The Grand Bliss at Vidanta Riviera Maya — Hotel in Quintana Roo

To start off, this hotel/resort has to be one of the worst places I’ve been too. They’re all penny pinchers. When we checked in, a male staff member was checking us in, but stated that they needed a $1700 USD deposit/hold to successfully book the room (mind you that we’ve already booked and paid for the room). I get it, they need it for incidentals, but $1700 is outrageous and unethical. Other hotels we’ve been at have only placed $50-$150 holds, but I guess that’s what they do it here. Told the staff, that wasn’t communicated when we booked the room. They spoke with management and stated that they can do $600 USD. That’s still crazy to me, but we got it down to $500 USD deposit hold. They told us that we get our $500 deposit hold back in pesos at checkout (here we go again with the penny pinching) , then we found out that our room was a twin double bedroom. We booked a room with a KING SIZE BED, and here we go again with their scheming tactics. We had great assistance with our family members and we were able to negotiate to get our original room we booked and paid for the next day, but we had to stay in our “incorrect” room for the time being. So we dropped off our baggage’s and go dinner. We returned back to our room with our family members, and we just wanted to follow up with their staff that we would be getting a different room the next day. The night staff had no idea what we we’re talking about so we had to explain the whole situation/process again (mind you this was at 1am). So we had to redo the process , signed documents and we agreed to process that $500 USD hold on a credit card rather in cash, so we can get our cash back. It was pulling teeth’s trying to get our $500 USD deposit back and signed documents (signatures had to mirror exactly the ones in the passport). They made us re-do signatures multiple times since it didn’t “match”. That was ridiculous itself.

After we got our deposit back, the female staff member then said we had to pay $150 for a resort fee due to a “processing fee ” … welp here we go again another scheming tactic. I told her that the male staff member never mentioned to us about a “resort fee” so she made a call to management, and after she hung up the phone , the fee was now $177 USD. At this point, they’re just to squeeze as much as they can.

The following morning, we called the front desk just to get into our new room, but they kept insisting if we needed anything in our old room, for instance more towels, sheets etc basically trying to change the subject. I told them no, we just want our new room that we paid for which was a master bedroom with a king size bed. They called back and said that our new room is ready and that we can go check in. We eventually checked into our new room after all that hassle.

On another note, the shuttle services were very spotty. We had to wait 15-20 mins for a shuttle and sometimes they would just drop us off into a “transfer center” for another shuttle to pick us up. I felt very uncomfortable since majority of the individuals who were driving shuttles just didn’t want to do their jobs, especially giving us attitudes when we specifically asked to be dropped off to our rooms. For example, One staff member kept pointing to us that his shuttle bus was “not in service” and told us to go the the shuttle bus in front of him. We went to the shuttle bus which was driven by a staff member but that staff member said no, and said go back to the other shuttle. We were basically getting the run around. We then told him that that guy’s shuttle was not in service. He eventually gave in and dropped us off but gave us a really rude attitude which was very unprofessional.

Overall, this stay was very unpleasant and disappointing. We will not return. And whoever replies to this post, please don’t offer me a “how can we fix this situation” then offer me a timeshare....

