Occidental at Xcaret Destination

We booked Occidental at Xcaret Destination under the impression it was part of the Xcaret family of hotels, known for their impeccable reputation, gastronomy, and amenities. Don’t let the name fool you, this property is operated by the Barcelo group, and our experience reflected a very different standard.||Not Truly All-Inclusive|Unlike other all-inclusive resorts we’ve stayed at, most equipment and activities here came with additional fees (snorkel gear, kayaks, fins, etc.). It was surprising and disappointing to find so many basics excluded.||Timeshare Sales Pressure|My wife joined my parents for a timeshare presentation, and the hotel staff pushed aggressively for me to attend as well. Despite her making it clear she was the decision maker, the salesman disregarded her entirely. At the end, he gave bracelets to my parents but deliberately excluded her, explaining they were only used to signal to staff that a sales pitch had already been delivered. The dismissive behavior toward her felt unprofessional and frankly, sexist.||Accessibility Issues|A member of our group with mobility challenges faced several obstacles. When arriving days after us, their party was told shuttle service was not included in their reservation type, and the hotel declined to allow them to pay separately. This left them stranded to navigate Cancun’s difficult taxi system on their own. Within the resort, breakfast seating was also problematic: when we requested to sit closer to the buffet for easier wheelchair access, the hostess initially refused multiple times, insisting the tables were reserved for larger groups. Only after repeated requests did she agree, but in a condescending way that made our group feel like an inconvenience.||Other Concerns|We witnessed unsanitary behavior at the buffet (a child licking items and placing them back), and unfortunately our entire party contracted Covid during our stay. While not directly the hotel’s fault, it added to the negative overall experience.||Positives|To be fair, there were some highlights. The proximity to Xcaret Park was excellent, and the snorkeling off the beach was phenomenal. Our best experience was at the seafood restaurant, where both the food and service were outstanding. The chef went above and beyond, preparing fresh fish he had caught that same morning: a thoughtful gesture that made our evening unforgettable.||Conclusion|While we appreciated certain aspects (especially the seafood restaurant and location) the overall stay was undermined by aggressive sales tactics, accessibility challenges, and the misleading “all-inclusive” label. With so many better options in the region, I would not recommend this resort for travelers seeking the true Xcaret experience.

We recently stayed at Occidental Xcaret on the Royal side. The private Royal restaurant and service there were excellent—fantastic food, attentive staff, and overall a 5-star experience. Shout out to Charlie Hernandez. He was personable, friendly, and shared fantastic stories. Ignacio "driver" was also very nice and personable. Unfortunately, the main resort fell short of expectations. Before our arrival, I was asked if we were celebrating anything special. I shared that it was our 2-year wedding anniversary, and the staff seemed excited, assuring me they would prepare something special for my wife. I even offered to pay extra. Upon check-in, they asked again and gave me the same reassurance. On the morning of our last day, I checked once more and was promised a surprise. Sadly, nothing ever happened. In addition, I requested a bottle of liquor for our room on three separate occasions and was told it would be delivered—yet it never arrived. Another frustration came when we tried to set up transportation back to the airport. On three out of the four attempts, instead of helping us, staff used it as an opportunity to push a timeshare membership. Even the cart drivers were bringing it up. That’s the last thing I want to deal with while celebrating my anniversary. The resort grounds are beautiful, with a jungle-like atmosphere, though beach access is very limited. The Royal restaurant staff went above and beyond, but the general resort experience was disappointing. The customer service at the main resort was poor, and the food quality there felt closer to a 1–2 star resort. During our stay, the power shut off three times, which even caused the water to run orange and yellow. Overall, I would give Occidental Xcaret as a whole 2 stars. However, the Royal restaurant deserves a full 5 stars for its exceptional service and quality.

This place was so amazing. I went with my daughter for her 13th birthday. We did a quick three day trip and everything with the sectional! Iris and Alesya were amazing. They went over and on for us for my daughter‘s birthday even got her a cake and left it in the room for a surprise arrange our restaurant reservations, and everything. I recommend this place. 10xs of out 10!!

The service was amazing and the resort is beautiful with so much wildlife! Pools, beaches and all areas were clean and maintained at all times! Our concierge Perla was absolutely amazing and had positive energy the entire time! For every request we needed, we were able to ask Perla and she was more than happy to assist us with happiest attitude at all times. Ramano diaz and julio valdez at the restaurant were hilarious and significantly contributed to our amazing time at the resort. Aside from the amazing service and hospitality, this resort has the best employees who do everything in their power to make your stay enjoyable and memorable! Would highly recommend!!

Not wheelchair friendly, and staff is either very helpful or highly miss informed different info from different people lead to us running around a lot. I am in a wheelchair from foot surgery and even though the resort itself is nice I wouldn't recommend this for guest in wheelchairs. #1 non of the pools have a wheelchair access seat so I have to crawl in and out of the pool which is gross because a lot of the shaded areas have mold and stink. #2 the snack bar bathrooms are not wheelchair accessible, the main lobby wheelchair bathroom is kept locked, the wheelchair bathroom closet to the pizza and tacos doesn't lock neither does the one by the hot tubs which is the closet usable to the snack bar for wheelchairs. Brought the locked bathroom to staff attention our first day....still locked, was told 2 days later it was broken after this review. The power in some of the buildings goes out with a light rain storm which knocked out the elevator, they did move us rooms. Just know to book a room on the main level just in case if traveling in rainy seasons. #3 a lot of the wheelchair "ramps" are super steep and unkept which makes navigating them extremely difficult and scary. #4 The resort is large and doesn't have golf carts or any other option allowed for wheelchairs so be ready to for the trek all over to do anything on property if your in a wheelchair they are willing to push you to destinations though. #5 Only have emergencies during normal hours. Our son got sick in the middle of the night we tried calling the front desk multiple times with no answer. He was in severe pain so we called an ambulance only after the call was my husband able to find staff and figure out the doctor, we cancelled the ambulance I just am annoyed we wasted their time. I wish the front desk would have answer one of our several calls. Also during the day we tried to call for more blankets no answer husband had to go to desk or call multiple times, same for towels, pretty much anything just be ready to make a lot of trips to the front desk if you need anything. There is no chance they are answering at night and like a 50/50 chance you might get someone during the day. #6 The food sucks at the buffet and snack bars. My son had a very hard time finding things he would eat. There were flies all over alot do the food which I gets it's the jungle, overall just low quality though. #7 All the shops have a step up so if your in a wheelchair they are all inaccessable. #8 Also the main lobby has a very rocky area by the Mexico sign that you cannot navigate without wheels getting stuck so you have to go out and around which is fine if it isn't raining. #8 A lot of miss communication, We got told different times for Paco's Tacos that they were open for lunch, that they weren't. That pizza and tacos were both available then they weren't it was every other day for one or the other, just alot of finding out for ourselves or asking several times. #9 Trying to leave early for a fishing trip security wasn't paying attention at post when trying to leave so we had to get out of our car to get his attention at the main gate to leave after waiting and giving up on waiting do to our time crunch. #10 Private beach gazebo is incredibly hard to get into the "ramp" is not usable, I had to use a stool to transfer up and then back into my chair after my husband moved it up. I was told there wasn't a way to the beach by staff there so I watched my family snorkel and play without me, then the next day I was told there are sand chair to rent so you can go to the beach if you spend more money, or there is a ramp in the private club area so if your a club member I guess you can get to the sand at least. I am sure this trip would been awesome if I wasn't in a chair, but the overall difficultly with the chair has made this trip very difficult to enjoy. If I could walk even a little this would be a great resort but unfortunately I cannot put weight on one of my feet. There were dead cockroach in the hall for at least 2 days. Wild life will come right up to people, not safe.

Spent one glorious week here and had a fantastic time. We ate at the Club Playa every morning and couldn’t have been more pleased. There were an abundance of food choices and the staff is so friendly and helpful! If you come to eat here, Janet Suriano, Arturo Aguirre and Diego Chavez will take excellent care of you! This is my third time at this resort and I will definitely be back! Stunning scenery, monkeys, iguanas and many other animals make it a special experience. Friendly and helpful staff all around help make this a top of my list spot!

