Hotel Bardo — Hotel in Quintana Roo

PLEASE READ BEFORE BOOKING

You’re here because of the beautiful pictures and photo opportunities you’ve seen all over social media and Instagram right? Not sure if anyone has seen the fyre festival documentary on Netflix but our experience is was nothing short of this.

Tulum is a beautiful and cultured city. The space is absolutely beautiful. The sounds of the jungle at night? Unmatched. The people? Friendly and helpful. Unfortunately - that’s where our positive review ends. Ok... so where do we start...

Architecture - the good: beautiful modern day villas with private pool make for amazing photo opps The bad: the design of the space awards almost no privacy at all. The photos you see with the pool youd think would be at the back or the building...but no. The front glass doors is the only way to get in and out of your villa. Be careful what you’re doing/wearing. Nothing is stopping people from dropping by completely unannounced. Additionally, because the space is made of concrete slabs it absorbs any heat at all. I can imagine it’s great to have in the summer, but if you’re here during the winter months, get ready for cold, clammy nights and an AC that doesn’t produce any heat or work properly on maintaining temperature. Also - you need the key to lock and unlock the front door, whether you’re on the outside or inside of the villa. That’s right. That means if you’re hubby locks the door and leaves to go to town your paradise just became a concrete prison.

Electricity/plumping - I can’t believe I have to write this. The good - works half of the time the bad - because you’re going “off grid” youre raising the possibility of more things to go wrong. We’ve been here for two days and already lost electricity and running water twice for 2-3 hours at a time. You’d think a luxury hotel would have backup generators or failover for situations like this. Plumbing - there is no hot water. In addition to the rooms becoming freezing at night, there’s no way to warm up. The water in the pool is cold and the shower only gets up to tepid temperatures.

The service - the good - people here are so nice and very welcoming. They try to go the extra mile when they cqn. I wasn’t feeling well and the front desk provided pepto Bismal which is so nice. The food is beautifully plated. The bad - we had two room requests that went completely unresponded to. We asked for a smoothie one day and an extra blanket for the clammy nights. We received neither. The food service is expensive for what it is.

Sanitation - this may not be a knock on the hotel directly but a fair warning that the hygiene and sanitation standards in the area doesn’t seem to be very high. We have glass bottles of filtered water that is refilled at our request, but because it’s not prepackaged and sealed it makes me wonder...especially seeing as how I’m not feeling well today.

I really wanted to love this place. I really did. My husband and I hate leaving bad reviews but this trip and stay was not cheap by any means and staying at bardo was an overall lackluster experience - especially for a...

EDIT: the fact that the hotel is now making up accusations of harassment is mind blowing. I communicated with one manager in order to try and reach a resolution, and after it was clear they would not take any steps to make things right, I stopped communicating with them and chose to write a review. It’s unfortunate because it is a cute spot, unfortunately I can’t recommend this place due to this appalling management experience.

Maybe I’m crazy for believing that a hotel would want to do right by its customers.

Maybe it’s too much to ask for a hotel that exclusively markets itself as a quiet, serene retreat to focus on wellness to mention in advance that there is a weeklong Carnaval celebration going on, where open air music and a screaming DJ continue until 5:30 or 6 in the morning, very near the property. The only online mention of a carnival/carnaval celebration in Tulum occurred between February 28-March 2nd this year. We arrived almost two weeks later. These dates were confirmed on the Tulum Government ‘Ayuntamiento De Tulum’ instagram page. Still, Hotel Bardo was aware that this festival was occurring during our stay, as they left a note on our bed at check-in.

Understanding that Tulum is a vibrant cultural location, we came in with some expectations of music and vibrant life. We chose Bardo because it was described as somewhat removed from the craziness of the hotel zone and appeared to be geared towards a less party-forward demographic. What we did not sign up for was a literal all-night party in the neighboring streets, stuck in an echo chamber of a room with no sound insulation. Earplugs and even a white noise machine that we brought did nothing.

We stayed one night of a four night reservation after finding out from management that this would be going on continuously every night during our stay.

To be fully transparent, I spoke with the front desk and with management, informed them that we literally did not sleep our first night and would have to depart, knowing now that this would continue each night. I thought it reasonable to offer to pay for the first night in full, as well as for the dinner that we had at the hotel. I requested that we be refunded the remainder, given the unfortunate circumstances. I would have settled for some sort of compromise from there but I thought I wasn’t asking for anything unreasonable. The hotel management refused to do ANYTHING in the realm of actual compensation. They wouldn’t even go so far as comping the meal we had. Instead, our only option was a credit for a future stay. To offer us a credit, at a place where we had such a terrible experience was nothing short of insulting. Looking on Reddit, there are examples of others who have had this sort of bait and switch pulled, looking to try and resell their resort credit that they couldn’t or wouldn’t use (we refused the credit). I don’t give places a second chance when they make no genuine attempt to right a wrong. Life is too short, and there are plenty of places to visit that actually prioritize something called...

From the second we walked in we felt at home. No joke the ambience and energy was amazing and so inviting.

The entire staff is amazing. To name a few special moments. Leslie is so wonderful I feel like I would actually be friends with her and hangout with her she’s so nice.

The security guy (the buff one) haha he was amazing I left my phone in the taxi on accident while charging and he ran out the door to stop the taxi he didn’t even hesitate to help.

René is the best he’s so helpful and always smiling.

The general manager Jaime is very attentive and will go out of his way to make sure your stay is the best. He even gave us a few special hook ups for clothing in tulum. And have us a private session at yoga since one fo the classes we signed up for got full. He is the best.

Miguel and the whole wait staff and kitchen staff were great. Bardo literally had the best food ever! You must try the shrimp tacos and truffle Fries. As well as the kali and green juices. You feel like your honoring your body by drinking the best ingredients ever.

Kiki the yoga instructor she is so fantastic. So down to earth and gave us a private session at night it was so cool! Yes lots of mosquitos but the experience was great! She sprays some rose water and gives great tips on posture and pushing yourself. She gave us recommendations on where to go to eat locally which were so on point. Del cielo was a great breakfast place! Kiki is so wonderful we did yoga everyday!

Bianca is so sweet and so accommodating. Julian at front desk is so cool! We love his style and honestly we cannot say enough great things about these 2.

Now for the rooms they are exactly if not better than the photos appear. The out door shower is so beautiful. I want one in my own house now haha.

The plunge pool is so nice to have. It’s perfect size for a couple.

The bed is so comfy we didn’t want to get up.

We had an amazing in room couple massage. My goodness what a treat!

And to top this off my husband and bardo put together a really special birthday decoration and cake for me to celebrate my 29th bday. So thoughtful.

The whole ambience again you feel like you got dropped off into an oasis.

The owner really did a great job putting together such a beautiful destination to relax and just BE.

As online coaches & influencers this is the perfect place to reset and start over with a clean slate. And get inspired to create courses and content.

We did so much content (photos/videos) for personal and business that we are set for the year.

We are raving about this magical place we have already referred multiple of our friends and business partners to stay here.

We are looking forward to our next visit and cannot wait to check out their sister hotel “una vida”.

They made my birthday week unforgettable.

Much love you guys rocks!

Con mucho amor nick...