Hotel Fontan Ixtapa - All Inclusive

“A critical review of our enjoyable vacation at Fontan Ixtapa”

Fontan Ixtapa Review My partner and I stayed at the Fontan in Ixtapa from February 10-17,2024. Overall, I would rate this hotel a 3.75/5, as there was both pros and cons for myself. Overall it was a very pleasant experience and I would choose to do it all over again if given the opportunity. Food… more

Fontan Ixtapa Review My partner and I stayed at the Fontan in Ixtapa from February 10-17,2024. Overall, I would rate this hotel a 3.75/5, as there was both pros and cons for myself. Overall it was a very pleasant experience and I would choose to do it all over again if given the opportunity. Food - 5/5 Facilities - 3/5 Staff - 5/5 Amenities - 3/5 Pros: - the staff are all incredibly friendly. I want to highlight the service we received from front desk staff Olivia who was only a trainee. While many staff did not look up from their computers or answer all our questions, Olivia had incredible customer service and deserves praise. She always looked up, answered any questions we had, and did all with a smile. Additionally, Luis and Laurencio at the Lobby bar were incredible all week, remembering our names, our orders, often getting our drinks going before we even made it to the bar. They always made conversation, and by the end of the week, we considered them friends and were sad to be leaving them! They were both incredible. Other staff were always patient with us when trying to communicate if they didn’t speak English, and didn’t make fun of us when we tried to sound out Spanish. They were always willing to help when asked, and the service was incredible from all of them. I cannot list a single complaint about the staffs friendliness or ability to do their job. They always gave us a smile and helped as needed. - There was a wonderful selection of cocktails. I enjoyed several and had no complaints. The bartenders were also very patient and willing to work with an allergy that I had. For beer they offer Tecate (Clara), and Indio (Obscura), both on tap. - The food at this resort is absolutely amazing. I have been to several all inclusives, ranging from 3 stars to 5 stars, and the food at this resort beats all of the resorts I have ever been to. The menu is very mexican, as there is a large local crowd that stays at this resort. However, as someone who is pretty adventurous with their food and willing to try new things, I would rate the food 10/10. The buffets consistently always had a wide selection of sides, salads, breads, and usually had several types of mains as well. The food was not repetitive and changed daily, aside from breakfast which remained overall the same throughout the week. The snack bar does burgers, hot dogs and fries daily if you needed a break from Mexican food. - The beach was incredible. Ixtapa beaches cannot be beat and the Fontan has an incredible location on the beach with great sand, swimmable waters, and great views of the surrounding islands. The sand is very soft and walkable in bare feet. The waters are quite calm and swimmable most days, despite the resort having red flags up. The hotel is also besides several restaurants, a grocery store, and a large market. - Lots of loungers around the pool and by the beach! - Our room got upgraded - we were due to have a garden view, but ended up with partial ocean view with a balcony. Many previous reviews indicated the rooms didn’t have balconies or mini fridges but our room had both. However, we only had one working outlet in our room which was a pain. - Rooms are quite modern. - Resort is making a lot of environmentally friendly choices - reuseable cups, filtered water dispensers rather than bottles, cards to insert for power in the room so ac isn’t running all day, etc. - AC worked very well. - housekeeping was amazing. - There was a kids pool, and an adults only pool with a swim up bar. Kids did not come in the adults pool which was appreciated by us who are child free and wanted to relax without the craziness of kids all the time. - We went to the resort spa that is situated right on the beach. We were both able to to enjoy a relaxation massage that was about 45 minutes for about 350 pesos each. It was very good and we were both satisfied with the service. - Short trip from Zihatenejo airport, was only about a 20 minute taxi ride. Taxi costed about 500-600 pesos each way. Cons: - many staff do not speak English. This was not a problem for us, as we are willing to try to communicate other ways or use translation apps, but this may be a pain for someone not as technologically advanced. - This is not a con, but the crowd at the resort is heavily local. I would say throughout the week, 90% of guests were Mexicans. However, where this becomes a bit of a con for me is that all activities are done in Spanish to accommodate the local crowd. I would’ve loved to participate in some of the shows such as a comedy show they did, however, was unable to understand. This was not a dealbreaker for us. - We bought the all inclusive package which was the only available option we could see when booking this resort. However, despite the package being all inclusive, people can pay for a better level of service. At the regular all inclusive rate, you get food, booze, drinks, activities, facilities, etc all included. What is not included is things like bar service from waiters on the beach. They have an upgraded package (again, never offered to us) to access this service. These people also get seperate lines for buffets and bars. - Loungers on the beach, despite plentiful, we’re often unavailable, as people would come to the beach first thing in the morning, and leave towels on the chairs all day but be no where in sight. (We know this because we enjoy our early mornings watching the sunrise on the beach and often spent the entire day on the beach) - They sell a TON of day passes on Saturdays. The Saturday at the resort was extremely overwhelming as there were so many people there. Bar lines took minimum 15 minutes each. - There are not enough bars to accommodate the size of this resort. During the day, only the pool bar, and Miramar bar are open. There are often long lines. The lobby bar does not open until 5, and the other bars close at 6 leaving only the lobby bar open. - The advertised Al La Carte resturant - La Hacienda - is NOT included in the all inclusive pricing. They do offer a slight discount according to the front desk. - Check out was at 12, our flight was not until 5. Every resort I have ever been to has stored my luggage in a locked room and allowed me to remain on site until leaving for my flight for the day, however, this resort wanted us to purchase full day passes to stay the additional 2 hours which seemed a bit ridiculous to me. - There is no like cafe to just get a coffee throughout the day, or a snack in between meals. They have a snack stand with snacks for purchase only. There are gaps in between meal times where things are not open. We did just go to the grocery store and purchase some snacks ourselves. - My partner is a pool operator and he had some concerns about the quality of the pool, but we generally try to avoid full submersion in any resort so this was not a problem. Overall, as someone is pretty adventurous and always willing to try new things, I would’ve opted to still try Fontan again knowing all of the above. If you are looking for a more Mexican experience but still on a resort, this is definitely the place if you don’t want something super Canadian/American. A few notes that are neither pros nor cons for us: - the kids section looks incredible. I don’t have children so I can’t speak from experience but they have a kids club, spray park within the pool, and are currently renovating to add a water slide to the kids club. - Sometimes there are long lines for the buffets. Typically, these were in the later hours of that meal - so like around 9pm for dinner, 3:30 pm for lunch, and 9am for breakfast. If you are open to having meals earlier than this, it won’t be a problem. We ate much earlier and there was almost never a line. - We were never provided a directory or anything. We kinda just figured things out!

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