Barceló Maya Caribe - All Inclusive

Location is great if you're not going to go very far. You really don't need to leave. The hotel rooms are very nice and the service is good. However the moisture here from the humidity is palpable, with a light sweat showing up on the tile floors in the room. Thankfully they do not have carpet in the rooms. Everyone has been extremely friendly and helpful. Service has been excellent. The pool's are exceptionally clean and it's a plus that they have swim up bars.

The hotel is very good. Everybody is very nice and helpful. It’s a big complex, lots of things to do. Everything is very clean. Rooms are a bit dated, but overall it’s good. The buffet is different every day, there are also lots of a la carte restaurants to choose from. The drinks at the mallbar are delicious, mango margaritas are a must try. Paola is one of the servers there, she’s very friendly and helpful.

We spent 8 days here and it was hard to come back home. This place is amazing and the service is incredible. I would highly recommend Barcelo hotels, they do it right. The service was great from everyone but Joel Hernandez was our favorite. He waited on us at the buffet for breakfast on six of the eight mornings only missing us on two because we went on two all day excursions. He set the tone for our whole day and genuinely remembered us and what we told him we were doing that day, he would ask us about how it went the next day he saw us. I could go on, but see this place for yourself. You won't regret it. Thanks again!

We just got back from a week at Maya Caribe and it so great! Everyone was so kind and helpful. It was easy shuttle from airport, check in, room was clean and stocked with beverages. Book your dinners early, they do fill up and the food was so good! Bottled water everywhere, but no issues with water. The bar will make u anything u can think up, the entire staff was amazing. All the guests were great too, notbing wild and super nice and considerate. Beautiful beach and pier! 10/10 would go back asap! We were bummed to leave. The spa is amazing too!!!

We have had the most amazing experience here ! The manager Ana has been so great with accommodating my gluten allergy! Franklin has been amazing with my two young boys who are a bit rambunctious! Feel like we are connecting with family when we head there for our lunch! Always greeted with smiles and warm welcomes. Remembering our drinks and my order for lunch! We were here 6 months ago and Ana remembers us the second we came in.

Great service , Welcoming environment strict on dress code but will give u clothing to allow you to fit the part, Service was consistent waiter was very nice and made good jokes, Waiter also gave us Good recommendations and overall made it a wonder Experience. Apon walking into the restaurant it was very Formal 5 Star experience.

I recently stayed at this hotel while attending a Joe Dispenza retreat, and unfortunately, I had a disappointing experience that I feel is important to share. Midway through my stay, I was woken up around 1:00 AM to water leaking from the light fixture near the bathroom, flooding part of my room. I immediately called the front desk to report the issue and was told they could send maintenance to look at it, but at no point did they offer to move me to another room or provide any type of support or solution that night. I was left to deal with the water dripping for several hours, feeling like my room was slowly flooding. What made this worse was the follow-up. I called the front desk again around 8:00 AM to ask what would be done about the situation, and I was simply told that when they had someone available, they would send them to look at it. Again, no concern, no apology, no offer to make me more comfortable. I documented everything — I took photos and videos of the flooding and even recorded part of the conversation with staff to show how dismissively the issue was handled. Thankfully, because I was gone most of the day, the leak was fixed while I was out. However, the lack of care, accountability, and follow-up for such a disruptive and potentially unsafe situation was extremely disappointing. The retreat itself was life-changing and beautiful, but the hotel’s handling of this situation left a lot to be desired. I truly hope they can improve their customer service, especially when it comes to guest comfort and emergency situations like this.

Our recent stay at the Barceló Resort in Mexico, intended to be a joyful family celebration of my niece’s Sweet 16, was unfortunately marred by persistent disorganization, inconsistent communication, and a troubling lack of accountability. For a group of 20 guests occupying seven premium rooms—booked nearly a year in advance—our experience fell far below even basic hospitality standards. Despite nearly a year of planning and monthly communication with a booking representative, our group was told that activity and dinner reservations could not be made in advance, but would be easily accommodated upon arrival. That was categorically untrue. The only dinner reservation we were able to secure for our entire group during our four-night stay was Sunday at 5:00 PM—on the final night of the trip. Several family members were told outright that no reservations were available for their rooms on the first two nights and were directed to the buffet instead. After pressing management, a supervisor managed to “squeeze” my family of four into the Hibachi restaurant on the first night—yet the restaurant was filled with visibly empty tables. Rather than seating our group together, they split us up and placed us with unrelated guests, which completely defeated the purpose of a family celebration. To make matters worse, we were never informed of the resort’s strict dress code policy for men in à la carte restaurants, which requires long pants. Several male family members—prepared for a beach vacation—were wearing clean, tailored shorts. Had we known in advance, we would have packed appropriately. Instead, they were provided uncomfortable pants to wear over their outfits, interrupting the color coordinated outfits specifically planned for photos. Additional frustrations included inconsistent access to the amenities that were supposedly included in our package. Spa treatments, water circuit access, and a catamaran excursion were all either unavailable or scheduled in ways that conflicted with the few group dinners we were able to arrange. Five of us attempted to book massages on Saturday and were told nothing was available until Monday—the day of our departure—yet another group was able to schedule treatments for Sunday, same day, with no issue. This kind of inconsistent information was a recurring theme. We also encountered a serious safety concern: the shower head in our room fell and nearly struck one of the children. The resort’s solution was to move us across the property, far from the rest of our family, at 10:00 PM—with no advance notice or compensation. Given that we were checking out the next morning, we declined and remained in the original room. And lastly, on arrival, one of our rooms wasn’t available until nearly 8:00 PM due to the resort granting a late check-out to the previous guests. No apology was offered. The hotel’s initial response—a token gesture of water park tickets for just four guests—was tone-deaf, particularly considering our group size and limited time. Only after escalating the issue were we provided with three dinner vouchers for a single room. Room service took 60-90 minutes each time, mini bar wasn’t restocked any day in my room. Most disappointingly of all, nothing was done to acknowledge or celebrate the birthday girl—despite our group communicating clearly that this trip was in honor of her Sweet 16. There was no birthday cake at dinner, no special greeting, no gesture of any kind. For a resort that claims to cater to families and special occasions, this was both disheartening and inexcusable. In summary, Barceló had every opportunity to deliver a smooth, celebratory, and memorable experience for our family—and failed at nearly every turn. This resort may look impressive from a distance, but its internal operations, guest service policies, and lack of communication revealed an organization that is simply not equipped to manage group bookings or uphold its own service standards. We will not be returning.

We loved our spacious room at the Adults only side. The bed was giant! Bathroom was really nice and clean. We upgraded to have a tub on the balcony and it was beautiful view. A lot of people have issues with beach chairs, but I was out there every morning because I wake up early and there were alway plenty available! I went to the bathroom a few times and was worried someone would move my stuff, but they didn't (and there were still tons open). Beach was clean and well maintained. We booked a massage and it was inexpensive and great. I would say the spa wasn't amazing but that's because they book a bunch of people at the same time to enjoy it for about an hour before your massage. The group we got assigned to didn't understand spa etiquette and so it wasn't very relaxing. However, no complaints for the massage. The complaints I have are that people visiting don't clean up after themselves. Leaving cups and garbage around for staff to clean...please clean up and don't hoard chairs and you'll be fine! I also was confused why the bars and buffets closed so early. I believe it was 6 pm for most. So make sure you make food reservations at the restaurants or you won't get to eat! Another frustration was that our door kept having issues with the scanner so we kept getting locked out of our room. It would sometimes take an hour for them to fix the issue and we were late for our dinner reservation. Overall, it's beautiful and lots of things to do! Pretty inexpensive as well.