While writing this review, I feel conflicted about my overall stay at Barcelo Occidental. My extended family and I traveled to this resort to provide my ailing Mother some serenity and healing ocean air. We selected this resort based on a recommendation from family members who have visited before and raved about the location and accessibility of the pool and lagoon. We enjoyed our time and with some changes, we would return…maybe. Continue reading for specifics. Let me start with the positives. The general atmosphere is beautiful. It feels tropical and like they carved the resort out of the jungle. We loved that the wildlife was part of the experience. However, the only downside is that after putting my clothes out on the balcony to dry, there were what I suspected to be animal droppings on them. While this wasn’t pleasant, I don’t fault the resort but I do think it requires thorough maintenance and upkeep that might not be happening on a regular basis. The esthetics of the main building/lobby were also very beautiful. We found some nice souvenirs in the shops that lined the river and people were very friendly. Lastly, the man made beach lagoon was wonderful for my Mom because there were no waves, easy to walk into, and she was able to sit on the rocks and enjoy the water with little effort. Now for the not so positive. As many others have said, the resort could use some updates. This didn’t bother me as much as it has others but it’s worth mentioning. Beach- I think it’s time for new lounge chairs. Some of them are broken or sagging and look dirty. Also, not everyone wants to listen to club music. Service - The building concierge was more or less useless specifically at my mother’s building. My mom walks with a cane so I escorted her everyday to and from her building. They never once offered her transportation. In fact, when we asked for them to get her a wheelchair, they hesitantly and only after insisting did they call on our behalf to accommodate. I also asked them on several occasions to swap out the whole apples she received as her welcome gift with cut fruit as she could not bite into them. Which they replied with “we don’t do that. You’d have to order room service.” Even after I said that was not acceptable and they said they would put in the request, she never received the cut fruit. In my opinion, that is a disgusting response to a simple request for an elderly woman. And the most jarring was the incessant attempt to get us to sign up for their timeshare. Every time we thought we were having a pleasant interaction with someone, it ended with a pitch to “become a member”. If you want people to join, your first priority should be to make their experience exceptional…I guarantee you’d get more hooks in than with your bait and switch attempts. Lastly, the ladies at the reservation desk were rude and uninterested in helping us after we said we didn’t want any discount associated with the membership. She called the spa for us but it went to the wrong office and when I told her she did not offer to make another attempt to contact them. Cleanliness - some of the bathrooms around the property were straight up gross. In particular, the one below the snack bar. The floor was wet…like puddled with water. Nothing more gross to me than a wet bathroom. The men’s bathroom in the same area had like a fog in it that made my nephew cough. At the towel return huts (which were spaced far apart, not clearly labeled, and often without an attendant) there were piles of dirty towels on the counter. Food - Why isn’t the maple syrup and French toast in the same area? Why isn’t there bacon every morning? I just expected more and it would have made not being able to make a reservation less of a disappointment. The snack bar had the best food in our opinion but had the smallest variety. I’m sure there is more I can say but I think those are the major highlights (or lowlights). Generally, we enjoyed our stay because how can you not when you are in paradise with all inclusive benefits but could it have been better…100%.

The hotel is stunning and has a great location next to the water. They have a cute cove that they keep the seaweed out of so that it is usable even when stormy. Staff was friendly. We stayed in royal and the restaurant that you have access to had the best food we tried, so I would do that if you can. The food in general is the only thing I would improve on.

On the fence about this hotel. I felt the price I paid was fair. The grounds are beautiful, lots of wild life. Not a proper beach but I love that it is next door to Xcaret and very close to Xplor, they have LOTS of food options and the room was exactly what you'd expect, but the check in and check out process is terrible! Long lines and what concerned me the most is that they have zero care with people's personal information: they take copies of your passport and leave them there face up for everyone to see and potentially grab. Red flag for sure! The hotel workers (as most Mexicans), were a joy to deal with. Just something to keep in mind.

Our stay here was a solid 4 stars. The most unique thing about this resort is that it's in the middle of the jungle and you get to interact with jungle animals. We had almost daily visits of spider monkeys on our balcony! One of the things I love about this resort is the wild life. A white tail deer was so friendly and hung out with us for a good 10 minutes. They have coatis and partots (macaws) all over the place. We even saw a snake (python) on our trail! Lots of iguanas too! It was such a priceless experience! The food is ok-- all inclusive buffet style food. They need to come up with a better system of reserving the fancy dinner restaurants because no one wants to wake up at 7am and wait in a huge line at the reception while on vacation. The private beach is beautiful with lots of fish swimming around! It's a great snorkel spot! The kids club was on the boring side so I didn't sign up my kids. I would recommend that they do more fun activities like games and taking them to the beach etc. The WiFi is strong, even at the beach!

This was my first all-inclusive experience, so my review will be very honest based on zero expectations and experience. Food: 7.5/10 You have access to 5 buffets/restaurants for all meals. Most are buffet style which I thought gave a lot of options even for the pickiest eaters. Mexican good was pretty good and American food was surprisingly very good. Always great dessert options at the buffets. There are 3 a La carte eateries for tacos, pizza, and quick snacks! Tacos were AMAZING!!! There were also 3 reservation-only restaurants: Oriental, Hacienda Mexican Cuisine, and the Steakhouse. You make reservations starting at 7am the day you want to eat there so get up early. The Oriental restaurant had few options that were okay but a really nice ambiance. The Hacienda has a tequila tasting table to start which was fun! The options here were also limited and very underwhelming. Lastly, the Steakhouse was amazing. Coming from the Midwest, the steak here was to die for with amazing side options. There were many bars around the resort with great options and super nice bartenders. I did find out that they reuse the plastic cups throughout the entire resort which was gross to think about. Hotel Service: 6/10 All servers and bartenders were insanely nice and super welcoming! We became very close with our server Marcella. They helped us with literally anything we asked for! Every building has 2 concierges and we had Tziri who was amazing! They all spoke many languages which was so cool. The main lobby folks were not the nicest but we only talked to them twice. You will constantly have folks walking around asking you to upgrade or just selling you something but they are nice and respond well when you say no thank you- not too pushy. Only gave them a 6 because we had issues booking outings with the appropriate times and transportations a few times which wasted a good chunk of our morning times. Facilities: 7/10 Be aware that this hotel is very open and there is not a lot of areas with cold AC blowing. You will be sweating. Our building was the second to last so we walked A LOT! In the end, we appreciated the walking because we saw so much wildlife and walked off our food. We didn't spend much time in our room but it was clean and well kept. Pools are kept up very well and even though there were many people there it never seemed full. We always found places to set our stuff down by the pool. Amenities and Attractions: 10/10 Reminder that this is my first resort experience but I thought there were awesome options for adventure here. 5 pools around the resort, each with a different vibe and layout. There were two areas of Mayan Ruins which were beautiful. The whole place was a jungle trail but there were special ecological trails with amazing wildlife views. Hammocks were hanging everywhere which was amazing but we also had access to cabanas. The beach was my favorite because of the beautiful views, fish swimming with you, and fun activities. There were daily Zumba classes, a fun snorkel cove, and amazing views. I went with my family and had a group of 9. It was still super easy to find a spot by the beach, pool, or at any restaurant. Many different ages, tastes, and thrill levels. We all had a great time! Pro tip: there are a few parks connected to this hotel so look into them before coming to save some money and enjoy a boat ride to your destination.

Pros: 1. Proximity to Xcaret Park: The location is fantastic. You can easily access the park via a short walk either through the beach, entering by the kids' area, or through a paved walkway directly arriving at the main theater. This makes it incredibly convenient to come and go as you please. 2. Service Staff: The staff at the hotel are friendly and hardworking, which was highly appreciated throughout our stay. 3. Hotel Property: The hotel grounds are like a little paradise with plenty to do. The property is very well maintained, offering a beautiful and enjoyable environment. Cons: 1. Check-In Experience: Check-in was a hassle. Due to a delayed flight, we checked in a day later despite informing the hotel multiple times via email and direct call that we were arriving late and to save our room. It took a long time for someone to find our reservation. Even after they found it, they wanted us to wait until 3 pm to get a room, despite charging us for the extra day. After insisting, they assigned us a room since we were getting charged for it anyhow. The. when we arrived at the room, it was already occupied with someone else's luggage. We had to walk back and forth between the lobby and buildings 18 and 12 with our luggage before finally getting a proper room assignment. It is not a short walk specially if you're already tired from long, delayed flights and with kids. 2. Room Phone: The phone in our room was malfunctioning, and despite reporting it twice, it was never fixed. We had to keep it unplugged for our entire stay. 3. Specialty Restaurants: The food at the specialty restaurants was highly disappointing. The menu items were not much different if any different at all from what was available at the buffet, making it a waste of time for more of the same supposedly "a la carte". We ended up skipping two of our four specialty reservation due to that as we found it no different and you had to wait to get served and order what you can already get yourself at the buffet. 4. Taxi Services: Taxis from the hotel are privatized and charge exorbitant rates. They wanted $950 pesos for a ride to 5th Avenue, while a taxi from the main road cost only $200 pesos. Public transportation is even cheaper and also picks up from the main road. The main road is only about a 10 min or .5 mile walk. They allow any tax service to drop you off at the main lobby if you're coming back from other parts of playa but to catch something from the lobby and avoid the walk only their taxis are allowed to pick you up at quadruple the rates. Walk the .5 miles and get one off the main road. 5. Buffet Organization: The buffet lines were not well organized, especially where toppings, syrups, salsas, and condiments were placed right in front of the cook for tacos or eggs. This often led to crowding and limited access to these items. 6. Paco's Tacos and Pizza: The service at Paco's Tacos was slow, and the pizza was subpar. It's better to head to the buffet for taco options and pizza, honestly again it's the same pizza being served at the buffet and more taco choices made fresh too without the wait. The pizza is not good anyway and it seemed to come from the Piazza anyway and isn't any better. Overall: I would stay at this resort again solely because of its proximity and direct access to Xcaret Park. This allowed us to enjoy both the park and the hotel premises without spending too much inside the park. It provided a way to experience different parts of the park on different days without being forced to do it all in one day. It's a lot of walking, so I highly recommend getting the Unlimited Xcaret Experience access bracelet for a more convenient and enjoyable visit.

