Fairmont Mayakoba reviews
7790 TripAdvisor reviews
Beautiful place, but rodents in room and noise tainted our stay
lemonicecream (NY, NY) on Mar 16, 2024
Good: The resort grounds and buildings, inside and out are beautiful. We were excited to be upgraded to a beach area room at check in for free. Kids loved the waterslide at the main pool. The golf cart service was quick and efficient. We enjoyed dinner at La Laguna, especially the ambiance at the table on the dock. Beach and poolside service was great. Our butler who appeared a few days into our stay was helpful, although we had already spent a lot of time booking dinner reservations on our own and figuring things out by that time. The complimentary boat tour around the resort was a highlight. Breakfast at the Koba Bar at Cameleon golf club was excellent and a good value. The Mayan performance on Wednesday afternoon at El Pueblito was unique. Bad: We had to get up early to claim pool or beach chairs, which was a surprise. The room was nice but underwhelming and reminiscent of a regular hotel room. I would recommend getting a suite if possible instead. Stained cushions on the balcony lounge and visible trash in the laguna diminished the beauty of the lake view. My erroneous impression was that ground floor signature casita rooms had outdoor showers but ours did not, which was disappointing. The kids club has paid activities ($30/child) every other hour so if you want to have any significant adult time be prepared to pay. The cenote guide was visibly and audibly annoyed at having to do another tour when we went, which negatively impacted the experience. I understand the need, but the two tiers of seaweed barriers in the ocean are a bit of an eyesore. The food is very expensive and not all of it was worth the price. If you are not on a budget, all-inclusive is probably the less stressful way to go although it is easily possible not to eat $300 worth of food and drink per person per day. Ugly: Our room had rodents and there were an increasing number of droppings in the room day by day. The preferred area for the rodents was our closet, which led to droppings and urine on our clothes. Ultimately after coming back from our trip we had to shake the rodent droppings out of our suitcases. I brought this up to our butler who credited $500 to our bill and requested a door sweep to be installed, but it was ineffective. The rodents entered again the following night and woke us up. We understand that rodents are a risk at any resort surrounded by lush foliage. However, a formal pest control intervention was not performed and changing rooms was not offered as an option. I have traveled extensively high and low all over the world and I have not had to coexist with rodents in any lodging, except for at the Fairmont. Lastly, the final night of our stay, a private event on the golf course took place during which a DJ played dance music until 4am. It was incredibly loud; I initially thought the noise was coming from my upstairs neighbor as I could feel the bass vibrating in the room. I was told that many other complaints about the noise had been made but that nothing could be done except to offer us earplugs (which I already had and were useless in this scenario). I am surprised that a resort of this caliber would not respect/protect its guests by having resort-wide policies on reasonable quiet hours. Again, the staff the following day was apologetic and offered more credits, but a night in a party zone was not what I expected from this property. I emailed the general manager to report all this and received a perfunctory reply, but only after my second email with photos attached. Bottom line: If you see a single rodent dropping, insist on a room change as the rodents will be back despite cursory attempts to patch things up. Ask in advance if any private events are planned for the dates of your stay, and seriously consider staying elsewhere if so unless quiet hours are newly established. Get a suite in the beach area and go ahead and pay for all-inclusive if you have the budget, as this will make for a more comfortable stay. There are so many great resort options in Mexico and the Caribbean islands. Unfortunately, this was not a luxury stay for us.
Wonderful property and overall experience
Patrick B on Mar 16, 2024
The lush property takes you away as the buildings and casitas, as beautiful as they can be are well hidden in this jungle atmosphere. The two pools are each beautiful with enough isolated areas to relax. The food options are great. We weren’t able to book a boat tour through the river unfortunately as the tours were all booked. In room service and turn down were impeccable. Be careful, do not leave your door unlocked as the raccoons will come in and have a great meal! The beach sports and available activities should all be included though, epecially with the price of the all-inclusive package. Overall, a fantastic stay in all regards!
EXCELLENT family vacation!
Dana E (Houston, Texas) on Mar 14, 2024
Excellent choice for a family vacation! Beautifully remodeled with fantastic dining options. We thought it was well worth it to book a room in the beach area. Having Daniel assist us with dining and transportation reservations was invaluable. I also encountered inconsistent golf cart availability which made being within walking distance from the beach and many of the top restaurants a definite perk. I highly recommend purchasing the all-inclusive package. It is certainly a savings when we compared all of our dining receipts!
A bit pricey for the experience.
282barrys (San Francisco, California) on Mar 13, 2024
The facility was very nice, and the service and food were very good. The lack of activities, especially at night was disappointing. No entertainment. Also, $41 USD for 5 ounces of sunscreen was robbery. The pool and the beach were very well maintained.
Fab evening!
carolynbK3811BE on Mar 11, 2024
We had an amazing dinner experience with Enrique as our server. Gaia had a wide variety of choices on the menu, and the dishes were tasty and well presented. Great food, great atmosphere, great night! The tequila advice was an unexpected plus!