Hotel Siente Tulum

We stayed in early January 2025 for a planned relaxing restful holiday with perhaps a venture fourth or two.

It's very hard to review it fairly as it was not at all what we had planned on or expected.

The hotel has many good points and a veneer of quality and style that shows what they are/were trying to achieve.

The staff are a very strong element. Most are efficient, helpful, and keen to help where possible.

The rooms are spacious and well presented and initially appear to be very good indeed.

However, this is where the mask begins to slip.

There is an effort to present the hotel as a feel-good, tripping hippie, eco-friendly, boho haven, but, in truth, this is used as an excuse for missing basics.

No mini fridge or comfortable seating in the room and no balcony furniture.

Some reviews say beds too hard, etc. But I, who is a little sensitive to such matters, found them firm but decent.

Leaking doors/windows/ceilings in rainstorms. Erratic plumbing and poor finishing in the sink/bathroom/shower area are another clue to the contradictions of Siente Tulum

The rooftop bar / restaurant / pool relaxation area is a very clever use of space and a highly original design.

The whole floor is open plan and is modelled on the deck of a ship from to bow-stern.

There is an open area seating / working area to the rear with funkyswing chairs, normal tables, chairs, and even a glass business /meeting room.

The middle section is a covered 'galley' kitchen and earing area used for all meals served in the hotel.

There are plants and wall murals, etc. attempting to create a rustic / peaceful / natural vibe. Yet, the regularly blaring (occasionally intolerable) dodgy 1990s clubbing cover version based music rather destroys that effort.

The 'bow' area has the open bar area modelled as the bridge of the ship, a horizontal mast and sails are used to provide minimal cover / shade from the strongest sun.

There is then a 'deck' area with a space / sun beds for less than 20 people but with no umbrellas or other facilities usually expected to be available.

Then comes a finishing touch to the ship creation with an 'infitinty style' pool as the water on which the ship is sailing. It is the width of the hotel but 2 metres or less in length!

The food was a real mix. Siente operates buffet style for breakfast and dinner.

Breakfast is simple: omlettes, egg dishes, pancakes and fruit etc. It was all tasty and enjoyable. The coffee was cheap but plentiful.

Dinner buffets were simply POOR: a handful of luke warm dishes that would normally just not be good enough. Judging from the looks on the faces of those who paid separately this was a widely held opinion.

The total opposite was true of lunch time.

The food area turns into a cafe style service post breakfast and offers a limited but excellent menu of items made fresh to order from noon-5pm

This was made available to us as part of our all inclusive package and quite frankly prevented major arguments and rescued the food situation overall. All lunch items we sampled were fresh, tasty, plentiful, and excellently presented.

SIENTE should not bother offering an all-inclusive package. It is simply not set up to offer what most people would expect or demand.

No easy beach access, no real pool and poolside facilities and no entertainment or activities etc.

Fortunately my wife and I are not typical all-inc. holiday makers and so we're able to adapt our holiday from one planned on being fly and flop but with 'traveller days' to almost the exact reverse.

We arranged multiple trips around the peninsula and kept hotel days to those needed to recharge our slightly aged batteries.

We ate big lunches upon returning from trips and journeyed into Tulum Central for treat dinners! Thus, we managed to minimise the negative effects of the hotels limitations.

BUT, due to Tulum no longer being a cheap location, and SIENTE being located close to the ruins not the town it cost a lot of cash to adapt our holiday!

Good for short stay digital nomads or a dash of 'backpacker luxury' NOT All Inc