Hotel Catalonia Riviera Maya — Hotel in Quintana Roo

We travelled as family of 3 (including a teenager) from the UK and it is fair to say that we were slightly concerned about our trip given the hit-and-miss reviews on here but decided to approach the holiday with an open mind and below is our opinion.||We had a great holiday and there is much to like about the resort, but a few areas for improvement led to the lower score – particularly around provision of food for gluten free diets.||TRANSFER & GENERAL LOCATION|The hotel is around 1 hour – 1 hour 15 minutes from Cancun airport. It sits within the gated community of Puerto Aventuras which is protected by a diligent security gatehouse which monitors all traffic in and out of the community. This enhances the feeling of security and we never felt threatened as we walked around during the evening. ||The community is made up of domestic dwellings, a pretty marina area (with a dolphin & manatee discovery area with free viewing of dolphins in marina pens), a golf course, a decent number of restaurants, bars and shops and also some natural features such as cenotes and we even found an old Mayan ruin. There was plenty to do in the area and we took the opportunity to explore by hiring a golf cart from a friendly Canadian stationed outside the actual hotel (cost was very reasonable at just 1000 Mexican pesos for the day).||CHECK-IN|This was smooth and accompanied by a welcome drink and luggage handlers helping with our suitcases. You are given a wristband which acts as your key and also some towel cards and a barcode which allows you to access your a la carte restaurant reservations. First impressions were positive.||THE ROOM|We booked a privilege family suite and this was a great decision. Firstly, the choice to go privilege was a “no-brainer” as it gives you access to a range of features – unlimited access to the a la carte restaurants, a free hydrotherapy session at the spa, a separate pool area, bar and beach which made the world of difference to our holiday. Our score would have been lower if we had not booked privilege. ||Our room was a family suite and the bonus being that it had a separate room for our teenage son. The room (whilst slightly outdated dark-wood look) was clean and well-appointed with a (daily stocked) mini-bar (Modelo beer, Pepsi, Sprite, water etc), shower, toilet, double sink, and even a balcony with a plunge pool (albeit the view was of a neighbouring road). The main bed was large (super king size) and very comfy and there was also a good-sized TV in each room (if you want to watch your own TV programmes, it was extremely easy to attach a fire stick). The daily maid service was polite and efficient. The room also had iron, ironing board (mini) and hair dryer. Location was close to the pools and restaurants and as the resort is quite small it is quite easy to get anywhere with no delay.||The aircon in both parts of the room was particularly good and there was little noise from surrounding rooms.||GROUNDS|Generally well kept and there is a good amount of wildlife to see daily such as agoutis (which are very cute), Mexican racoons and even iguanas. The pools are relatively small so can get busy, but we never really had a problem getting a sun lounger, but you do have to be up and ready before 8am.||The issue (and its not the hotel’s fault) is that when we travelled it was sargassum (seaweed) season down the entire coast and it renders large parts of the sea unsightly, full of seaweed and generally smelly. The hotel team worked extremely hard every day to try and clear it, but it arrived as fast as it was cleared so do not expect clear waters if you visit when the sargassum is at its peak. We had the benefit of a separate beach leading onto a lagoon area which was fairly pretty but the presence of seaweed was disappointing and I would say the beach area was the one letdown compared to other Mexican hotels we have visited on the West Coast.|I could not see any obvious lifts and there were quite a lot of steps around the resort (albeit with some ramps), so if you struggle with mobility this may not be the resort for you.||SPA|We had a free couples hydrotherapy session as part of our privilege room booking. Our family were booked in (including our 16 year old son) by Guest Services but once we arrived at the session we were told our son was not old enough to participate. It was just a blank no, with no apology, despite guest services not telling us he would be underage. We felt this could have been handled better. ||The spa was fine for a free addition, but it is showing its age with cracked tiles and part of the hydrotherapy circuit was not working at the time of our visit.||FOOD|Firstly, we will start with the good elements. As a privilege room, you get unlimited bookings of the a la carte restaurants and the quality of these was better than we have seen at many all-inclusive resorts – particularly the B’Loved restaurant which is exclusive to privilege guests. We frequented this restaurant many times during our two week stay (although there was nightly repetition of the menu).||The buffet was average with unappealing food, and very little day to day variety.