU Palace Mexico in Riviera Maya for our 10 year anniversary. Although Condesa was nice, it was not comparable to RIU Palace. I thought facilities at RIU were larger, better and had more to offer. There was no night activity at this resort. The beach at RIU was far and away larger and nicer. And the food offering at RIU was in a totally different league compared to Condesa. If I wanted to stay in Cancun again, I would consider staying here. But would probably check out other options as well.