Mayan Palace — Hotel in Quintana Roo

The grounds of the complex are fabulous and fairly well maintained. The jungle is dense on the property and the paths are inviting by day, and well-lit at night. The beach is filled with soft sand, and is nice and deep from the hotel to the waterfront, with a lot of palm trees to create the shade we were looking for at times. The water is full of coral, and has a slight undertow. I do not recommend this resort if you are looking to spend much time in the ocean. The property is large, but very walkable. We rarely used the shuttle cars

Stretching, Yoga, Zumba and fitness activities were the right level of challenging and a nice mix of fun. Food and drinks were expensive for what they were. We ate at Salum, Havana Moon, the Italian place I cannot remember the name of, and Balche. The food was very good at all locations, as it should be for the price.

We purchased a week at Vidanta at a charity event. The friends who donated the week through the “ambassador program” are owners at the Grand Mayan. We have seen pictures and expected our accommodations to be the same. When we called to book, we were put in the Mayan Palace and told that since we were not in Grand Mayan, there was a pool we would not be able to use. The main pool looked very inviting, so missing out on a different pool was not a dealbreaker. What they didn’t tell us is that the difference between Grand Mayan and Mayan Palace is like booking a Hilton resort and being walked through the lobby to your room in an adjacent Econ-o-lodge.

Our room was supposed to contain a king sized bed, it did not.  We started in building 15 room 2173 where someone in the very near vicinity was smoking pot on a regular basis. We were moved to building 10 room 3116, which at first glance looks nice enough, but is filthy with a ring in the tub, splatters on the bathroom wall facing the toilet, something which looks very disturbingly like a booger wiped on the wall between the 2 double beds. The sink neither holds water nor drains efficiently. There is a short in the light in the entry so that only worked on an occasional basis. I am sure there is still the same swept up wad of dust on the top stair to the third floor which sat there the entire time of my stay.

We currently own Unlimited Vacation Club (“UVC”) and were looking at vacation options since our time for renewal is coming up. The thing that was the most confusing is that Vidanta is hoping to use the ambassador program to entice new buyers, but we were placed in the least appealing units on site. If Vidanta were my company and I was hoping to sell the $149,000 fractional ownership share to someone expecting Grand Mayan, and there were no Grand Mayan rooms available, I would upgrade them all the way to Grand Luxxe Residence if need be. I would want potential buyers to think “I would love to come back on a regular basis!!” By the time we toured the property, we had spent 2 days thinking “Not for us”

Our experience on the sales tour was a confusing mix of pressure sales and small subtle insults about prior Cancun vacations we had taken. When I said we had purchased UVC at Dreams Playa Mujares there was the comment about the number of kids at Dreams since it is not an adult only resort. There were way more kids at Vidanta than we have ever seen at Dreams. We mentioned a vacation at the Grand Oasis in 2020 “Woah, Spring Break Central” Not during covid. Our stay was lovely. When we mentioned how much we enjoyed Secrets Silver Sands, the rep said ”Careful you are going to date yourself” We were there in 2018, not 1998. We are nearing retirement I am not trying to pretend I am in my 30s. The comment was just odd. There was a snarky comment about flying Frontier. We mentioned that we had gone to China in 2019, round trip airfare, exquisite accommodations, breakfast and some lunches, transfers and bus tour included for $299.00, the rep said “ I will walk away now if you can show me that receipt”. UTO Vacations (Which I highly recommend) was offering their 10 day China Buster trip, and when I pulled up the...

My husband and I once swore by Vidanta and had every intention of coming back year after year. We stayed here in 2019, Nuevo Vallarta in 2022, and came back to riviera maya for our honeymoon in 2024. Our third trip was truly a disappointment.

ROOM Our room had so many issues, I don’t know where to begin. Twin size pillows on a king size bed, algae in the patio pool, BLOOD on the wall, broken tv, shotty electrical, the fridge was in the living room, a chair was where the fridge should be. Dull kitchen knife, paint everywhere, mold around the sink, +more. Overall, not the attention to detail you expect from a 5star resort (they claim 5 diamond, so that makes it even worse).

They tried to charge us for things in the room we did not use like coffee and bottled water so review your bill closely upon check out.

DINING We have stayed here several times and always found it fairly priced, even when we were younger and didn’t make as much, so we were excited to come back a little more mature to “ball out”. This year the prices were astronomical.

The quality of the food seems to have gone down also. We raved about the resort food in previous years but this year cost more for lower quality meals.

A few examples: Most cocktails are 15-20USD

$30USD for a CRAPPY pizza… that is absolutely absurd no matter where you are. We regularly order gourmet pizza at home in Toronto and it doesn’t cost more than $30CAD.

They have also added an auto grat on every F&B purchase and do not make a point of telling you upon check in.

FACILITIES WiFi barely works.

