Aging Resort in need of investment $

My family and I have been going to Brisas Sierra Mar for about six years. We come back for the friendly restaurant staff, village life nearby, horseback riding and the caring scuba dive masters. This still remains the same. On the down side the food at the buffet is really limited for vegetarians and for those who eat only fish. Even meat eaters may find the food always the same. Repeaters dinner and the restaurants by invitation are good. Brisas Sierra Mar is a family resort that has chang [... lire plus]ed into a haven for older Canadian men and Cuban working women. My children commented on how bad it looks. The resort needs roof repairs, refurbishing of many rooms and a paint job throughout the resort. The drainage system does not work and water can accumulate in the hallways during a storm. During our stay the elevators did not work. This was a problem for older tourists with mobility problems. We will not be returning despite our love for the area and the friendly local people.

Brisas SierraMar

Grounds very clean. Hotel in good repair. Food pretty good. Staff excellent Hotel has beautiful scenery. Only bid problem was beyond their control . A very heavy rain knocked out the elevator to the beach level making it difficult for some people to get down with the stairs. The hotel had repair people there promptly but four days later when I left they were still working on it

Facts

Price was great for 12 days but the hotel is tired and like many , needs a facelift, no change since my visit in 2012 other than the elevator is now operational , the hotel is 25 years old but was not maintained, some rooms are being renovated but the process is slow. Many many many returned guests, older crowd, food Ok but nothing out of the ordinary for Cuba. likely my last time.

Faded Glory

This was & could be again a beautiful resort. Brisas Seirra Mar is reflective of the many resorts throughout Cuba I have visited, It's easy to envision how it looked when new but it to is being allowed to crumble.(How Sad) Lots of stairs & the usual Cuban power outages effecting the elevators. The Buffet is a little better than I expected with some decent spicing. The specialty restaurants need to be told to hold back on the salt. The beach is volcanic sand -beige but hot as --- on the feet. [... lire plus] Wear beach shoes you'll be O.K. Staff very nice & worth while day trip to Santiago de Cuba.

Good deal for the money

My family enjoyed the stay in this hotel. It wasn't really 4 day stay as we came very early morning November 20th instead of evening of November 19th due to airline (Cubana) delay. Also we had to leave fairly early November 23rd and then spent many hours at the airport due to airline delay.

Gives us all!

Everything lovely and staff there to answer all your needs. Love the food especially the fish. The Beach Bar and seaside restaurant add to the variety of locations on site. The coffee is exceptional

Nice hotel, decent food, friendly service.

All-round it is probably the best hotel in the Santiago area, at least for the price, with buffet meals too. An hour from Santiago on the coastal road but the road is good. The road to the west toward Pilon is rough but that whole route is scenic as hell. We rented a Chinese car though (MG) and it had only about 6 inches of clearance with 3 passengers so not suitable for going west past Chivirico. **Unfortunately Cubana cancelled our flight to Santiago de Cuba and we lost a whole day of ou [... lire plus]r short 4-day package to Cuba. Yes, after a lot of sitting around and getting no updates on our flight out of Toronto we were informed of the decision to cancel to next day and they put us up in hotels with meals/coupons. The whole process was really tiresome and inefficient though. Worst thing was we lost 25% of our time in Cuba and we are not informed whether we will get a refund of at least 25% of what we paid for the all-inclusive package. I mean we paid for 4 days, not 3...then we had to endure the inconvenience, though not the costs, of putting up in Toronto for a night. I want to hear if/when we are getting a refund, as this will affect my travel decisions in the future. The fault was not Sierra Mar Hotel's but Cubana's, on the other hand it is a package deal. Larry

Very relaxing

First off : the surrounding scenery to brisas is all mountains very remote but tranquil.... the resort was nearly empty but we made the most if it.... food decent...drinks non stop.... swim up bar.... free snorkeling 1 hour trip out on a boat...I bought decent Cohiba from a "guy " ..... there was some prostitution at the resort but not in your face .... very friendly and warm animation people...

Quiet and relaxing

Stayed for 11 days in October. Beautiful resort, nice staff.Peacefull and quiet. Exactly what we needed and looked for. Food was typical for Cuba, a little repetitive but tasty. Nice beach, not crowded because most of the guests opted for pool (for, to me, unknown reasons). Only thing that bothered us was "Viagra tour" that came second week of our stay but we tried not to pay too much attention to old Italian men acting in love with their grandchildren's age guests. That aside, if you are looki [... lire plus]ng for a quiet place with great view from all the rooms and from anywhere of the hotel grounds I definitely recommend this hotel.