ALL Barcelo Maya is outdated and it shows. In your room bathroom, the sink doubles as a footwash due to absolute moronic designs (it floods the back and ALL of the counter, and then your feet). The toilets work 75% of the time, well the solid waste does ,but the liquid waste does nothing. They do not come to clean daily, despite being listed as a premium service we paid for and if they do and you need 1 minute to finish up, they won't come back. Restaurants are the biggest joke, and that is if you can find them, use Google maps, no signs anywhere. Have dietary restrictions? Be prepared to send your dishes back 5-6 times, per dish. My sister is gluten and dairy free due to allergies, and we would always be done eating before she started. The buffets are so understaffed that the only way to get a drink is to walk to the bar and hope you are seen (1 out of 10 or so times), i have personally poured water for myself more time than they have, and that was me being very patient (again, this is due to overworked understaffed restaurants). DO NOT FALL FOR THE PREMIUM OFFERING: it gets you NOTHING except access to 1 lounge that has NOTHING different than any other bar or lounge in the resort. But they sell the HELL out of it, and we will be fighting hard to get this back from our travel agent, as the full list of amenities provided are NOT available at all, yes not a single one. This is a joke of a resort, they are so worried about getting your money upfront, they just hope you'll be happy to get a room, and nothing else you paid for. I'm sure this might have been nice once, but for an all inclusive, way too many things that coat money. Avoid at all costs, this place has turned to trash as they focus on the adults only area of this place (where you have to bribe the bartenders or they take your cabana's.. all inclusive my ass), and the adults only resort down the way. Want to use your 1 hour snorkeling time with the turtles? Well, expect to lose the $20 deposit, as they put the snorkel gear on the opposite side of ALL the attached resorts, so you have to run over a mile from the gear yo the turtles, snorkel and run back within an hour. There is no grace period... We were 3 minutes late...

Positives: The property itself is beautiful. The outdoor areas are well-maintained. There are fountains and water features everywhere. The beach is gorgeous. It's exactly what I imagined. We didn't have an issue finding lounge chairs. There's a Catholic Church that's worth mentioning. It's not something I look for when booking, but we saw it and went to mass. It was a nice experience. Also, the staff were friendly and helpful. Negatives: The food was lacking, but don't skip piñata night. That's the only good buffet day. You need reservations for all of the restaurants. The rooms were tired. This is the main reason I didn't enjoy my stay as much as I could have. Unfortunately, the rooms are what you'd find at a 3 star hotel. The curtains were dirty, the beds not comfortable, the pillows flat. The water pressure changed throughout the day. I wouldn't stay there again. It was a part of a package. In the future, I would like to stay somewhere more luxurious, especially for the price we paid. If that means not getting the all-inclusive, so be it.

My bathroom was dirty the first day I got here. Phone in room did not work the entire time, even though I told them on the very first day. Wishing I could have at least enjoyed my final night here, but they thought it was fine to let people party on the beach VERY LOUDLY until early morning hours and would not do anything about it! it's also so far away from everything as well. And the beaches are not good.

Save the dolphins that are captive in small tanks here - recently came across this hotel. Two other dolphins died and were immediately replaced.one of the smallest enclosures for these animals!

The ease of an all inclusive... with lots of space and many activities and a friendly staff. Nothing went missing from our room- which is always a downer at the cheaper all inclusives... the adult only restaurants were good and the buffet was very satisfying. Love all the fresh tropical fruit. Will return. Only transport back to airport was dodgy... the van was rickety and driver seemed cranked on coffee.

First the positive the grounds are beautiful. Now the negative in ranking order: the customer service is ridiculous and not in a good way. Trying to get someone to help for anything is pulling teeth. They don't care! From being on the phone and not being able to be bothered to just one word answers. No good mornings nada. Next the food is the worst if any resort I've experienced. And forget about trying to book a reservation at a specialty restaurant unless you've done so a month before you arrive. The rooms are swampy the bathrooms in the rooms are horrible. No fans no door between the toilet and bathroom and the bathroom door is louvered so there is no privacy. Came with a large family spent 30k on this trip we will never come back here or recommend it.

Leticia of dolce vita was amazing!!! She kept me and my husband very satisfied with our dinner. Kept refilling our drinks and making sure we were comfortable all night long!!! Highly recommend the dinner but Leticia especially!!!

Beware!!! My family and I went here for spring break and were miserable. There were about 12 of us of all ages (including kids). When we checked in, they told us the rooms we reserved weren't available. It took an hour and a half of coordinating with them to finally get the rooms we booked. You should know, the pictures of the rooms you see online look absolutely nothing like the ones in real life. The size, beds, color, everything was different. The food is barely edible. You can eat all you want but I found myself skipping meals just to avoid eating their "food". I'm not a foodie either. I was just hoping for one good thing I could eat and I'd be satisfied but, there's nothing offered that's good. It's all cooked in bulk and very, very below average. There are no chairs available by the pool or on the beach. Well, there are if you wake up at 5am but be careful because if you get there at 5:02am, they're all taken. We saw families leave their towels and books on their chairs to claim them, even if they were gone for the majority of the day. Some families would even leave their stuff there for their entire stay. When we finally did manage to get a couple chairs, someone had taken our towels off. The resort is very large so expect a lot of walking. Not a huge deal breaker but when you just want sunscreen from the gift shop or to catch a shuttle at the lobby, it can be a bit of a pain. Theres a lot of people at this resort. This creates a very competitive environment. The buffet lines are long. The drink lines are long. The pools are full. It's not very relaxing. The last day we stayed there they even closed one of the pools because there was too much pee in it. Lastly, the cocktails. I've always thought the "watered down" drinks thing was a conspiracy but... nope. Not here. The hard alcohol they use is 20% abv. The beer on tap is flat. The beer they sell in the market is either 0% or 3.4%. So, if you're still considering going here, I recommend stopping somewhere along the way for your own stuff. Don't wait till you get there because taxis from the resort cost a fortune (hundreds of US dollars). I don't usually leave reviews but hopefully this helps someone out there. This was all my family and I's experience so I'm sure you could have a better time than we did. I doubt it though. Stay somewhere else, R

Just spend the week at one of the Barcelo properties and our group of 12 had a great time. The rooms are definitely dated, but the exterior property was very well-maintained and clean. The buffet had just about everything you could possibly want to eat, but the quality wasn't particularly amazing. Our particular resort (Barcelo Maya Caribe) also had 3 restaurants you could dine in with reservations and we enjoyed the teppanyaki and Italian restaurants. I would recommend skipping the Spanish restaurant, as the food was pretty terrible. My risotto was literally just rice in broth, lol. The beach is easily accessible and we loved that there were kid-friendly pools and waterslides. Our two toddlers had an amazing time. We ventured over to Palace for dinner in the French restaurant one night and it was decorated beautifully, but again, the food was just alright. Huge resort comprised of multiple properties and there's a shuttle bus that operates frequently, so you can get around easily. Great place to stay with a group as long as you don't have super high expectations and plan to just spend most of your time at the pool/beach.

They didn't let us eat with our kids which wasn't stated until we got to the resturant. Food is horrible. Don't drink the water either. Waiters and the actual hotel is nice though. Not a good experience especially of what happened at brassiro.