The environment of this resort gets an easy 5/5, it was beautiful and unlike any place i've ever stayed. The jungle-like environment made the experience worth the cost. I'll break down the rest of attributes and talk about them individually, explaining why my overall rating is 3/5. Room/Housekeeping: The room was plenty clean, and the housekeepers do not slack on cleaning the rooms everyday (they even mopped the floors!). They truly are great at tidying up the room. Other than that, the beds are pretty hard and the pillows are low quality. That's why you take advantage of the unlimited alcohol to get good sleep. We were in building 19 and had monkeys run across our balcony a few times, which was definitely an amazing bonus. The air conditioning isn't the best, but eventually you cool off from the heat. The fridge also doesn't get very cold. Lastly, every time you walk by the front desk of your specific building, you will be begged to buy a membership to the resort, which eventually got annoying. Restaurants/Buffet: I have a lot of opinions on the food here, and am just confused why there is no type of authentic mexican food found anywhere. The mexican restaurant doesn't even have tacos or guacamole to order (i know those may not be 100% authentic but it's something I expected). I also wish that the asian restaurant had sushi with normal ingredients. I went to the Hard Rock in Cabo, and the sushi was absolutely amazing, so I guess i'm a little bias. Every roll here has cream cheese in it, one has banana, and another has asparagus?? Salmon and steak from the restaurants was usually good. The only other place you can go aside from the restaurants is Pacos tacos & the pizzeria, which are actually just the same place. The tacos are pretty dry and bland, and they don't really have any sauce to put on them other than the runny guacamole flavored sauce they give you for chips. The pizzas were also pretty flavorless. The buffets are edible but will probably give you a hard time in the bathroom. Most of my family got tummy issues from the food. I also have to note that there isn't a way to get food without walking to it. Theres no room service menu, and when we tried calling (because my brother was sick from the food and couldn't move) they didn't answer the phone and he just couldn't eat. Pools/Lagoon: The pool options are incredible, they are huge and never packed which is great. Since we didn't go on spring break, the resort wasn't too busy so we were always able to find a seat near the pool. There is a volleyball net in one of the pools, and you can check out balls at the activity hut. There's also ping pong, jumbo jenga, and jumbo chess right next to the activity hut. One thing that I do wish they had is poolside service. Our last trip had poolside service and a food menu to order at the pool, so I missed that. The lagoon is extremely nice but a further walk than the pool in most cases. Overall, this isn't a place I would come to again just because I know there's better, but I am so glad to have seen the environment because it was truly so unique to wake up in a zoo everyday. I saw animals that i've never seen in my life just by walking around. This resort was cheaper than others, so I am cutting it a little bit of slack.

I loved this property. Here are my thoughts The staff is very nice and most speak some English, but basic Spanish is helpful If you like seeing monkeys, iguanas, deer, and parrots, you'll love it here as there are all of these to see. My boyfriend had a monkey run up to him, wrap his tail around his leg, and looked at him and smiled before running off. There's a deer named Bambi you can pet that roams free all over the property. The beach has fish in it and I saw iguanas on the beach. The fish only run into you but don't bite. It's humid. It's basically like a jungle. I hate that weather normally, but there are places to find shade and tons of places to swim. The property is huge, so walking gets to be a lot! There are trams tho that can pick you up and take you where you want to go. With the exception of the front desk person, the staff is very friendly. The upsell to their timeshare is annoying but we were aware and told them no right away. We were asked a few more times but firmly said we did not want to go through their 90 minute speech. The food is decent. You can make reservations for the restaurants at bldg 22 before 10am in the morning or go to the buffet, tacos, or pizza. I thought the buffet was just as good as the restaurants. If you're going for fantastic food and drinks, you'll probably be a bit disappointed. We went to xcaret, and it was a lot of walking and looking at things. We did xplor previously and that was way more fun to me. If you go to the park, there are two ways to get back to the hotel. We went back for lunch to the hotel then back to the park as food/drinks at xcaret are very expensive. Wear walking shoes, but bring water shoes for the river or ask for flippers. It's even more humid in the park, so pack a water bottle. They have water stations around the park and you can carry a backpack. You can either rent a locker or they will provide a bag with a lock if you go to the river or other excursions you can't take stuff on. Most of the cool stuff cost money like swimming with dolphins or the boat ride on the ocean. I was bummed the cats were not there due to renovations and I didn't see monkeys there. The airport shuttle was nice, but we did end up at the airport 4 hours early when we went home. That was a bit of a bummer. The evening entertainment isn't awesome, but it was ok. It's more family friendly. There is a disco and sports bar, but that's not really my thing so I didn't hang out there long. Our room was good, but it is damp and smelled like chlorine because we were near the pool. I still enjoyed it and the cleaning staff did a nice job. We weren't in the room much anyway and our AC worked fine. We will probably go back, we enjoyed our stay

If you have a kid under 5 DO NOT BOOK THE PARK. YHEY ARE NOT ALOWED TO DO ANYTHING. I didn't find this out until we received our wrist bands, and was told other families with baby's do it. You just sit in the hammock area. They'll be fine. I'm sorry, but neither I or my baby wants to spend hours in a hammock area. I asked for a refund for me since I wouldn't be able to go and they said they couldn't refund us because it was already in the bank. My husband then asked if they could move the funds over to another activity that we could all do together and they said no. They could give us a discount though. The desk attendant downstairs says d he agreed it would be better if our infant didn't go, because there wouldn't be anything she could do. He said she would be better here. The employees were great for the most part. All very helpful and kind. The shampoo in the room is not great. There is no conditioner, I would recommend bringing your own shampoo and conditioner. When we got here our mini bar that was supposed to be stocked was completely empty. I had to call to get them to stock it. We're currently still here, the buffet during the day isn't great. Buffet in the morning and at night is good. They don't really have cup options for infants so be sure and bring your own cups. Also, if you have a dairy allergy, this might not be the resort for you. They don't have any milk alternatives. I gave it two stars because everyone is nice and the scenery and water is amazing.

Our 4th time visiting. Royal level. Lush property. Lots of wildlife. Great ocean views. Royal level never disappoints. Room service, Maid service, concierge. All exceptional. Javier Royal Bartender, Friendly and top notch service. Francisco - Royal Restaurant - Friendly, great service. Alberto - Breakfast/Lunch - So kind, above and beyond service Daniel - Royal restaurant - Great service. always a smile. Occidental is wonderful. Older, established but CLEAN and COMFORTABLE. Great location, views and service.

This was our 11th time at this resort! We absolutely love it here. It's perfect for families or couples! The resort is large enough you can be secluded or around people your choice. You should like nature and wildlife if you stay here! Our room is always clean and are very open and comfortable! The staff is great they have always gone above and beyond for us! Some of our favorite people are Moses who was one of our first friends here! He always has a smile on his face and makes us feel so at home! We also appreciate the hard working bartenders and waitresses, Luis, Jaime, Magdalena, Brenda, Olga. They all made our stay wonderful! So for the issues we had this trip. The shuttle or carts the resort uses are convenient but now down to just one large one and it takes 20-25 minutes waiting sometimes. There used to be two and it was much faster. The second issue and one I was very upset by is the way you make a reservation for the special restaurants. They have you getting up at 7am to make a reservation for that night. We m on vacation this is not what I want to be doing. Overall we really do love this resort and will be back.

I stayed OCT 20-25 and booked a package thru priceline (flight and hotel payed in advance). Reservation desk was so unhelpful and claimed priceline never released my $2k payment (even though my flight was fine). Called priceline the next day and they were speedy to contact them and clear it out, I even have an email from the hotel staff OCT 28 that pricelines payment was received. I was told to put a card on file at check-in and once priceline sent payment they would refund me. My card on file was charged OCT 28 the full amount and i have yet to receive a refund and its December. I was told to wait 2 weeks, then 30 days, spoke to someone last week who claimed the payment is being processed... and still nothing. I have sent 6 emails, and no response. I have called at least once a week since I checked out and I am told to wait. Spoke to someone last Friday and said they would send me an email with more information and nothing. So its unfortunate that this is happening because I enjoyed my stay... and wanted to return but I will not!! Basically i have paid double for the room, and I still have no received my refund and its been 6 weeks. This is completely unprofessional and do not recommend staying there unless you want to pay double. It should not take over 6 weeks for a refund. This is absolutely ridiculous. Me quedé del 20 al 25 de octubre y reservé un paquete a través de Priceline (el vuelo y el hotel se pagaron adelantado). La gente de recepcion dijo que Priceline nunca les dio mi pago de $ 2 mil DOLLARES (mi vuelo estaba bien). Llamé a Priceline al día siguiente y se comunicaron rápidamente con ellos y lo aclararon. Incluso tengo un correo electrónico del personal del hotel el 28 de octubre indicando que se recibió el pago de Priceline. Me dijeron que tenia que dar una tarjeta en el momento del check-in y una vez que Priceline enviara el pago, me reembolsarían. A mi tarjeta le cobraron (el 28 de octubre) el monto total y aún no he recibido un reembolso y es diciembre. Me dijeron que esperara 2 semanas, luego 30 días, hablé con alguien la semana pasada que afirmó que el pago se estaba procesando... y todavía nada. He enviado 6 correos electrónicos y no hay respuesta. He llamado al menos una vez a la semana desde que salí y me dicen que espere. Hablé con alguien el viernes pasado y me dijo que me enviarían un correo electrónico con más información y nada. Es lamentable que esto esté sucediendo porque disfruté el lugar... ¡y quería regresar pero no lo haré! Básicamente, pagué el doble por la habitación y todavía no he recibido mi reembolso y han pasado 6 semanas. No recomiendo quedarse allí a menos que quiera pagar el doble. El reembolso no debería tardar más de 6 semanas. Esto es absolutamente ridículo.

