Kanan Tulum — Hotel in Tulum

I had stayed here at the Kanan Tulum September 1-5 celebrating our honeymoon and well as my 30th birthday. We got engaged August 30th 2019 marriage September 1 2020. We were left for two hours at the Cancun airport. The only means of contacts was TEXT VIA WhatsApp. The airport calls the hotel Ahau in attempt to contact Kanan still nothing. Finally after two hours of waiting for a pre paid airport transfer service we ended up paying additional $200 to get to the hotel which was 2 hours away. The atmosphere: The hotel is stunning! Suspended by trees! It is fully sustainable; natural. It’s full of lush. Many places to check out art installations,statues, beautiful nests to check out the sunrises. **side note my hubs and I are a model/photographer duo. He does drone scales for buildings and hoteliers. Will include images and videos! When you come into the hotel you are literally below the treehouse! Check-in We were checked in my a woman named Luisa. She had told me the hotel called the entire airport transfer because one of the bridal party couple canceled they canceled the entire transfer instead of calling my number which is the main reservation to confirm the cancellation. We had to pay for one night cash due to my hiccup(had contacted the hotel in July about the extended booking). They charge me the $220 that was a balance due. To then proceed to tell me I owe $970 dollars on top of what I already paid for...I sent a message to Alberto who put together this trip for us..no response. Finally Luisa was able to contact Alberto and square away the issue and issues our room credits(not much but $300 is something)(Mind you we made these requests and reservations from May/June; ample amounts of time to get everything correct). Even with a this mishap we still enjoyed our time! The beach club is amazing. It was dead which we were very happy about due to covid: we ended up having the beach club almost to ourselves(the hotel only has 25 rooms). The night of my birthday my fiancé also set up Private nest dinner With candles flowers. He even the night before confirmed with Luisa the time and location. When we arrived for dinner at 6:15 pm. No one knew what we were talking about. We were given a beach club menu(not dinner) and set on our way to the back. Where we had no views. Regardless we ended up picking something off the menu because Felix our sever was amazing. It was not the service staff that had these mishaps it was the guest relations Desk between contacting Alberto and Lusia. *we are far from cheap. We actually brought $300 to tip the staff. How come we didn’t feel like we were wanted or belonged in the hotel. We were finely dressed well mannered couple. Nevertheless we never showed the staff nothing less then upmost kindness. Guest relations. Out of everyone in guest relations: Paco was amazing. He went above and beyond to try to makeup our honeymoon. He is the reason why I’d visit to tulum and Kanan again! Also the wait staff! The ladies of guest services..I cannot seem to write the same. On the second to last day we were approached(as if they were ready to get rid of us:again we were far from high maintenance; check out the yacht Experience review(just the two of us and we let the captain eat lobster the staff as Well, fish, and drink with us) so again we are far from demanding. Room: Rounded king suite Wow wow wow Stunning soak in WOODEN TUB Jaw dropping wooden rain shower! The room was a tropical haven! You couldn’t make it up or anything in between. It’s one of those places that words doesn’t do it justice. Overall: The hotel is amazing. The only issue I will have until hopefully is fixed is how they handle guest issues. Thankfully we were such an easy couple. Can only imagine if they had bridezilla! Also Alberto who put this all together! Didn’t even apologized for the mess of the staff or anything. Saw my messages from two different days on what’s app and left me on read(the two...