Beautiful place but that's it. Service is beyond horrible and you feel like you are imposing on anyone you talk to. Too expensive to be made to feel like you can't ask for something. Drinks at pool take 20minutes plus. Tons of potential but lacking any hospitality

Typical cheapo resort. Kind of a shole. Rooms have moist floors and everything is moldy. Food is very underwhelming unless you love cheap garbage. Drinks are very very watered down. Id give it a 3/10. Came for a wedding so its whatever but dont come here unless you have a lot of lube for your rear

Pathetic rooms, extremely slow service, no vegetarian options in buffet. Toilet was leaking. Room was at best like a hostel. I had paid for a superior king size bed in the Maya tropical. Resort moved me to a cheap two bed room in Maya beach. No garden view as I had requested when I booked. I reached the hotel at 3 PM and my room situation is not sorted until 5 pm. Then they tell me ' we can move you to another part of the hotel because we are over booked' I had booked the hotel 6 months ago!!! Ridiculous service. We also ordered a vegetarian roll- it was pungent smelling, sea weed wrap was God knows from which Era on this Earth. Grilled cheese sandwich was disgusting. How can anyone go wrong in putting two slices of cheese in between two slices of bread and toasting it? This GC sandwich was inside out. See photo for reference. Stay away from this place!

Room was nice, but we had a good 5+ minute walk to our room. It was so far away from everything. Pools were great, but we wished it had a hot tub. Beach was great! The water and view were beautiful! Food was terrible, except for the restaurants where reservations need to be made. Although, reservations are very limited, so you need to book as soon as you arrive.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this resort! We stayed at the Colonial and had a wonderful time! This resort is LARGE and offers so much! We didn't get to do more than 1/2 of what's offered. Everyone was amazing and we had an amazing vacation. We will go back and can't wait!!! We all loved the activities, pools, grounds and the peacefulness on the beach. The sand was soft and white and the water was a turquoise clear blue. We never had to fight for a pool/beach chair and could always find sun or shade depending on what we wanted. PROS: 1. Beautiful well kept grounds, pools, beach, rooms, everything! 2 The entertainment staff is wonderful and there is ALWAYS something going on day or night. 3. Food was abundant, fresh and constantly being made right in front of you. 4. Staff is very quick to fix issues. CONS: ( none of these are reasons to not go) 1. Check in takes FOREVER, but staff is doing their best and friendly. 2. The resort is HUGE so expect to walk a lot if you want to explore the resort. We walked approximately 4 miles every day just walking around the resort to pools, towel stands, beach, restaurant's, theatre/disco, snack bars. Etc. 3. We had to have one or both of our room key cards recoded daily. We were there 5 days and not one day went by without one or both of our key cards not working. The walk to the lobby is a far walk - frustrating! 4. We had a few issues in both our rooms we booked. One room had an issue with the main door lock and wouldn't lock/engage. Called guest services a few calls with no luck of anyone showing up and it finally took a manager to get involved where it was fixed immediately. This was a safety concern for me as my boys and all their things were in the room. Once the manager was involved she fixed all the issues in our room as well. I believe we were the first people in our room after hurricane Beryl and our fridge, safe, TV all had issues. They were all replaced quickly.

Look elsewhere! However, maybe I have an idea in my head that this place should be similar to a resort? Maybe this is simply a hotel? I'm not sure, I've been to secrets resorts so I'm used to great customer service and good food. This has neither. This time around we came in a big family group with kids of different ages so we needed something family friendly. When I got here we checked in and were given our room with no further instructions or helpful tips on how to use the amenities in the hotel. Our key didn't work so we had to go back up to the front desk to have it activated. This place is huge! I would ask the staff questions and most didn't know or gave incorrect information that had us walking around everywhere. Mind you I'm fluent in Spanish but was told rudely asked by a waiter if I "even spoke Spanish" because I didn't know the meaning of one of the words he was using. I kindly asked him what it meant and that was the response I was given. The buffet style restaurant was not good. I suggest once you arrive you make dinner reservations at Mexico Lindo and Tokyo. Those are the best options. The rooms are dusty and full of spiderwebs. The pools are nice though! And well the beach speaks for itself. Overall, I think there are better places to stay. I'll be the one to book next time around, LOL!

My wife and I never got a chance to go on a honeymoon when we got married. So we decided on our ten year anniversary that we would make up for lost time. We certainly did just that. Upon arrival we were greeted in a giant reception area and were helped in checking in and getting directed to guest services to secure our dinner reservations. Once done, we went up to our magnificent room. The bed was the biggest bed I've ever seen in a hotel or otherwise. It was obviously two full sized beds squeezed together but it was giant nonetheless. Every morning began with a wonderful breakfast at the buffet. Afterwards, we grabbed some towels and got some chairs saved both under a cabana/pergola and under a palm tree on the beach. The next few hours were spent sun bathing, swimming in the ocean and/or the pool, reading, and enjoying the sound of no children. Later in the day we would go back to the buffet for lunch and usually return back to the pool where we hung out for a few more hours. The whole time we had resort staff checking on us to see if we needed anything, no matter where we were. Being from Texas, I knew a little bit of Spanish which was helpful, but a lot of the staff knew enough English to communicate with us in regards to everything we needed. *This trip actually caused me to re-download Duolingo and get back on track with learning more Spanish.* Typically around 3-4pm we would head back up to our room which had been dressed by the housekeeping staff and take showers and cool off until it was time for dinner. We tried each one of the restaurants and they were all good. I had higher expectations for the food, to be honest, but it wasn't bad. I have to say that our favorite meal was at Le Comide where we were helped by Antonio Velazquez and David Queiroga. These guys were on it. All the staff was really nice, but these two guys, especially Antonio, made us really feel like we were family staying for a visit. After dinner we would head back up to our rooms and change outfits to catch the evening show down in the chill spot by the bar. They had some really great talent there and it was very enjoyable. I really have to say that we really enjoyed our stay and can't wait to go back!

Another amazing vacation at Barcelo maya riviera (adults)! Food and service and rooms are top notch. Enrique Reyes the manager does everything possible to make the experience amazing (also assistant Louis ). Btw the French restaurant is amazing! The premium experience is worth it and the snorkeling by the palace is amazing. Also thanks to manager Juliana of Barcelo Tropical!

Stayed in the Colonial selection in a Premium Beach Front Room. Room: 4 of 5 Spacious room with massive bathroom. Clean and comfortable. Biggest issues were that my key cards kept turning off (meaning I had to walk all the way back to the lobby for new ones) and the cushions on the couch were extremely dirty. Pools and Beach: 5 of 5 The highlight of the resort. Just gorgeous. Restaurants: 4 of 5 Had great dinners at the steakhouse, the hibachi, and their seafood restaurants. Great options for my son Buffets: 3 of 5 Main buffet is massive with tons of options. No complaints there. The beach buffets were a big drop in quality, and constantly had undercooked chicken. Overall a very enjoyable destination for a vacation. Family had fun, but there were some downsides. We like to explore other properties, but would return down the line.

Scammy Resort with Rude Staff, Don't Waste Your Money. If I could leave zero stars for Barceló Maya Tropical, I would. I came here for my senior trip and it was hands down one of the worst experiences I've ever had on vacation. The food was terrible bland, cold, and the same thing every day. But that was just the beginning. This place is a full-on money trap/pyramid scheme. If you're 17, don't even bother. They give you a "minor" wristband that strips you of most of the amenities, one minor inconvenience leads you to big trouble. Why? Because they're waiting to slap you with a $500 fine. I had my wristband break off during the trip on an excursion. I still had the tag, and they told me if I brought it back, they'd replace it. But when I handed it over, they suddenly changed their story and said it was "against policy" to put another band on and forced me to pay the full $500. Total scam. By the way they also threatened to take the parents who were trying to help me throughout this whole ordeal to jail for offering assistance. On top of that, the staff was incredibly rude and dismissive. When I tried to explain the situation calmly, they talked over me, rolled their eyes, and acted like I was wasting their time. No empathy, no accountability just cold attitudes and a clear goal of getting as much money out of me as possible. If you're considering this place especially if you're under 18 don't do it. There are way better places to go where you'll actually be treated like a guest, not a walking dollar sign.