4.5 ⭐️ A huge resort that will take a couple days to get used to and figure out the transfer systems, you will fall in love with the boardwalks through the jungle, get ready to hit your steps goals every day (we averaged about 5kms walking the resort a day). We stayed in a master studio, it was a huge space with a comfy enough bed, good pillows, huge bathroom and jet tub. Incredibly cleaned and well maintained by the staff. As this is not a typical all-inclusive, use the prepay option - for our size room we paid $800usd and they gave us $100usd extra credit. As a couple, we used the full amount of credit after discounts were applied (more on this shortly…) The food and restaurants are amazing, lots of options, breakfast buffet at Del Lago is big with lots of choices. Even the room service is good, try the club sandwich, it’s excellent and very large (we split this for lunch a few times). We enjoyed the Beach Club pool with a cabana (not extra $) and the main pool. Happy Hour is from 12-2 so don’t miss out on that! The time of year we went (late October) was great because the resort wasn’t crazy busy, so lots of pool space and cabanas/lounges available. The staff are incredibly friendly, the transfer drivers are courteous, friendly, and helpful. Housekeeping staff are amazing and very attentive to detail. Hiram at the Grand Bliss concierge saved the day!!! Thank you for your help and explaining how the discounts work. Now, about those discounts…when we arrived at the hotel we had been travelling for 16 hours so we were exhausted. We were checked in and immediately given a sheet with details of a discount but it was not made clear what exactly it was…until the next morning when I realized they roped us in to “the talk” about timeshares. As owners at another resort (this trip was an Interval exchange from a covid certificate), we had no plans to purchase another unit somewhere else. We did the talk anyways because “it will only be 60 minutes” and like fools we believed them. 4 hours later, we felt like we swam through an ocean of slime. The sales tactics are predatory. The “unit” they tried to sell us went from $13k to $5800 to $3500 to $2500 to $1500 to $1000, with flights and cruises thrown in…and various fees they claim aren’t yearly fees, but you have to pay them yearly. It was confusing and we spoke with many people who bought around the $1500-$1800 mark because they felt it was the only way out of the sales building. I’ve sat through many sales presentations before and this was by far the longest, most high pressure, predatory sales tactics I’ve ever witnessed. If it makes sense for you to buy here, hold out for the $1000 level (studio suite price) because they WILL get there if you wait long enough. After a couple of days we actually thought “you know, we do love this place but had they not been SO aggressive we probably would have got a unit” but we were just so turned off by it. This is why I had to dock a half star from my overall rating. All in all the Grand Bliss is a beautiful resort with friendly staff and a stunning bit of land to explore around it....

The Grand Bliss is an awesome hotel and a place to call 'home' during vacation!

The staff are extremely friendly, from check-in to check-out. The concierges are always willing to help out and go the extra mile to ensure that my stay was amazing. The concierge was always available to answer questions, help with bookings, and always greeted me with the Saludo Vidanta (a symbol where the employees hold their hand to their heart) upon entering and exiting the hotel to enjoy the rest of the resort. The bell boys, responsible for luggage transportation throughout the resort, were very kind and knowledgeable when being escorted to the room at check-in. Additionally, the housekeeping staff go above and beyond. The daily housekeeping service includes the standard turndown, but also washing dishes from the kitchen located within the room. One time, I was greeted by an elephant towel animal and Hershey's kisses on the bed after returning from a long day at the beach.

The room, a one bedroom suite, was awesome, which was equipped with a kitchen (minifridge, stove, sink, silverware, bowls, pans, etc), an outdoor space with a plunge pool, and a jacuzzi bath with complementary spa treatments (essential oils and bath salts).

There were no lines at the Grand Bliss upon checking-in, however, the check-in process was long which also required a $1500 USD hold on your credit card. Following check-in, tired from the journey, I was greeted by a representative from Vida Vacations, the marketing division of Vidanta responsible for the sales of timeshares and vacation packages, to be invited to breakfast and a presentation/review/update. In exchange, additional perks for my stay were earned, including the Vida Privilege Card and a 10% discount on room charges. While originally skeptical about the presentation, I found the salespeople to be friendly, not pushy, and even reminding me that "No" is a perfectly acceptable answer.

The public rate for a stay at the Grand Bliss begins at around $900 USD a night, but members are able to stay for seven days at a discounted rate, starting around $1000 USD per week.

An additional thing to note is that all prices within the hotel and resort are in Mexican Pesos ($ MXN) unless otherwise specified to be in USD. Additionally, I would recommend paying for room charges and all other resort fees in Pesos compared to the resort converting the prices to USD (that is, if you have a credit card that does not assess foreign transaction fees), as the exchange rate that the credit cards use from MXN to USD is better than that of the resort. A sanitation and rooming tax (not included in the weekly/nightly rate) is assessed per day. The WiFi speed within the resort's basic (free) wifi plan is a little slow, and may not be suitable for streaming; although premium/high-speed wifi plans are available for an...