TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

A 1 out of 5 might be a little harsh but all the little things add up. When we arrived on Monday, April 1 (Easter Monday), the front desk advised that the previous week and this upcoming week were busy. The week we are staying was at 70%+ capacity. We arrived at approx 1 pm. We had just spend a week a few KM away at the Azul Grand (I think is a better option). We walked around, ate lunch at one of the buffets and waited for our room till 3 pm. When we arrived at our room, we noticed there were no sheets for the sofa bed. We called and requested sheets. Between 3:30 pm - 8:15 pm we called FOUR times asking for some sheets. Finally around 8:30 they arrived. We called from the phone in our room. We got routed to the front desk, asked to escalate. Informed we called multiple times. No one seemed to care. At about 8:45 pm that night, we went back to the buffet and waited 20 minutes in line to get a table. We set some of our personal belongings on the table and went to get food. The buffet is set up as one big long line so you either need to grab a plate and squeeze in-between people or slowly make your way through the whole line. We finally got our food, headed back to the table as they were giving it someone else. I protested and the server said we had to go back to the host to get another table. I protested, showed our personal belongings on the table and sat down. The server finally let us sit down (but didn't actually want to serve us drinks afterwards), another server helped us. We notified the captain (supervisor), and they said we should still sit at that table, but didn't offer an apology. We are a family of 4. The room has 3 towels. When we called and asked for sheets (all 5 times) we also asked for a 4th towel. We finally got the extra towel at 8:30. I also submitted a complaint form online at about 8 pm that day while waiting for some service. Still no response or follow up to ensure things are ok. And this was all on day one. ------------------------- As the week went on, things get slightly better. There are some excellent staff members that work here, but the management seems fine with terrible processes and some terrible staff. We experienced those bad apples that ruin the bunch. FOOD I thought the food was OK (6/10) We didn't upgrade to the premium, so we only got a-la-carte once every 3 days. So we ate at the Italian restaurant twice. The rest of the family is vegetarian/vegan. They rate the food 3/10 We advised the captains and restaurant managers several times, and they didn't seem to want to accommodate in any way, even though there is a sign that says they will. Overall, they do not seem to be overly kid-friendly and it is difficult to know what dishes are vegetarian or if you have any other dietary restrictions, good luck. And lots of line ups. 8:30-9:30 seem to be prime time for folks to want to eat. Be prepared to wait in line 20+ minutes. The one lunch buffet has pizza. The 1st and 2nd day, there was a great cook that would make us a plain cheese pizza. She was great and I tipped her directly. Everyone day there was this other guy that was terrible. He would let the pizza run out completely. Make pizza's 2 at a time and NOT serve them until all 4 pizza's were ready. Each day I asked for a cheese pizza for the kids. One day, it was ready in 10 minutes but he kept the pizza under the counter for another 20 minutes until he had 4 pizzas ready and all the other pizza was gone. After a few days, this cook knows I want a cheese pizza at 1:30 every day. Today, when I asked, he said no. I was upset and spoke with the 2 servers, the captain and the head chef/kitchen manager. They apologized, but I didn't feel they took things seriously. The pizza cook is so focused on making pizza that he is not focused on the customer. There is ZERO customer service. And the staff I spoke with were concerned I was upset but not that the actual issue exists. Although, they did promise for the next day they would make a cheese pizza and have it ready for the table but we'll see. ENTERTAINMENT There seems to be a lot of entertainment staff. It is difficult to find out when and where all the activities are located. If there is an app or a poster I was not able to find it. We went on a bike tour at 8:15 as was able to sign up a few days in advance. It was about 20km round trip and biked near the Azul hotel. We saw the crocillile sanctuary and then biked back. It was a great tour and a good host. Today there was a bubble party. My wife took the yoga class which she said was good. No ability to get a kayak or other ocean events with the entertainment staff, but overall entertainment staff try to make it fun. BEACH The beach is by far the best selling feature. The sand is soft, goes on for multiple km's and the waves have always been manageable. One of the best beaches we have been at. However, like all beaches, they are public and this beach was busy. The hotel is right in town. Good luck finding a beach chair though. POOLS A few pools and they were OK. I have seen better, and worse pools. They have one section of a pool roped off for adults. Always a shortage of chairs even though it looks like they have the space to significantly increase their chair capacity. If you want a chair by the pool, get out there between 2 AM - 6 AM DRINKS There are very limited bars to get drinks during the day. Servers are sometimes hard to find but if you are fortunate enough to get a chair, they will eventually find you. We usually hung out near the family suites. There a was a nice smaller pool, not very crowded with an adequate bar. One of the best kept secrets we could find. Drinks start at 11 am and only available at one of the very limited bar options, or you could go to the restaurant. ROOMS We stayed in one of the family suites. Old and need maintenance but were OK. For instance, the blackout blinds are on sliders that do not slide. It looks like when the room was last painted, they also painted over the rollers. Our room had 2 small double beds (not even queens) and 2 sofa seats that if you put on the floor it made something close to a king-size bed. Not the most comfortable beds though. Air conditioning worked well, room temperature could be adjusted to your liking. Hot water worked but not consistent. It ranged from hot to ultra-hot. Sometimes tough to get a good water temperature for a shower. They also have shampoo and shower gel in a dispenser in the shower. No lotion, conditioner, or other bottles. A standard 3 towels regardless of how many people are actually staying in the room. And the cleaners would come anywhere between 9 am and 4:30 pm. There was a small 'mini-fridge' that wasn't actually a fridge. When I called to indicate it wasn't working, nothing inside was cold, I was told it doesn't keep the food cold but fresh. There are 6 cans, only 3 bottles of water if you include the one by the coffee maker, 1 small bag of chips and peanuts. No bottled water aside from the daily ones in the room. Like some rooms, they have one of those key card light switches at the door. You need to put your plastic room key in it for the lights in the unit to work. I put my Aeroplan card in and keep it there the whole time. Today however it went missing. I called security and they are investigating. Nothing else in my room seems to be missing. Very odd and somewhat concerning. We believe we looked everywhere in our room to find it. Security said it is better if I just used my room key - Why so that if it is stolen, they could just issue me a new one? A small but additional example of how some customer service issues are overlooked. Who are we: A family of four from Canada with 9 and 11 year old boys. We have been on Mexician vacations almost every year for the last 9 years. Usually for 14 days, staying at one report for 7 days and then switching it up for the last 7 days. My wife and kids are vegetarian/vegan. I am not. However, I shy away from seafood and pork. The last few years we have been to Ixtapa, Mazatlan, PV, Cancun and Playa del Carmen. Overall, this is likely the second worst resort we've stayed (El Cid in Mazatland was worse) but all the other resorts would at least rate 3 stars so this is very disappointing that its making its way to be bottom. As I mentioned the other resort we stayed at in Ixtapa last week had 0 issues and was over Easter which was busy but was flawlessly managed. Everyone and every company makes mistakes. The great companies build loyalty and excel at customer service when they rectify those errors exceptionally well.