This was our 2nd visit here with the first being 4 years ago. We stayed at Barcelo Caribe and this being post Covid certainly took its toll on the resort as you can tell the landscape has not been maintained as normal over the past year. They are working hard to get the grounds back in place. The pools and beach is as great as ever even though they still had buildings not being used and one large pool closed. I would guess less than 50% occupancy at this time. The restaurants are operating but not every day. You only have a few to choose from each day but we managed to do both Japanese restaurants, Seafood, Steakhouse and two Italian. They canceled our Spanish and Mexican nights. They just started live entertainment at the Colonial theater at 9:30 each night. Same people just different theme each night. All the pools and swim up bars are great. Some mask rules still in place. Inside shops or building you are to wear a mask though many don't. Outside, pools ,etc none needed. I would think these may end in the next month or two. Mexico is still lagging in vaccinations. Many things to do just exploring the 4 resorts. Yamaha Waverunner, we took catamaran rides, snorkeled the waters off the pier. All the staff and workers are so nice and friendly. Tip them well , many have been out of work too. Negatives: Restaurants scheduling and closures. Covid related. Room Towels are not soft for a resort. Soap sucks. Towel shack was at closed pool and had to go back and forth each day. Need a towel cart at the open pool. Seaweed season hit, but they cleaned up beach each night.

It's been 8 years since we've been in this wonderful resort, Barcelo Maya Palace, the family wanted to come back for the all inclusive, good food and beautiful beaches. This time is our 3rd time. We've been vacationing in Cancun every year until the COVID, now we had all the shots and we don't have to test when going there. This resort is in Riviera Maya which about over an hour drive from the airport, the city has more trees unlike Cancun, just nice white sand beaches. Barcelo is one of the biggest resort in Riviera Maya, it has many hotels on the same beach according to tier. For the family, we always pay more to stay at the "Palace", I think the "Palace" for all other hotels should be the nicest one because it's more expensive. We chose the Barcelo Maya Palace because we can go to any other lower tier hotels and dine or use their facilities but not the other way around. 1. The Palace beach has rocks area that we can see all types of fishes so we don't have to go anywhere else for Snorkeling. 2. The Palace has original liquors that we like to drink like Grand Marnier or Disaronno Amaretto, although they don't have Cinzano, but Martini Rosso is good. We had all the nice drinks made deliciously at the bars. 3. The Palace has indoor theater sure beats the heat and the mosquitoes, the shows are good too, although we got to see other shows at other hotels outdoors. 4. The Palace has French, Brazilian restaurants that we like, but this year the food wasn't tasty as before, and there weren't any lobsters at the buffets and the seafood restaurants, it's a little disappointed. 5. At the Palace, we can booked specialty restaurants at other hotels, Tokyo, Italian, Mexican at the Caribe. Seafood and Japanese at the Colonial. The buffet at the Caribe some days has great seafood with big shrimps. The Palace buffet is still the best with fruits and seafood but no lobsters this year. 6. The kids went to mini Golf (free) and Bowling at the Caribe (pay), we went to the Casino and had some fun there although it's very small. The shopping around this place is huge with all the souvenirs you can think of. 7. We didn't get to go on Catamaran or Kayaking this year due to the kids not interested. The Palace has these for free which we used every time we came before. This year we booked the vacation through Applevacations. We did bring water shoes for stepping on to rocks, waterproof bag for our phones instead of using waterproof camera, all the chargers, mosquitoes repellent although not many this year. Barcelo WIFI this year is quite good, we did have good connection in building 89xx. About the best building to stay in is 8000-84000 which are close to the beach and restaurants, 8500-8900 a little further away but still good. 6000-7000 are far from everywhere. This year, the restaurants in the Palace weren't as good as before, no Lobsters this year. To us, vacation in Cancun, nice beaches and great foods. All the services were top notch, the people are always attentive and polite, we did tip them well. We even asked for seconds without any problems. At the Kyoto, we booked for 4 and our nieces and nephews came without any reservations, we let 7 kids to take our place and the manager could find places and squeezed them in, that was great service. By the way, we need long pants and shoes to be in these restaurants. We walked to the pool area, the pools here are connected and huge, the kids water park is wonderful, our kids used to love it 10 years ago, but now they play water volley ball and basket ball in the pool. Ping pong, pool table. They even sit in the bubble pools, they're quite nice. There are resort buses that take us from our hotel to many other hotels of the same resort, so it's quite convenient, but if we caught the wrong bus, it would take a long time to go back, we liked walking from one to the other, good exercise and not to far actually.

First of all this is an amazingly beautiful resort. We have been several times and actually brought friends with that were actually upgraded. We love the relaxed atmosphere. That would give my review 5 stars. One problem we had was making dinner reservations. We waited in a long line and couldn't get in the steak house but my husband and I did get into and loved the Lindo and Dolce Vita. We did get a small group reservation for Capri and that's were my issue happened. There was a miss communication about reservation time and we were a little late. They said they could not get us in. The hostess, that covered her name tag so I dont know her name told us to sit down and she'd let us know in 15 min if there was space. Thirty minutes passed and when I went to the desk, the manager Anna said there was no room, thanks for letting us know. Ugh! When the door opened to let other enter, the restaurant was only 1/2 full. The way Anna addressed me was so disrespectful. It was our last night, and that was a bummer. I hate being spoken with such disrespect. May cause us to not return.

A very relaxed vacation! The staff are very polite and hard workers. Beautiful grounds and clean. Lots of walking or a quick bus ride to check out connecting buildings/resorts. These resorts are gorgeous. Got to see 4 shows which were great performances! Food at Caribe buffet is good. Tried 4 of the specialty restaurants, the one we did not care for was the seafood one. Would recommend vacationing here but definitely not a five star. Good bang for your buck.

This place is a disgusting rip off. Almost $450 US/night for one of the most infuriating and disgusting places I've ever stayed. We had to stay at the Barceló for a wedding. Problems started with the reservation--no one could figure out how to add a third night to our reservation. That should have been a warning sign. Check in was a nightmare, probably the worst of any hotel I've ever visited (and I've been to over 20 countries and lived in five, including Mexico). Over an hour in line, no AC, 35+ C heat with 100% humidity. And they didn't even give us a key--we had to return for that and leave our stuff out in the open where anyone could steal it! The first key we were given didn't work, and various keys we were given randomly stopped working all weekend. Thoughout our three nights, I had to make five trips to the front desk to fix broken keys, and they refused to give us a key for each of us. Oh, but they will charge you $30US if you loose a key! So much for all inclusive! The room itself was a complete biohazard, as shown in the attached pictures, and was literally falling apart. I had massive migraines two out of our three nights because of the mold, and the only reason I didn't have one the third night was because I stuffed myself full of pills before going to bed. The food is disgusting and the service worse, depending on the restaurant you visit. Our trips to the buffet at the Maya Colonial and Maya Tropical were among my top-five vomit-worthy dining experiences ever. And the staff at the Maya Tropical buffet screamed at us and wouldn't let us sit together. The servers were so lazy, I had to get in an argument with one just so he would give me a spoon! Some of the other restaurants had better service and slightly better food, but they were a ten-minute hike from our room. Even the supposed "premium" restaurant we visited was pretty crappy--think Olive Garden with slightly worse food, impatient wait staff and the most overpriced wine list in the history of humanity. As for the installations, they are a joke. There aren't enough kayaks to go around, so if you want to use one, you have to wait an hour or so in the sun for someone to bring one in. Snorkel gear requires another deposit in USD cash (I guess you're just screwed if you don't have dollars on you), and the pools themselves are overcrowded and dated. There aren't nearly enough hammocks, and the pool furniture is beat up and made of crappy plastic. Even the check out process was creepy. They give you a voucher for the guard at the exit, and I guess if you don't get this, you can't leave the resort. So if you have a disagreement about fees with them...I guess they hold you against your will? At least kidnapping is included in that "all inclusive" price. We will never be back. This place is a total scam, nothing close to a five star resort. Worse than most budget hotels I've stayed in. If you really want a luxury experience, stay at the Hyatt in Playa del Carmen... Now that place is worth every penny!

