Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya — Hotel in Quintana Roo

update re hotels reply - they called at 8:50am this morning waking us on the last day of our honeymoon to ask if they can come fix the jacuzzi. Since they tried 3 times already, we decided to enjoy our last day instead. Not sure why they said they could help us make dining reservations. They don’t do this. It’s first come first serve for the a la cartes.

Tomorrow marks the end of our honeymoon at the Hard Rock Riviera Maya, and while we've tried to make the best of it, our experience has been significantly marred by our "upgraded" sky terrace room.

Upon arrival, we were immediately let down by the dingy state of our room. It had a strong moldy smell, and the bathroom walls were covered in "splatter marks." Next to the toilet and in the shower.

We had specifically booked and paid extra for the sky terrace room with a rooftop jacuzzi, hoping for a relaxing honeymoon. Unfortunately, this upgrade turned into a source of immense frustration and wasted time.

Our attempts to use the jacuzzi began last Wednesday. It filled SO slowly, and after 30 minutes, we discovered the controls wouldn't shut it off – the dials just spun endlessly. We called maintenance, and after a 1.5-hour wait, someone came, tinkered with it, and declared it fixed. We even tipped them (every single time they came to “fix it” actually).

The next day, we tried again. The jacuzzi wouldn't turn on at all. Another call to maintenance, another long wait in our room. They "fixed" it again, demonstrating it to my husband before leaving.m that it turned on and off. Again, we thought we'd finally get to enjoy it the next day.

Then came Friday's disaster: the jacuzzi only spat out BOILING hot water. My husband actually burned his foot stepping in. Frustrated with the hotel's maintenance team, we called Air Transat directly through their app, hoping they could move us to a different room.

The communication was difficult; the representative seemed to misunderstand the issue, believing we couldn't even access the second floor. It seemed they didn’t speak fluent English which I did think was odd given we called through the “help” tab on the transat app we were instructed to use upon arrival if we needed anything.

After much back and forth, she finally grasped that the jacuzzi was broken and said she'd contact the front desk to “verify” the situation. My attempts to connect with the on-site Air Transat rep were unsuccessful.

About an hour later, hotel maintenance called and asked to come up while we were at dinner. We agreed,and they said they’d give us a call after with an update, but we never heard anything. That night we went to bed early as we had to be up at 5am for an excursion. We were woken at 9:30 PM by maintenance banging on our door to fix the hot tub. We politely asked them to return the next day when we'd be out on an excursion.

Upon returning from our excursion the following day, we found chocolate-covered strawberries and champagne – we assumed this meant the hot tub was finally fixed. But honestly, we were too tired to even check and we knew it would really upset us if it wasn’t. We weren’t in the right frame of mind so we decided to check the next day (today).

Today, with our last full day being tomorrow, we decided to give the jacuzzi one more try. To our disbelief, it's still pouring out boiling hot water! The knob even came off in my hand, revealing it was held on by electrical tape. We've spent an absurd amount of time lugging five garbage bins full of cold water from the sink all the way up to the top floor, and even getting ice from what feels like the most remote ice machine ever (twice) , just to try and cool it down. The ice melted instantly, and it's still too hot to use.

I just called Air Transat again and explicitly told them not to send anyone else to our room. We've spent a collective five hours of our honeymoon dealing with this broken hot tub. We upgraded to this room specifically for the jacuzzi to enhance our honeymoon, and instead, it has been a constant source of stress, wasted time, and profound...