Please read, I had a 9 night booking here. And on Friday my necklace was stolen by the cleaning staff. Not only was I 100% sure that i left it in the drawer, but i also had photos proofing that i had it on in the hotel room before taking it off and a photo in the hotel elevator with out it on before leaving. Even if you have a sign to not enter they ignore this and still go in to clean. Not only did she not clean that well but she took my necklace. I reported all of this. The hotel said they questioned her, she denied any sign being up and she denied seeing any necklace. She's been working there for 7 years and never had an incident. So they can't do anything about it. This necklace was priceless to me, it was gift from my little brother. I was lucky enough to have proof but even with evidence they still denied responsibility. I don't want to go on about other disgusting events that I encounter. The only thing that mattered was my necklace being stolen by this hotel. Bellow is a photo of my necklace. I even paid extra to stay at a different hotel since i didn't feel safe there. I assure you my family will never come here again nor any of my friends. I steer anyone from going here.

Love this resort so much! The wildlife make it extra special. It is huge, so it never seems crowded. I have been twice and can't wait to go back. It needs some small updates, but they are quick to fix any issues you may have with your room. Staff are really friendly. Food at the sit down restaurants was surprisingly pretty great for an all inclusive. I'll be back!

We have stayed at the occidental at Xcaret multiple times and always enjoy it. There is a lot that makes up a great resort so I'm going to break it down Food: there are 3 buffets, 5 sit down restaurants, 2 "fast food" options and multiple bars of course. The restaurants are all pretty good, I loved the oriental restaurant the best. The best buffet is the one by the pools (it turns into a seafood restaurant at night). They don't do advance reservations at the restaurants, but after 6pm you can go put your name to reserve a time later in the night. Depending on how busy it is when you go, I would highly recommend doing that. It's disappointing to eat at the buffets every night. Activities: the staff who run the activities are really fun. I did participate in the yoga and enjoyed it. The shows they have at night are so so. They used to be a lot more extravagant and showed a lot more talent, now they are less professional. Still fun but not extraordinary Pools & beach: I LOVE the private beach/lagoon. It is so nice to be able to swim without all of the crazy waves. Not to mention, it's beautiful. However, when busy the beach fills up fast. Definitely put your books down on some chairs before grabbing breakfast at the beach buffet. Pools are all great Location: prime location! Close to all of the Xcaret parks and downtown playa Del Carmen. I also love the set up of the resort with the river walk and the jungle trails. We got to see baby monkeys! COVID: as of now, masks are still require to enter the restaurants on the resort. They are not required anywhere else. As soon as you enter the restaurant you can take off the mask. The process of getting our COVID test to come back to the US was so seamless!

Honest review for a couple who just had our wedding here, with a group of 14 family members. Main stay: We arrived a lot earlier than check in time. For $15 each we were able to get our wristbands early and enjoy the resort amenities. There was a male front desk agent that was rude and argumentative to any guest he spoke with. When we were able to get the room, we were shown on a map the building we were staying at. It took awhile to find it in person since the resort is huge. We got into the room, which was beautiful and clean, and took a nap. I was awoken by a noise, and when I looked up I saw one of the workers just staring at us sleep from the door. When I looked up, she closed the door and I was unable to find her after to see what she needed. We found out about half way through our stay that there is a shuttle that drives you through the resort. This was convenient for elderly family members. When our family members checked in, we had an issue with accessing a room. We tried calling the front desk for about 30 minutes with no answer. We ended up having to walk 10 minutes in pouring rain to the lobby. At the front desk, all of the staff were just standing around talking, not answering the phones. We were given an extra fob to enter the unit. Unfortunately, the second fob didn't work. I made the trek myself through the storm and explained we tried calling the front desk for at least 30 minutes from multiple different phones and no one would answer. The manager Gustavo came out and drove us back to check the door, which still didn't work. I expressed multiple concerns to him expecting at minimum that he listen and be understanding of the frustration. Instead, he made excuses for each concern. Front desk was too busy, so they couldn't answer the phones (they were standing around talking and laughing). The door issue was because of their new computer system. I don't recall any apology from the manager Gustavo, which was fine as long as we could access all of our rooms. We could check in at 3pm to the rooms, but couldn't get into the room until around 9pm. The food was not horrible, but not great. It was the same food being served at the main buffet everyday, and it got a bit tiring after day 3. Same with the beach buffet. The stay in general (pools, bars, beach) was great. It was relaxing and family oriented. We have stayed at several different resorts in PDC and Cancun. Wedding: Initially the planning was smooth. There was a bit of a communication barrier between us and the planner as we were communicating via email and we didn't speak Spanish. It almost felt like once the payment was received, the service got worse. We had questions that we'd ask via email and we'd receive general responses, but not answers to the questions. A lot of what was included vs what we needed to rent from vendors was unclear and we spent a lot of time trying to figure it out, including reaching out to the vendors directly instead of the planner doing so. After check in, we met with the planner (who was super sweet) and went over the whole plan and timeline. After check in, we filled out the paperwork to have our suits steamed and followed the instructions on the top of the form to call for laundry pickup. No one answered. We dialed the front desk, guest services and dialed 0 and could not receive an answer. We walked to the lobby and to guest services and were told by both to call 0 from the room. We walked back to the room and still couldn't get ahold of anyone. We ended up having to iron our own suits for the photo shoot. On the day of the wedding, they mistakenly tried to bring us our honeymoon breakfast in bed. There was a huge lack of communication between the planner and vendors involved. I think the photo company had the best customer service out of our whole stay, they were great! Given the issues with the room, staff, management and bad organization of the wedding itself, we likely wouldn't recommend the stay or getting married here.

The location is perfect for Xcaret Park, especially if you have kids. Food doesn't change. The only good restaurants are the Asian, La Hacienda, and sea food. They need to work on customer service at the buffet. The staff in the Asian restaurant and only some at the buffet by the ocean are nice. The Expedia representatives at the resort in building 22 are nice, and they try to help with what they can. I don't like the fact that you have to reserve to eat at the restaurant at 7am same day. You would have to get there at 6am to get in line. We shouldn't have to get up that early if you are on vacation. Suggestions: Let people reserve a day before, hire people that have a good attitude. Personally I only gave tips to people that treated me nice.

I had a wonderful time staying here. A few dollars tips and kindness and they will take great care of you. Had all the drinks and water I needed here. No problem getting new towels and a clean room every other day. Beach here in a lagoon which is seaweed time of the year and they cleaned up very good. Rather have beach time here then the beach with all the seaweed's. Club members gets great services booking for dinner reservations. Buffet may not be the top notch for some but it was doable. Booking Xacaret expeditions and parks was awesome fun. Walk right next door to the parks and shows. The hotel a bit further from Cancun airport and hotel zone. A lot of taxis wanted to charge $300 for 7 people round trip if your wanting to visit hotel zone in Cancun. Occidental hotel close to playa de Carmen and you can get a ferry to Cozumel. Much closer and the markets.

First of all, this is not the Four Seasons in Maui. So if you are expecting White Lotus quality, you will be dissatisfied- because you get what you pay for, and for the price, Barcelo Occidental Grand Xcaret is pretty cool!! Food: Food is served old school buffet style with no sneeze guards in the main buffet and the playa beach buffet. Once you embrace that you are eating from a petri dish, there are good options at breakfast and lunch. And again at dinner if you must. It is pretty traditional no frills Mexican which we loved. Lots of flavors and sauces and moles, and my favorite was the daily chicken thigh dish. There are burgers, fries,chips and a lot of fresh produce fruit and salads. Waiters bring you beverages and are very attentive especially if you slip them 50 pesos. Beverage: All inclusive moderate quality beers and well drinks. TERRIBLE red wine, but all you can drink all day long. There is always someone offering you tequila. Specialty restaurants: Difficult to get reservations and not that special. We did the Pescador for seafood and it was meh, with a $50 upcharge for the lobster which was very good. Xcaret: 2 entrances to park from hotel grounds. You're going to get your steps in!! Hard sell Time Share: for $30,000 you can become a "member" and join their "travel club" after a 5 hour hard sell. They get you by offering to "take you on a tour of the property". The little golf cart stations are where they get you. You think you are going to the beach and next thing you know the sun has set and you owe citibank a car payment every month for 48 months. Just say no, walk to the damn beach, and find an excuse to never go on a tour or do the hard sell. Accommodations: modest, clean, great AC, great hot water, balconies with jungle views, stocked fridges. Very acceptable. Adult Ocean Pool: there is a beach front but also an adult ocean fed pool that we LOVED. People were snorkeling looking at the fish, drinks were flowing. Life guards kick everybody under 18 out so very awesome!! Wild Life: Deer, Koatis, Iguanas, and agouti roam the property as do Monkeys! There are scarlet maccaws in the lobby area, and a flamingo enclosure. Great fun! Pools: Two additional pools that are interior from beach and epic in size. One is "members" pool. Only major issue is horrible beach chair "saving" with no clean up or monitoring by stafff. A-holes left towels on more than half the chairs and were gone for hours and hours leaving no where to sit. Wet soggy towels and empty drinks and cans were left all day. This part was pretty poor. We had a great time here.