Muchas gracias Yolanda! Excelente servicio. Quede muy relajada con el masaje. Thank you Yolanda! Amazing service. I was super relaxed after the massage. If you need a massage, book it here with Yolanda! Attentive and experienced with giving massages.

We stayed in a superior room and were part of the Premium Club. I highly recommend booking premium when making reservations. The resort has a perfect location and the beach was wonderful. The employees were all friendly and hard-working. The resort is clean and well-maintained but the rooms could use a little updating. The food wasn’t that great but we enjoyed the room service menu. My kids loved the breakfast buffets and the variety but I felt like the meat wasn’t great there. The pools are beautiful and there wasn’t ever a long wait for a drink. There are not enough lounge chairs around the pool and I feel that there should be some monitoring for those who place towels on numerous chairs to “save them” only to use them 4 hours later. The view from our room was stellar as were the sunsets every night! This is a beautiful part of Mexico that I would return to again and again.

We just returned from a week stay at Barcelo, and overall it was a great trip. We were in the Premium Club which got us a room on a higher floor. Note: Corner rooms in this hotel do not have balconies! Room was quiet and well taken care of, and the elevators were fast. This resort like many others do nothing about the “towel game”, people claiming prime chairs early in the morning. During our stay it seemed beach chairs on the sand were plentiful, but the ones pool level facing the ocean were the first to go. If I got down there after 7 am I was out of luck. Security is around but do nothing about it. One day the pair of chairs between us was already claimed by 7 am and the people didn’t show up until 2 pm, more than 7 hours later. The gym was equipped with sufficient cardio types of machines, but as for free weights and benches they were few, so even a couple of people wanting to lift weights made it challenging. It seems odd that for a family resort with a lot of kids only had ice cream available two of the seven days, which I thought odd (coming from a big kid!) Buffets were good, with a nice mixed selection of Mexican and International foods. One first-world problem is that there was no bacon to be had at breakfast. The pool side restaurant (Caracol?) had a menu to order lunch off, and we frequented this place a few times as we found the food here fresh and tasty. The place got packed on the weekend, so there were long lineups everywhere, and seemed a bit chaotic for what was supposed to be a relaxing vacation. There is no adult-only pool at this resort, which would have been nice. Service at the buffets and bars was hit and miss, sometimes fast and other times not so much. I did a bike ride that they offer at no cost, which took me through a nature reserve and was a nice guided bike ride with bikes, helmets and vests provided. We left at 8:30 and were back 2 hours later and I recommend this free trip if you like biking. I already miss the beautiful sunsets every night and overall this was a great stay and I would stay here again given the opportunity.

Need to train receptionist how to treat customers. We have stayed at other hotels and never received that type of customer service. We could have chosen another hotel because we didn't care about "all inclusive " be ause we have have family that lives near by and we didn't eat there. But we choose Barcelo because my husband had stayed there before and had great experiences but mine wasn't that great and I don't think I would risk my next vacations to come to the same hotel again.