Hyatt Regency Merida — Hotel in Mérida

For a high end hotel - MASSIVE disappointment wasn't expected. Let's start off with the GOOD things:

1. the staff at the front desk are really wonderful. They will do whatever they can to make your stay comfortable.
2. their Sunday brunch is REALLY GOOD. Cheap and cheerful - they have a good selection of food - but surprisingly not a ton of fruit and I would just suggest skipping the custom pasta station as it's not so great and it made me sick for an afternoon.

We arrived to find the upgraded room we paid for wasn't as advertised. So we asked to see it first. The entire floor smelled of strong chemicals - when we got to the room it was even worse. We both knew we'd be sick if we spent more than a night. And yeah - we could see it was "renovated" but none of it was done well. In other words, it wasn't a benefit to be in a new room. Quite the opposite. So we opted for an older room and went to get dinner at the hotel restaurant. They served me right away but my husband's food never came. Once we asked what was up we still had to wait about 15 minutes just to get a salad for him. Not impressed, and it's not like it was cheap.

Once in our room - we realized that there were some big disappointments:

1. none of the windows open in the whole hotel.
2. the view we were promised was nothing to write home about
3. the toilet ran NON STOP and was so loud you always had to have the door closed
4. the sheets on the bed make you itch like crazy - assuming it was harsh chemicals used to launder them
5. non existent lighting in the bathroom meant no where to put your makeup on
6. you have to request that your mini bar gets refilled - and even then... plan on a long wait
7. to get a drink at the pool I sat at the deserted bar for 20 minutes and finally gave up. About 15 minutes after that we spotted the bartender. Doesn't make you feel very looked after.

By the second night - trying to sleep I was going crazy hearing water splashing. Found out that the lighting above the tub was splashing water from the ceiling. Sigh. We told the front desk on our way out for dinner and when we got back to the hotel later that night we had to pack all our stuff up and move rooms. This new space also had a constantly running toilet and big vents in the wall where you could hear water dripping constantly. The bathroom was bigger with better lighting so definitely ask to see several rooms before you settle! There was a massive stain on the carpet that had been "sort of" cleaned. I joked with my husband that our new room came with a giant blood stained murder scene. It was gross - you couldn't help but imagine what the hell was on that carpet.

Everywhere you look in this hotel you can see that the effort was made to style it as a slick, sexy space but the quality is just non-existent. Almost every pot light you see is crooked or dangling by wires (like the one above my head in bed), the lobby always smells of dank, dirty mop water, the pool is super cloudy and FREEZING because the pool area rarely sees sunlight. What a surprise this was. We've stayed at the Fiesta Americana directly across the street several times and have never experienced such shoddy surroundings. If this hotel was cheap then I'd put up with all these things. But IT'S NOT. So I spent most of my stay annoyed every time ONE MORE ISSUE would arise. We will never...

I would recommend to stay extra cautious in dealings with this hotel. They are permanently “confused” with foreigners (most of us). Today, after having Hyatt Club membership for 10 years I’m definitely giving up on any further contact/contracts with Hyatt Merida. For the sake of sanity. It’s not only they are unprofessional - they are capable of offending and insulting guests, long term paying guests, permanent residents of MX. We are not a tourists who are to disappear tomorrow! We live here. I used to complain to Head office in Chicago knowingly no one in Merida would do a thing about someone they see as a foreign. It’s the mentality here. We’ve being booked, confirmed and reminded by email and WhatsApp it’s our stay today at Hyatt !!!! Something we have paid for. BTW don’t pay for anything in advance in Yucatan. They always think they are doing you a FAVOUR afterwards. There is no respect, no honour no nothing. Only ruined weekend and insults. We’ve been DENIED our booked stay! The worst? You have to ask them to stop insulting your intelligence with nonsense, blaming GUESTS and so on…..and on, and on…Big deal you go elsewhere right, yes it was paid but sometimes money is less important. Whoever is familiar with what they are capable of, understands. So many hotels in Merida. Yet, they just keep bugging you and messaging you over and over for hours after you’re gone, given up on their “ hospitality “ 😹 Incredible!!! We are older couple, close to 70s travelled the World, 49 countries. Properties in 2 continents in a few countries. Well, for today we booked house fumigation believing we have confirmed room at Hyatt Merida. Although we have paid Hyatt…..no room for us. Never seen anything close to this narrow minded heads who never left Merida but employed in tourism (their words). I’m attaching our booking 😹 It’s for “ Believe it or not” latest Hyatt standard! for cash payments ( “problema con terminal”) never processed in time. ….proof attached- no date, another one with extra added date..and so on…And then…how about January let’s stay sometime between now and January!!!! Mercado attitude as their personal FAVOUR to us…..My point to this stupid story is - even if you believe you paid for stay a year ago and Hyatt Merida confirms it at least a few times one can’t be 100% sure of his stay. Attached please find the Club Certificate and learn from our experience. You...

This is one of the nicer hotels in the area but is also priced as such. Not super expensive but probably a bit more expensive than it should be.

The breakfast buffet is quite good. The assortment of fresh juices, especially the green juice, is great. Some items are not good but there are a ton of options. It's also slightly pricey but actually a decent value considering all that you can choose from. There are a ton of local delicacies.

The staff is amazing and super helpful. I've had some random issues (air conditioner/wifi/etc) the past few trips and they are usually pretty quick to respond. On my recent trip Debbie was the best!

The rooms are nice. Sometimes you get a lot of noise from events in the area, but that's just part of being in the middle of the city center. The one negative that I will say about the rooms is that every single shower leaks. I've been here several times and have never had a room that didn't. The way the shower doors open is awkward and the floor tile is probably not properly sealed. After you step out of the shower, expect to clean up a gallon of water from the floor. A minor inconvenience but still kind of annoying.

And lastly, the Regency Club. Make sure that you book on the higher floor that grants you access to the 17th floor club. They serve breakfast in the morning and hold a happy hour (actually a couple of hours) every night with a mini buffet and drinks, all included. The staff here is also amazing!

*Side note, as someone else noted I also received a paper under the door that stated current bookings would not be honored. I have never seen that before but fortunately it was the morning that I checked out. Would be nice to receive a better heads up. I’m not sure how many people were impacted but I was there for a week, interacting with all of the hotel and restaurant staff and nobody...