This place is horrible. I would pay to leave here if I could, but I'm stuck here for a conference. It took me over an hour & 1/2 just to check in, as with most people that came here. I'm a light sleeper so I always kindly ask for a room up & away from an elevator. The first room they put me in, the air conditioner was loud & not working. They finally switched me after maintanence trieds to fix at 11pm. Next room: directly across from an elevator. Asked if I could please not have a room near an elevator. They said it's too difficult for them to switch me so I could either stay here or go back to the one with no air conditioning. I'm at an event industry conference here & am a planner, which I obviously will never host an event here nor would I ever recommend someone to come. The new room is also right next to a nightclub where people are trying to sing karaoke very loud & it's after 10pm & I need to get up early for another long conference day. Many people I spoke with at the conference also do no have air conditioning. Someone said their phone didn't work, another said their coffee maker doesn't work. The toilet seat isn't connected to the toilet so I put it to the side so it wouldn't fall off when I went to the bathroom. I can't express enough how unbelievably tired and frustrated I am at this place and I am looking forward to NEVER coming back!

This is not my first time in Cancun and I will DEFINITELY NOT BE RETURNING!! Book somewhere else if you want to actually relax. Honestly had the opposite of a "relaxing vacation". This place sucks for multiple reasons. For one, my family needed two rooms and the hotel was overbooked (maya palace) so the hotel kicked one of my reservations to this hotel (maya beach) without any notice. Didn't find out until we got here and didn't get my room at the palace till the last night we were here AND had to pay a transferring fee (issue wasn't solved till it was shown we weren't gonna put up with this bullshit). Two, food is mid and two out of the six of us have been vomiting since the second day here. Three, reservations for restaurants is done in the most dumb way. When we tried making a reservation for a restaurant Thursday, they were booked all the way till Saturday. So only less than half of us were able to eat at one restaurant just because we were waiting outside for no shows. Other Barceló locations have day-of reservations at 7am each day to make a reservation at a restaurant which MAKES SENSE because the people who will SHOW UP will be there at 7 am. Four, the rooms SUCK. The ac doesn't work properly, not even the shower shampoo/conditioner/bath gel!! Literally this place sucks. They also ran out of beach towels???? Be so for real. Like I said, this place SUCKS. Go somewhere else. I highly recommend the excellence collection by the way.

I have good and bad to say here... The beach is nice, but not sugar sand. Ocean is warmer than pools nice sandy but a rock minefield in places. lots of great chairs. ZERO bar service at the beach except picking up empties. ZERO. You are not allowed to take your food there either.. The pool service was sparadic ... from zero to wow! Drinks were good to week as well. Rules... ugh dress code for men. Need dinner reservations and the restaurants won't accommodate larger groups. The buffet closes at 6, but sister resorts open until 10; these other resorts are family and very loud though! The lobby bar does offer a light menu late into the evening! Restaurants offer a wide variety of choices, some bursting with flavor and others far from authentic. Any of the places the cook in front of you seems the best! The rooms: Huge comfy beds, lots of room, great views. small stocked fridge. downfall is if you have noisy neighbors on side with glass partition on deck, you will hear them. you will also hear lobby entertainment. walk outside to your room or you'll feel like you walked to the moon! Town: A good deal is not available to town. Times have changed, it's expensive so plan it well. Ask before you get in that taxi to verify. we were told $67, once headed to Tulum and giving directions, our price doubled!! They have a nice variety of entertainment here during the day. I really liked how easy it was to get anywhere, they also have a descent amount of restrooms. There are two pool bars with ok service. It's beautiful, but a bit sterile for me. Sister resorts are full of character though.

Mmm alcohol. Good food. All inclusive. Mixed drinks were premium. Overall cannot complain. Jaja

We have been to this resort many times, and we had a fabulous time! NOT THIS TIME! Horrible experience, waste of money and being charged for services we were told were free. Please Read on... The 1st issue was the room they put us in was not what we had paid for and the air conditioning in the room wasn't working. They gave us a run around for 2 days. We reported this problem to the people at the front, and they gave us a hard time, so we asked to speak to management to get our room changed. We finally got hold of the management, and they said that they didn't have any other rooms available right now. They told us to come down the next morning, and they would get us a new room. We headed down in the morning like they said, and once again no one knew anything about what was being discussed. They said to call back later and talk to the manager. Later, we called the manager, and he said that there were no rooms available at that point, but they would be later. He then asks us to repack everything in the room and bring our luggage back downstairs. The day goes by and there is still no room for us. Eventually, they give us keys to a new room. We walked into the room and someone's stuff was already in there! We have a video of this! We went back down there and told them that they had given us a key to a room that was already occupied! We waited around for another couple of hours until they found another room. At this point, we are fed up and upset because we are here on vacation and these people are giving us the run around. Eventually, a manger (Rafael Castro) reaches out to us and apologies for all the inconvenience. He says that he will upgrade us to a premium service, due to all the issues that have taken place. He takes our bracelets off and replaces them with the new premium service bracelets. He then tells us what is included in the service. One of the perks was free services at the spa. We specifically asked him if massages were included. He told us not usually, but he will make an exception, since we had such a rough start. He says that he will let the spa know, so when we arrive, we will be all set. During the visit, we had 2 massages on different dates. The spa people were aware of the arrangement because it was noted in the system. They gave us papers to sign. We refused to sign them at first because it was saying that we would pay for them. They reassured us that this was protocol, but we would not be charged due to the arrangement we had with Mr. Castro. As we checked out, surprise! We are charged for the massages! We explained to him that Rafael Castro (the manger that we dealt with) had upgraded to the premium service to multiply issues that occurred during the visit. The man at the desk refused to let us speak to any management. He said no one was on duty. I told him that we were not paying for a service that we were told was free. So, we got ready to leave. Security came out and wouldn't let us leave, and our transportation refused to take us to the airport unless we paid. So, at that point, I had to give him a card and pay, because they wouldn't let us leave. Nothing like having the worst vacation and then ending it with being forced to pay, or they will hold us there! When we got back into the states, I called multiple times to get a hold of anymore that would speak to me about what happened and to remove these charges, NO LUCK! Now I am stuck paying for services that were supposed to be a courtesy.

A week in paradise. What a resort, service, food and grounds. The resort is gorgeous, the grounds are impeccably maintained and the workers could not do enough for you. Although tips are included it's nice to give a few extra $ to the maids and servers in restaurants, they appreciate it. The food was a solid 7.5/10, not everything was great but most was. The poll and beach were kept clean round the clock and servers were always available to get a drink. Biggest complaints, bed was way too soft, a/c in room was not strong and mold was abundant on the ceiling in our room.

