Zorba Tulum Beach Homes — Hotel in Tulum

I posted this before - but reposting with 5 stars due to reflection, be aware they may have fixed some of the "Cons" since then. FYI - We stayed at Zorba week in early March 2024 - For reference we have been to Tulum multiple times and last stayed at Be Tulum. We stayed in Villa 4||Pros|1. Beautiful spacious villa for fair price. A great layout for older families or large groups. Villa 4 was just amazing. Love the rooftop outdoor showers. |2. The location is great in Tulum's Beach resort area. Grounds and beach kept well.|3. There is housekeeping every day! - Most villa style rentals do not have that|4. It felt very secure off hours. |5. Felt secluded enough and minimal noise from neighboring properties (other villas is another story depending on other guests)|6. The beach coffee/snack hut was 1000% amazing. Great prices and food with freshly made dishes that beat other places we've eaten at. Chiringuito resort being next door and accommodating was helpful to have (more on this later)|7. Arrival Dinner in villa by personal chef - highly recommended|8. There was a very sweet, cute cat that showed up there, I hope she is still OK. ||Room for Improvement/Be aware of... (note again these are Spring 2024 issues and may have been addressed)|1. Coordination. Our arrival time was coordinated with the concierge team and we booked travel from airport via Zorba team - when we arrived A) No one was able to help with bags B) no one was around C) Our villa was very hot for awhile since there was no air conditioning on, and it takes awhile to cool down the villa.||2. Coffee bar/hut - while super amazing, it was down for 3 days during out stay. We understand there can be emergencies but if you are staying at Zorba be aware the stand may be closed for multiple days if the single cook has something come up, which is fair and life happens. Luckily Chiringuito next door provides an OK backfill.||3. Villa/Resort - Could use more storage in bedrooms. No dressers, limited area for toiletries. Kitchen has plenty of utensils, etc but only 5 nespresso pods - make sure to bring some if you want coffee every morning. Resort grounds - could use some more sand near top of hill - i felt you may not want to be barefoot with exposed concrete/rocks. ||4. Be aware - its family oriented location and I respect that decision although I wish it were more 13+, etc. There was and during your trip could be families with multiple very young babies - and crying children. Its alluring to see the Zorba Instagram posts with adults relaxing by the pool - but that's not happening with toddlers climbing around etc. Also if you want to hang out/sit outside after 11pm, you may get complaints from neighbors, even from...

We stayed at this property in December 2018 with a large wedding party. The property is beautiful and has a nice setting on the beach. The homes are new and nicely furnished. We had a difficult time finding the property when we arrived in Tulum because there are no signs identifying the property. Management could at least create some type of landmark in front of the property for guests to watch out for so that they know they have arrived at the correct location. There is not near enough parking at this property. We arrived back to the property after being in town for a few hours and found all the parking spots were taken so we had no choice but to park on the road. Within an hour a police officer and tow truck had arrived to tow the vehicle away. We were asked to pay $1500 in order to stop the vehicle from being towed. This situation was even more upsetting when We learned at least 2 of the 5 parking spots were being used by the owner and employees, instead of reserving them for guests. The owner offered no apology and only said that we should have parked elsewhere. If you do decide to stay at this property be sure to request a reserved parking spot just for your vehicle so that you don’t have a similar situation. There were also multiple thefts that occurred at the property during our stay. Money, jewelry, speakers and other valuables were missing when we returned to the property on the day of the wedding. The property is hardly secure. The sliding glass doors in at least one of the houses did not lock, there were many people not part of our party that were walking through the property at various hours of the day, and one evening the security guard was asleep when we returned from dinner. There was only one safe in our house. It was not big enough to store the valuables of everyone in our house and made it uncomfortable for other guests in our party to constantly ask the person staying in the master suite if they can access the room to place valuables in the safe. The individual bedrooms within the houses do not have a separate lock/key so anyone staying in the same house can easily access any of the bedrooms if they want. The owner of the property was made aware of the thefts and his response was appalling: “When you get a large group of people together and everyone is drinking, things often get misplaced.” Overall, the property has potential but the owner/management need to reconsider how they handle guest concerns and do more to accommodate for parking...

Zorba by itself is very nice (the staff, the vibe, etc.) however my disappointment is more with Tulum in general. Where Zorba is situated in Tulum, the noisy hotel next door and the price/value relationship is what makes it 4 stars instead of 5. Tulum has become very crowded in the last several years so getting to and from Zorba takes 45 minutes from highway/town of Tulum generally. That’s a lot of time spent in the car or on a bike if you want to go get lunch in town or go to a cenote, etc. It’s bumper to bumper traffic with lots of potholes on the road. The beach clubs and the crowds in the area don’t make for a tranquil relaxing beach stay once you leave the hotel and even the music at the hotel next door take away from this. There are some nice gourmet restaurants that are worth it (Nu, Itzik) and some cheesy ones that are a ripoff (Gitano). The beach zone is definitely overpriced - ATMs included. 8% transaction fee! The crowds are somewhat less sophisticated these days. As unfortunately is typical in the Mayan Riviera (and perhaps Mexico on general) the government and the developers pocket the profits and do little for the infrastructure and the welfare of the locals and the environment. Zorba is great to experience the “scene” that Tulum has become but I wouldn’t recommend for a quiet getaway as it once was. If you’re looking to party then it’s a different story. Keep in mind when you go as the sargassum is worse from March - September. It was 20’ wide and 2’ deep when we left and the entire beach starts to smell as it composts in the hot sun. We were there in July. It’s not their fault (it’s naturally occurring but has gotten worse the past several years due climate change and pollution most likely) but when paying a lot of money for a beach front room and you can barely swim in the murky ocean it...