The only thing about this that was bad was the long bus ride from the airport! but what can you do eh? grab some cans of beer and hope the bus ride flies by. it was just over a hour ride in! Once you get there though life is good, quick service, even booked a a la carte dinner while standing in line checking in :) My girlfriend and i found the food to be very good for Cuba, lots of very well cooked roasts and turkeys, it is a bigger hotel so it can get a little busy and crowded, but that happens right, take your time, have a drink, nice and easy you are on vacation right!!!! No rushes! The beach was perfect, lots of chairs and shade for all!!! The bar and snack bar near the beach was busy, but as everybody knows now bring your own cups and fill up so do not have to make as many trips, lots of shade to keep them cool! The rooms are very two or three stars, it is a place the wash sleep and keep your stuff! Lots of mirrors and plugs for the ladies! And there is only the two resorts on this strip of beach so it is in no way over crowded!!! It is aslo a public beach in between the hotels so it is a little more crowded there but it is cute to see all the cuban children having a wonderful time in the ocean! Great beach for long walks and sunsets!!! Overall nice place, not too fancy, great price for last minute people and very good times!! Oh yeah, Take a trip into Trinadad in a taxi(cheap) for some sightseeing and shopping, Cool little old style town, friendly!!!

Thankfully my stay at this hotel was only a matter of days. Thankfully I'd opted for a 'tropical' room - which was basic but had a great sea view in the more 'modern' building. My friends weren't as lucky. Their room was in the main building, located on the 7th floor and they were welcomed to it via a near derelict lift and corridor which bore strong resemblance to a Glasgow Council Estate or Bronx Project. Frightening. This hotel is dated and is in desperate need of modernization and refurb, and a lick of paint wouldn't go amiss either. It is also dangerous ... open lift shafts, low walls allowing access to the roof for all on the 7th floor - with a sheer drop to the bottom. I'm not sure I'd stay here if I had kids. As for the rest, I'm not a fan of all inclusives to begin with - poor quality food, served in far from salubrious surroundings and a breakfast service that can only be described as continental at best. I would not choose to return to this hotel and we chose it purely on availability and location in the first instance.

PROS
1. Beach location
2. Good housekeeping staff
3. Views from the sea rooms
4. Friendly reception staff
5. Tropical Rooms in the 'modern' block

CONS
1. Poor standard of the hotel
2. Pushy staff at the buffet (giving 'unsolicited' gifts to you, on the expectation that you'll be giving them money before you leave. This made us feel uncomfortable. We tipped the staff that we felt worked hard for us.
3. The booking process for the 'specialty' restaurants is ridiculous. They start taking bookings at 8.30 and all restaurants are full by 9. However, one morning I arrived early - and all restaurants were already booked by 8.30am ... which means they'd started taking bookings earlier. Plus for the 3 nights that we were there, we never saw any of the 'specialty' restaurants full, and there is an inability amongst staff to turn tables, therefore allowing more diners through the door.
4. Poor buffet catering. Bland, boring, inefficient and uninspiring. Having to eat in that huge canteen actually turned my stomach.
5. General Cleanliness and Security of the premises. Not great. I've already mentioned the lift shaft and sheer drop from the 7th floor. There was also a broken bottle left at the top of the stairs on the 7th floor for 2 days ... until we reported it to housekeeping for cleaning. And there is no security between the new and old buildings when the night falls - which can be a little daunting if you are alone with the knowledge that the hotel is situated on a public beach - so anyone can easily walk into the new block day or night without detection.
5. Rooms in the old building. Small and cramped with no usable power points (unless you want to suspend you appliances from a wall mounted television), and consistent problems with hot water. No working telephone.
6. Towel System. Another ridiculous system. You have to go to reception. Give them 20 CUC. They give you a receipt and a laminated card. You take the laminated card (and receipt) to the towel desk. They give you a towel, take the laminated card and make you sign a blank piece of paper that's a homemade list. Then when you're done, you take the towel back to the towel desk (with your receipt), they try to find your signature on their homemade list before they give you the laminated card back (believe me, this can take a while), you take that back to reception (with your receipt), then they go through hundreds of bits of paper to try and find you - before returning your 20 CUC. Now, this may just be me - but what is the point of the laminated card? Surely they should just take your money at the front desk, give you a towel card and you switch that with the towel attendant.

My advice to management overall is to smarten up your act and go to a better hotel to see how to do things properly.

We enjoyed a 2 wk. vacation at Hotel Ancon Dec 24-Jan 7....and it was the best trip so far to Cuba. We did a lot of research and knew it was an older resort lacking luxury, however,
it is perfect for the budget-minded traveller...basic but clean, you won't go hungry and a beach that is truly one of the best we've seen.
Main building we called 'the ugly duckling' and this is where all the services are located. By the way .... go up to the roof and take in some amazing views of the beach, mountains and lagoon. We stayed in the Superior section (a separate bldg. newer) and were satisfied with our room....beds & pillows a bit hard, full bath with a hairdryer, free safe, mini-fridge with large bottles of water. We appreciated the balcony with an oceanview. We took our own coffee-maker to use in the room and gave it away to staff on the last day. By the way TV channels are very limited with 2 english + CNN and 3 spanish.
Most visiitors at the hotel are French Canadians. English speakers are in the minority. A few Europeans, British and local Cuban families.
Well....the beach.....what can I say? We loved it. 4kms of soft light sand, calm waters great for swimming and walking which we did in abundance. No loud blasting music, lots of umbrellas, chairs are hard plastic but we took a dollar store yoga pad and cut in half....it made lounging more comfortable for sure. Pool has mesh chairs and was clean. The hotel only has 2 peddle boats and 2 kayaks & some snorkel sets to use. We saw some guests who brought their rods to fish and they were catching a few good sized ones.
There is only one main buffet restaraunt and 3 specialty a la cartes. We only ate at the buffet. It was fair to good...you won't go hungry. What we did find lacking was bread & cheese selection. And the coffee left a lot to be desired. All of the bars serve very good capuccino though.
Excursions are inexpensive and shopping is reasonable. We went into Trinidad on own 3 times and were pleasantly surprised at the old-fashioned atmosphere...cobblestone streets, little tucked-away artist's stidios and beautiful hand-made crafts. The buildings are very old with intricate carvings and huge wooden doors right out of the Spanish colonial era. People are very friendly and helpful. We definately want to explore Trinidad again on our next trip there.
Overall....this resort gets thumbs up from us for 'value for dollar', beach and proximity to Trinidad. Do your homework and you'll be ok here.....if want to be pampered a bit....go somewhere else.
We can't wait to return to this great beach.

I've been twice. Jan 2007 (my review was lost in the tripadvisors 2009 crash) and again in Jan 2011.

I feel it's important to rate how it went because I just had a poor 5 star trip to Memories Azul. I wish we had gone to the Ancon.

Acon treated us really well. The food and drinks were fine and abundant, the staff were happy and pleasant, our room was tired but clean and comfortable.

My only concern was the elevator situation. There are now just 2 working lifts. The freight lift is gone for good. Often one lift is out leaving long waits for the remaining lift. Sometimes both lifts are out. This is not acceptable for children or the elderly. I see a day with just 1 working lift and many peeved guests, then no guests.
In summary the Ancon is like old comfortable shoes. They do the job.