Nice Resort

After some earlier reviews and checking pics on line we decided to travel to Santiago De Cuba and stay at the Brisas Sierra Mar. Of course everyone has their own interpretation so here goes ours. Firstly didn't start off all that great as our flight out of Toronto was delayed and we were given no reason as to why. When we finally landed, customs process was fine and the Hola Rep was right where you could see him (Albert) and directed us to the bus. This is the part that really sucked . . [... lire plus] we waited on the bus with the other passengers for over an hour due to a couple who were bringing down an item that apparently was not exceptable so because of that everyone had to wait for them. Given the delayed flight and then this along with an hour and give or take 15 mins to get to the Brisas we didn't arrive until after 1am!! The desk was pretty good though and getting everyone registered. When we got to our room it was clean, air-conditioning worked good and this may sound strange but the toilet worked great too . . lol. Note: they do have safes but we found out the next morning that you have to pay $2 per day to use it. The pool was clean and was the entire pool area. Have to say the workers there work very hard around the hotel area. What is funny though is that the pool has a sign that it's only open from 10am to 5pm and they actually have a stand up sign indicating not to be used before 10am. Because of the time we went first of Oct this resort was extremely quiet which we weren't complaining at all as we like a quiet place for some R&R. The beach is small and the sand is very dark but the water was amazing!!! For the food well we didn't expect 5star meals. I am sure they did the best they could with what's available to them. If I had to say which meal time was the better of the 3 (breakfast, lunch and dinner), I'd say breakfast. It was hit and miss with the staff at the front desk. When we first arrived the male desk clerk was very efficient but during the day when some of the ladies were on they weren't exactly accommodating and when you asked them a question and we only went to see them about a slight issue we had with TV and to find out when the money was brought in so we could exchange our money, they'd sort of shrug and say "don't know" can you come back? There is nothing and I mean nothing to do at this place if you're looking for action . . lol. You'd have to rely on doing excursions if you want to get away from the resort. We ourselves were fine with staying pool side and soaking up the sun. That was at least my prime objective. Now for any animal lovers - do have to tell you while we were there, there is a feral cat colony that hang out just outside the restaurant. If you are compassionate enough to consider bringing some say cat treats, they would so love it! They are skinny and skittish but throw out some treats and they come a charging. We brought some with us just in case we ran into something like this and I am so glad we did. Our pick up from the resort on departure day was well organized but again our flight was again delayed for an hour. Not sure about Cubana Air. All in all for what we paid we were happy with this resort.

Amazing views

We enjoyed a quick 4 night stay at Brisas Sierra Mar. The grounds are very lush and the gardeners were hard at work during our stay. Our room was dated but very comfortable. We had the most amazing view of the ocean from our balcony. We enjoyed fresh onelets each morning and lunch st the Rancheron. Special thanks to Leo for preparing fish for me each day for lunch. We especially appreciated Gladys is the buffet and the top notch service she provided to us. My husband went scuba diving w [... lire plus]ith Edgar from the dive shop and really enjoyed himself. The beach area is smaller but the palapas are a generous size. We brought a hammock with us and we're able to hang it each day in the palapa. The ocean is calm but water shoes are needed as the bottom has some rocks and weeds. For swimming closer to the hotel is less weedy. We didn't use the pool as there were having a problem with algae and working on it. Pool towels you need to ask your maid for them. We look forward to spending a longer trip at Brisas Sierra Mar!

Ok

It was ok. Almost ran out or gas, no pizza which makes me sad . It's my birthday l🌾🌾 sully is little no gunna eat this cheese maybe he might idk if hes gunna eat it Maybe it has candles on it since we lit candles on it

Good resort

Good grounds and beech but couple of local hassles always there near the beech. Food not much choice for thee+ stars. Staff friendly. Reception is not up to date for information. Elevator slow and often not working.

Good resort

I believe you get what you pay for. It was nothing fancy but we enjoyed the simple hospitality in Cuba. We faced many issues that had been reported, food ok, green pool, broken items in room. Overall would go back!

Great resort!

The hôtel is very intimate, clean and The staff is warm and welcoming. The rooms offers one of The most amazing views i saw, océan, montains and nothing else. The food at The buffet is so so and repetitive but The staff will do The extra mile to please you. I Will definatively book again soon. It is a little paradise.

