Hilton Cancun, an All-Inclusive Resort — Hotel in Quintana Roo

I recently stayed at this resort with my family during the holiday season, and it completely ruined our vacation. The service quality was shockingly poor, and I cannot understand how this place has an above 4-star rating. This is an absolutely below 3-star rating property.

We had a terrible experience at Auma restaurant two nights in a row. The hostess working around 7:30 pm on Dec 25th, 2024 was unhelpful and rude. When we requested a small seating adjustment, she seemed to punish our group by allowing two later-arriving parties to be seated first. When we asked for an explanation, she responded with cold, dismissive comments, telling us to wait five minutes — only for us to wait 30 minutes before being seated.

Our family reunion at the Hilton Cancun was nothing short of disastrous. Despite our initial reluctance due to a poor dining experience, we found ourselves returning to Auma out of necessity, given the limited dining options on the property. Unfortunately, it quickly became apparent that this hotel’s service and hospitality fall far below the standards expected of a 5-star resort.

First, the behavior of the staff was concerning. A staff member named Pamela caused significant confusion the day before with our seating arrangements. We overheard her speaking in Spanish to the host, which led to the host telling us that only outdoor seating was available despite the heavy rain. We didn’t make an issue of it, hoping to salvage our evening, but later discovered that there were multiple indoor tables available the entire time. This lack of transparency was frustrating and unprofessional.

The outdoor seating was uncomfortable and poorly managed. Our table was not properly prepared; the chairs were wet, and the so-called "steakhouse" didn’t even provide steak knives. No one came to check on us, and we were the only ones seated outside in the pouring rain. This felt like a blatant disregard for guest comfort and service.

Additionally, the staff at Vela were consistently unhelpful and dismissive. On multiple occasions, when asking for seating adjustments to accommodate our group, the hostesses acted as if they were doing us a favor by simply acknowledging our request. Their response, "We are too busy to make changes," was not only unprofessional, but we often noticed plenty of empty seats. It seemed clear that the hotel management is cutting corners by not hiring enough staff to properly accommodate all their guests, despite overbooking.

One particularly infuriating moment was when a server at Vela rolled his eyes and dismissively told us that the bar was too busy to refill our coffee. How is coffee serving related to the bar??? This attitude was not only rude but completely uncalled for at a place advertising itself as a luxury resort.

To top it off, we were shocked by the overall quality of the property. Although marketed as a 5-star resort, it felt more like a 3-star experience at best. The layout is awkward, with a limited indoor-outdoor space, which is a significant downside for a Mexican resort. The outdoor show space is tiny and can’t accommodate large groups, the kids' club program was underwhelming, and there was an overall sense of disorganization and chaos throughout the property. Services were often first-come, first-served, leading to a competitive, stressful atmosphere rather than a relaxing vacation experience.

Our families, who collectively spent $25,000 (including flights from Canada and the U.S.) for this reunion, left feeling regretful and disappointed. We had traveled to numerous resorts in Mexico, many of which genuinely offered 5-star experiences, but Hilton Cancun was by far the worst. It is a resort that fails to deliver on its promises and is, frankly, misleading in its marketing.

If you're considering a trip here, save your money and opt for a property that actually provides the high-quality service and experience you deserve. Overall, the service was consistently terrible across the board. The management seriously needs to invest in proper training of staffs and facility...

My husband and I went to the Hilton Cancun All-inclusive to celebrate our honeymoon. If you're looking for a quiet, romantic getaway - I would not recommend this hotel. If you have kiddos, they have a really cool pool area and lots of activities to keep the little ones engaged throughout your stay.

The hotel: beautiful resort, well maintained, and very clean. Cute beach with great views!

Check-in: was a breeze. There was an assumption that we would have a card on file and would be able to charge things to the room during our stay, but as we learned literally during our first meal, the staff charges you real-time for anything not included. So if you're like me and want to keep your wallet in your room and only bring pesos for tipping, think again and be ready.

Add-ons: Ahead of our trip, I reached out to the hotel's concierge and booked a romantic dinner, a mezcal tasting, a couples massage, and a pool bed with a bottle of champagne for the first day of our stay. The booking process was pretty straightforward and I paid for everything in advance, however the concierge provided zero information beyond the time and dates for each add-on. For example, we had no idea where to go for the romantic dinner or the mezcal tasting, there are three pools and it was unclear which pool we should go to for our reserved pool bed, we were also not informed that we should arrive at the spa 15 minutes prior and with bathing suits to enjoy the additional services provided at the spa.