The landscaping is about all they have giving for them as it is undeniably beautiful. However everything seems to be a money grab now. They added a water park which they advertise as a big deal, but in reality it features a lazy river, pathetic excuse for a wave pool, 2 water slides and 2 kids zones. They will charge you anywhere from $50-100USD per person depending how you purchase your tickets. These amenities are all built-in to the Nuevo Vallarta location and included in your stay. I think it would make sense for people not staying on the resort to pay to attend, but it should be Included as a resort amenity.

They are not consistent enough with monitoring people who gatekeep chairs and umbrellas and don’t return for 2+hours, especially around the main pool. Very frustrating to see a towel thrown across chairs, claiming umbrellas for half the day when shade is scarce.

The joy squad (team who orchestrates pool activities etc each day) are wonderful. Diego and Salvador deserve a raise.

SALES PITCH We attended a presentation because as a young couple, the offer of savings appealed to us. They told us it would Be one hour, it was not. We spent 3.5 hours in the middle of our day listening to an old man talk about himself. It was agonizing. They rescheduled our presentation twice, then had us wait an hour after we checked in before it began. They tried to skip the meal they offered, which we came hungry for. It took them 40 minutes to figure that out and agree to provide lunch. The salesman we were with literally would not shut up about himself. We learnt more useless details about the affluent life he’s lived since he was young and his daughter than about Vidanta. He didn’t listen to anything we had to say and frequently spoke over us to tell us more about his world travels and child.

My husband told him to speed it up, we want to get out of here and are already frustrated with the way we had been treated. He brought over his manager once we said no to his offer of 40k to buy in. His manager was extremely condescending towards my husband. After my husband explained our frustrations and how we wanted to leave; sales manager Richard told him “life is unfair, you’re married, you’ll learn” and some other bullshit about our marriage… THEN he tried to offer us to buy in for $4000. At this point we told him we’re done here and a stood up to leave. It took them another 25 minutes to check us out.

On the way out I spoke to another guest who said she was in...

One of the worse decisions we ever made for a vacation. When we got to our room we had a very strong musty odor which affected our sinuses. the next day we talked to the front desk and asked to be moved. Instead they place what they called a machine in our room which ended up being a dehumidifier. Within 6 hours it was full and had to be emptied. In fact this process was repeated 3 times daily for the rest of our stay. It never really got rid of the smell and they didn't want to move us.

On the second full day there we had the sales pitch. That same morning we had no hot water. Had to take cool showers. When we met with the reps of the resort which ended up being three of them we told every one of them about the lack of hot water and each of them told us they would take care of it. Needless to say it did not happen. They instead told us well if you sign on we would put you in a nicer place. So if you are a guest and not a member they treat you like a second class citizen. They never did anything about the hot water. The third person started to get rude and even started to infer that we were stupid for not taking the deal when we are paying a maintenance fee on a time share we already owned. They claimed they had no maintenance fee however every time you made a reservation to go there you have to pay $1,100. They claimed you got that back but it was in what I will compare to Kohl's dollars. You had to spend it in the resort and you could only spend it on certain items like clothing and such. You could not use it to pay for example dinner or food. I finally ended it by telling the guy we will spend our money how we like and the answer in NO! The guy was actually pissed off at us for not buying in.

We found mold in the cracked tile in the shower area. We also go to experience a power outage in our building.

Getting around the place was a royal pain in the neck. We were placed in one of the farther out lying buildings you need to take a tram to get to anything or else walk a long way to get anywhere. There were no vending in the buildings so to get just a bottle of water you had to take a tram out and back which was a 30-40 minute ordeal.

The place itself was not all that busy yet you had to wait 30-40 minute wait with empty tables because they were understaffed.

When I made a tee time at the golf course I was told to tell the concierge that I needed my golf clubs taken to the course and it would be taken care of. When I asked the concierge I was told I had to take the clubs myself to the course.

We asked for a coffee maker for our room since it had none and was told if they had one available we could get one. The room we were in had no coffee maker or even a microwave. We did get the coffee maker so I guess they had a spare one. How does a outfit not even have enough coffee maker to provide one in each room?

Their beach was big but not friendly. The water was beautiful but with all the rocks and stuff it made it difficult to get into the water.

When I checked out the night before we left I was asked to fill out a questionnaire about our stay there. Of course my ratings were not exactly on the high side so we got a call from the front desk asking why we were leaving early and why our rating was so low. I could not believe they had the gall to ask and then they offered to move us to another room and the damage was done. My wife ended up being sick from Wednesday on and we had to take her to the doctor when we got home.

Overall a terrible experience and we could not make a recommendation to anyone to stay there. I spoke to several people who happened to be members at another of their resorts on the West coast of Mexico and a couple of them told me members have been complaining about this site.

They also sneak a charge on your bill of $300 pesos for what I was told was a contribution to the less unfortunate people in Mexico. Of course they don't tell you about this charge so if you don't check your bill you...