My Room:
I came as a guest at a wedding that took place here (Dec 18-22, wedding on 20th, 2011). The best man and I are friends and decided to share and split the cost of the room. The bride and groom gave the best man the best room in the entire place (or one of them, since the entire place was incredible). It was in a two bedroom corner suite on the 3rd floor and had an amazing private balcony overlooking the ocean and the pool. It was an en suite room and the other bedroom in the suite had a window toward the hotel walkway so that room was much darker than ours. That couple's room (who are our college friends) was not en suite; there was a shared bathroom off the suite's hallway. The greatest part of the suite was the living room area that had wrap around windows and balcony facing the ocean and pool. It was amazing.
I can't speak to the other types of rooms at Playa Fiesta since the only rooms I went into were in my suite, but all I heard were good things from other guests about their rooms.
The hotel had a lot of character and was pleasingly appointed. Nice touches (like small figurines in the living room display cabinet and tea candle holders in the bathroom, bedrooms, and living room) but not overdone or gaudy -- very tasteful. I especially liked the simple yet beautiful water-vases with a single floating flower blossom in the bathroom and living room table.
Our Group:
We (our wedding group) had the entire resort to ourselves, even though we only had 17 of the rooms. For anyone planning a wedding here, DEFINITELY do this if you can -- get the entire resort for just your wedding. It was AWESOME knowing that every guest you saw was there for the same wedding you were. It also made getting to know people easier. There was one couple (celebrating an anniversary) leaving there the first day we arrived and another couple who arrived (another anniversary) the day we left. This was no big deal. So get the place to yourself if you can (but it still would have been amazing even if our group didn't have a private resort all to itself).
Food and Drinks:
The food was great. Every dish was very well done and tasty. The wedding package had dinners, breakfasts, and one brunch and one lunch provided during the time we were there. Other food items could be offered off the menu and were reasonably priced.
Aside from the wedding dinner, all meals were served buffet style and the seating area was near the pool. There was enough food variety for breakfasts and brunches to keep everyone happy. The only bad part of the dining experience was the large (lily?) flower arrangements on the tables: they looked beautiful but 1) smelled REALLY strongly, which conflicted with the food, and 2) got in the way of the food we had on the table. Often people moved the vases from the tables to the ground (or even further away to stay clear of the smell) while eating.
Note: This comment about the flowers is my BIGGEST COMPLAINT about the entire time spent at Playa Fiesta. That should tell you something about how much I enjoyed staying there. I keep meaning to recommend to the owners to get a variety of flowers that is scentless for the eating area but haven't yet.
Drinks: The bar was great -- the wedding package had open bar for well drinks from 8am-11pm, which was SPECTACULAR as a wedding guest. The terrific bartenders made all sorts of drinks and they had tons of mixers. Between finishing breakfast until falling asleep at night, I myself was never without a pina colada, mudslide, crazy monkey, or bloody mary in hand, usually in the hot tub or pool, chatting with friends or reading a book. The bartenders were great at recommending drinks to try. From what others told me, the beers they had available were good too.
People / Service:
From the accommodating, competent, and friendly staff to the owners themselves who came over to hang out with us around the pool, everyone was terrific and made our stay enjoyable. Once I needed to get some smaller bills so that I could tip the bartenders and the front desk man suggested that I see the people in the accounting office who were more than helpful in changing the money, even though that is not their function and they weren't exactly prepared to handle that request.
One afternoon the hot water went out. (As it turns out, the unseasonably windy weather had blown the pilot light out, and that's the first time that anything like this had happened in the 10ish years the owners have had the place, so please don't get the impression that this happens a lot).
The owners got working on the issue IMMEDIATELY and were good about informing people on the status / progress. It was figured out and taken care of quite quickly, as I remember.
Check-in and Check-out were a breeze for me, though I heard that it took longer for some others... not sure about any details, but for me it was a 2-minute process. Very efficient and professional, no weird charges (all the different taxes are even itemized), and no errors at all with our bill. Payment by Mastercard was easy and convenient. The bar also takes credit card.
Activities:
As part of the wedding package, we had a discount spa day ($15 for a 30 min massage, it was very relaxing, especially hearing the waves) and a Texas Hold'em tournament (one of the owners was the -- experienced -- dealer and we all had a great time).
The front desk also arranged for a group of five of us to go zip lining which was a lot of fun (it was the Los Veranos Canopy Tour company, which I recommend).
The bride and groom arranged for a mariachi band to play after the ceremony (really cool) an also a small drum band to play another evening (also fun).
Location:
At the time of our trip, there was a lot of construction going on between the hotel and PV, which made the ride a lot longer than is typical (15-20 mins vs. 5 mins normally). I have no idea how long the construction will last, but since we spent the majority of the time at the resort, this is not a big deterrent. It is easy to catch a local bus or a taxi to get to the hotel. There is a resort either being built or abandoned or something next door one one side, but that's not an issue because the pool area doesn't face that way. The orientation of the pool area and all the balconies is the opposite direction where there is a rock beach. Most days that we were there, there was a small team of people collecting the rocks and loading them into a pickup truck. Another day there were two jewelry vendors who came near the resort area and waited to see if any of us wanted to look at their wares. Other than that, we didn't see anyone but other wedding guests and staff while we were at the resort.
Going into town was fun, walking on the sand beach and on the boardwalk. Some of my friends did some souvenir shopping. Do this if you feel like exploring a little (catching the bus or a cab is easy and the front desk can help with that), but I really liked the time just hanging out by the pool at Playa Fiesta with my friends...
Pools:
The pools are cleaned/maintained at every morning and were sparkling clean. There is a large hot tub (no Jacuzzi jets though), one pretty warmly-heated pool, and a larger less-heated pool. All of them were great and kids and adults alike had a great time swimming there. I think there would have been an issue with having enough pool chairs if the resort were full or if there had been another group there...
The Ceremony:
Fabulous. Completely tastefully done and beautiful. I can't really speak about the planning process or anything like that since I was not part of the bridal party, but from the perspective of a guest I really can't imagine a better done wedding (it went a LOT more smoothly than my own wedding went, I'll tell you that!). It was simply spectacular.
Dancing after the ceremony was a lot of fun too. Plenty of room for us to dance.
Weather:
We heard from some people that we were there during an unusually cold spell. I had to borrow a sweatshirt for mornings and evenings. Sunny and beautiful every day.
Misc.: Be sure to check the lost and found before you leave (or every morning while you're there) because you might find your stuff you didn't realize you'd lost...
Overall: I loved the time I spent there. I was so happy every moment. The wedding and wedding festivities were lovely. Definitely not cheap for guests, but well worth it! If you're invited, don't think twice! GO and have a great time!
Room Tip: Definitely try to get a room with its own balcony (facing the ocean).
See more room tips
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