The actual experiences: The romantic dinner was nice and the service was good, and despite having to have it inside, with no view, because of bad weather we enjoyed ourselves. The Mezcal Tasting was ridiculous. First, we almost cancelled because my husband wasn't feeling well, and then were told that we could not because they had already started making the "special meal" that went with the tasting. The "special meal" was actually just food from the restaurant that we had eaten at earlier, literally the same ceviche, guacamole, and tacos. Next the server for the tasting was completely unprofessional and inappropriate. He, 1) informed us of his low wages and lack of tips (multiple times), 2) told us about his divorce and that he was dating a 19-year-old who is 20 years younger than him, and tried to fist bump my husband which was pretty gross, 3) he referred to Muslim women as "women from Afghanistan, you know the Taliban" and told us a whole story about how they were cheap and only wanted to eat tortilla chips until he intentionally lied and told them they were fried in pork which is against their religion. 4) drank most of the tastings with us, getting increasingly intoxicated throughout the experience 5) made us incredibly uncomfortable and didn't seem to understand how completely inappropriate he was being. The pool beds were nice, but we were the ONLY ones to reserve one, and the other 15 or so sat unused throughout our stay (no exaggeration). The pool staff aggressively tried to sell us pool beds for additional days. After telling a pool manager twice that we would find them if we wanted to reserve for another day, she came to us a third time, while we were sleeping, to ask us again if we wanted to reserve for the next day. It left a really terrible taste in our mouths as though the staff was simply trying to take our money (especially because it was forecasted to rain the next day). The couple's massage: was a part of the Waldorf Astoria next door. It was delightful and I would highly recommend it. They have an outdoor pool, a sauna, and more + the staff was wonderful.

Restaurants: Auma and La Luce were great. My husband has a gluten allergy and the staff did their best to accommodate. No complaints about the food in general.

Check-Out: A mess. I was told I had a balance for all of the add-on services that I paid for in advance. It took 15 minutes and 2 phone calls for them to confirm there was no balance due, and yet a few days later I received an email requesting payment for something we already paid for.

I would not...

Came here for 5 nights during mid February and had an amazing time.

Lobby The resort itself is very modern and elegant. The lobby is decently large and has a bar, various seating options, and a cafe.

Staff Everyone I met was very friendly and courteous, they were quick to offer a smile and ask how your stay is going. Tipping is technically included, but every time I tipped the staff seemed very thankful.

Room I initially booked the cheapest room and requested an upgrade through the Hilton app. I was hoping to get an ocean front room or a corner ocean room, but I was told there were none available I was instead offered an ocean view suite at a cheaper price (~$80 p night additional). The price was better than the one offered through the Hilton app, so I went for it and was very glad I did. The rooms are modern, and the ocean view was well worth it. That said, it seems that privacy was low on the priority list when designing the rooms. The glass partition between the room and bathroom does nothing for privacy. The shower and main bathroom doors are glass and have a large gap at the top, which is terrible for noise and smell isolation. Our suite had an extra half bath with a wooden sliding door, but privacy was lacking there too as there is a poor seal between the sliding door and wall. This was fine for a couple, but I presume a family might not enjoy it so much. Still the room was nice and spacious, a suite being nearly double the size of a standard room, two large tvs and a minibar. The bed linen was not as soft as we liked, but we still had a good nights sleep.

Pools There are two pools on the property, a north pool that has a kids water playground behind it, and a south pool which is geared towards adults. The north pool is larger and had more seating options, though as others mentioned the towel game is real and people wake up early to claim spots. Though, most days I arrived at the pool between 10-11am and was able to find chairs in favorable locations close to the beach. The south pool seemed to be more cramped so I never got a chance to get in that pool. There were more rental cabanas at the south pool, which reduced space for regular chairs. There were also a couple hot tubs attached to the pools. Others have mentioned missing pool tiles, and while I did notice the tiles, it was never a problem for me. Seems like the material they used (tiny tiles laid in a grid) wasn’t the best option for a pool with heavy use.

Beach The beach is narrow and doesn’t have the clear blue water that you usually see online, but the white sand is still soft and the water was warm. I enjoyed swimming in the ocean along with many other guests. The seaweed seemed to be less of a problem during high tide, or at least the closest 20-30 feet to the shore seemed to be more clear of seaweed as opposed to low tide.

Food The food was great here. The buffets had a good variety of foods and would switch their menus daily. I ate breakfast/lunch there. There are 3 sit down restaurants which required reservations, I was able to make reservations for the first three nights by going to the guest services desk. Our favorite restaurant was Auma, the steakhouse, as we really enjoyed the food there. La Luce was a close second, the Italian food was very tasty and both nights I dined there I had excellent waiter service provided by Luis and Guadalupe. Maxal was a bit disappointing since I didn’t much enjoy the flavor of the food, the service was still good though. There is 24/7 room service with about an hour wait time, I opted to instead schedule breakfast to be delivered for 2 of the mornings I was there.

Activities The resort was jam packed with daily activities, at check in you are given a print out with activities listed for each day of the week. There was a good balance between kid/adult activities. I didn’t participate in all of them, but the Silent disco party and Retro show were fun to attend.

Overall, I would recommend this hotel and probably come back. With is private location it is better suited for a relax and...