One&Only Mandarina — Hotel in Compostela

We scheduled here for our honeymoon, having come from another all inclusive resort in Mexico that was less private, but just as beautiful. ||One and Only is picturesque in many ways, but its service and experience fall far from its pictures.||First, when working with them during prebooking... they kept not answering my emails. I'd have to follow up with them multiple times to get information about activities, scheduling, location, pricing, etc. Instead of just answering your questions, they write (or ChatGPT?) paragraphs of fluff content you have to read through, or attach a 10 page PDF for you to figure out on your own. ||Second, Roundtrip travel from the Airport is about $450-500. Its about 45 minutes each way through the countryside north of PV. This surprised me, many resorts in the area include free transportation to their location. ||Third, when we tried to check in, we had reserved a tree house with an ocean view. The front desk staff said that they had upgraded us for "Free" because of our American Express (I didn't pay with an american express?). They brought us to a unit that had no view, and shared a wall with an adjacent unit with no real privacy or view. SERIOUSLY? Apparently reading other reviews online, this is something that the hotel has pulled on multiple occasions - basically giving you a downgrade but telling you its an upgrade. After we told our concierge that we demand the unit we booked originally, they took us to a another unit that was on the other side of the property and could - just barely - see the beach from the deck and plunge pool. I think, after review of their site, that they mislead you with the name of the rooms. Most ocean view rooms are partial or no real view of the ocean (mainly jungle, as it has grown in since original development). Only the panoramic ocean view options ACTUALLY have a view of the ocean. ||Also at check in - they charged $2k for incidentals. I understand incidentals are used for food and activities, but given the short duration of our stay (only 4 nights), I was confused that our burn rate would be $500 / day for food, in Mexico. ||Turns out... yeah basically whatever you would expect to pay in the US under relatively normal circumstances, you will pay 3x that here. ||You are basically trapped at the resort and forced to pay 2-3x the cost of regular food in the US. Normally, price doesn't bother me if the quality is there - but the food was just awful. Everything we ordered just had so little flavor or was not that great. $50 cheeseburgers without the cheese. Guacamole and chips for $60 and the guac was just a partially diced avocado. The cocktails we're pretty average but $30 each. Breakfast each day was just.. okay. Juices were good, but I found everything else to be lackluster.||The best food we had wasn't at One and Only. It was at the new Japanese restaurant on the cliffside in the opposite Resort (rosewood) that you can buggy too. Not only was that restaurant Amazing in its design, experience, authenticity and beauty... but the food was excellent. Cocktails strong and well balanced in flavor. Everything here was fine dining priced, but it was worth it because the experience was just that good. ||As for the venue and accommodations..||The units were pretty with a fair amount of jungle enclosure. I enjoyed the integration in with the greenery, despite there not really being total privacy as you are about 10-15 ft away from other units. The beds aren't great, but are fine enough, and we did appreciate that they brought us a floor fan to the room to use for our evening sleep. ||Our treehouse unit had some of the floors buckling (likely due to humidity from the shower), or part of the wood slats of the ceiling were hanging down. The plunge pool was very nice. Between that and the cliffside pool they advertise everywhere, I will say those were probably the highlights of the experience. ||The staff were all pretty nice, except for the trick the front desk people pulled. You can tell they think this place is quite special and care about their work. ||I guess in summary for us - we won't come back. If we hadn't enjoyed other luxury experiences before, this might have impressed us. But at the price point, the food, and overall venue.. it just didn't land - I honestly felt trapped and looked forward to leaving. In comparison, locations like El Nido Palawan or Boracay Shangri La in the Hhilippines (I know its not Mexico) were just so much better in terms of food, experience,...