2024 update - our second visit. I still love it - my favorite all-inclusive spot. This time, we traveled with a wheelchair, and the staff was thoughtful and helpful in every way possible. There have been a few updates since our vacation 6 years ago. The wifi is much improved. The bracelets now serve as a very convenient room key. Daily activities are clearly posted at the main buffet. The buffet included a "vegan station." The abundant nature is a reason to go - don't fail to set aside time to explore.

Their policies are exceptionally awful. They have restaurants that are nicer but they don't tell you in advance that they require pants. It is Mexico!!!!! And a resort!!!! Why would I need to wear pants. I have nicer shorts to wear and my wife is allowed to wear a skirts or leggings but I have to wear dress pants. This makes no sense and it is ridiculous that they do now want you ahead of time about needing to wear pants. I find this policy sexist and pathetically outdated.

My first time in Mexico and at an AI resort! My friend and I stayed here so we could have unlimited access to Xcaret, which is steps away. I'm not sure if we got a good deal or not, but we booked in April through Costco. We paid about $1000 for our room, unlimited pass, and transportation for our four night/five day stay. Probably the most affordable vacation. We arrived on a weekday evening and just as others have mentioned, this resort is HUGE. My friend goes to Mexico often and she says this is one of the biggest resorts she's stayed at. The resort is beautiful, as it's situated in the literal jungle - there are tons of animals around including monkeys, flamingos, deer, and more I'm sure. Unfortunately since we got there so late, by the time it was dinner, it was incredibly difficult to navigate . We got sooo lost trying to find our restaurant! Of course, by the time I knew where everything was, our trip ended. lol! Food - mediocre at best. My favorite meal was probably tacos. They're a pepsi resort if that matters. Capacity - they said it was 60-70%? it definitely did not feel that way. Was way emptier, which I enjoyed. COVID testing - on site, $18 for antigen testing. Results in minutes Drinks - I drank all of the pretty drinks and the bartender was kind enough to accommodate all of my requests Service - everyone we encountered was so incredibly nice! Pools - there weren't many open, so we frequented the pool with the swim up bar. On multiple occasions, there were no more towels... which was super disappointing. Beach - manmade, no actual beach because of a hurricane In short, it was a great first AI experience, but if you're looking for a luxury stay, this probably isn't it.

We stayed 7 nights at Occidental Xcaret and we had a wonderful time! The pros are definitely the property, you will see live animals EVERYWHERE. And there are so many little paths to wonder and walk through the jungle. The private cove and salt water pool was where we basically lived all week and it was gorgeous. Honestly we will go back just to be there. The staff were friendly and helpful and always got us whatever we needed. It's a 2 min walk from Xcaret park which is also pretty cool for a day trip! Pacos tacos was pretty great and open for late night snacking!! The cons for me. The hotel did need a tiny bit of updating. We had a regular room and it was fine but a little bit outdated. Honestly a new TV and a better shower door and we would of been 100% but it was still cold from the AC and perfect for what we needed! I will say the food here, probably a 6/10 a lot of it was fine just needed salt. You have limited options other then the Buffett if you don't wanna pay for the Al la cart options (we stayed 7 nights and had 4 nights worth of reservations we could of made and didn't use any of rhem). We met people who did enjoy the oriental restaurant but the steakhouse was HORRIBLE to everyone we talked to. Other then that little stuff we had an amazing time just relaxing and wandering and seeing all the beautiful natural things Mexico has to offer!!

Family vacation at the Occidental grand xcaret Playa Del Carmen. Had a great vacation the resort is beautiful full of nature and jungle themed. The rooms are spacious and clean. The staff is polite and helpful, but unfortunately, I would not go back to this resort because of the food. Whether it was in the buffet or in the specialty restaurants all of them Irv, no more than a two star rating most of the time in the buffet the food was unrecognizable. The fruit was not cold. The cheese was not cold on the platters the only thing we ate was bread and some thing from the grill, otherwise everything else was horrible! We spent five days at this resort and three out of the five days we had to get a taxi and go into town to be able to eat at least one decent recognizable meal! This resort has so much potential. The people are great, but whoever is running their food service department needs a complete overhaul.!

Overall needs work on food services, transportation, customer services, and public information.

Came here with my husband on vacation and had the best vacation. The the staff is so nice and hotel is great. They upgraded us to a beautiful suite and gave us tickets to Xcaret. They have multiple choices to eat as far as restaurants go. The place is huge. We highly recommend this place.

Customer service is not that good at all the guy that was helping us out at the beginning didn't even give us information about our rooms. There no help at all! This is one of the dirtiest hotels we actually stay in we regret booking this hotel. For the they charge it's not worth not even half of it! They don't really have restaurants open. Their food is terrible.

Such a great experience! I ate so much and I didn't feel bad because it was all delicious. I loved seeing animals everywhere. Such friendly service. The Mayan show was really interesting and a great cultural addition. The beach was accessible and calm because of the protected lagoon. My favorite was swimming with fishes in the stone circular beach pool. I'm definitely going back.

Overall great place for the money. Management is outstanding, I met two managers and they went out of their way to make our stay fantastic the buffets are excellent, restaurants are good to very good. Rooms are nice and clean, nothing fancy but exactly what we expected per other reviews, photos, etc. I'll stay there again.

The food is decent. The only really good food I got was at breakfast. Maura was nice her food was good the rooms were small so much bugs I found a roach the cars are take long to pick us up

This is a hard review to write because honestly the food is just eh. But almost always, that's true for all-inclusive resorts. The seafood restaurant is my favorite, because at lunch when they were slow, after talking to one of our party, they totally hooked us up. This could also be in part because of Covid, because right now they are operating at 40% capacity. So if you want to go, this is a perfect time to do so. One of the things I love about this resort is the wild life. A white tail deer let me pet it and licked my hand. It was so sweet. They have coatis and monkeys running around. This is so cool. I felt like I was in the jungle. We walked through these pristine paths and the architects / landscape artists did an amazing job of incorporating nature with pathways The pools are nice, but I'd like to see more swim-up bars. I like those a lot when I go to all-inclusive resorts. The beds are decent but firm-ish. The pillows were great, they had a good mixture of flat and fluffy. The housekeeping staff are great. Of course this is a time share / vacation club but honestly I didn't find them too pushy. Or maybe I've gotten better at saying no. All of the rooms have small patios or balconies and I loved that, so I could sit and feel a breeze and see nature. The drinks are good and if you don't think they're poured strong enough just ask for more alcohol. They are happy to accommodate you. The beach is awesome. The water is so clear I could see fish swimming. One of our party did get stung by a jellyfish. They have large beds to lay on and some of them even rock. There is a bar that you walk to but it's right on the beach. My son-in-law had booked a suite (which was a living room and bedroom) and when he got here they didn't have it. He booked it on the Barcelos website (the parent company), they took his money, & were unable to fulfill their offer. They did refund the money. By the time we'd left we'd tried most of the specialty restaurants. The Pescador and the Oriental were the best. We didn't try the Steakhouse, but the others were just eh. We were in building 22 and the concierges, Jack Foake and Geoffrey Stevens were great and helped make our trip awesome. I told Jack I'd die for a croissant and he brought me croissant. They were extremely nice and helpful. I had an amazing massage and so did my girls. Would I come back here? Depends what I'm coming for. It's right by Xcaret and all the others (Xplor, Xenses, etc.) have shuttles. The pristine nature is 5*. There's nothing like having a deer lick your hand or having a fish swim between your feet. If you want amazing food, no. My last night was nearly ruined because I was told my Covid test was negative BUT I didn't receive the email until 10:52 pm after I spent an hour with guest services. They has too many tests to do because it was close to the weekend, so they had an outside doctor come in and do them. We paid $30 cash and he said I'd get an email. He also told me that my test was negative and left. At 10:00 p.m. I went to Guest Services in the Lobby and nada. They had me get in What's App and sent me the doctor's phone number. Guest services was great, but this was too stressful. Honestly when you check in they should schedule you for your Covid test. I scheduled it on Tuesday and had a hard time getting it done before I left.