|The problem for me was a significant one in that the hotel understands gluten-free, but has limited choices when it comes to turning that into reality. ||On arrival, we were directed to guest services where I could request a card that detailed my “gluten free” requirements and I was asked to inform each server on arrival at a restaurant of my needs (and in fairness to the resort team, they would always ask for any dietary requirements and showed a decent level of awareness). The problem was the actual (low) number of choices which led to repetition (for example, in most restaurants the only gluten free dessert was raspberry sorbet……every single night). The buffet was a free-for-all and whilst we were told we could request a new version of a dish if we saw someone cross-contaminating with utensils etc, the fact of the matter is that much of the food naturally contained wheat in some form (which was displayed on a menu tag) so choices were again restricted. Gluten free bread was hit-and-miss, sometimes it was available but mostly it wasn’t (and one of the times we were given it, it was still frozen!). We were assured by guest services that we would be fine to eat at the burger restaurant as they had gluten free bread, but when we attended our booking and declared my gluten-free status we were told there was nothing for me to eat, matter of fact with no apology. We reported this to guest services as this was one of the few cases of poor customer care.||ENTERTAINMENT|The entertainments team work incredibly hard and whilst we did not have lots of interaction with them, they seemed enthusiastic, energised and polite. We only caught one night-time show – the “Rock Show” – which it has to be said was amongst the best staged shows I’ve seen in a hotel facility. Live musicians, dancers, aerial artistes and great set design marked this out as a real highlight. This was really enjoyable and we only caught brief snippets of other shows which seemed decent as well. ||The one downside is the theatre is indoors, but the room was well air-conditioned – but the nearby bar was stifling hot.||STAFF|I would say 99.9% of the staff are amongst the friendliest people you could ever expect to meet. Helpful and polite in the extreme. We experienced a couple of elements of poor service, such as when we went to the Burger Restaurant and despite enquiring as to suitability for gluten-free at guest services we were told there were no options for me, with little effort made to find a solution. We also found the spa reception team a little cold when it came to managing the fact we were not told by guest services (when booking) that our 16-year-old could not attend the hydrotherapy session.||We always made sure to tip as the team worked hard, but I saw far less tipping on this holiday than I had witnessed a couple of years ago on the opposite coast.|If you tip, you will definitely improve your chances of securing top shelf spirits for your cocktail. Does not need to be much, i.e. 20 – 40 pesos (£1-£2) and your quality of drinks will exponentially improve.||IN SUMMARY| To get the best out of this hotel, book privilege rooms and be prepared to tip a little for enhanced service. Do not expect a beautiful beach, particularly during sargassum season (it can be hard to enter the water as it is quite rocky, so beach shoes are a must). The food was a tad hit-and-miss in the buffet, but the a la carte restaurants were typically very good – albeit needs more choice for dietary restricted customers. Entertainment was good and staff were on the whole very friendly. There is plenty to see in the local area, but recommend hiring a golf cart to get round the local community.||If you decide to venture outside the resort, we booked a private tour with “Tours with Mike” which included Tulum, swimming with Turtles and an underground Cenote which was excellent and definitely...

We arrived back today from 11 nights at the hotel. Due to the reviews we upgraded (cost £60 in total via Tui).||||Upon arrival cases are stored while you check into reception. You get a bracelet that is your room key and towel cards within an envelope that has a qr code. You then give your primary email address, this then sends you a link via email to register and set up and account. Wait for the email, then once registered scan the qr code on the towel card envelope. Just one person register as done by room number. ||You can bulk book all restaurants in advance (more later on this) you can change them anytime too. ||We stayed in room 216 and this block had been refurbished 5 months ago. The AC and ceiling fan worked well, not noisy but bring ear plugs incase. ||As we had upgraded to privilege we had plenty of amenities, check their website to detail what is in each room. ||There seems to be a real difference in rooms and levels, the main reason we upgraded was to access the pool and beloved restaurant. ||The room was large and the bed comfy, the view from the balcony was rubbish and other guests (not privilege) had sea views. However this really didn’t impact us. ||The hotel is clean and staff are plentiful and really helpful. ||The room did smell musty, however, the climate is high humidity and it’s not like you can’t open the patio doors to air it out. Our clothes felt a little damp, again humidity so just make sure you air the room out and hang up everything. It really is a climate issue and not how unclean it is. ||||The fridge takes a day to cool to temp, restocked multiple times daily and when requested. ||||Cleaning staff superb and very thoughtful. I’d accidentally left a necklace out and they left a note saying the room hadn’t been cleaned due to this, totally my error and within 5 mins they were at the door asking if we wanted them to clean the room. ||||Restaurants||||Check opening times on the website when booking. ||||Breakfast||We had the benefit of using Beloved for breakfast and mixed this up with La Brissa (riviera maya side). ||Beloved had a set breakfast menu with plenty of choices and is more peaceful and air conditioned (although still felt hot). I didn’t take pics of the menu as we didn’t want to be attached to our phones (weird nowadays I know)! ||We alternated this with La Brissa a typical buffet option, egg station and omlette etc.. the breads and some cooked items tasted stale and dry so just be careful when picking. The fresh fruit is lovely. ||Watch