Viva Maya by Wyndham, A Trademark All Inclusive Resort — Hotel in Playa del Carmen

Pros: The location is great. We weren't too far from the shopping area so it was easy to grab souvenirs and take a nice walk around the surrounding neighborhood. One of the restaurants, Portofino, was excellent. Great service, awesome food and ambience. They waiters were very attentive and they treated us well. Our room was next to all of the action. We were steps away from the beach, pool, bar, stage for entertainment and snack bar. The entertainers were really nice and they actually joined us once for lunch. Valentina and another girl (can't remember her name but she's from Brazil) were so sweet and they made us feel very welcomed. We did happen to visit during Mexican Independence Day. The resort had a small fair in their courtyard with vendors, food and entertainment. That was really cool!

Okay: The buffet was okay. It was definitely a hit or miss. Breakfast, lunch and dinner....overall decent. You'll find something if you're hungry. The buffet room is very warm. They have fans on the ceiling so if you decide to try the buffet find a spot under the fan. You'll thank me later! The snack bar is decent as well. They serve fries, burgers, hot dogs, nachos, etc. The cheese was very thin and cheap. I wish they had real queso or at least shredded cheese. The drinks were your normal all-inclusive drinks. Nothing special.

Cons: First day of check-in we decided to take a nice walk on the beach. As soon as we stepped foot on the sand, a worker (not sure if it was a local or actual Viva employee) asked if we smoked weed or snorted coke. -__- We were only on the property for about 10 minutes. We said no and walked away. As we walked back towards the pool area, another guy (again, not sure if he was a local or Viva employee) got our attention and started to make gestures at us quietly. He started flicking his nose and pretending to smoke. Pretty much asking if we wanted to buy weed or coke. Angrily, I said no and went straight to guest services to file a complaint. My sister and I felt super uncomfortable, and we were ready to leave at that point. Guest services asked if they were Viva workers or not. We weren't sure because we just arrived. The employee stated sometimes there are other beach workers not affiliated with the resort trying to sell things and it's not their fault if this happens to their guests. The guys who asked were LITERALLY ON THE RESORT. They were on both sides of the tiki umbrellas where Viva VIP customers lounge and normal customers lounge. It is the resorts responsibility to ensure their guests are comfortable and safe. Based off the conversation we had with the lobby employee and guest services, we knew nothing would be done. It was very disappointing. He said he would file a complaint and see if the manager could upgrade us or provide some type of comfort, but nothing happened. It felt as if my loyalty as a Wyndam member did not matter. Very very disappointing.

On our last night on the resort, my sister and I decided to try Miramare, Viva Maya's Italian restaurant. TERRIBLE. We left before they brought our entrees. We had reservations at 8:30 but decided to go earlier so we wouldn't miss the entertainment at 9:30. We were able to get seated early which was great, but our waiter was very nasty and mean. We felt rushed and he only allowed us to order one thing from each section from the menu. We wanted to try the pizza and ravioli but he yelled at us and said "NO! YOU CANNOT DO THAT!", even though Portofino allowed us to try whatever we wanted. It's all all-inclusive resort. We PAID to get as much as we want. We brushed it off and decided to start with our appetizers. He brought the salad over, sat the plates down, and walked off as fast as he could. He didn't say a word. The restaurant wasn't full or crazy busy. He didn't say "Here's your salad.", "Enjoy.", NOTHING! We didn't feel welcomed AT ALL! We stood up from the table and left. We decided to eat at the buffet.

Overall, this place is okay. I've been to Cancun a few times. I wouldn't come back here at all because I know there are...

This was my first experience in Mexico with all inclusive resorts and first time in Playa Del Carmen. Overall I had a good experience but some areas did not live up to the expectation and the price tag.

Location of the hotel: Location is absolutely fantastic. It sits right on the beach and you can stumble right to it as soon as you wake up. It's not too far from the airport, and very close to the city in case you want to check it out.

Staff: Staff members are absolutely fantastic and do a great job. Most speak decent English and are very friendly. The room was always cleaned up on time.

Rooms: Our room was a big disappointment in my opinion. While it looked fairly close to the picture online, it felt completely different. It was rather damp and moist even though we run AC almost non-stop. The bathroom and the room itself were seriously outdated and needed some TLC. You can see mold and rust in some pictures. The safety box was an extra charge. The bathroom standards were lower than Holiday Inns. A lot of stuff was missing like hair conditioner. Towels were extremely smelly and they did not smell of freshness, rather of detergent. Whatever cleaning solution they used for the room floors was also smelly and would hit you as soon as you enter the room. The beds are horribly hard and uncomfortable.

Amenities: Fairly outdated. The pools are nice but can use a face lift, they look straight out of 80's. Beach has plenty of chairs to lounge on. Rentals are available as well. Beach is always cleaned in the morning though there is always seaweed there cause you know, it's the ocean. If you like lounging on the beach this is a great place for it. Showers are plentiful.

Vendors: While lounging on the beach be prepared to be bothered by vendors of all kinds. Some sell jewelry, some trinkets, some photographers, some activities, etc. It was fairly annoying they let them bother guests like this.