We just returned from our week long family vacation to One and Only Mandarina which we booked because our travel agent described it as “sneaky family friendly” and we wanted something that our nearly 4 year old and 22 month old would enjoy as much as my husband and I. She was spot on - we found it to be an adult resort that was extremely welcoming to kids rather than the other way around, which is exactly what we wanted. Turndown service left out small robes and slippers for the kids, our hosts brought the kids stuffed animals, there were kids menus at every restaurant, and a baby pool next to the full sized pool at the beach club. For my husband and I the food was fantastic, the spa was incredible, service was great and the location was out of this world. ||||It was very easy to get there from Denver. We landed at 1 and we were unpacked and in the pool before 4. Not bad for getting through customs, to the resort, checked in, and unpacked. ||||Our kids were too young to be in the kids club alone, but either my husband or I took them to get some play time each day and we sent them with babysitters twice (this is such a hack and one I just learned about). Babysitters weren’t cheap, $30 per hour per child with a 3 hour minimum, but it was worth it for us to sneak away for a spa day and an evening at the Treetop bar. Each time we got home our boys were happy, fed and well cared for. They did crafts, had a water balloon fight, and won a gold medal in the kids Olympics. Our babysitters sent us photos and videos while we were away. The club has a butterfly preserve which was amazing for the whole family. Unfortunately the tree house was closed due to termites, but it was still a pretty incredible space for the kids. ||||The spa was incredible, without a doubt one of the best spas I’ve ever been in. We did the couples earth connection and it was a great mix of a traditional spa treatment with a traditional / spiritual / local aspect. The pool at the spa may have been my favorite place on the property and the spa facilities were open to all guests so we took turns there during nap times. ||||I’ve seen many reviews mentioning the speed of golf cart service and we had absolutely no issue. If we called for a cart and were ready before they arrived, we walked up to the road to wait and if someone saw us waiting they’d complete their trip and come back for us. Honestly, never waited more than 10 min for a ride. ||||The one issue I’d note is that food service was slow - which I’ve gathered is more a reflection of the vibe versus bad service. If it were just my husband and I we would have loved 2 hour long meals on the beach, but with 2 young kids we had to pull the rip cord a few times and get our food to go and get the boys out of there. But they would send our food through in room dining rather than home with us in to-go containers so we still had a great dinner. Our only other family vacation so far was to the St Regis in Puerto Rico and at 5pm the restaurant was filled with families that looked just like us and the kids ran around and made friends and watched Miss Rachel and Bluey at the table - this trip was NOT like that, and dinners were the only place we found tricky with the kids as we were surrounded more by couples than families and they surely weren’t stoked to have two toddlers losing it near by. Also, dinner service didn’t start until 6 which is a little late for our young kids especially if the dinner is moving slowly. We found a good middle ground by heading to the last lunch seating at 4:30/5 and made it work or when the boys seemed overly tired we just ordered room service (great menu honestly). ||||Our hosts, Alfredo and Julio, were fantastic. If you go, especially with young kids, request Alfredo. He was so good with the kids and they loved him (22 month old would see him and scream Fredo!). He took us to the “talking trees” which were just trees that had knots in them that looked like faces, but my oldest named them and asked to visit them every day and Alfredo obliged. Julio brought my kids coati stuffed animals our first night and they are now their absolute favorite stuffies (sorry monkey). ||||I am hoping we get to go there again soon. I don’t typically repeat vacations, but this might be an exception! It’s so easy to get there that I’d definitely consider it for a...

To date, one of the top hotels I’ve been to in the World. Highly recommend for a special trip. The service and property are certainly worthy of 5+ stars. The food maybe 4. This property will tease all your senses (the smells were very intoxicating)🥰

We stayed 4 nights in the treehouse and 2 nights in the Villa. Both rooms were amazing but the Villa was unbelievable🤯

The Villa had an outdoor patio and outdoor shower, as well as a pool with lounge area. It was more spacious with a large soaking tub, ocean views and definitely more private. Certainly worth the upgrade if you can swing it.

The treehouse also had a small plunge pool and outdoor tub but lacked ocean views and was semi-private (you could see your neighbors through the trees, no big deal). Still an outstanding room and beats the traditional hotel room any day! Both rooms had the same amenities: water, nesspresso, fruit, Bluetooth speaker, etc.

In addition to the private plunge pools in every room, there were many pools on the property across 4 different locations (adult pool, 2 pools by Alma, 1 pool at the beach club, and 1pool at the hotel beach) so the pools never once felt crowded. There were always chairs available with stunning views and great service regardless of the chosen pool area. I cannot say which was my favorite, I enjoyed them all. The adult pool had amazing views from the cliff, great for whale watching. We saw many whales breaching the water! The beach had excellent ceviche so we went there often and I’d say was the most crowded of all but still not too crowded. The beach club had an Italian menu but upon request made us the best guac and pico I’ve ever had. It was better than any served at the hotel. The beach club was also far less crowded and both a beautiful beach and pool. Highly recommend checking it out.

The activities were phenomenal. I attended 1 yoga class and the instructor was the best I’ve had. I wish I could have done more but I couldnt squeeze it all in. The spa was beautiful and wish I could have spent more time here too. I had the best massage of my life from Benjamin. That man is a wizard. I felt like a newborn baby when I left the spa. I also did the sauna, ice plunge, and complimentary mud treatment; my skin was very soft afterward. I’m already planning my return trip to do more of this lol 😆

A couple bucket list items were checked off: we rode horses on the beach, played polo, and took a boat out to see the humpback whales and “wow!” is all I can say 🤩 The horses are professional polo ponies so they are well cared for and make excellent riding horses for all skill levels. I recommend riding early or late to avoid the high-noon heat.

There were many other activities that we didn’t have time to do but sounded great! It was hard to leave the Villa 😋

The food: we tried items on the breakfast menu but didn’t think any of them were appealing to us so we ended up just eating fruit and ordering a green smoothie and breakfast burrito that we made up. The server had no problem accommodating our off-the-menu requests thankfully. We ate dinner at all the outlets and can say that there is room for improvement. The only dishes that left an impression were the: pulpo at carao, the ceviche at the jetty, the guacamole and pico at Allora (beach club restaurant). Ultimately we left the property to go eat dinner in the 2 nearby towns.

Most guests we met at the hotel did not rent a car, they opted for the transportation service provided by the hotel. There is so much to do at the hotel that you really don’t need to leave. We are a bit more adventurous so we rented a car and found it easy to get to the hotel and to drive to the nearby towns of San pancho and Sayulita. Both towns were safe and vibrant, with friendly locals and travelers alike. Many great affordable bars and restaurants. Highly recommend getting out to support the local communities before or after your stay at this fabulous, world-class hotel...