SUMMARY: Upgraded to the premium level (PL) for our family - complete waste of money! Got switched to Maya Beach after specifically booking Caribe. Separated from family and friends to the furthest resort of the 5 with an injured child. They could care less. Son got BED BUGS (photo). Two of us got sick. ROOM: our upgraded "oceanfront" looked straight into trees and bit of the pool - no ocean. Room ready an hour and half late. Decent sized and clean. Not all lights worked. Very difficult to find the room service menu. Couldn't get sheets the 1st night for our kid's sofa after 3 calls. Could NOT get wash clothes or the right amount of towels for 5! It was nuts! Often showered without them. AC didn't work right. Very warm during day (80's). Around 74 degrees at night at best. Called EVERY day to fix it after they tried to blame it on the patio door. My son slipped on the wet floor (from AC condensation) and hurt his face/head pretty bad (photo). Was like an ice-skating ring. We showed them when checking out, and they just asked if he went to the hospital. BUFFET FOOD: Lot of choices but average quality. Similar to good college dining. Hard to get a server, especially for breakfast. Finding a server to get a spoon is like finding gold. Can be very chaotic. Omelet stations take forever. Most food items aren't labeled correctly. RESERVATIONS AT RESTAURANTS: good luck! Even with priority PL reservations, couldn't get what we wanted. Only got 4 nights initially and were told we were lucky. Wasted time stalking guest services every day to squeeze in somewhere for the remaining 3 nights. Our times weren't ideal, typically after 7 pm. Don't expect to get reservations, especially at peak season. Although, half the tables were always empty at every restaurant. The website makes it sound like you can use all the restaurants - you can't. It's $20 more per person for restaurants at Palace. Servers were good all around. ALCOHOL: average at best. Still don't know what the top shelf liquors were for the PL and neither did most bartenders, except for vodka (Stolli). Never heard of Stolli being top shelf. If you said premium, they would just stare at you. Only have 1 white and 1 red average wines. Most resorts had Modelo or Corona for beer. Beach only had Modelo. Pool bartenders didn't seem to like Americans - would wait longer. BEACH - lots of seaweed and rocks! Seaweed rarely cleaned. Good location. Either 1 sitting lifeguard or no lifeguard for all resorts. POOLS - dirty! No pool lifeguards at Maya Beach, but saw some at Palace. We had one for a day or two who would rove around between the pools and beach. SHOWS - 2 were bad, rest were really good. It's an outdoor covered theatre, so it gets hot! ACTIVITIES - we didn't have daily activities at Maya Beach, although they said we did and so did our activity board. We happened to find an employee board that showed Maya Beach not getting any activity employees. Didn't even have music like the others. Can only use rock climbing wall 2 days per week at 2 specific allotted times. Good luck getting water equipment with any rough waters - we never could. You can't do most of the activities that they show. Overall, Maya Beach seemed the most neglected with unhappy workers, no activities, a dirty pool, and lots of seaweed. It appeared that Maya Beach got the least workers, and probably the ones with poor performance. Many others staying there felt this way as well. Caribe, Colonial, and Tropical were average but got better as you go down towards Palace. Caribe was comparable to the Beach but with more entertainment and a better location. Colonial and Tropical were definitely better. Way more lively and better prepared buffets. Palace (upgrade) is the only one worth staying at. You don't get nearly what they tell you get though. They want more money for everything. It's definitely a HUGE beautiful resort. It looks the part of a 5-star, but nothing else. It's like a big average-oiled machine. But no thinking outside the box. Problems go unanswered.

Stayed as premium guests but everything was subpar. The key cards, Omgggg why do they still use keycards ?!!! The worst, it would not work, lock us out, we had changed them twice and still nothing. It is a hassle when traveling with a toddler too and restaurants weren't quick with the high chair, or tables weren't even ready when they sat you or the waiter would take forever. Service was meh, no greetings, no introductions, room mini bar was a joke, the fridge wasn't even working. Food was ok, drinks were ok. I'd rather stay at any other resort but this one again. Yes it's nice but that's about it.

We recently stayed at Barcelo Maya Rivera Adults only resort. This was our second time at the resort. We have stayed at a handful of all inclusive resorts - so far this is by far our favorite. We love NEARLY everything about it. -with one exception. We love the service by the bellmen and in the restaurants and at the bars. Jorge Alfaro at the pool/music bar was the best! He greeted us with a smile every day and assisted us with anything we asked for. We had several fine meals. One of the best was at Dolce Vita. Our server was Abdy Lopez. She was fantastic, catering to our every need. We also had a wonderful dining experience at La Comedie. Garmi was our server. He was outstanding. We had a terrific experience with the bellmen - Christian Mendoza and Alan Choreno. They were very attentive, helpful with our bags and transportation. My only complain is the front desk. They were frankly horrible. We were a group of 4 adults including my adult son and daughter. I booked 2 rooms each with 2 double beds. The people at the front desk argued with me that 2 double beds cannot be booked. They maintained the option does not exist online. I assure you when I booked - I booked 2 double bed in each room. There are some all inclusive resorts that do not have this option. I don't go there for that reason. We were 4 adults, each needing our own bed. The lady working the front desk said they could give us rooms with 1 king bed for the 1st night and then the following day we could move to rooms with double beds. I explained to the lady that my 2 adult children were with us. 20 year old brother and sister are not sleeping in the same bed. A man with the last name Reyes approached us. He rudely barked at us "you need to take the rooms with the king beds!' I explained to him as I did with the lady about what we booked and why - 4 adults, brother and sister. Mr. Reyes repeated himself even louder "You NEED to listen to me - you need to take the rooms with the king beds!" Despite feeling terribly intimidated -within 20 minutes of arriving to the resort I held my ground and told him I was listening to him and he needed to listen to me. Eventually they finally gave us the 2 rooms with 2 double beds. They weren't very close to one another. The front desk people weren't at all interested in helping us. Why put up such a fight if thy had the rooms anyway????

Stayed at Barcelo Riviera Maya Adults for a bachelorette trip. I would not recommend to have such party here due to the lack of nightlife. The shows are closed due to Covid and it's 2022. The lobby DJ happens occasionally and while it's nice, it's not vacation party vibes. We ended up spending tons of money off site which wasn't the plan coming to an all inclusive. Food was ok but you couldn't bring any to your room and they closed early. Rooms were humid as heck! Be cautious your shower is semi see through from the bedroom

BARCELO TROPICAL RESORT REVIEW - same property / beach / similar amenities - WATER SHOES!! Bring them - the rocky part's of the their beach are actually a blessing because being in the bay allows for a LOT of natural resources !! We saw tropical fish, sting rays, needle fish, clown fish, and we heard there's a section with tons of turtles!! The rocks and seaweed are WORTH IT for all that natural habitat - also if you're a good swimmer- when you swim past all of that- there are pockets which are crystal clear water. This review is also relative- its AFFORDABLE - so keep that perspective - when there's unlimited Don Julio tequila, fresh salad, fresh fruit, delicious seafood options, great traditional dishes - UNLIMITED - its a no brainer !! The a la carte restaurants need to be reserved daily- but also worth the rigmarole of doing it- amazing lobster tail in one, great steaks at another... I understand folks feeling frustrated at not having fresh squeezed juices or fresh avocados, etc- but again- for the PRICE POINT - its fabulous. Staff is lovely- bartenders are lovely - housekeeping rocks - it was CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN !!!!! Now clean is different than "updated". The rooms might need some TLC- but I appreciated the cleanliness - the white sheets- the tiled floors - the spacious bathrooms - the lovely patios - etc. Quite frankly at their price point, I'm not sure if room expectations for "updated" is fair... I WILL say due to being surrounded by a LOT of greenery, (not just surrounded by hotel buildings)- its on a huge property with trees / lush landscaping - the humidity is HIGH- bring your allergy meds, etc- ALSO - be ready to ask for a set of bedsheets that may feel less damp / fresher. Single dollar bills are your FRIEND - they will get you more of what you want !! Also- be sure to go see MAKY at the spa for a barcelo energy treatment, and then DEFINITELY do the hydrotherapy circuit- even if you JUST do the day pass for the hydrotherapy circuit- worth it !! Free hobby cat / catamaran 30 minute tour- but get in line at 8:30am to sign up ;) - bring your tip money for them too! Some downfalls - smoking IS allowed EVERYWHERE - so consider your comfort with that... no beachside service for drinks / food (but you can walk it over yourself from the bar- and they allow your own cups from home! also- it helps keeps things WAY cleaner!)... check in can take a while if you're a bigger group, I think they have an older system... tons to do we didnt do on the property- and a HEAVENLY HAVEN for families with kids- but large enough for adults to find their own escapes ! The gym and amenities are CLUTCH and overall- I'd go back!

