Aloft Cancun — Hotel in Cancún

In terms of the hotel zone, this is probably one of the cheapest chain hotel you can get in cancun but you get what you pay for. My girlfriend and I booked this place for 2 nights and it's a hot mess. Upon arriving to this place at 2 pm, we were told that our room was not ready even though we requested a 12 p.m. early check in. After we got there, a few others showed up and were also told the same thing and hence we all waited in the hot muggy lobby.

I waited and waited until about a quarter to 3 to see if possibly our room was ready. To my dismay, we were told that our requested room was still not ready but that a room on a lower floor was. Now I would've been okay with this had I not used an extra 1,000 SPG points to get the ocean view so I declined and waited the next 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes came and went and I once again approached the front desk and again I was told that my room was still not ready. At this point I was peeved and the concierge must've taken note as he then offered me a room on the 9th floor as opposed to the 10th, at this point I was beyond frustrated to care what the difference was between one story as long as I could get to my room. The concierge handed me my keycard as if I was some sort of pest that he wanted to get rid of and did not mention another word to me. Right before we got to the elevator however, another lady could be heard exclaiming, “STILL NOT READY?” (even though the front desk has a sign saying ‘Check-in at 3 p.m.’)

When we got into the room the appearance of it was nice as was the decor, but upon closer inspection of things, little details made me weary of whether I was staying at a SPG property or 1 star hotel. Our towels were gross as some of them had weird stains on them and our shower drain drained a bit slower than we anticipated but we did not care to inspect it. The “Ocean View” was only a partial ocean view, something they do not mention on the website and in hindsight something I shouldn’t have even used extra points for because it was so underwhelming. We ignored it that night as we were tired beyond belief. The next morning we had plans and were gone for the morning and returned around 3 p.m., we entered our room to find that housekeeping had still yet to come but we were once again tired and decided that if by this time our room hasn’t been made it probably won’t happen, we put up the do not disturb sign and took a nap.

We had some jet skiing activities planned for the afternoon so we went out after our nap to go have some fun. After our activities we got back to our room to clean up prior to dinner only to remember that our room was never made and our towels were never replaced. We give a call to the front desk asking for some new towels and waited ten minutes before calling again for towels. We received 3 towels and boy… they were still damp/moist, that was kind of gross but at that point we didn’t care. We showered and again the water was draining slowly, upon closer inspection of the drain cover you could see that their was a ton of hair caught in it (gag). We quickly ended our shower after that and went to dinner. After dinner we went to Coco Bongo, partied until 3 a.m., packed our things and promptly checked out around 4:45 am. Checkout was quick and easy, that was probably the best part of our experience with the hotel.

I spent a night earlier in the week at the Sheraton in Cancun Centro, that hotel was way better and I used less points. The Aloft is a hotel that you get what you pay for, cheap costs...

For context: I've always been an Aloft hotel fan and would definitely stay in one of the properties on the city that I am visiting. It is for this reason that I booked Aloft Cancun. Moreover, I prefer to stay in this hotel instead of the all-inclusive resorts in the Hotel Zone in Cancun as I have more options to try the various eating places that the city has to offer instead of eating from the resort buffet.Sadly, Aloft Cancun does not meet my expectations. First, the reception staff are not very welcoming. They are more interested in enforcing house rules 'fore security reasons'. One of this very annoying house rule is that you have to wear a bright neon green wrist band for the whole duration of your stay (6D5N) and you cannot remove this until you check out. Another guest got a neon pink colour which he refused to wear. So I was forced to wear this for the first couple of days and I was asking them about the rationale for wearing this - 'So that they can check and monitor on those people who gets unlimited drink at the crappy bar at the lobby and for security purposes.' What kind of security purposes? Something applicable only when you are inside the hotel premises.As I am not satisfied with their explanation (from the reception guys) and their is somewhat condescending. I told them that it is useless wearing this wrist band because I am mostly outside (why would anyone stay inside their room all the time when you are in Cancun), and when I take the bus or visit the beach or the mall, I dont want other people to know that I am staying at Aloft (for my own security). Why would other people need to know (people on the bus, on the beach, on the shopping malls) that I am booked at Aloft? I feel like I am marked as a tourist when I am making an effort to blend in with the locals. Moreover, staying at Aloft Cancun does not give you privilege when you ride Uber, or the R1 / R2 bus, or shop at the malls. So I have to explain this to the reception guys and they have to reluctantly cut that bloody wrist band. From there, the whole vibes of staying at Aloft just went down the drain. I paid for 5 nights (No breakfast / NON-REFUNDABLE) but I checked out after 3 nights, and moved to a nicer and welcoming hotel in downtown Cancun.Verdict: Avoid this hotel. It has seen better days and needs a total upgrade. The rooftop bar that was featured in their promo pics has been cleaned out. You only see the shell of what looked like a bar previously. There's no people at the pool area any time of the day even though the music was ok. And that's probably - they removed the bar. I went through the bed linens to check for bed bugs. Glad there's none. (It was mentioned in one of the reviews on Google Maps).The reception staff can be better with guest communication. Very Important for me as a first time traveler to Cancun.I share the same sentiment as the other review I read on Google Map (after I made my...

I had the most disappointing experience. This is nothing like the Aloft Playa del Carmen, please read below:

Firstly, the hotel grounds, which include the rooftop, lobby and other common areas, do not look anything like the photos nor the ones on Expedia. I have never been so mislead in my life when getting a hotel.

Let's begin with the lobby. Unlike the photos on here and on Expedia, there are no pool tables, there is nothing for entertainment. It is a complete barren space, with some seating. The bar is abysmal and you can only get paid drinks at the lobby bar. The free drinks are on the rooftop only. So, yes you have to take an elevator to the top for one drink, which leads to the other issue.

This hotel has 3 elevators: 2 for guests and 1 service. 1 of the guest elevators was down for an entire week with no updates if it would ever be fixed. This lead to long queue lines and at times, it was faster to just take the stairs. This is coupled with the fact that if you want your "free included drinks" you have to go to the rooftop. I believe this elevator situation was purposely like this to make it an inconvenience to go up for your free drinks. Why wouldn't they just have free and paid drinks at the lobby bar?

Next, that awful rooftop. In the photos you will see a vibrant rooftop with lots of seating, lots of brand new sun chairs and cool areas to hang out. There are none of these whatsoever. There are just plastic chairs that are all close to being thrown out. The rooftop bar shouldn't even be called a bar. The pool is not vibrant nor inviting, it is quite sad. The rooftop offers no refuge from the sun, as there are no umbrellas or beds as you are lead to believe. It is probably the worst hotel rooftop I have ever seen in my life.

So, what is good about this hotel? The location is great. You are minutes away from all the busy clubs, bars and restaurants. The North beach is across the street and the main beach is a short 10 min walk. The service was good, everyone was friendly and professional. The rooms were clean and the cleaners did a great job in keeping the hotel tidy.

If you get any of the room that end in -18/-20/-22 you will be looking at an ugly building the whole time. Try and get a room on the upper floors (8+).

Do yourself a favour, pay a little more money and go elsewhere. This is a complete rip off and disappointment. What a travesty of a hotel, I will neve be coming back to this place and I will be sure to let all my friends and...