the birds and don’t leave your plate out, take it in turns to go up to the buffet. ||Waiting staff serve water and hot drinks. There are juices (think sunny delight) as organge juice and lots of other options. ||There is every breakfast type in this buffet and you’ll be spoilt for choice. ||||Snack bars ||We went to the Yacutan (adjoining Catalonia hotel) to use the sandwich (yellow cart), they offer pastrami, ham and cheese and a veggie option. They are made freshly and served hot (wrapped) so can take back to poolside. ||Along the same side of the resort is the creperie, plenty of choices and ice creams too. ||||Steakville (riviera maya side) opens as a lunch snack from 11-5. Pizza, fries, chicken and other fast food options, also salads and Mexican dishes. This was a popular choice as we just threw on our cover ups to dine. ||The other lunch option we used was La Brissa and again a buffet with plenty to offer. ||||Mexican restaurant ||Went once, food ok but the temperature in the restaurant ruined the experience. Sweating when eating isn’t pleasant. ||||Italian restaurant ||Lovely food, horrible restaurant temperature.||||The two restaurants need to invest in blinds and a better ac or even fans as the staff looked uncomfortable and even at 8/9pm at night still felt uncomfortable. ||||Steakville||Really good, thoroughly enjoyed and went twice.||||Japanese restaurant ||Again really good, went twice. ||||Burgers||Went once, enjoyed the burger but the sides were iffy and served at odd times to the main meal. The macaroni cheese was a throw back to packet student pasta. ||||||In summary plenty of choice, book in bulk and chance it as plenty of spaces post 19:30 daily. You can change your reservations and dial 0 if the website is not working. ||I’d refresh the website before using it daily. ||||Privilege pool||Small but good availability of sun loungers at any time of day. We went in both pools and margarita swim up bar. They were understaffed in this bar but may have had a bad day as did not notice this for any other bars. ||||Alcohol||Good availability of brands, it’s a 3/4 star hotel it’s not going to have top end brands. Take yeti coolers or similar and the ice (all bought in by the way through the resort) and that’ll keep your drinks cold. Loads of cocktail non and alcoholic options available. The house wine isn’t the best but there is a paid wine list available. ||||Beach||It’s seaweed season. They do their best to clear it but it’s so plentiful and never ending. This is not a great beach due to the gradient too. Beach shoes needed. We went into the sea once at the beach which is unheard of for me but settled with the pools. ||This is the main reason I wouldn’t stay here again as the beach is not as good as the public beach down the road, in terms of aesthetics and accessibility. However, other people were not put off. ||||The location and resort. ||Puerto Adventuras is a gated secure resort and was lovely to walk around the marina. We hired a golf cart from Paul O (see hotel Facebook page for his details). Highly recommend. We went to the Cenote (not for swimming) in the resort and bumped into a lovely guy who owns the restaurant CASA in the village centre who helped us find the ruins. Thank you stranger we didn’t get your name! ||||For taxis ||Get a taxi to the main gate 90 mxn pesos and then go to the right outside the gates. There is a bus shelter (lovely guy looking after stray dogs there) and get a collectivo bus, these are small air conditioned local buses that work on a haul them down system. 7-9pm daily and so cheap! We went to Playa Del Carmen and cost us 80 mxn for two of us, then get it from the same place back to the resort and get a taxi back from the main gates (again by the bus stop).||||Convenience stores ||Outside the gates to the left is a petrol station and subway for a cold drink. They also have a huge walk in freezer that I enjoyed standing in for a few mins!! Opposite that go under the motorway bridge and get a tuk tuk for $1 to Chedraui the supermarket equivalent. For your return there are tuk tuks outside. ||||Playa Del Carmen||First tip is to turn your hotel bracelet inside out so they don’t call out your hotel or pretend they work there and say I’m your waiter etc…||Street vendors (selling Chinese mass produced stuff) will holler at you, it gets quite funny. Just be polite, or ignore completely. ||Favourite heckle “hey tourists come and taste my tequila and I will only rip you off a little bit” followed by hey big boobs come and try this shop out. ||Tourist tat shops interspersed by US and recognised named restaurants and shops. ||You can get ferry to Cozumel from here too. ||||Currency||Mexican pesos generally preferred.||For tips (that are expected everywhere) use these of get loss of $1 bills. ||||||In summary||We enjoyed our stay at the hotel and resort area. We hadn’t been to Mexico before so unsure what to expect but have travelled to Cuba, Dom Rep before to name a few so the standards are different from the UK. ||||It was lovely, not excellent, but lovely. The staff were brilliant and a real credit to the hotel chain. ||||We did chichen Itzá tour and Zel-Ha, will do other reviews to cover these excursions. ||||We won’t be back as we don’t tend to visit the same place twice but I would recommend with the caveat to avoid sargrassum (sea weed) season as this did make the beach pretty unusable and also had a whiff. ||||If you’ve booked and we’re worried like we were, upgrade for the beloved restaurant alone as a much calmer start to your day. I wouldn’t pay more than £100 to upgrade for a fortnight. If you’ve booked and can cope with a buffet noise first thing I wouldn’t upgrade. Maybe as our children are no longer children have just got used to the quieter mornings! ||||Enjoy...