Full and honest review of our stay. Room was booked under my wife LindsayWells. I will list pros and cons honestly and open about our stay. We stayed on the family side of the resort with our 2 boys.Pros- Greeted with a nice drink as soon as we got in check in line. Awesome bellhop service to our room. Easy access to ALL amenities. Don't truly need a golf cart ride but they are available for your convenience. Plenty of activities and games for all family members and ages. Highly recommend the Neon People show. Very friendly and accommodating staff aside from the Sunbar in the Roja lobby. Great music everywhere. Pool is great. Beach is the best in the area as currently there is seaweed everywhere and HardRock is one of the few resorts making best efforts to keep it out of their beaches. Zen Hibachi was great. Also had great breakfast at Torro. Awesome coffee shop as well. Wildlife was cool to see. Taxis are easy to book if needed. Unfortunately for our particular stay the opportunities with the resort kind of out weighed the Pros. Cons-Transportation- from the airport. Do not do the ride share option through the hotel if you want fast convenient and honest. Met our "driver". He sated no more the 30 min to wait. We were ok with this as the info stated 30-50 minutes. After an hour of waiting outside in heat we got in a van that litteraly did a circle back to where we were parked just to be transfered to another bus to sit wondering what was going on for another 45 minutes before finally leaving. Greeting- got in the door to have to wait in a nice long line to be checked in. While waiting in line got approached 4 times about selling packages such as timeshares when we we already frustrated and tired from traveling. Building and Room- the building was under construction with no elevator service which was upsetting as my wife has a disability. Bell hop told us it would probably be fixed by the next day. It did not work for our entire stay. We payed extra to be able to pick our room but was told the room we picked, they booked for another party. During major down pours the hallways end up withbsatnding water becoming extremely slick and easy to fall on. We got to our room we barely put our bags down before the phone rang asking us to come back down for a welcome package. The safe did not work, though they came quickly to fix it when called. The TV controller and tablet did not work for the TV, had to have them come fix this as well. Lights in the ceiling worked the first night we were there, but were not able to turn them on the rest of the stay. A bathtub in the living area in a family style room is not the best design idea. Had to jiggle handle on toilet to stop a squealing noise several times in the night. On the last night of the stay the AC went out and we woke up in the middle of the night to an 80° room. Was an issue with the whole building apparently. Restaurants- missed eating at a few of the restaurants we were very interested in, due a ridiculous wait and they dont take reservations. I have never been quoted 1.5 hr wait for any restaurant at any prior resorts I have stayed at. If you are looking for the better breakfast buffet go to Torro. The Market is a ridiculous wait for not so great food. Pool- Awesome pool with swim up bar. However if you go late in the day, good luck finding a chair, especially if you are looking for shade, as the ones that are open are already reserved. So you could call to reserve a spot. Water Park- same as the pool with seating. Also half the Waterpark isn't open due to construction. Basically if you have kids 10 or older there are only 4 slides they could really enjoy. How is a water park as one of the main attractions going to only have some of the park open in the hottest part of the summer? Wife left a review earlier in the week. Hotel said they would contact us however did not receive call or email. Only a letter the night before asking us to stop by the check out counter. Only received a $100 credit. Not happy...

Lack of Communication Regarding Ongoing Construction One of the most disruptive aspects of our stay was the unannounced construction that was taking place at the resort. The resort failed to notify us in advance that construction would be ongoing during our stay. The noise from the construction was highly bothersome, and in some areas, it continued late into the evening.

Cleanliness Issues Another major issue was the cleanliness of the property. The rooms, in particular, were not properly cleaned, with the hot tubs being the most visibly dirty. In addition, there was a noticeable smell of mold and must in many areas, and the tiles in the hallways showed visible signs of this issue. I also found dead roaches in the closet, which is completely unacceptable.

Power Outage and AC Issues Due to the ongoing construction, we experienced a brief power outage that affected both electricity and air conditioning. While I understand that some disruptions may occur, the lack of communication and support from management during this incident was disappointing.

Dining and Food Quality Unfortunately, the food at most of the restaurants was subpar, falling far below the level of quality we experienced at Hard Rock Punta Cana a few years ago. The overall dining experience was not what we expected, especially considering the reputation of the Hard Rock brand.

Inappropriate Behavior from Staff The behavior of certain employees during our stay was highly inappropriate and upsetting. I was repeatedly asked to cover up in the lunch and breakfast areas, despite wearing a tank top and skirt that covered more than many others. This felt like body shaming, especially as I watched others walk by in much less clothing. Additionally, at Isla one morning, a hostess made an inappropriate comment about us not speaking Spanish, asking, “Why did you come to Mexico then?” This comment was both offensive and unprofessional, and it left us feeling uncomfortable.

Negative Experience with Timeshare Presentation Group Another issue I encountered during my stay was with Daniel from the presentation group. After witnessing the poor service our bride received at the front desk, Daniel approached us the next day as we were leaving the red lobby and offered a discounted excursion to make up for the poor experience. He assured us that we would not need to attend a timeshare presentation, which seemed genuine, as he claimed he just wanted to improve our stay in whatever way he could control. However, this turned out to be false. He informed us that all 30 of us would need to attend the timeshare presentation in order to receive the discounted luxury catamaran trip. Despite making it clear that we were not interested in sitting through such a presentation, Daniel insisted and I have some of the conversations on whatapp. Eventually, when we declined, he redirected us to the vacation planners, who offered us excursions at prices much higher than those he originally suggested. As someone who is familiar with timeshare sales tactics, I was disappointed to see the typical “bait and switch” and intimidation tactics being employed by the resort. This wasted a significant amount of our time and further soured our experience.

While I understand that challenges can arise in large resorts, the combination of unannounced construction, cleanliness issues, poor food quality, and inappropriate staff behavior created an overall negative experience. Basilio, the shift supervisor was very rude and disregarded our parties concerns from the very start at check in. Our group of 40+ guests felt negatively throughout the stay but did our best to make this wedding week special for our couple since there was nothing we could do from that point on. It seemed like because we weren’t timeshare members, our stay wasn’t meant to be as important or special as the members. I hope this feedback is taken seriously, as it is my sincere wish that future guests do not encounter the same issues we faced...