Both amazing and terrible. It could have been perfect if it wasn’t for Tulum’s lust for money and loud music.||The good: |This hotel is one of the most beautiful, tropical, treehouse and nature designed hotels I’ve ever seen. The amount of natural wood and live green plants is astounding. Everything looks so good. Even wandering the pathways that go up through the trees and rooftops is a fun activity on its own. There are hidden seating areas sprinkled throughout, and the views from the top are beautiful. ||The lounging areas all around the pool and beach were are favorite places to be. Surprisingly good privacy and good spots for both couples and groups. Clean, comfortable, and some of the upper levels are both fun to get to and have a great view of the ocean.||Our room was also beautiful with lots of dark colored wood, ample space, and fun additions like a wooden bathtub and private deck with hammock and chair.||The staff are also amazingly nice and helpful. When sitting by the pool, someone will always be around to check on you and make sure you never run out of food or drinks. Fidel was particularly good at taking care of us and his English was much better than our Spanish, which made it or stay even easier. The parking security were also incredibly helpful and friendly every time we came or left.||While Sargassum makes the beach almost unusable Kanan hotel does a better job than most at managing it with cleanups. Some other hotels and restaurants along the coast had painfully bad smells of sulfur and ammonia from the decomposing sargasso but that was never an issue at Kanan, just a faint seaweed smell.||The bad:|Kanan Hotel’s DJ is pretty good but like most of the Zona Hotelera, the music is way too loud even if the business is empty. Both by the pool 1:00PM-5:00PM the street side restaurant 5:00PM-1:00AM. The neighboring hotel, Akiin Beach Tulum, has a particularly terrible DJ that makes up for bad music with so much bass that makes you wonder if it’s just the music or you have a hangover. If both hotels just chilled on the music and brought it down 50%, I would have no complaints. The bedrooms don’t have great sound insulation either so you will hear it in your bedroom too.||The pool, was often grossly hot and dirty.||The bedrooms, while aesthetically great, are a bit “rough”. The beautiful hot tub could not provide hot water the entire time we were there. The handle to the shower had started to unscrew so we occasionally got locked in the shower. The water cooler ran empty on the second day and despite asking the front desk, was never refilled in the next 5 days. Also don’t drop anything small the floors boards have large openings and if something falls in, it’s gone.||The hotels restaurant food is about 3-5x the cost the same amount of food in Downtown Tulum, making it similar to mid to high level US pricing. Quality was good, but nothing special compared to what you can find in downtown Tulum.||The Really Bad:|Tulum’s police tried extorting us for money two nights, and one night they were successful after taking my driver’s license and not giving it back unless I paid 5000 pesos. They block the road between the Zona Hotelera and Downtown Tulum around 9PM. Read in advance how to avoid extortion and have printed material ready. I wish the hotel would have warned us or the hotels of the area would do something about their corrupt police.||Lastly, while having dinner at an open air restaurant in downtown Tulum, a person at the neighboring car wash was shot 6 times and killed. This permanently changed my...

Both amazing and terrible. It could have been perfect if it wasn’t for Tulum’s lust for money and loud music.

The good: This hotel is one of the most beautiful, tropical, treehouse and nature designed hotels I’ve ever seen. The amount of natural wood and live green plants is astounding. Everything looks so good. Even wandering the pathways that go up through the trees and rooftops is a fun activity on its own. There are hidden seating areas sprinkled throughout, and the views from the top are beautiful.

The lounging areas all around the pool and beach were are favorite places to be. Surprisingly good privacy and good spots for both couples and groups. Clean, comfortable, and some of the upper levels are both fun to get to and have a great view of the ocean.

Our room was also beautiful with lots of dark colored wood, ample space, and fun additions like a wooden bathtub and private deck with hammock and chair.

The staff are also amazingly nice and helpful. When sitting by the pool, someone will always be around to check on you and make sure you never run out of food or drinks. Fidel was particularly good at taking care of us and his English was much better than our Spanish, which made it or stay even easier. The parking security were also incredibly helpful and friendly every time we came or left.

While Sargassum makes the beach almost unusable Kanan hotel does a better job than most at managing it with cleanups. Some other hotels and restaurants along the coast had painfully bad smells of sulfur and ammonia from the decomposing sargasso but that was never an issue at Kanan, just a faint seaweed smell.

The bad: Kanan Hotel’s DJ is pretty good but like most of the Zona Hotelera, the music is way too loud even if the business is empty. Both by the pool 1:00PM-5:00PM the street side restaurant 5:00PM-1:00AM. The neighboring hotel, Akiin Beach Tulum, has a particularly terrible DJ that makes up for bad music with so much bass that makes you wonder if it’s just the music or you have a hangover. If both hotels just chilled on the music and brought it down 50%, I would have no complaints. The bedrooms don’t have great sound insulation either so you will hear it in your bedroom too.

The pool, was often grossly hot and dirty.

The bedrooms, while aesthetically great, are a bit “rough”. The beautiful hot tub could not provide hot water the entire time we were there. The handle to the shower had started to unscrew so we occasionally got locked in the shower. The water cooler ran empty on the second day and despite asking the front desk, was never refilled in the next 5 days. Also don’t drop anything small the floors boards have large openings and if something falls in, it’s gone.

The hotels restaurant food is about 3-5x the cost the same amount of food in Downtown Tulum, making it similar to mid to high level US pricing. Quality was good, but nothing special compared to what you can find in downtown Tulum.

The Really Bad: Tulum’s police tried extorting us for money two nights, and one night they were successful after taking my driver’s license and not giving it back unless I paid 5000 pesos. They block the road between the Zona Hotelera and Downtown Tulum around 9PM. Read in advance how to avoid extortion and have printed material ready. I wish the hotel would have warned us or the hotels of the area would do something about their corrupt police.

Lastly, while having dinner at an open air restaurant in downtown Tulum, a person at the neighboring car wash was shot 6 times and killed. This permanently changed my...