I would rate this an overall "OK" experience.. some things are awful, and some things are pretty good.. but to sum up - I'd never come back here again.|I think most of the time, these reviews dont mean anything. I think true reviews would be for us to simply NOT VISIT this resort...|Reading my comments below, please keep in mind, we paid extra to be privileged guests when booking our package (thru apple vacations/ travel agent) and stayed Friday thru Friday. (1 week) in addition, we tipped regularly.. in the 7 days, we spent approx. $120 in cash tips. bars/ restaurants/ housekeeping. |to SUM up, I'd classify this as a BUDGET resort ONLY if you upgrade to privilege. if you're not upgrading, please do not waste your hard earned money.||RESORT: pretty clean, and beautiful grounds. the MAJOR problem, is that its PACKED! not only is the staff not able to keep up, but they let in LOCALS daily. and locals appear to be all privilege.. so you don't really get the privilege experience or any feeling of an upgrade, aside from the more modern room.||SERVICE: TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE! as mentioned above, not enough staff to keep the guests happy.|Privileged check-in area DOES NOT EXIST! we waited in line for nearly 30 mins to check in.. 1 of our 2 rooms was not year ready (it was 2pm) so they said to come back at 3pm.. when i came back, there was a huge line again.. i asked if i should stand in line again, and they said yes.. those are the rules... so another 15 min wait, to check in to the 2nd room. all in all.. there is ALWAYS a wait at the front desk.||- Our room door closer/stopper was missing, and door was not working properly. the door was also rubbing on the floor (room 319) and I called them.. waited 5-10 mins, then after speaking with someone, they hung up on me, or call was disconnected. I went to the front desk (yes, i had to wait again) notified them of the door problem, and they said they made a ticket and will send someone.. this someone NEVER came, and the door was broken our entire trip.|- we received ONE turn down service. we don't care, but this was a "privilege perk"|- beach towels in room.. NOPE.. again, we don't care, but this was a "privilege perk"|- Privilege lounge/ coffee.. NOPE..|- Privilege concierge.. NOPE|- "privilege" is basically a nicer room.. we couldn't compare to the reg room, but met some people in the resort, that said the regular rooms were TERRIBLE, and were actually calling their agent to transfer to a different resort bc of the "service and dungeon style room".. we told them about the privilege rooms and they ended up paying to "upgrade" to privilege to get a decent room.||- POOLs are all pretty small.. again, expect locals in the pools and using loungers.|even though there are signs that you cant reserve loungers, unless you're up before 730AM, you will NOT find a shaded lounger. :/|- Pool was cleaned around 10am.. with a guy using some cleaner and had a glove on.. i'm not sure why this cant be done earlier so people are not sitting there in the pool exposed to whatever cleaner it is that they use to clean the pools..||- BAR service was ok. again, for being privilege, this should not be ok-it needs to be outstanding. there is a privilege bar (only for privilege folks) but they still used bottom shelf, cheap liquor to make mixed drinks, unless you specifically ask.. to which they seemed to be annoyed.. |- Bar service was always 1 bartender.. again, its PACKED.. expect to ALWAYS wait.|- the Margaritaville pool bar is NASTY! i think this is the only bar with 2 bartenders, but this is the smallest pool in the resort, and EVERYONE and their MOTHER was in this pool.. the water was matte, and dingy.. NASTY!!!!||FOOD: highlight of the trip. Very good food overall. everything seemed fresh, warm, and delicious.. no complaints here.||BEACH: I wont include this as a rating for the hotel.. Its not really the hotels fault if its seaweed season.. they did have some staff cleaning the seaweed, but it was always for part of the morning.. in the week we were there, they probably cleaned 50-60% of the seaweed from the shoreline. the beach NOT useable from the sand beach.. you had to go on the rock and stumble into the water, and you can then seek out some cleaner spots where you can actually swim in the ocean a bit..|- It actually has potential to be a REALLY nice beach.. they have netting, and wave barriers, so the beach has potential when not in...