Gym: If you would like to work out while you're there, be prepared to be dissapointed. While they technically have a gym, they might as well not have one. It doesn't have AC and is poorly ventilated so you're sweating buckets but not from the workout.

Dining: The buffet was overall decent, but you start noticing same food over and over after a while. While they present it great, you can see they use cheap ingredients so some things don't taste very good. But if you're trying to eat healthy you have to be fairly choosy. I ended up mostly eating the same thing over and over because of it. So, you'll find something to get by, but it won't be the best. The music at the buffet is seriously annoying. It's like being stuck in an elevator. Breakfast selection is a bit better, lunch and dinner are hit and miss.

Water and drinks: They have a number of drink stations through out the resort and make a wide selection of drinks to order. All drinks come in small plastic cups except for tea and coffee. The staff makes them all in front of you, but some are fairly poorly made. I don't want to say they water them down, I think they just use cheap ingredients and don't put effort in making them trying to serve all the tourists.

Speaking of coffee, it's fairly gross. We started going to Starbucks every morning after a while.

Restaurants: The restaurants they have were a HUGE disappointment. They only give you three reservations and you must reserve ahead of time. We tried Italian first and were seriously turned off. They basically used ingredients from the buffet to make our food. Desserts were gross. The chocolate cake was basically a giant Wagon Wheel cookie.

Then we went to a Mexican place. It was a bit better, but didn't even come close to Mexican food we tried in the city. Third reservation we didn't even use.

Guests: Guests are ok. Just be aware that All Inclusive vacations spots are basically Walmart of vacations and attract the same people - generally ok, but be prepared for some screaming kids, obnoxious guests here and there, some people throwing up from drinking too much, and fat guys...

Initial impressions were positive as the lobby looks amazing. Bright open and airy like a luxury hotel. Excessive check-in took about 30-40 minutes at 2am yet only one person checking in before us. We were asked if we wanted help with our bags as we were in block 3 but said no. Before we left we were told there was 24hr snack kitchen and bar near the beach. The walk between lobby to block 3 is about 100-200m. On getting to block 3 we found there was no lift. This was really annoying with heavy suitcases. Had we known there was no lift we would have asked for help.

As it was our honeymoon our room was upgraded from superior to deluxe. The only difference was the size and an old bathroom jacuzzi with a cut out wall. Nice for the jacuzzi but unusual for everything else. Room was clean but old. You could see the doors peeling and splitting. Balcony door handle hanging off. Old and dark furniture. Balcony is useless barely fitting the chairs and table. It would be dangerous stepping over the table to get out. Not recommended for elderly or kids. Was offered a room in block 1 but it was the same dated condition so we opted to stay. Aircon worked for us. Another couple struggled to have it below 25 degrees. During a storm they had rain leaking into buckets in building 2 and the water was pouring down the wall and under the sliding door. A cleaner saw this, called reception. Said someone will be up to help in 5 minutes. They left for food and on return the towels used to plug the leak were still there and soaked. No one had been.

The beach had beautiful white sand and blue ocean. However the ocean was full of seaweed from the recent storm. The seaweed was left all over where other hotels further up the beach had raked it. You could tell that the water was a lot cleaner of the seaweed elsewhere. Although not dangerous it is unpleasant. We found ourselves swimming away from the hotel where others had cleared it.

Lots of sunbeds but most were in use. We only found one broken. There are better ones with parasols for black band members. I am Caucasian blonde the only shade I was getting on the standard beds was from palm trees which wasn't sufficient. My wife asked if there were any parasols to use as I was burning. They repeated 'people come here for the sun'. I was visibly red burning however they didn't help. My wife has fluent Spanish being Mexican so there was no language barrier they just didn't provide one or allow to use the premium beds.

The food in the hotel is edible. We found the food in the buffet to be ve and repetitive. The labels were very brief so you couldn't tell what was actually served other than pork or beef. items with labelled incorrectly like vanilla ice cream actually being coconut. Any allergy issues be very careful. Only managed 1 restaurant as it was always full. Great service, wine and water always full. Food again edible but same as a local supermarket. Mexican theme the pozole and tortilla soup tasted extremely watered-down. Others just didn't have the Flavour they should. The tortilla salad, pizzas and burgers from the snack bar were the best food onsite.

Drinks very inconsistent. One bar amazing, next terrible. Premium spirits only for black bands or if you get on well with the waiters. Adults Pool bar is a lot better. The adults bar was also lot quieter.

The entertainment was very good. That's one of the actual positives from this experience that makes it worth going. If they put as much effort into the other facilities as they do in the entertainment they would have a lot better review. Every night there is a shore in the theatre where The hotel guests or gather up and it creates a nice atmosphere. We particularly enjoyed some of the singers and the aerial acrobatics. Didn't get to use many of the other facilities for entertainment because of our short stay.

This really feels like 3* hotel in Europe with decent entertainment. As opposed to being a 4-star Cancun hotel I...