First off, we booked through Expedia. NEVER do again. I've been flying United for 5 years now. I had NO idea, nor was it explained to me what BASIC ECONOMY is. I called Expedia to try and get our tickets upgraded but they were about as helpful as having polio before vaccinations. I called United. Thanks to having high status with them, I was able to get boarding group 1 and secured seats so my wife and I could sit together. Yes. Expedia refused to help. Let's start with check in. We were greeted by a very nice lady who had us drop our bag at the very front of the resort, completely un-guarded and out in the open, and were taken to a building WAY far away to check in. Because Expedia. There were 3 couples checking in and 1 girl to check everyone from Expedia in. From the time we arrived at 1:30 PM until our "room was ready" it was almost 4PM. On a Wednesday afternoon with a 2PM check in time. Really? It was exacerbated by the young lady behind the desk answering her phone every 10 seconds for what appeared to be mostly social conversations. I speak Spanish darlin. I understood. I finally had to ask her not to answer her phone and please finish checking us in. Then we were not escorted to our room. Which brings us to: The INCOMPREHENSIBLE maze of trails. We finally learned our way around on day 3 just in time to go home. It took us 20 minutes to find our building. I guess they strategically hide some of them so you have no choice but to wander around aimlessly drinking all day. Which to some may sound appealing IF: If the drinks were better. My wife gave up on the wine sticking to mimosa's or mixers but finally giving up on mixers. Too sugary. We like about $10-25 dollar bottles of wine and we both refused to drink whatever wine company they were serving. It tasted like turpentine and grape juice. The beer was OK but tasted watered down. Fortunately there was Crown for me. In Mexico, don't drink the water in a glass to wash your food down. Speaking of the food. Horrible. The only places we found we could eat at were the breakfast buffet, the pizza place, and the Mexican Restaurant. We took a look at the seafood and "sushi" restaurant's menu, took a sip of horrid wine. We got up and went to the steak restaurant. Diabolical. The "filet" my wife received was obviously frozen. It had a heavy grey ring around it and the inside was literally raw and still partly frozen. My ribeye was cooked to the consistency of a leather shoe. I sat there and sawed on it for the better part of 10 seconds before I finally cut a piece off. I refused to even try the leather. We left and went and got pizza. The little open air pizza place was great!!! Surprisingly good Pizza. As was the Mexican restaurant. Elias, our waiter, took great care of us. The Poc-Chuc was awesome. The chicken stuffed with oaxaca was tender and flavorful, the enchilada in menudo was amazing, and the ceviche. Oh dear lord the ceviche. It was so good when we didn't see it we asked for it and Elias had the chef bring us out some special made. The Mayan Coffee Elias made for us for our anniversary was amazing and quite the awesome show!!! So Elias...Well done buddy. Well. I think we have covered the food enough. On to the room. We were "upgraded" for our anniversary to a nicer/bigger room. Which we soon found out was a veiled attempt at warming us up to the idea of buying in on their time share's on the property. I had to tell no less than 4 people we were not interested in the time shares. I also quit answering our phone because we got a call every day "for this special offer". I also got several texts a day noting that they STILL needed to talk to us about this. I did not want to end up in Mexican Jail...but good lord this could drive you mad enough to do something stupid. The room itself was gorgeous and spacious and well attended. Our housekeeper even took time to straighten out our shoes and re-stocked items asked for without any difficulties. The staff and the grounds were AMAZING. Aside from the first day hiccup, the rest of the staff were always smiling and amazingly nice. Alfredo and Ivonne at the adult section by the salt water pool were no less than astounding. They remembered your name despite taking care of hundreds of people per day and were ridiculously fast at responding to what you needed. The resort itself is beautiful but poorly laid out. They need signs or to color the paths so for easier navigation. There were 5 pools which spread everyone went so you never felt crowded. There was also an adult only area with a salt water pool that was fed by the gulf. If you are looking for sandy beaches, this is not your place. It faces a sheer rock face but does have a little man made lagoon with some white sand. Still, I had no problem grabbing a chair, a book, a glass of Crown, and reading the morning away. If you need the TL:DR: Staff? 5 stars. Grounds? 4 stars. Drinks? 2 stars. Food? 1 star. Expedia? 0 stars. 2.5 Stars.

Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF)--This place is ok. It's nice. If you already have reservations here and are reading reviews to learn then I would recommend you keep your reservations. If you haven't made reservations I would consider other resorts. Don't get me wrong, this is a very beautiful place but it's just not a great place and I wouldn't come back given the better options in the area. Here's my honest review. Consider the context--I'm a mid 50's white guy from the western U.S. with disposable income for vacations Facilities - Opening times for restaurants and bars on the website are wrong. - Menus are not posted on the website but you can scan a QR code when you get there...weird. Same for bar menus. If you're someone who likes to plan ahead this will drive you nuts. I've posted a few links below. - Slippery floors. Be careful--if any water gets on the tiled floor it becomes very slick. Especially in the rooms. - It's hot there. There's only one place to cool down besides your room--the sports bar, but it doesn't open until 6pm despite what the website says. The main buffet is air conditioned as well but the AC unit is undersized for the large area. It's definitely cooler inside but you will be sweating while you eat. - Rooms are nice but old. We had two rooms in our party. We had a bottle of champagne when we arrived but the other room received tequila, rum, wine, and whiskey. Inconsistent services are the norm. - Our AC flooded the floor on the first night so it was very uncomfortable to sleep and navigate ¼" of water on the floor. Maintenance arrived within 4 hours in the am and fixed it but the drywall ceiling was saturated with water which I suspect caused me to develop a sinus infection that prevented me from sleeping on night #2 - Maintenance was quick but Housekeeping was very difficult to get. I had to ask 4 times and eventually just put my towels outside the door. They eventually came to cleanup the floors and replace the towels around 7pm Staff - One word--benign. I can't overstate how non-engaging everyone is here. - Most don't speak English so use google translate. - You can tell by the trip advisor reviews that something distinctly changed around 2-3 years ago. Maybe new management? I don't know but it clearly changed the attitude of the staff. 90% of the staff just stares into space and acts like they are being held hostage. As the week went on, some staff members did warm up a bit. Maybe it was just a bad week but my observations are accurate. - One person out of 50 that I interacted with was nice. Roman Diaz. He was working in the pool buffet. Bars - Good. Very cheap liquor but that's to be expected. You can pay for better booze (approx $3 per shot) but I opted not to. I'm a bourbon guy and the best I found was Wild Turkey 101. Not a bad choice. Jim Beam was part of the inclusive price but Jack Daniel's was $3 per shot. Weird. Again, I'm more of a Redbreast-Buffalo Trace-Monkey Shoulder-Diplomatico-Zacapa kind of guy but free Jim Beam did the trick. Don't ask for anything high end because the bar staff are not very knowledgeable. Just young adults mostly. Food - Buffets are good. Stick with them, don't waste your time queuing up at 0700 for an ale carte Ale-cart - Steakhouse was the only one we tried. It was not good. The steak was pretty awful - There's only one coffee shop but it costs extra and it's not really a coffee shop. It's strange. - Overall experience My overall experience was good but not great. If you want a very private experience then this is the place. It is a beautiful resort. If you want friendly outgoing staff who serves you with a smile, look elsewhere. This is not the place you go to if you want to sit on the beach and have someone bring you drinks and snacks. That won't happen here. However, if you want to be left alone by the staff and other guests then this is the place. I suspect it's tailored for the Latin American market, not the US market which is fine.

Horrible service. Food is terrible. Also, someone broke into our safe and stole our things! Don't waste your money here!!

Wow! I can't believe I didn't review this resort until now. After the great time I had there on a couples trip - I planned this trip for my and my Love at the time and I wanted a relaxing and romantic get-a-away for us to enjoy each other. First, just being in beautiful Mexico was wonderful and when we finally arrived at the resort - the grounds were gorgeous. There is a tram car that takes you around the resort grounds - take advantage of this - you will need a break from the walking. The resort was clean and I felt the room was adequate - it wasn't on the "luxurious" level, but it met our needs. I felt the available restaurants to eat at during the day were "average" and the drinks were not even "medium" shelf liquors being used. You have to make reservations at the restaurants on grounds at the beginning of your stay. We made reservations for the steak house one night and upon our arrival to the steak house and getting the menu -we noticed that there wasn't any "STEAK" on the menu. We asked the wait staff about this and they didn't offer any explanation. We decided to stay and have dinner, but afterwards we went to the Manager on Duty (MOD) to discuss this incident. After the discussion - we were offered a night of dinner at the ROYAL CLUB - where they have "STEAK" every night. Let me just say that the ROYAL CLUB is a considerable difference from the rest of the resort, but I feel for the money paid - the whole resort should be the ROYAL CLUB. The downside: There were "pushy" staff people who "insisted" on a "time sharing tour" being scheduled - once we blew them off - they were noticeable "cold toward us the remainder of the trip. Despite that, we had a wonderful time and went into town on 5th Avenue and took a tour of the Chichen-Itza Ruins. I loved that tour - it was well worth the trip to Mexico just to see these Mayan Ruins

