TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Beautiful resort. Very poor guest service. Arrival: no welcome, no greeting, no acknowledgment after a long transfer. Reception and guest services were consistently disengaged throughout our stay. Requests were met with indifference rather than help. Little effort to assist or resolve issues. We were travelling as a group of 10. Friends were upgraded, which created separation within the group and limited our ability to dine together. Restaurant availability was very poor (9:30 pm on night 7). We were only base level guests..They ask for your room number first. The grounds and pools are outstanding. Clean, lush, and very well maintained. This is the strongest part of the property. The beach experience is the major issue. Rocky entry, shallow water, and frequent sargassum make ocean swimming difficult. Not suitable for guests expecting a Caribbean swimming experience. Beach chair management is poor. Not enough in usable areas. Many are reserved early and left empty all day with no staff control. Food was underwhelming. Room service was inconsistent and disorganized. We were told we could not get room service twice and left on hold over 5 minutes. At à la cartes, dress code enforcement was inconsistent. Some guests in casual or logo clothing were admitted while others were turned away over footwear rules. We are not luxury travellers, but we do expect basic hospitality and consistency. The property itself is beautiful, lots of amenities but the service experience does not reflect the Barceló standard we expected. We left feeling unseen, undervalued, and genuinely unappreciated as guests.

The best part of our holiday was the food at the buffet. Lots of choices. The fruit was very fresh and the chicken was tender. We enjoyed eating in the outside eating area. We had great service at the buffet. By the pool, the mango margaritas were very good. The staff was always very polite and friendly. The only drawback was the extreme noise in the hallways, especially at night. The walls are super thin, so the noise carries. We learned over the week that the best way to block the noise was to wear earplugs and have the fan on high.

This was our first all inclusive since before Covid and we booked last minute so we were very excited to get away. The grounds are impeccable, so lush and beautiful. The lobby area and restaurants are also very nice. The staff at the front desk were always very kind and helpful. I was a bit surprised by the service of the rest of the staff. Most days we’d walk by someone and they wouldn’t say anything or acknowledge us, often even when entering and exiting the buffet. I’ve been to many AI resorts and usually everyone says hello and smiles. Faustina in the buffet for breakfast is such a sweetheart (her section is to the right near the windows when you walk in) . She stood out to us. We ate lunch at the Rancho Grande beach bar every day. The food there was pretty good. Overall I’d say the food was good, always something to eat but not amazing. We stayed in the Coba building. The room was nice, could use a little TLC but the bed was comfortable, the A/C was cold and the shower was hot so that’s all that really mattered to us. Our room was cleaned daily but we noticed rings on the bathroom counter (from an electric toothbrush) stayed there the entire trip and we didn’t leave the bathroom a cluttered mess. We went to the seafood restaurant which was nice, the staff there was very attentive and the food was good. The Tokyo restaurant in the mall was amazing! The service, the food, everything!! Yes, if you want a chair in a decent location on the beach or by the pool you’ll have to up early. We’re beach people and were at the beach by 630am so didn’t have an issue but an hour later the majority were taken. We were surprised how many were taken even by the time we got there and the sun hadn’t even come up yet. But, that’s at a lot of resorts… just ignorant and entitled people, many who probably reserved their spots the night before. And the people who use 1 towel to reserve 3 spots or reserve extra chairs for their stuff to sit on. And of course you don’t see most of these people until close to lunch or later. I don’t get it. If you want to buy souvenirs, there are vendors by the towel hut spot but despite “Mexico flexico” their prices were pretty high. We were surprised that the little souvenir stand in the mall by Tokyo had better prices but still haggle. The guy told us one price before dinner and then told us higher prices after. Luckily my husband loves to haggle. The beach!! I avoided returning to Mexico for years because I thought the beaches and ocean just couldn’t compare to the Cuba’s crystal clear ocean and white sand. The beach along this stretch is beautiful! There was some sargassum most days but the staff works so hard to clear it. It really wasn’t an issue. We love snorkelling so we snorkelled every day by the palace where we saw some fish, rays and the turtles!! If you go snorkelling, please don’t feed the turtles. I wish the resort posted signs about not feeding them. Lots of people brought bananas into the ocean to feed them which are not obviously not part of their natural diet. They can’t digest them properly because of the high levels of sugar. Wild animals should never be fed, it can make them more aggressive. And you don’t need food to entice them to get close. They can be quite curious and they are so cute and amazing to watch. We went out every day. They were definitely the highlight of our trip. Seems the beach all along the stretch was nice but rockier in front of the caribe and there seemed to be the most sargassum by the adults only but I believe that was probably just because of the way the wind was blowing. Overall, it was an amazing trip and we will definitely be back… mostly for the beach and turtles ??

Everything was excellent. The staff, food, rooms, beach , facilities were a-one ! There was quite a bit of walking but it is a very big resort. We will be returning.

The beach at this resort is very pretty and great water access. Access to sister resorts and all are easily walkable or there is a resort bus. There are also water sports available nearby. The rooms are good - comfy beds and pillows. The buffets are what you expect but was disappointed with lack of reservations available in the restaurants. That’s definitely something that needs work. I would stay there again because of the value.