Question for those of you who stayed at Iberostar and dove with Dressels

[Scratch_Monkey]

I ended up booking my stay through the IHG website and my dives directly with Dressel in advance in order to get the pre-paid discount. They had a Cinco de Mayo special so received 25% off!

If you book through IHG, you are not supposed to get the option of choosing your room. However, I did receive an email from Iberostar offering me that option. But when I tried to redeem it, it wouldn't let me! So I called IHG and asked if they could help as I thought I was doing something wrong. After all, why would they present me with the offer of choosing my room (with no qualifications) if I was not eligible?

IHG ended up telling me that I had to book directly with Iberostar to get the option of choosing my room but they would pass along my preferences (near the dive shop and 2nd floor) and hopefully they would be able to accommodate me when I checked in. My response was to thank the IHG rep for their help and say that was probably the best outcome I could ask for, but what Iberostar SHOULD do is honor their offer and then fix their IT. I should never have gotten that email if I wasn't eligible!

In the end, Iberorstar and IHG made it right and my stay was good so it all worked out.

Here is a link to my review:

Trip Report Thread 'Cozumel in early June, 2025 - Iberostar Resort and Dressel Divers'

Jun 8, 2025

TL/DR - If it is your first time to Cozumel and you want something easy with regard to trip planning and is a good value, I think staying at the Iberostar and diving with Dressel Divers (the on-site dive shop) is a great choice. The resort is nice and the dive shop is good. Because the shop is on-site, it's easy to get to and they do four trips per day so you can get a lot of dives in. Plus Nitrox is free.

If you already have experience with this resort and shop (or go to Cozumel regularly), there is probably nothing new in my report so this is geared for people who may be...

• Scratch_Monkey
• Replies: 19
• Forum: Cozumel

• 

I had a good experience with the resort and their staff and a good experience with Dressel (both the person I interacted with via email in Spain as well as the folks on-site). If you have never been to Cozumel and you want the trip planning to be easy, I can absolutely recommend staying and diving with them. It's also, IMO, a good value given the pre-paid diving discount, the free Nitrox, the all you can eat, included alcohol, etc...

 

[kesmed2001]

We had a good experience booking directly with Iberostar for the room, and booking with Dressel for the dive packages. A couple of times we purchased a package and ended up not using all the dives because of weather, and we ended up keeping them in reserve and using them during our next stay.

Glad you had a good experience!

 

[jknightindy]

I ended up booking my stay through the IHG website and my dives directly with Dressel in advance in order to get the pre-paid discount. They had a Cinco de Mayo special so received 25% off!

If you book through IHG, you are not supposed to get the option of choosing your room. However, I did receive an email from Iberostar offering me that option. But when I tried to redeem it, it wouldn't let me! So I called IHG and asked if they could help as I thought I was doing something wrong. After all, why would they present me with the offer of choosing my room (with no qualifications) if I was not eligible?

IHG ended up telling me that I had to book directly with Iberostar to get the option of choosing my room but they would pass along my preferences (near the dive shop and 2nd floor) and hopefully they would be able to accommodate me when I checked in. My response was to thank the IHG rep for their help and say that was probably the best outcome I could ask for, but what Iberostar SHOULD do is honor their offer and then fix their IT. I should never have gotten that email if I wasn't eligible!

In the end, Iberorstar and IHG made it right and my stay was good so it all worked out.

Here is a link to my review:

Trip Report Thread 'Cozumel in early June, 2025 - Iberostar Resort and Dressel Divers'

Jun 8, 2025

TL/DR - If it is your first time to Cozumel and you want something easy with regard to trip planning and is a good value, I think staying at the Iberostar and diving with Dressel Divers (the on-site dive shop) is a great choice. The resort is nice and the dive shop is good. Because the shop is on-site, it's easy to get to and they do four trips per day so you can get a lot of dives in. Plus Nitrox is free.

If you already have experience with this resort and shop (or go to Cozumel regularly), there is probably nothing new in my report so this is geared for people who may be...

• Scratch_Monkey
• Replies: 19
• Forum: Cozumel

• 

I had a good experience with the resort and their staff and a good experience with Dressel (both the person I interacted with via email in Spain as well as the folks on-site). If you have never been to Cozumel and you want the trip planning to be easy, I can absolutely recommend staying and diving with them. It's also, IMO, a good value given the pre-paid diving discount, the free Nitrox, the all you can eat, included alcohol, etc...

I am getting ready to book through Iberostar directly for a September trip. If you had it to do over again would you select a 2nd floor room? Any particular reason you wanted a 2nd floor vs ground floor? I am looking at a room close to the dive shop/pool area on the first floor - 2203 specifically. Do you recall how much your taxi was to and from the Cozumel airport. Any advice on things to do outside of the resort? I am travelling solo.

 

[kesmed2001]

Book the hotel through Iberostar. We picked the second floor for privacy.

Book and pay for the dive package through Dressel for the discount.

The taxi rates are standardized by zone, I don’t recall how much it was the last time we went.

 

[Scratch_Monkey]

I am getting ready to book through Iberostar directly for a September trip. If you had it to do over again would you select a 2nd floor room? Any particular reason you wanted a 2nd floor vs ground floor? I am looking at a room close to the dive shop/pool area on the first floor - 2203 specifically. Do you recall how much your taxi was to and from the Cozumel airport. Any advice on things to do outside of the resort? I am travelling solo.

We stayed in the 2nd floor only because I read one comment where someone complained about noisy, upstairs neighbors. We had people in the unit under us and never heard a peep, nor did we ever see them so I think either upstairs or downstairs would be fine and just hope your neighbors are quiet.

I suppose there could be an element of security to staying upstairs, especially for things you leave on your balcony?

This, off course, is a potential issue with any hotel.

As far as staying by the dive shop… we enjoyed it. We had a bit of a walk to breakfast and dinner but it was fine and we were able to easily take out gear back to the room and store it there instead of using their lockers.

It also meant we could easily get lunch as the main restaurant for lunch and the snack bar were super close.

The cab ride from the hotel to the airport was $40 but I think you may be able to negotiate a little lower if you ask up front. We didn’t ask until we were already on the road so we just paid what he asked. Having said that, we shared the cab with another couple we met at the resort so it was only $20 for our portion of the fare.

You can’t get a cab from the airport to your resort. You either have to take one of the airport options or walk off the property to where a cab is allowed to get you.

Our experience was as we were walking through the airport after customs and immigration, they had a bunch of airport people asking if you needed help. We said we did and they escorted us to a guy (there were lots of these guys) who helped us book a bus to the Iberostar. I think it was around $10 or $12 per person?

But that’s the bus where we met the couple we shared the cab back with. I think you can choose a shared bus or a private bus or a private car for different rates. The shared bus is cheapest.

I am pretty sure those helpful folks worked for the airport and were genuinely trying to help arrivals who didn’t already have transportation arrangements. It’s a bit different because at most airports you’d just get in line for a cab or call an uber.

I don’t have any suggestions for things to do outside the resort. We spent most of our time diving or napping or eating. But you can’t easily get a cab from the hotel entrance. Or, I suppose, you can rent a car for a day.

I hope you have a great trip!