Overall a good hotel. Lots to see, greenery everywhere. Saw animals throughout the resort. Included some menus since I couldn't find any online. I preferred the a la carte restaurants to the buffet options. Extremely Close to the XCaret park Only complaint I have are the pools have lots of debris in them. I know the resort is surrounded by trees, but it would be nice if they had someone clean the pool hourly. Also, some sections of the pools smelled of dirty water. It might be the sewer system but some spots were unpleasant. The man made beach is probably my favorite area of water. If you're lucky, you'll be swimming with fish! A last minute suggestion.. when traveling to a new country, it'd be helpful to know basic words in the native language. It's fun communicating with hotel staff in their native tongue. I'm pretty sure they appreciate it as well

I do not get the negative reviews AT ALL? Were y'all even at the same place? I spent a week here with the boyfriend and had the absolute BEST week in paradise! It was my first time doing an all-inclusive and I was thoroughly impressed. ENVIRONMENT Absolutely beautiful. Super spacious and open. Be prepared to walk! So much great natural light. I love all the greenery and the eco-park aspect of it. It really felt like you were in the middle of the forest at times. I saw plenty of iguanas, deer, monkeys, and even flamingos just by walking around! They are constantly cleaning so this place was absolutely spotless. Our hotel room was spacious and comfortable (asides from the actual bedsheets...read below). Cleaned daily and left absolutely perfect. I also loved that they replenished the fridge with drinks and snacks for us everyday. THE BEACH Absolutely beautiful shoreline. Well maintained. Free daily hour of snorkeling was awesome! The cabanas and hammocks they had set around the area made for a perfect napping spots. THE POOL Several large pools throughout this large resort. I'm not a pool person so we didn't go here often but others seem to enjoy it. They also had a pool with a swim up bar. THE SERVICE VERY good! Everyone was super friendly and constantly checked in on us to make sure we had everything we needed from drinks on the beach to transportation to our excursions. Seemed like everyone here actually enjoyed working here which was refreshing. Smiles everywhere. THE FOOD Super impressed! And I consider myself quite picky. They have an AMAZING breakfast buffet which I posted pictures from. Anything you could imagine wanting plus plenty of fresh fruit and juices. The thick, crispy bacon and perfectly cooked scrambled eggs were my favorite part. Lunch buffet was MEH. We actually only partook in the lunch twice and opted to do a late breakfast and early dinner most days. Now, the dinners in the specialty restaurants were BOMB. There's 5 different ones. No reservation was required and we walked in around dinner time and were seated immediately. The only restaurant we didn't try was the Mexican-inspired one. - The steakhouse: BEST filet I've had in a while. Cooked to perfect medium rare and seasoned perfectly. Skip the NY strip and get the filet instead. Soup was also quite good. - The seafood restaurant: Crab cake was SO good. Shrimp was also perfectly cooked and HUGE. - The Oriental restaurant: My favorite! Definitely the more intimate/smaller restaurant. They had a great variety of Asian-inspired cuisine including sushi, nigiri, sashimi, ramen, and udon. Everything tasted great! They also had hot and cold sake. A pretty complimentary wine drink was brought out before our meal. And the fried ice cream was an impressive table side fire show! - The Italian restaurant: OMG the salad bar here was SO good. The best olives, mushrooms, prosciutto, artichoke hearts, etc. Pastas were delicious! They also had late night pizza and tacos for the super late night eaters. Some minor cons: - The mixed drinks tasted strange. I think they use a different mix then what my palate is use to. I tried mojitos, Bloody Mary's, etc. and they all just tasted off. I just stuck to beer, wine, and tequila shots after a while. Mimosas were good. - The bedsheets were very low quality. So much piling made it uncomfortable for my sensitive skin. - Location was far from any local areas which is fine if you like to just stay in a resort but I like to check out different local cities. Only available transportation was taxi which can get expensive. Overall, we had an amazing time and I wouldn't hesitate coming back here again. Would recommend!

Don't stay here! Worse than a motel in the states. I used to love coming here with my fam pre covid times but it has gone downhill post covid. Mind you, we are "first club" members... big LOL. We were given a room that had not been cleaned and it also wreaked of cig smoke. They told us to return in an hour. No robes, slippers, wash towels, or loofahs provided, had to call laundry. My dads room had a broken door handle upon arrival. The towel rack in the shower looked like it was about to fall any minute, mold in bathroom, disgusting pendant light, old furniture. This place is in desperate need of renovations. Never returning. We complained to first club lounge but they didn't care.

This place is horrible! Save yourself the money and stay home or spend the extra money for a proper place. Food: the food was my BIGGEST disappointment! The food is disgusting. You can either do buffet or wait 2 hours for a below average restaurant. Nothing had hood flavor. Nothing was spicy! NOTHING WAS AUTHENTIC. This isn't my first trip to mexico and I truly believe this place should be ashamed to serve their food to anyone. Maybe they toned down the food for travelers? NO! This food is straight out of cans. It's complete garbage. Staff: completely unhelpful. I know I know, white lady complaining...but when you don't get even pointed in the direction of your room on a big property? Not cool. Our airport pickup changed out pickup time (in the Middle of the night while we were sleeping) and when they opened we couldn't fix it on "such short notice". They wanted to take us to the airport 7 hours before our flight, with a two year old. Not cool! Then the only way to fix it? Guess...we had to pay AGAIN. On top of the 200 I had to pay to book airport pickup and drop off, we had to pay an additional 96 to get a better drop off time because, "they didn't have enough notice to fix it". I'm incredibly disappointed and would recommend a hotel over this place. Stay away

The hotel is in a great location, amazing animals everywhere great pools. Unfortunately very unethical practices. I would of love to come by year and after year. However I refuse to spend any amount of $ when the establishment does any unethical practices! Location 5 stars Food 3 starts Pools 4 starts Unethical practices 1 star better yet zero stars. I made a reservation through American Express for 5 nights and was charged 1,400. I was under the impression that we made our reservations for 4 people my wife and 2 kids. However upon arrival I was told my reservation was only for 2 people. And to add my 2 underage lids would be an additional $1,000 on top of the $1,400 we had already paid. I was not happy at all after a while I decided to go ahead and paid for the additional $1,000 . Once I arrived back home and looked at my statement they charged me an additional $1,795.87 to add my 2 sons for the 5 days on a room that we had already paid. I was not told this at all. I called to try to get this charged fixed. Unfortunately they would not do anything for me. Over all if the place was ethical I would recommend it. If you are from out of town and you are planing to visit this place beware! I would definitely not recommend this place at all.

I will start out by saying the property is stunning. The resort is essentially built around a jungle and with enormous, sprawling, pristine pools and beachfronts, it is the most exquisite setting we have ever visited, with wildlife all around you. Below I will break down the most salient parts of my review. The Food - My husband got food poisoning and the hotel ignored our requests for support. There is a buffet with only mediocre food, (it is next to impossible to book the restaurants) and my husband made the disastrous mistake to try the mussels. 3 hours later he was violently throwing up and continued all night and into the next day. When we reported we were told by management that we "could not prove it". However, I spoke to another family at poolside who had the same experience that same night with the mussels. They reported it also. When I told management, they denied anyone else reported food poisoning. We wanted some compensation (he was so weak and could not eat for the remainder of our stay and spent the majority of it in the room) and we were met with rudeness and refusal. For this reason alone we will never return. The CHECK IN process - OVER AN HOUR to check in to the hotel. It was so frustrating. We were tired and it was late and they are incredibly slow moving and inefficient. The Room - We booked two queen beds and pullout and we got two double beds and pullout. On the third day, the air conditioner started leaking and dripping on my daughter's head. I will say, they addressed it promptly. The STAFF- For the most part the staff was lovely, however, be prepared for a hard sell by multiple folks on upgrading to their VIP experience which does not seem worth it at all. They are downright pushy. Pool entertainment staff were top- notch and fun. The Drinks - Watered down and overly sweet. Lots of syrups. You don't want them after a while. The Transportation- We waited over an hour standing OUTSIDE for our transportation from airport to hotel. The resort is about an hour from the Cancun Airport. However going back, it is TWO hours, due to incoming traffic. Also they make you get to the airport over 4 hours before your flight so you lose a full day on this vacation. XCARET park- Outstanding. We loved the wildlife and exploring the Mayan ruins. It is nice that you get unlimited access and easy transport. I truly am distressed by the unethical management. Our vacation was ruined because the resort served bad food that caused food poisoning. They needed to own it, apologize and provide compensatory offerings to us. Instead they denied it and when I asked to speak to a manager they made me wait 30 min in the hopes I would give up and walk away.

This place is a shit show. You pay your rent for the week and they try to force you to go onto one of their timeshare sales.. The women are brutal. They retaliate and don't give you the service that you deserve and paid for if you, don't buy a timeshare. Horrible treatment. These women are disgraceful.

We didn't stay here, but our resort boat came through here. It was very open and looks really beautiful. We walked around and went to some of the shops here. They had some really good deals. The pool area was very nice. Great place for people watching.

