TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

My spouse and I have stayed at Akumal several time (and also Tulum and Sian Ka'an) and would highly recommend the resort to anyone and everyone! We stayed mid April which is considered slow season and things had shifted a bit to accommodate that (not all of the food stations at the buffet were being used, less staff and Bar 66 closed) but it didn't change how wonderful our vacation was in any way. We were uncertain about what to expect since we arrived just after Hyatt took over, but nothing seemed out of the norm for us. There is construction going on which didn't really impact us. The construction last fall was closer to where we stay and that minimally impacted our stay. The top reasons that we choose to stay at the Bahia resorts in Riviera Maya are the variety of options in almost everything, the staff and the entertainment so it wouldn't make sense for us to feel that our trip was spoiled because the AO morning/lunch buffet was closed during construction because there are SO many other places and options to eat! The entertainment at this resort is unbelievable! We recently stayed at a resort in Cancun that had occasional shows and would offer to bus you over to a sister resort for a foam party. Bahia offers similar parties at Tequila but additionally has nightly shows in the theaters at all of the resorts, a ton of live music and local, traditional shows at all of the resorts, and late night options. There is so much going on, literally every night! There is amazing day time entertainment at well but this feels similar to other resorts. SPA: My spouse and I enjoyed the "Mayan Experience" at the Bahia Spa on my birthday. It was fantastic and reasonably priced! A great massage and a unique experience that we really enjoyed. I would highly recommend Yamile and Aimee! They were truly excellent! Bahia App: I felt that it was easier to use this year. I know that it was somewhat confusing due to Hyatt/Bahia but it was fine once I realized that the Bahia app was still being used. A difference in the app from last year is the inability to order soda/beer from the "Room Service" option. I loved that this was available last year as it took a lot of the stress out of getting what you prefer in your fridge. Would LOVE for that to be an option again! A' La Carte Restaurants: It was challenging to obtain certain reservations but we were able to get almost everything we wanted. I also realized that once we were there, if there was a specific place we wanted to try -there would be openings if I checked the location several times on they day we wanted. I would assume that this is due to cancellations but it makes going anywhere possible. I wish that I had known this happened before I arrived because I worried more than I needed to! Katok Steak House was great! We really enjoyed our meal and thought that both the food and the atmosphere were perfect! We were lucky enough to have service with Eric, whom we have known for years, dating back to his service at the main buffet. He is an incredible human and always a pleasure to see! Ku'uk was excellent! The food was amazing and the service made the night a fun evening! Feliciano and Jose were wonderful! Smoked was fantastic! Loved the place - it had a high-end vibe with great food and also great service! Alvaro was so appreciated! La Gran Tortuga is always a favorite of ours. Again, a great high-end vibe and excellent food! Our service was amazing but sadly forgot to write down our server's name. Great evening! Main Buffet: We really enjoy the buffet and always feel that there is plenty of choices to enjoy each meal. We would have difficulty finding anything really negative to say about it! The staff at the buffet are wonderful and work very hard to get to know you and make your experience perfect! We love love Jose "Lucas" Gonzalez! We have also known him for years and enjoy every time we come. Feliciano was incredible and took a lot of effort to make our meals enjoyable! And of course, Patricia and her partner are amazing and always a fan-favorite! She promised to make us an extra special last dinner but unexpectedly lost a grandparent and was unable to be there. During this difficult time for her family, she contacted her partner to ensure we still had our special dinner! Incredible and humbling for us! Pro tip: If Gabriella is making omelets...Get in line! Absolutely delicious! My obsession this year! Sport bar: This is a true asset at Akumal and something that I use to sell others on trying the resort. The sports bars at other resorts tend to be okay but often have a strange and non- sports vibe. This is a really fun bar with amazing staff that we really enjoy! All of the bartenders are amazing and helpful! We loved spending time with Luis, Oscar and Antonio who is a true artist with drinks! Thank you to all who took extra steps to make our experience great! Rotating pool/coffee/Pakal staff: Ana is someone that we know from previous years and always look so forward to seeing! She is a wonderful person who always makes our experience better! Absolutely love her! Other amazing staff that made our trip so much better are Wendy and Daisee! So personable and kind. We really appreciated all of the effort they took at getting to know us and making our stay perfect! I honestly cannot say enough about ALL of the staff we encountered - housekeeping, valet, cart drivers, grounds maintenance, front desk, servers...everyone! I have never smiled at anyone and not received a return smile and greeting! I have never asked for help and not received some attempt at or actual assistance - ever! The staff are a genuine asset and will hopefully be around for many years to come. It would change our experience for the worse without them. I cannot say thank you enough to all of the people who work and try so hard to make vacation time so perfect. I additionally appreciated the effort that staff made to make my birthday extra special! Loved celebrating my day at Bahia! Excellent resort which may be my opinion but excellent value which I feel is just true! The quality of the resort including really great A' La carte Restaurants, Amazing entertainment options, the Hacienda, and the overall amount of options and variety make each vacation different and special. Many thanks!

