TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Great trip and our local host, Laura Flores, was amazing! Unico is by far one of our favorite locations to Vaca, especially in January when it's cold back home. We are big foodies and was very surprised at how good the food was here when we first came. You can't get any better quality than this at an all inclusive resort. We will definitely be going back agin soon.

Travel Dates January 1-25, 2025 We are married and in our early 70s. My apologies in advance for the long review but I’ve always enjoyed reading long reviews by others. Here goes… General: Overall, our experience was excellent. It rained on and off a few days and was a bit cooler than when we traveled in early summer, but we made the most of it and ate and drank our share. Airport-Arrival: Arrived at Cancun Terminal 4. Immigration was not too crowded so it only took about 15 minutes. We used the electronic immigration gates. (Don’t forget to save the slip of paper the give you! You’ll need at when you to the ticket counter on your return flight!) Waiting for luggage took about 20 minutes. After that, smooth sailing. UNICO Check In: The hotel provides a shuttle but since 2021 we preferred to use a private shuttle which was more expensive than the normal one. This year we used Kalido Travel and it only cost $150 round trip for a private van. They were right there at the airport upon arrival and were right on time to pick us up at the resort upon departure. Totally great experience and we will use them again. It took about an hour and 10 minutes. Use the restroom before you leave the airport! Arrival and check-in went really smooth. Our host’s name (Alejandro Mendoza) was provided and we met Marlene from Member Services. This was our third time seeing her and she came and said Hola and helped us check in. A pleasant surprise! We were then shown to our room. The bellboy, Rudy, was great. Room Accommodations: Room number was 5507 (Building 5, 5th floor, room 07). An Alto room. The fifth-floor room was spacious and immaculate. Fridge was well-stocked, bed and pillows were perfect, balcony had a great view of the pool area and ocean, plenty of closet and drawer space, Wi-Fi was good, plenty of bathroom amenities, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, hair dryer, plenty of towels provided sporadically) by housekeeping service every morning and turn-down service in evening around 6-9, slippers and robes, safe, ironing board, etc. A scale was provided…but unused! Buildings and Grounds: Like the room, the grounds were beautiful and immaculate. The beach was a bit more expansive than last year, but I think it was low tide when we visited it. We preferred the pools anyway and spent our entire week there. Staff: All the staff members were extremely friendly. Some outstanding Superstars were: Rudolfo---Check-out Bell Boy. Picked up our luggage right on time! Muchas gracias!! Luis, Erik and Grace---Escondida Pool Servers. Very friendly and kept our Yeti glasses full. Sergio---Pool maintenance. The first day he was cleaning the pool but stopped to assist me and brought some towels and was there every morning to assist. Mucha gracias, Sergio! Eli---Cueva Suerta. On the ball with excellent service! Luis---Mura House Server. Excellent server in 2023 and 2024. We asked for him on our first visit to Mura House this time, but he was not working on our second visit. Try the Godzilla Mura specialty drink! Alejandro Mendoza---Our Host. He visited us every day to verify our restaurant reservations and to see if we needed anything. Also decorated our room for my wife’s birthday celebration. He got us scheduled for the chocolate making class…which was great! Much appreciated! Marlene---Legendary Membership Customer Service at check-in. Extremely pleasant and fun to talk with. This was our third year to meet up with her and we are glad she met us when we got there and helped us check in with no hassle. Thank you, Marlene! Cricelda (Server)---Mi Carisa. We had Cricelda the first time and asked for her on our second visit. We had her last year and she was great! Extremely personable. Thank you for your service and for taking birthday photos! Noel and Jazmin---20.87 Manager and Hostess, respectively. Very pleasant and personable! Always had pleasant greetings for us. Thank you for being so nice! Valerie and Susanna (Managers) were also fantastic! Cesar---20.87 Server. We had Cesar several times and he even sang Happy Birthday, along with Noel, for my wife’s birthday at lunch. Muchas gracias, amigo! Overall, as is mentioned often, the staff everywhere was great! Dining and Drinks: We made our required reservations through the Prearrival concierge email about a month ahead of arrival and everything was perfect. We ate at all the restaurants and enjoyed our meals at all of them. The menu selections were much better this year! It was nice to see some “basic” dishes for those of us (me) that are not into the eclectic selections. Service was also much better this year than last year. We were on vacation so, no rush. We also picked up coffee each morning at Inez and picked up some pastries each night for a “starter” breakfast the next morning. Unfortunately, the food at the pool not quite as good this year as last year. A bit overcooked. The menu had a lot of great choices though. We ate lunch at 20.87 most of the time which was really good. It would be nice to have the pool menu items available in 20.87 and prepared in that kitchen. A basic lunch buffet would be even better!! We ate breakfast at 20.87 buffet each day and it was excellent with a great selection. We had the choice of scanning the QR code for menus or receiving paper menus. We chose paper, but many used the QR codes. Drinks were good. If you have a favorite brand of alcohol, ask for it. If you think your drinks are too weak, order