The facility is absolutely beautiful! The staff were all friendly & helpful! The food was delicious! However, I can't brag on the staff enough, from house keeping, to food service, to the staff cleaning the beaches! They work hard to ensure your stay is amazing!!! Please tip them for going above & beyond to make sure your stay is great! They kept our drinks filled while at the pool & on the beach! Plus, our room was always fully stocked with water, snacks, & extra towels!

Very much lacking.. Plenty of other places to spend your money at.. this is not it.. food very mediocre.- I was actually appalled to the lack of service standards at buffets (no one monitoring, things not at correct temperatures, cross contamination everywhere and certainly ZERO concern for allergens and food descriptions) Service at the pool is none existent. There's 1 person at the bar for thousands of people at the pool.. half the time you have to pull up recipes for drinks, "bartender" didn't even know what a Cadillac margarita was.. gentlemen cleaning our room.. very nice.. hence the two stars.. but a room you can find anywhere else.. do your homework.. the Barceló brand means nothing here.. very disappointed.

We came in the Spring with some friends and our combined three kids and had an ok time. Since we have been to all of the major resorts in Riviera Maya and Playa Del Carmen, I have more than an average knowledge of what to expect and as far as the other all-inclusive resorts out there, you can do a lot better for your hard-earned dollar. I actually told my friends that I wasn't sure if it was "covid stress" or what, but I've never received a colder reception from the entire staff at a resort. I always brag to people that Mexico has the warmest people on the planet; it wasn't so here and I actually felt embarrassed at the staff on our first trip here with friends. Food was ok and kids are easy to please so the resort style buffet meal was fine. We weren't wowed but at the same time we didn't feel as though the food was terrible. Since we have little kids, our days were mostly filled with entertaining them and didn't have time to go to the casino or any nightlife so I won't include that part in my review. The water features at the park are fun for the kids and they loved returning each day. They have sprinklers and slides and the water level was low enough even for tiny toddlers. Shows were ok as well and we went to 6 nights' worth of them. Mostly, with little kids, we left a little early each night to have them get to sleep, but we didn't feel as though we were missing much. The very best thing that this resort has going for it was the 10/10 beach of the best sand we have ever experienced in well over 40 trips to Mexico. Great beach and great sand! We, as a rule don't do resorts more than once- but I wouldn't recommend this one for anyone making a first trip to Mexico.

Please know that this review is somewhat harsh only because this resort touts itself as being a 5 star, luxury property. Had we been staying at a family resort (like the sister properties) I would probably not even be writing this email. Farrell and I have stayed at a few nice resorts in the Cancun area (Excellence twice and Iberostar Grand) Upon arrival there was no greeting of a drink or fresh towel. I know this is a minor thing, but other 5 star resorts do this. Additionally, we were directed to stand in a line, like at a bank. Again, other 5 star resorts we've stayed at let you relax on a couch until it's your turn. Then they temporarily lost our luggage and didn't do anything about it until we called looking for it at 9 pm that night. Again, not the level of service that matches the price of this resort. "We didn't know who owned the luggage" is what they told us (we had our names on tags). The facilities (the buildings, the pools, the rooms, the grounds) were all amazing. Gorgeous, top notch, clean, modern and felt very high end. But anything related to personal, or drink selection was distinctly not high end. We noticed that the sister resorts had all the exact same drink choices. In other words, our higher end resort did not offer any top shelf beer, wine or spirits. The selection of drinks itself was several steps down from even the Carnival Cruise we went on last month. Booking a dinner reservation was an ordeal. The only way to get one was in guest services, where often the 2 employees were overwhelmed. It was not enjoyable to spend tons of time in a small room to make a reservation while on vacation. Overall, the people working there seemed to be in a bad mood, or indifferent. Very few smiles or greetings and any time we asked for something, it was like we were asking a favor and it was a bother to them. This is very different from the service we've received at other resorts or our most recent cruise.

Texas is more Mexican than this place. Pros: great pools and beaches Everything else is a con. Terrible check in process. No information. NO customer service whatsoever. TERRIBLE food, honestly disgusting, with so many rules at each restaurant. How can you have a dress code to a shitty American buffet? No poolside food. And if you miss the buffets at lunch hours you'll just have to wait until dinner hours, if you have a reservation. It's about a half mile walk to your room. Property is huge and serves the masses. Food and drink is terrible. And people who work there hate you for being there. Rooms smell and are constantly damp and warm with hard beds. Was really looking forward to this vacation and wanted to leave during check-in process taking 2 hours, with multiple credit card transactions and no information. Just attitude. I came home craving Mexican music and food because the culture has been completely stripped from these hotels. Thank god for the views.

Beware when you are booking that you may not receive a refund even if promised. This resort has basically stolen $1500 from us. We booked a second room on accident while on the phone with a booking agent. We were promised that we would receive a refund within a couple of weeks. It has now been a couple of months and nobody will respond to us anymore. We made an honest mistake which was supposedly dealt with right away. Apparently, Barcelo would rather keep the money than have us come back. We had a good time while at the resort but we find it disgusting that they've kept the money for a room that was cancelled 5 minutes after we booked it. After our stay, we thought we would like to go back but this is disturbing as we feel like they are thieves at this point.

All-inclusive resorts are like a box of chocolates...you never know what you're going to get. Because all-inclusives attract a wide arrange of folks interested less in culture and more in relaxation and convenience, it's hard even to decipher via online reviews if you're going to appreciate ones offerings. So, you just don't know until you go! I stayed at Barcelo's adults-only resort recently from Sunday-Wednesday in mid-January. I swooped in last-minute on a reservation booked by a friend so wasn't really involved in any of the administrative aspects of booking, but everything seemed to go as planned. They upsell you during check-in for "premium" for $30ish a night/person, and it's a waste. The promise of this color wristband is immediate access to the premium "buffet" and bar (they bank on you arriving peckish and thirsty), better alcohol, though not one person in our group of 20+ received any top-shelf liquor (even if they asked for it), a discount on spa services (the prices are pretty high to begin with, so not exactly a perk), and room service at no additional charge (I never used it once, but my roomie did every evening, so worth it for her). My advice is to skip it. Reservations are required for dining at their on-site restaurants (Italian, Japanese, Mexican, and French), which you kind of have to make while checking in to the hotel, so you have to guess what you'll be hungry for and when! Japanese/hibachi was the resounding winner of the three we experienced while there. The buffet was fine, in my opinion; they had a ton of options and the different stations to customize items (tacos, omelettes, pasta, etc.) were aplenty. I especially loved the Mexican coffee in the very back! It was nice to split time between the beach and the pool (which was a bit chilly). And the jacuzzi/bathtub on every balcony was definitely a more lavish feature that I wish every resort had! Some staff shout outs: -Cosme in the lobby bar - he made sure the carajillos flowed and whipped up other concoctions and just brought them to us. -Gabriel who manned the bar in between two of the restaurants - he made sure we celebrated our friends' surprise engagement as if it was their wedding -Eric and Arelli from the activities team. I did every activity on the schedule the very first day I was there and they had the right jokes and the right energy; even if I was the only one in the class!