I have been to 3 out of the 4 resort not counting the new one. Akumal is a great resort and has great people working for them for the most part. Housekeeping is good, Bar staff is great. The restaurant staff are ok. Cons... Front end of the resort. They try to up sale you from the get go and think they are doing you a big favour at a cost. Message me if you want more details on this. Buffet staff are for the most part nice, Some of the other ones should go find work else were. We are the customer and we should get a little respect. I am in no way saying you need to treat us like kings but at less humans. (Tulum and Coba have better staff at there buffets). Pools need to be cleaned better. The main pool was not clean correctly. You can feel the sunshine in the water and the staff only cleaners two areas of it the whole we were there. Pros... Bar staff are great, you just need to ask for things by name brands or you get the both shelve. Gardeners took great care of the property and the staff at the beach were great trying there best to get the customers in the water. I do like the Bahia property but will not be going back to Akumal. We will go back to Coba, Tulum or Sain Ka'an and maybe try Tequila out. Believe some of the reviews on what you read. This is not my first trip and will not be my last one.

I loved staying at Bahia Principe Akumal. They make you feel, like at home and treat every of your requests with such care! Our girls were at kids club every day and every night for the shows. Valeria. Estrella, Eduardo and Maribel are the best people you can trust your kids with!?? We already miss them! As to daytime activities, I really loved Aqua fit with Nemo (Guillermo)- it's so fun! Highly recommend ?? And the whole entertainment team was on fire!?? At the buffet the waiters are very caring, our favorite one is Patricia in the evenings??

