Coddy A.
Yelp
Normally, we lead our reviews with the positives, and this resort has plenty of them. However, there are a number of important caveats we want to share upfront, so you don't have to read too much if any of them are deal breakers for you.
Even though it is branded a Westin, can be booked through the Bonvoy app, and has all the trappings of the typical Marriott, it is not my friend. It is not. It is the Time Share business of Marriott- which is not in anyway the same company. We are not time share owners and booked like you would a normal hotel room. Why do you care?
If you stay at Marriott HOTELS a lot, you get a comfort in knowing what to expect. You also get status (ours happens to be Titanium- which means we spend a lot of nights in Marriott hotels). Even though this resort looks and quacks like a Marriott, all of the things you know and expect at a Marriott do not apply. Take something simple like check-out. At this resort, it's 10 am not the usual 11 or noon. And there's no budging from that. Yes there are signs at the front desk stating so, but it comes too late to influence flight reservations. The lesson here is read all the information about the hotel at booking, and assume there will be no wiggle room in policies.
Our Marriott Titanum status, and because we pay with Platinum AMEX, grants us guaranteed late check out of 4 pm at Marriotts. (And a lot of other hotels-It's a nice perk if you travel a lot.) Not here. Just know whatever perks you might have earned through loyalty or otherwise, or think you have with Marriott, or a particular credit card, it would serve you well to check with the resort first. Likely you don't have them. Surprise! This is about selling time shares- so therein are where the perks lie. Don't assume Marriott is one big happy family. There are some family members who share the same name but don't don't come to family gatherings or talk with another.
Now, on with the good stuff. In a world coming out of a pandemic, we found staffing and service to be excellent. We can call out several in the restaurants- Yendy, Hermino, Vicente, Jose Luis, Andrea, (others) who did a excellent job. Housekeeping stellar. The bell staff who brought and took our luggage were very good. The location of the property is also great. Towards the southern end of the Hotel Zone, it's quieter (that's what we wanted this trip) less crowded, the beach set up with umbrellas and palapas were very nice. The beach was raked and always set in the morning.
There are two pools, a main one with all the activities, and a smaller one that was more tranquil. The resort is huge. The have a flow rider which wasn't operating when we stayed.
The breakfast buffet was plentiful, and had attendants serving for sanitary reasons which we like. Plenty of made to order options of both Mexican, and US selections. The quality of the food items was above average. On the first day we ordered a couple of sandwiches on the beach (we flew in and hadn't eaten all day). Even though we were hungry they weren't good. Israel the manager took care of it for us. The next day we did carne asada nachos and loved every bite. Mojitos were delish.
The room itself was s spacious but parsely furnished. Seemed to be missing a lot of furniture. There was no desk and only a small side chair. There were many areas that looked unfinished. There were a line of bugs in the bathroom that were painted over rather than being removed before painting. Not many rooms have a balcony- and we will credit the resort with upgrading us to a room with one. It was direct ocean front. Nice, but felt confined as the balcony was fully enclosed with the exception of the small opening in the center. It was a quirk of this line of rooms. Other balconies looked more open like you expect. Another design flaw was the rainwater drain is right in the center of the opening. Thankfully it didn't rain during our stay, but likely the runoff would make the balcony's below unusable during a rain.
Even with all that said, we did love the resort and the staff. However, due to the policies, and lack of perks we probably won't book again here, or any Marriott time share property. Full disclosure - we are not blaming staff or the hotel for the policies. We should have read all the fine print when booking the reservation and not assumed our loyalty status, or Amex perks applied at every Marriott location. And, after a few hours, three calls, a trip to the front desk, and manager intervention, we were able to inch our late check out first to 11, then noon, and finally 1 pm. Much better for a 5 pm flight. However, don't count on you having the same success.