If I could leave 0 Stars or negative I would. This place is completely dated, it's like staying at a motel 6. The bathroom is old and filthy, while the toilet ran all night long. The TVs didn't work and it's not really all inclusive as everything is an up charge. Do yourself a favor and go work here else.

I want to believe that this was just a bad week for the hotel since most of the staff I interacted with were either unhelpful or straight rude. Rooms are just what you except from a big Hotel, with great beds, clean bathrooms and a small terrace which was nice. Most of the bars I went to where packed and only 2 or 3 bartenders made it almost impossible to enjoy the "all you can drink" All you can eat was a hit-and-miss kind of experience. I had a good burger at the Spots bar but a very cold and almost stiff pancake for breakfast. Last, if you're seeking for party you must have to leave the hotel since options to party or even listening to music are literally non-existing. Overall, I would avoid this hotel. I can get a poor customer service experience for way less than what I paid.

Decent place. It's massive and can be confusing, definitely be sure you plan which of the hotels in the group you stay at carefully. There is 6 in one massive complex and depending on which hotel determines which facilities you can and can't use. Each hotel (other than maybe the adults only, not sure) only has one real restaurant you can eat at other than a buffet/snacks type food, so it's good to be able to go to as many as possible. The breakfast buffets are nicely sized with lots of options, the dinner restaurants are nice but very, very limited menus. Friendly staff, but it would be nice If they gave you more information when you check in. It was late when we got there, but the place is HUGE and it's very you can eat here at this time but not here at this time. Same thing for pool activities etc. Which is fine, once you figure it out. The kids water park areas are really great. My kids aren't super little anymore and they still had a lot of fun on them, but we're accessible to small children as well. The room was quite small (even with premium), but it was nice that they have enough beds for everyone even if it sacrificed a sitting area. There is a lot of walking involved as it's so massive, but there is a bus that goes constantly between all the hotels and the mall which helps a lot. Another bonus is there is lots to do here. So many pools, the beach, but also lots of shopping not just gift shops, the surfing thing, dolphins (we didn't do either of those), bowling, ziplining and go karts (ziplining and go karts we did, and it's an extra cost, but very very fun and fun, helpful staff) and more. All accessible easily with the shuttle/bus.

This place is BEYOND GORGEOUS. There is always someone cleaning or doing lawn maintenance so the property is kept up very well. However, mopping the floors at 8am when everyone is waking up vs in middle of night when everyone is asleep is DANGEROUS! I slipped several times. My husband is disabled and couldn't go anywhere when they were mopping floors with soap (they do it when cleaning your room too). Be careful and bring good slip resistant shoes. There was a group of 21 of us. They did keep us all in the same building (Jalisco) like we requested but it was impossible for them to accommodate us at dinner. Even if we arrived early they would never allow more than 12 of us to sit together and a lot of times they would stick us outside (smoking section and hot). They are not accommodating and even denied 2 of us from getting in when it was realized the wrong Japanese reservation was made (their fault because we told them all the same place). On the first night there we had someone almost pass out from heat exhaustion and not eating and when we tried to hurry and get her food they denied us entry into the buffet because we had swimwear on and they assumed we were wet. We had to argue with a manager until they finally let us sit outside despite us telling them multiple times we were not wet. The service here is not great especially at colonial lobby bar. They are slow and don't seem interested in helping. We tipped good and got same service as when not tipping. Saul from the mall bar was the only fast bartender that made amazing drinks. All the other drinks were made wrong or tasted horrible. They don't know how to make mai tai or lemon drop shots. They definitely use cheap liquor that gave us all headaches. Since when is Malibu considered a premium liquor?? The check in process was very slow. The room has hardly any plugs/outlets. The pool bar closes at 7pm which seems early. The towel system also sucks! You get a card that you trade in for a towel but they will not give you another one unless you trade your towel back and several times we had people steal our towels at the pool- it would make more sense to just grab towels freely like you do on a cruise. When we had our room cleaned she moved all of my stuff and piled it on the bench which I was upset about. I do not like people touching my stuff and feel like they should clean around my stuff. They also turned off the AC in our room so we came back to slippery soaking wet floors and a hot muggy room. I got sick for two days while there. We are assuming it was from the buffet because the meat is just laying out for a while so only get stuff you see them lay down fresh. On multiple occasions, food that is supposed to be served to you cold like cheesecake would come out warm. Definitely make reservations for the sit down dinners because it seems safer and 100x better than the buffet. The hibachi, Italian, Mexican & steakhouse were all excellent but the men must wear jeans or slacks (no shorts). They don't allow you to take food out of the buffet so don't think you can have someone bring you a plate back to the room. You must order room service which is a charge. The gifts shops are soooooooo slow! I got frustrated and put my stuff down because it took them 20 minutes to manually ring up everything for the person in front of me The beach and caribe side were better than the colonial in our opinion (better service, food and bigger beach) so if we ever came back we would stay there. The night club was too loud and only played salsa music with one or two random pop/hip hop songs. The smoking needs to be regulated. People were in the pool smoking with kids around. There should be designated smoking pools because no matter where you went someone was always in the pool or next to it smoking. Despite multiple complaints we would give this place another try because it's so gorgeous with so many things to do so you never have to leave (mini golf, mall, casino, night club, dolphins, water sports, etc). We do think the service could be much better and other things could be fixed but overall it's a decent resort with tons of options and beautiful beaches and pools

Review For the barcelo Mayan palace. I would never ever stay in this "all inclusive " resort again. Pros: nice beach view when you walk in the lobby .I only enjoyed one of the restaurant reservations I Made. My experience ; we first come in and the front desk person that attended us was not very nice. -the food was horrible I stayed at the hotel of 8 days and 7 nights they served the same breakfast every day !!!! Like I almost knew what they where going to be serving at their buffet by memory lol - someone took a DUMP on the pool and instead of hurrying up and cleaning they just left it there ! - the bedroom was far from the Lobby, so if you stay here which I don't suggest you do at all , be prepared to walk a lot ! -the mini fridge in the room didn't work , called to get it fixed and nothing was done about it . -the AC was not cool enough, if you open the sliding doors which we're very hard to open anyway the AC turns off . -theCeiling fan in the room was broken it made a weird noice the whole night which didn't let us sleep well . -If you make reservations for the restaurants you most likely are going to have to take a shuttle to get there since the restaurant can be at any of the other sister hotels . - Room service nine dollars a plate you have to leave your card information at the lobby, this is supposed to be an all inclusive resort and it's not! - Went to the casino they're supposed to close at 2 AM they actually close at one so that they could have all of their shit together by 2 AM so that they could leave by 2 am . the lady at the bitting table asked me to wear my mask, so when I saw that people at the bitting table Infront of me were not wearing their mask , I asked her why and she stated that the other people did not have to wear it because they were bidding $1000! This was amazing to me !!!! Like seriously ???? Because they are bitting $1000 that was a very dumb response ! -the person giving you your wins at the casino Was super rude as well . Heads up Don't stay at the barcelo Playa del Carmen !!!! I wouldn't stay at any of their hotels ! I just got Back from My trip last night ! we were a family of 17 and none of us liked it one of the WORST hotels I have stayed at my life !!!!