We did our first visit to the Bahía Príncipe Akumal Explore resort. We went to celebrate my wife’s birthday as well as an early 50th wedding anniversary celebration. We did our first all inclusive. The resort has several hotels and each hotel has their own restaurants, bars, pools and beach. Guest can use ANY of the listed facilities. Guests are driven where they need to go with the facility’s golf cart trains. We experienced some issues our first day but PALOMA, a very caring customer service advocate, got involved and fixed all our issues. One issue was/IS, we read online reviews and people said you MUST make advance reservations at their “à la carte” restaurants Or you won’t get in. We had customers we met during our stay, who, when overhearing us speak about our reservations fiasco, say “you talking about restaurant reservations? Good luck!!” When booking, wife spoke to a hotel employee who said my wife needed to send her a list of dates, restaurants and times and she assured my wife she’d make the reservations; didn’t happen. So our first night, we thought since room service is included In all inclusive, we’d calm down and order room services. DON’T!! We ordered two cheeseburgers that were “mushy” and a 12”pizza that was horrible. It was like I took white flour, tried to make a crust, pit tomato sauce on it and a slice of tomato. My wife ended up eating a hamburger bun for her 1st night’s dinner. A guest (not a hotel employee) told us they have a breakfast buffet adjacent to the Akumal Explore lobby. We ate there and that’s where Paloma stopped by and asked how our first day was? I asked “Do you really want to talk to us after what we experienced?” She DID and took detailed notes. She worked and got us all the reservations we previously asked for. We told her another customer told us the buffet was open for lunch and dinner, and if we had KNOWN that, we’d have eaten our 1st night’s dinner at the buffet. Our first few recommendation to the hotel: (1) INFORM CUSTOMERS ABOUT THE BUFFET AS AN ALTERNATIVE OF RESERVATIONS CAN’T BE MADE. (2) TRAIN BOOKING STAFF IF THEY MAKE A COMMITMENT TO ASSIST CUSTOMERS WITH RESERVATIONS, KEEP THE COMMITMENT!! (3) HAVE THE DECENCY TO INFORM CUSTOMERS THE BAHÍA-PRÍNCIPE AKUMAL EXPLORE COMPLEX IS UNDERGOING MAJOR DEMOLITION AND RENOVATING. WE WERE AWAKENED DAILY AROUND 6AM BY TRUCK BACK UP ALARMS; NOT ONLY CONSTRUCTION TRUCKS BUT DELIVERY TRUCKS TO THE RESTAURANT/POOL AREAS. Restaurant gift shop prices (some) are insane. We thought of buying a small bag of Doritos and Cheeze Curls until we learned it was $25 for the two. SMALL.BAGS. We put them back, lol. In the building we stayed in), they DID fulfill our request for an ocean view room, but, THERE ARE NO ELEVATORS. So, to reach our room, multiple times daily, we had to ascend FORTY STEPS. My wife had her knee replaced a year ago and it was rough!! There are no ice machines but guest services WILL have container of ice brought to your room if you call them. The hotel had a “FELIZ CUMPLEANOS/HAPPY BIRTHDAY” white and gold banner across our room door and “Happy Birthday” in colored letters behind our restaurant table on my wife’s birthday. The staff started to sing and some customers joined; it was very sweet and thoughtful. The resort staff were VERY polite, attentive and always willing to help, ALWAYS ASKING if we wanted another drink, or anything at all. Employees who STRONGLY deserve recognition; PALOMA - Customer Care Advocate Javier - Paloma’s manager. He also worked hard to make sure we had our requested reservations, ESPECIALLY for the steak house on her anniversary. Tania - Dolce Vita - the manager of Dolce Vita. ALWAYS smiling, polite and helpful. She was ok with Jhovany of Dolce Vita getting us a sample of the special pasta cheesy dish we watched made at another customer’s table (cheese is set on fire). Gladys - Juan- Florencio (Katon - steakhouse) - great servers, very attentive and all sang “Happy Birthday” to my wife Jhovany - Dolce Vita - super server who also got us a sample of the flaming cheesy pasta dish!! The beaches are meticulously maintained. There was a lot of seaweed at the water’s edge and in the water. While they can’t harvest/collect it in the water, they had large crews raking it up and putting it into a front end loaded and dump truck. And they DID have way of providing areas with very minimal seaweed (ropes and or/nets), etc.). Another recommendation to the hotel: (3) Since each building had a concierge on the first floor, have the concierge ask exiting customers if they need a ride and if so, use their radio system to call for a golf cart train. There were times we waited 10-15 minutes for a ride. AND, instruct the drivers if they have ti go to say, the “Tequila” hotel and to do so, they have to pass the “Akumal Explore,” allow customers to “catch a ride.” We were prohibited. The restaurants we are in had a decent selection to choose from. The lobby had an on-site “Amstar” booth to assist hotel customers look at potentially book excursions and activities.

This was my 5th visit, 4th to Akumal. Lots of construction as a dozen buildings are undergoing complete floor to ceiling remodeling. Lots of noise and dust, was told it would be competed by the end of November 26. I had a swim up room adjacent to several buildings undergoing repair, not as bad as the adults only building, which was surrounded by construction. Bahia spends lots of manpower to keep the foliage, roads, and decor up to date. This is not a knock on that aspect of Bahia, just a statement of fact. Go before Dec 1 with full knowledge of construction underway. The buffet was severely downgraded from my earlier 2 recent visits. Maybe based upon the lower occupancy, maybe permanently? Either way, NOT GOOD. Considering the prices are 50% higher than 2025 (Hyatt take over), not a good combo for an all inclusive resort. Bad food and higher prices are pretty easy to find in Mexico, you don't have to go here for it. Exterior maintenance is top notch, nary a leaf out of place, so the grounds are beautiful. Wild life is bountiful, so the zoo comes to you. All kinds of pretty birds too! Easy beach access from two of the 5 resort lodges. They do a nice job of decorating for Christmas every year. Sian Kahn may have the best Christmas decor of all the other lodges. 19 different specialty restaurants, some good, others not so good, lots of variety. Don't wait to get there to make reservations, do it 10 days before arrival for the best selection of times and locations.