Scenery is fantastic

You have to have an open mind, relaxed nature and not very high expectations when you are booking this location. Lets get into the "The Good, The Bad and the The Ugly". The Good. You can't beat the price this resort is usually available at. This is a very beautiful scenic location. The view from most of the rooms and the pool-patio area is fantastic. They are in the process of making improvements. I was fortunate to have been placed in a room that had just been renovated and they were working [... lire plus] on more rooms on my (4th) floor. More and more rooms will look brand new as time goes on. The pool has a new liner and is perfectly fine. The grounds are kept clean. There is always a bar open. You just have to be aware of when one closes and the other opens. Overall, staff is very friendly and they respond to you much like a mirror. If you are grouchy they tend to not smile and laugh with you as much as they would if you are friendly with them. You can find lots of peace and quiet at this resort If that is what you are looking for. Great place to just relax. You can always find "something" to eat if you are not picky. The food at the restaurant was surprisingly good. You can mingle with guests that are Cuban. Most are extremely friendly and great to talk to. One of the great things about this resort are the many guests here keep returning year after year. They are very helpful with letting you know information that will help make your stay more enjoyable. Mangoes were in season. You can pick them fresh from the many trees on site. The Bad. The food is ok. I was there In low season so there wasn't much of a selection at the buffet. As mentioned by many other reviews, the food was repetitive from lunch to dinner and from day to day. The snack bar wasn't always open and it only had hot dogs, hamburgers and French fries when it was open. Salad selection was almost non-existent. We had a snorkel excursion with our package. The boat had been damaged by a recent storm. The staff at the front desk is not very informative with the knowledge of whether or not the outing would take place on any given day. Each day the people the nautical center would say "Tomorrow the boat will be fixed". It was finally fixed on the last day we were there There is no currency exchange at the resort which had a few guests annoyed. I had a massage included in my package but I could never find the person who does the massages. Locals do come to this resort for their vacation and as I mentioned above most of them are very friendly and polite but there are some that don't seem to understand the concept of a line when they are at the bar or in the buffet. Bring insect repellant ward off the sand ticks on the beach. Yes there does appear to be the occasional "older guest" with a "younger Cuban girl" strolling around but they are mostly fairly discrete. The Ugly. Most of the hotel staff is very helpful and friendly. There are a few that will constantly try to hustle you into going to "their house" or restaurant off site for a "Cuban meal". There are also a few male members of the hotel staff that appear to be predators waiting to take advantage of a female guest that has had too much too drink. Overall, you get what you pay for.

Terrible

Honestly the view was beautiful and the hotel had maybe 50 guests, most of which were local Cubans. We were told it's due to the time of year most Canadians think it's too hot, we found it to be the same as Ontario but with more humidity. The locals were treated like VIP (served first at bar ECT.) the hotel front desk staff were extremely unhelpful and quite rude, they lied about "no resturants outside of resort were open" which they were. A staff member drive us to Oceana where we read was a ni [... lire plus]ce place to eat off the resort..... Well he charged us 5pesos for a 2 minute drive and sped off after being paid.... Knowing the Oceana was closed, so we had to walk back 10 minutes to the resort, asked a server in the buffet and she called us a taxi and sent us to the three rocks about a 15 minute drive away and we were only charged 10 pesos. The restaurant there was amazing. That meal was the highlight of our trip. The resort itself only ever had 1 bar open, either the pool bar or lobby bar. Only 1 a la carte resturant was "working" and was always fully reserved(by cubans) the buffet had gross repetitive food with very little options. Basically lived off rice and bread and mangos. But the buffet was only open 3 times a day and when they were closed nothing else was open to get food. The cafeteria was only open at night for a couple hours then again, nothing available to eat. The "shop" had very limited food options. And when the sign said open, half the time no one was there. The games room was a joke, never open, not even the bar. Basically you could drink 24/7 but could only eat in limited time frames with very little options. Bugs in our room and a barely working AC. The pillows were flat as paper and the tv only worked half the time, with the only available English channels being CNN and ctv(which almost never worked) the maid was great although she never left more than a single roll of toilet paper... When we had to call for another roll one night it took nearly an hour for them to bring it. Hallways were filled with puddles from a leaking roof and cat feces. The pool also was usually closed by 7pm. Pros: awesome serving staff, ocean and mountain view, not many people so always pool loungers available. Cons: front desk staff, rooms, lack of food, lack of available open bars/ shop / games room, lack of activities and under staffed, terrible service, bad upkeep, and having to check out at 12 when our bus doesn't leave for the airport until 3. I highly do NOT recommend this resort.

Home away from home.

The staff are so friendly and helpful. The hotel is always clean. The food is healthy with enough options to vary your selection. When I'm in Cuba I go off the resort and visit with the locals. Even though I don't speak Spanish we get out point across. Also there are many Cubans who do speak English. What a humbling experience to see the love they have with each other.

Unbelievably Amazing Staff!

This hotel is a diamond in the rough! We caught this deal for 398$ tax incl for a 5 day 4 night stay to celebrate 2 birthdays. We were very skeptical at first but wee arrived at the hotel and we didn't have to check in or anything as we were given our room keys and bracelets on the bus. We were a rowdy bunch of girls planning to have the time of our lives & we accomplished just that! The staff at this resort in every single aspect did not disappoint us with the amount of service they provid [... lire plus]ed! From the bellboys to the wait staff and entertainment and the bartenders and even the security at night! They were all amazing and went out of their way to accommodate us in any way shape or form! They completely excided my expectations 100%! I personally travel alot and I have never been treated so well as I was at this resort. Food?? Not much selection at the buffet but who needs selection when the items they have are to notch flavor??? Rooms? Older... But very clean and they are just for sleeping anyway. Beach?? Gorgeous! The water was warm and so still you could see right through it! Bars?? Bring your big bottle! They will fill u up no questions asked!! The views are amazing from every single room! We were on 2nd floor.. Next time i will ask for 4th! Just to try something new :) I give this hotel a 5+++++ star for the service alone! Very very very happy with this hotel! I can not wait to return!

Clean friendly and comfortable

The room and common areas were good The elevators were not reliable and should be attended to immediately. The pool was a little less than great but who cares! Nice beach, good variety and quality of food. Majority of staff very friendly and helpful