two or ask for an extra shot on the side. And pace yourself…drink a bottle of water every two drinks! Attire: Breakfast and Lunch---shorts/swimsuits/tee shirts/tank tops/flip flops. Ladies need swimsuit cover ups; men need shirts (Tees, tanks, polo, etc.). Dinner---Casual. Most ladies wore really nice dresses and most men wore a nice shirt (Hawaiian or polo) and shorts. Flip flops or sandals were common at dinner. If you go in January, bring a light jacket or wrap. It got down to 64 (F) one night and was quite chilly. Communications: Every staff member spoke English. Some better than others but communication was easy. I wanted to learn more Spanish, and they wanted to learn more English. Lots of fun! Airport-Departure: We used a porter at the airport to haul our bags. He took our bags to the Southwest counter. We had already paid our VisiTax online. At US Customs we used the Mobile Passport Control app and there was only one person ahead of us in that line. This app is highly recommended. Fill it in beforehand and when you land, click the “Arrive” button, it will take a selfie of each of you which will be uploaded for when you got through US Immigration/Customs. Worked slick! Suggestions for UNICO: Name Tags with highly contrasting letters so we can read the staff member’s name better without asking. It’s really hard to stare at someone’s chest to try and read their name tag! We have been suggesting this for several years and even the staff would like to see this happen. Weather Channel on the TV At La Escondida (the Quiet Pool), the chairs on the wooden decks were packed so close together it was hard to have a quiet conversation with your spouse without everyone hearing it. Plus it was hard exiting and entering the chair area. Please space them out a bit more…or make a larger deck! Housekeeping was excellent but, on several days, they didn’t provide sufficient towels. E.g., no floor mat in bathroom, not enough wash cloths or hand towels. Tipping made no difference. Maybe a checklist for consistency? La Escondida pool bottom needs some work. Maybe a small shelf in the toilet area above the toilet paper. It would be nice to have a direction sheet for the light switches. We never did completely figure them out. Maybe have two chairs on the balconies instead of the uncomfortable couch. It would be nice to sit out there and look at the ocean and grounds. We’re all paying for that view from the room. Sitting on the couch requires you to constantly be turning your neck. My wife suggested to the Vacation Planners to maybe have a free short “Nature Tour” to show off the animals, birds and plants/trees. The grounds are beautiful. Own it and show them off with a tour! The coatimundis were nowhere to be seen this year. They were quite cute but quite pesky last year. Suggestions for Guests: Bring plenty of extra electrical multiplugs with USB plugs and maybe an extension cord or two. A dim nightlight plugged in by the coffee maker or bathroom is great if you get up in the middle of the night. Yeti glasses and plenty of disposable straws. The resort does not provide straws. Plenty of tip money as these staff members work hard to please. All of the walkways and hallways outside the room doors after a rain are slick! Wear proper footwear. Print out all of your travel documents as well as photocopies of your passport, credit cards, insurance cards, prescriptions and keep in your room safe. Leave your expensive jewelry and watches at home. Purge your wallets of all unnecessary items. Only bring one or two credit cards, insurance cards, driver’s license along with your passports. We made a spreadsheet of anticipated tips needed each day and put the cash in separate envelopes marked with the days of the week. Purchase a luggage scale. Your bags may be heavier on the way home. Ours definitely were! Sunscreen—a minimum of SPF 50 or higher is recommended. Apply it liberally and often! Plenty of Ziploc bags for cameras, phones, tip money, etc. while at the pool. Rainstorms pop up with little or no warning. Hooks to hang pool bags onto the umbrella ribs if it rains or to keep them away from the cute, but pesky and stealthy coatimundi and birds when you’re in the pool! Insect repellent with DEET. We encountered no mosquitos this trip, but you never know. Join the various UNICO group pages on Facebook. LOTS of great information!! Check out many of the great YouTube videos about UNICO. Same with the VisiTax. Watch the YouTube videos and pay it! We paid online about 30 days out. And bring plenty of smiles and Holas! Bottomline: We TOTALLY enjoyed our stay and will definitely be going back this summer!

Beautiful resort, beach and pool area was fabulous. The food was delicious, especially breakfast buffet. Room was very nice, comfortable and clean. The spa was sooo nice, relaxing massage was perfect. Pedicure in beauty shop area was good . Loved it all

One of the best hotels I’ve ever stayed at. Went with a friend for 4 nights and everything was perfect. The rooms are spacious, housekeeping was excellent. What stands out is the service and the food and drink. Everything we ate and drank was perfect. Highly recommend going to Mi Carisa for breakfast (a la carte) instead of the buffet at least once and getting the caramel and banana crepes, and the Mexican egg dishes! Graciela was our server and she was outstanding. Our fave dinner restaurant was either mi Carisa or the Mexican / must try both! The beach was quite windy when we were there so we mostly stuck by the pools, but there is service at the beach also:)

Excellent resort. Top notch, facilities, and treatment all around. Would definitely recommend anybody who wants to relax and be pampered and have the best food and service to go there. We will definitely be returning. Ask for Ismael. Our personal host gave us five star treatment throughout our stay.