My husband and I have come to Mexico five times I. The last 5 or 6 years, we love it. Pros: Beautiful resort nestled in the jungle where you will see some pretty neat wildlife. Free snorkel gear for an hour so you can check out the fish- my husband saw an octopus. I like the adult pool that is fed by the ocean, really neat. Cons: The layout is huge, it took us at least a full day to figure out how to get around. Most of the staff are trying to get you to buy into their 'vacation club' basically a time share so just be aware of that. If you agree to 'hear them out' you end up spending 2 hours with basically a used car salesmen except they sell time shares. My advice if you come here is to just say no. It felt rude to me, but finally I got comfortable with it. Lastly, the food really is not very good. We made it work, but compared to some of the other all inclusives we have stayed in it was not impressive. Finally the check in process was A LOT. You get here after a day of travel and the check in folks show you a huge map and then tell you they've upgraded you (trying to get you to want to join the vacation club). Overall we had a good trip and some great experiences, but honestly I won't be back to this particular hotel.

Views and service are great! Food at our nearby royal restaurant is great. Other restaurants are average. Drinks everywhere are good. Pools are nice and clean. Beach area very nice and clean with great bar nearby! Excaret night show was great! Our conselier Melissa at the royal office is fantastic! And she also bakes great cookies!

This place was a HUGE HUGE HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT. We were there for 10 days; just got back August 21st of 2022. I tried countless times to speak with somebody about our stay there. Once we got back home. After going back to actually SEE our many attempts, it was 30 phone calls we had made- from the states after we got back home! I had to lie and say I was a guest RIGHT NOW, rather than a guess a week ago to be transferred to the manager. Then, the manager didn't seem to give a damn about what happened to us during our stay! With the money (THOUSANDS) spent on this vacation, that it UNBELIEVABLE to me!!!!!! This would NEVER EVER happen anywhere else at a FOUR STAR hotel!!! Just to list our issues during our stay here: *There were NUMEROUS times that someone (from the STAFF) came into our sons' room (we were in room Bldg 21 our two sons were in Bldg 21) IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!!!! Numerous times!!!! We have it on video as one of the boys had his phone in his hand. We then reported it to our concierges. They were on the phone with security about it and said they would have an investigation about it. I tried when we were still at the hotel to speak to the manager, but he obviously has better things to do than to ensure the safety of his guests. UNBELIEVABLE!!!!! They told our concierges that security would be looking at the camera footage to see who was going into our boys' room. Also, the boys hung the DO NOT DISTURB (sleep and enjoy to be exact) sign on the outside of their door- so then especially no one should have ever EVEN TOUCHED THEIR DOOR!!!! No one would ever get back to us about this!!! UNREAL!!! * Our two sons' deadbolt lock for their door for their room was BROKEN- hence, why someone was able to come into their room over and over again?!?! We asked maintenance to fix it. We were promised that the next morning it would be taken care of. NOPE! Of course not! We begged and demanded it be done. NOTHING. We were ignored. * We called the front desk about a weird growing mold (this is what it looked like). It grew twice it's length in the 10 days we were there. GROSS!!! A FOUR STAR HOTEL SHOUID NEVER EVER HAVE THIS ISSUE!!!!! Let me have you guess if anything was done about it...?? If you guess NO, then you are CORRECT!!! Not shocking at this point. * Covid was being spread all throughout the hotel (at least several in our bldg alone). We were told that it was to be kept as quiet as possible. 3 of 4 of us in our group got Covid. Thank God we were able to return to the states and continue our recovery. *The little shop Mr. Buho had the rudest people I have ever met. I spent $400 (US DOLLARS) in that store and wanted a different size because I wasn't sure which would fit my son. They acted as though I had STOLEN the shirt!!! I had a RECEIPT IN HAND!!!! He had to call the manger/owner of whoever to figure it out. What a jerk! This is another unbelievable moment!!! *Another one of your shops in the hotel charged me SIX TIMES- six different transactions FRAUDULENTLY!!!!!! This has cost me hundreds of dollars- US DOLLARS!!!!! NOT PESOS!!!!!!! This Hotel is a JOKE!!!!! I will never ever recommend this place. What an awful awful way you treat your guests. It's absolutely disgusting. The manager was a complete jerk and offered NOTHING to help. No concern, NOTHING.

Save yourself the trouble - spend more money and stay at Hotel Xcaret. Yes, it's expensive. But it's worth every penny. Hotel: Nice hotel with lots of pools. Rooms are decent but they do come with some minor issues. My room had faulty electric wiring and the sliding door did not lock. Do not get a bottom floor room! A lot of these rooms face out to the main walkway so your balcony is basically on the walkway. Therefore, you will have no privacy. Each building has 2 employees that will constantly try to get you to join the vacation club. Doesn't matter how many times you decline.... they will ask. Be prepared to walk! The beach and beach restaurant are quite away. It's not a bad walk but you still have to walk. The restaurant area is quite aways too. Most employees are nice. But do not try and get any help from the front desk. Once you are checked in, they are very unlikely to help you. No, they are not busy. They just choose to ignore you. Food: You have 2 options. Let's start with the beach restaurant... lunch time it's ok to wear beachwear as long as it's not too flashy... if you know what I mean. But for dinner, men must wear pants and closed toe shoes. No exception. Moving on to the restaurant area near the lobby, morning buffet there is no dress code. Come night time, EVERY RESTAURANT REQUIRES MEN TO WEAR PANTS AND CLOSED SHOES. But it's ok for women to wear whatever they want., even if it's overly showing the sisters. If you want to eat at the restaurants, you have to make a reservation. Except, you can't call. So you have to go there at 6pm and make a reservation. The food is not bad! I recommend the Asian and Italian restaurants. The buffet food is ehhhh. I wasn't a big fan of the tacos either. Pools: Pools are all very nice and clean. The majority are near a bar. Bartenders were always awesome and made decent drinks that were "better" if you tipped. Only issue for me was the towel situation. Towels are hard to find. They are not necessarily located at each pool. The beach access was nice for kids. There is a saltwater pool behind the restaurant but it's for adults only. I highly recommend snorkeling the rocky beach area by the pool - if weather permits. I saw tons of fish. Xcaret: The nice thing is that the hotel is adjacent to Xcaret park. There is an entrance by the beach restaurant and another by the lobby, near the cigar shop. The beach access brings you right by the dolphin area. The lobby access brings you right by the theater/main entrance. You can also walk to Xplor - it's about a 20-30 minute walk. Cabs from Xplor are $10. Park tickets: You can buy unlimited access passes to Xplor and Xcaret. They include transportation. My only issue is that these tickets don't have the same privileges that Hotel Xcaret has. So, you have to stay at the park all day or walk back, no free lockers, no early entrance, etc. Customer Service: The worst. I ve written too much and don't want to bore you. But basically, you get what you pay for. If you need to get in touch with the hotel, I suggest you find a friend that speaks Spanish and can speak on your behalf. I m fluent on both and found that they never pick up the line for English but answer the Spanish line. If you do choose this hotel, you can still have a great vacation - just be prepared for a hiccup here and there.

Just got back from vacationing and staying at this hotel....hotel has sooooo much potential but I would not recommend. Website says all inclusive however room service is NOT included. The food was the biggest disappointment. The staff is not friendly. Also witness a lady who was reported her wallet lost after she said she left it on top of a table at a restaurant in there and they told her " sorry we do not have a lost and found". We made the best of it...but the place could do so much better.

Occidental is not all inclusive unless all you do is eat, drink and sit on the beach or by the pool. There is a coffee shop not included cost money. Game room cost $12 dollar for 8 tokens. No paddle boarding, sailing. Snorkeling cost extra to rent the gear. We've stayed at all inclusives like Club Med, you are better off going there.

The hotel and facilities look superb especially when it is integrated with a jungle. The beach looks great, clean, and enjoyable. However, I wasn't in here for all the goodies... Unfortunately, I was drawn in here by their sales person for their timeshare. They drew me here for an hour presentation with lunch with one of their sales woman. She was persistent and trying to convince that buying a timeshare will save you money and you can enjoy it for 30 years in the future or you could sell it to one of your friends. She brought me to this pretty place to convince you to buy it. She even tried to provide mojitos so that you lose your senses and say yes to their offer without thinking. That was a really waste of my vacation time. All the sales people of Occidental are so aggressive and tricky about the timeshare sales... Next time ignore all the timeshare talk and refuse them. It will help you better enjoy your vacations and avoid losing 60+ minutes of your life. I believe all those timeshare products are scam. And if you read other reviewers about the timeshare then you will see that there is a pattern out there to get you. Please be careful!

We have enjoyed that natural beauty of this resort for several trips over several years, including during the pandemic. During previous visits we enjoyed the restaurants that they host but we very Surprised during this trip that suddenly the restaurants are now by reservation only. We walk up to the restaurants at dinner time and get turned away even though only 4 out of 20 tables are seated. The resort know how many rooms they have booked, they know how many have spent over $1000 in all inclusive resort fees, but they are still willing to turn their "guests" away. This will be our last time booking with this group.