Maria del Mar Boutique Hotel & Spa — Hotel in Tulum

Nice boutique hotel, we had a pleasant stay but there is plenty of option in Tulum, meaning you can probably find both cheaper and better options. We liked the service, the hotel was clean and we particularly appreciated the concierge Giovanni proactively offering recommendations of things to do, bars and restaurants. We also liked that our suite was large, felt stilish, had an outdoor space, an incredible sea view, and came with sun beds reserved for us every day. The room also had a small plunge pool on the terrace, although we wished it was a Jacuzzi. The hotel felt quiet and relaxing. We also appreciated that the hotel is in a strategic position, in the zona hotelera, but not far from the town and the archeological ruins. The hotel has a nice pool, which we enjoyed using. There are plenty of bars and restaurants nearby, we had a car so we could use the free parking and move easily without needing to take taxis. However, the hotel was expensive and at that price point we felt it had some major flaws. The mattress felt uncomfortable as it sagged in the middle. The air conditioning was very noisy at night and had an annoying light we didn't know how to turn off. The room lacked furniture: a larger wardrobe to hang clothes would be useful. Despite the heat, we were only given one bottle of water a day. Perhaps the major disappointment was the beach: while the hotel has direct Beach access, it is not actually well positioned on the beach as the beach concession belongs to the hotel next door (Pietra Escondida). As a result the Hotel doesn't have the first row of deck chairs. Moreover, the beach was dirty (there was plenty of plastic and glass) and it wasn't pleasant to bathe. We were perhaps also unlucky that sargassum was coming in large quantity (in fairness, we saw staff working to remove it on one part of the beach once daily). We were also disappointed that bikes were being rented for $200 mx. A shop next door rents them for $150 and gave us a map. We felt like the hotel could offer bike rental and/or some other services for free or at a discount. The hotel also has a spa, but to our disappointment it was very expensive, so we decided not to use it. They offered yoga lessons, these were also an extra but were more reasonably priced and we enjoyed this in the morning. The restaurant has nice food, but expensive (even though should be said these prices are not higher than many other restaurants in the zona hotelera and the hotel did offer a 15% discount). Breakfast wasn't included but a 14$ deal was available. In summary, we had a nice stay, but felt like for the price the hotel needs...

Maria Del Mar is a horrible hotel. I can’t be any more clear. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY! You can have the exact same experience for 1/3rd the price at many hotels along the beach. Don’t fall for their trick. This is NOT a luxury hotel, despite what they charge.

As you can probably tell, our overall experience was horrible. Below are all the issues we found during our stay.

BAD BEACH: Their beach is entirely unusable and covered in pungent smelling sargassum seaweed. Their beach is significantly worse than all others in Tulum because of the rock cove they are in which traps the seaweed and the lack of any beach maintenance by the hotel and its staff. Other luxury hotels rake and dispose of the seaweed. Here, they let it collect and rot in front of the hotel.

NO QUIET NIGHTS: There is extremely loud club music every night until roughly 2-4am that will vibrate your room. Good luck sleeping, even with ear plugs. It’s insanely loud.

BROKEN DOWN: The hotel is generally in massive disrepair. Stair cases falling apart. Multiple Beach beds broken. Broken cabinets in our room that literally fell off the wall. Zero water pressure in the shower. Multiple non functioning power outlets. Spotty WiFi. Etc…. The pictures you see are not accurate at all. This is a bait and switch situation.

BAD FOOD: Their hotel restaurant served my pregnant wife completely raw steak…. I don’t know how you accidentally forget to cook the meat before serving it. Literally pink on the outside with no excuse for not realizing. This took a special kind of stupid to accomplish.

BAD SERVICE: And to cap it off, any complaints to the hotel manager will be brushed off and you will be told the issues are the equivalent of an “act of god” that the hotel bears no responsibility for. Multiple complaints were not met with any fixes or accommodations. They clearly know the hotel is horrible. Customer service is non existent. All they care about is keeping all of your money.

Don’t believe me? Just ask yourself one question. Is there a reason this hotel is consistently one of the only "luxury" priced hotels with rooms still available in Tulum? You didn’t get lucky, It’s just a horrible hotel so people avoid it!

I only wish we had a fair review to read before staying here and we would’ve avoided it entirely.

Don’t waste...

This place was horrible- let’s start with the over priced room, beach was very dirty, the rooms were in poor condition. We upgraded to the penthouse for $450 per night- the AC broke, had 1 security guy came and couldn’t fix it( no actual technician) They said they would comp for atleast the breakfast- but when the bill came- they only took of two eggs. As we talked about the bill for the room with the manager- The owner came and got into my wife’s face and shoved her n saying that’s they don’t want our business because we were uneducated. They had the security get into my wife’s face when I seen it and got into the security’s face and the owner jumped and shoved me. They had the bellhop throw a bolder under my car n we ended up running over it without knowing what they has done. Then the whole family came out and harrased my wife and I- I offer to talk it out but the owner continue to call us uneducated Americans and continue to verbally abused my wife. I was a C hair from beating the security up and he finally realized that his boss/ owner was wrong offer us to leave. My wife and I have travelled all over the world and stayed at the very high end location without a single incident. This is the first and only time we have had to defend our life on vacation.

As for the hotel itself: dirty beach with trash and a lot of seaweed on beach- not swimmable. They had a bold dozer removing trash and seeweed clear out the mess as people’s layed around to sundbathe.

Room were dirty and sheets had a body oder on it as if it wasn’t changed. We didn’t dine at the in-house restaurant after viewing what they had brought out and the cooks in the open kitchen. If you want to pay $450.00 per night and get a motel 6 service and room. Welcome! This is essentially what’s they had delivered to us for $450.00 per night. I don’t care for any compensation, I just want to make people awareness of this hostel- not hotel... There are plenty of nicer hotels to stay at- skip this place!! DO NOT STAY at MARIA DEL...