TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

To start with the reception staff and particularly the staff member Marioni are incredibly rude and officious. Secondly a lot of undisclosed costs, random service tax and other unclear charges. When I finally got into room my bathroom was locked!!! And waited more than 1 hour for someone to unlock!!!! Not sure how this should even happen. For a relatively expensive accommodation the poorest service and most unhelpful and unhappy staff I have seen compared to the other 10 Hotels I have stayed in Mexico

Our family just returned from a truly unforgettable 12-day stay at Mahekal Beach Resort in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and we couldn’t be happier with our experience. From the moment we arrived, the service was absolutely superb and the food was exceptional—so much so that we never ate the same thing twice the entire time we were there. The highlight of our stay was hosting our daughter’s wedding at the resort, and it exceeded every expectation we had. The reception was flawless—our guests were never without a drink, the food was outstanding, and everything was executed beautifully. While communication with Laura, the wedding coordinator, leading up to the event was lacking and at times stressful (especially with some disconnect between her and the reservations department regarding our room block), she ultimately delivered a perfect wedding day with the help of excellent vendors and staff. The resort itself is stunning. The grounds are pristine, the atmosphere is peaceful, and the staff are consistently friendly, respectful, and attentive. Our Palapa room was fantastic, and housekeeping did a wonderful job keeping everything spotless and comfortable throughout our stay. We do recommend that future guests keep all email confirmations from the reservations team and bring printed copies, as pre-arrival communication was the only notable challenge we encountered. We’d also like to give special recognition to Armando, who worked tirelessly taking care of our group by the pool for days—his dedication did not go unnoticed. And Ismael, the bartender, was incredible—he got every order just right and kept the experience fun and seamless. We appreciated Kimberly who not only took care of us at Olas, but at our private wedding functions. We would also like to shout out to Enrique, who spoke with our son in Spanish as he really appreciated & enjoyed that! One of the best parts of this resort is its location. It offers a tranquil, intimate setting while still being just steps away from 5th Avenue, where you can explore the vibrant culture, shops, and nightlife of Playa del Carmen. We would absolutely return to Mahekal Beach Resort and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a more boutique, personalized resort experience with exceptional service, amazing food, and a beautiful setting.

This hotel has so much potential.. The grounds are beautiful and the staff are mostly lovely (felt some in reception were unhelpful and not particularly friendly). The location is great and we loved being able to walk out onto 5th Avenue and explore the town. Yes, it is noisy and one night the music went on to 6am.... however generally this wasn't too big of an issue for us. We wanted a more quirky/individual hotel rather than a large all inclusive resort and this is just that. The pool by our accommodation was really run down and not inviting at all. We were in garden view rooms and I am not sure what that pool was called. However the other pools were lovely. The garden view rooms are nice, not 5 star luxury by any means. There was a restaurant near there but this was always closed - (Cocina). Sadly they also closed the agave bar to redo the roof while we were there. The beach is small but nice. There was a lot of sargassum while we were there and they seemed slow to clear this, meaning the beach smelt strongly of it. You couldn't really go in the sea due to this- unless you are happy to wade through it. Of course this is not the fault of the hotel. We went snorkelling to Cozumel and I would recommend that to appreciate how stunning the water can be. We booked through booking.com and they did not honour our bedding selection, despite me requesting this multiple times. There was no welcome drink, just a small touch but one that is greatly appreciated. This was the only hotel we stayed in Mexico that did not offer this (we travelled around). We paid for breakfast and dinner and despite this they snuck on a charge for 5 of us to have dinner one night. There was no matching receipt for this obviously and I am still awaiting a refund for this. They assured me that they would do this immediately as initially told me the wait would be one month but I said that was not acceptable. I am still waiting and the hotel is not responding to me when I have tried to chase this up. The most frustrating issue for me currently is that the hotel have taken an unauthorised payment of just under £2000 at the same time that they took the correct payment for the hotel stay prior to my arrival. The hotel blames booking.com saying they are at fault, however booking.com blame the hotel and have said that the hotel are not responding to them at all. The 2 amounts are different and both payments have clearly been taken by the hotel. I have shown the hotel my credit card app and emailed proof to the email given to me by the hotel reception but they are not responding to me at all, and they are not responding to my follow up emails. Booking.com have advised I write my review to try and prompt the hotel to respond to them. Looking at previous reviews I can see that providing refunds seems to be an issue for them. In my case this was not an authorised payment and why it is taking weeks to sort this out I cannot understand. Surely they have a finance team that can trace payments? I have not received a single apology for this. It is a large sum of money! The hotel could be amazing, not sure what is happening with it's management. It is certainly not 5 star at the moment.

Sensational resort! Exactly what you hope for when booking a resort like this. A clean, well maintained beach, friendly staff, great food, nice cocktails, clean, quiet resort that has easy access to bars and restaurants close by. Fabulous bedrooms, hammocks, comfy beds and a great choice of pools to enjoy each day. We enjoyed treatments in the spa. They had offers on throughout our stay they we enjoyed. The spa is well worth a visit. We will certainly be back to this hotel! Such a find! ??

I wish I could give this resort a higher rating because the grounds were beautiful and unique, location was perfect and pool and beach access were great. However, the noise issue is a real problem. We ended up staying two different rooms - a palapa and a ground floor. I think the ground floor is better if you have concerns about the noise: the palapa appears to have no insulation and pitched roof may allow for more noise. I wish we would have changed to a ground floor earlier. We also had issues with our room not being ready for 4+ hours after check-in, AC broke on last night and toilet was broken, and hot tubs were not heated.