Barcelo Maya Riviera

I feel that this hotel is overpriced for the services I received! This was first time staying at a Barcelo resort & expected a lot more. I definitely did not feel it was a 5 star resort as I have experienced in the past. New & clean but stark feel, not Mexican décor whatsoever. In general the service was very poor & disorganized. A few staff were great! Only one lounge bar for the whole resort after pool bars closed. Entertainment started way too late at 10:45 pm. Also the noise carried from the outside lounge area throughout to the rooms! Pool bars were well run! The towel game at the pool was very strong so that was disappointing. The other sister resorts had far superior service!! Also the food at the other buffets was better as we went to them rather than the buffet at this hotel. The food at the buffet here was much the same, no theme nights. Food was on the cold side & not replenished very timely. Sometimes raw food at the grill, like fish & hamburger....once bitten twice shy. The a la carte restaurants were hard to get in to at a decent time. The Italian, French & Japanese were really good with great service!
The beach had loads of chairs & shade around the palm trees. No service at the beach yet it wasn't too far to walk to grab a drink. [Details]

We been coming to Barcelo for years with the promise of free up grades on arrival after 10 stays well we are now aprox 15 plus stays and we are told each time no upgrade available.
Seems we are doing our part by being loyal.
Wish they would do same .
We may actually start checking out alternative options in future,
But Barcelo is a great vacation resort! [Details]

FYI, I am a 61 yr old travel agent, so my review will be critical. Upon arrival at 1:30 pm, i found not the most helpful staff at front desk, English a big issue, and not a lot of info given. You want a map, scan the QR code, you want hotel info, scan the QR code, that is their response. 1st day did not start out good, asked about eating, said buffet downstairs, open till 6pm (did not point in any direction) Asked when it opened for supper, told it was not, my choice was try to get a reservation in the a la carte or go to another resort for supper. WHAT you say, exactly... I booked Adults only to be told the buffet is not open every night and you have to go to one of the other buffets in the family resorts within the complex. (not happy). But going there turned out to be a blessing, the food choices in the other resorts, especially the Palace were amazing and the food was way better tasting and actually warm. The food in this buffet was the same, for breakfast, lunch and a very small supper buffet when open and always cold. No matter if you dug to the bottom of dish, and I actually covered my plate with a big bowl to walk back to my table, still cold. Tasty enough, but after day 3, you had seen and tasted the same. Yes there were nice grilling stations for fresh chicken, beef, pork and sea food if you wanted to wait and did not mind raw food. Even the burgers were always under cooked. My husband tried 3 times to have a burger and always way under cooked. We only ate at one a la carte, the Japanese, we were a group of 6, only 1/2 of us liked our meals, nothing exciting. Some went to the Italian on another night and most did not like their meal. So overall, the resort has food issues. The wait staff in the buffet were almost non existent, not very friendly and you had to chase them down for anything, but that changed in the last 2 days there, suddenly, there were lots of staff, they were friendly and attentive. Food choices totally abstract in location.. Salsa chips were no where near the guac or Pico sauce,, condiments were sometimes near the burgers etc, sometimes a total guess... Food seemed to be in strange random areas.

The rooms are huge and spacious, we had an oceanview room, worth the extra cost, beds are huge and comfy, bathroom huge, tons and tons of cupboards and closets.. that part was wonderful, maid service was not the best. We asked for service every other day, we are neat and tidy people, they started coming every day, did the bed, changed the towels, even though I had made it and hung up our wet towels, I think they swept the floor, we left tips and treats, but it never changed. For 5 days they never wiped up the coffee stains on the desk (but washed out the coffee pot) nor did they clean the bird shit on our glass on patio and on the floor, that they swept over every day. Some days we got a refill in the fridge, left notes, with money and treats, some days it was refilled, most days not, just took the money and left nothing.

Beach is awesome for walking and sun tanning, lots of shade with trees, no umbrellas, so no rush to get down there in the morning, for swimming you do have to wear water shoes and go in towards the middle area as lots of rock at the beginning, but then sandy and shallow.

Pool is great, big infinity pools, pool bars right there, lots of shade too, no rush to get to the pool, but that changed our last few days when large groups of younger people showed up, spring break. Then they hoarded and saved all the chairs. Bathrooms by the pool are well stocked and very clean, also towels are great, no cards needed, which unfortunately does create extra work for staff when people take more than needed and just leave them around. Bar staff, hit and miss on the attitude and friendliness...tipping didn't seem to help or seem appreciated.

NOISY place, not really a good place for the mature crowd, there is NO quiet lounge, no place to sit with friends and chat, no place to sit and play cards in the evening and the limited entertainment which is music (bands or performers) start at 10:45 till 11:30. There is one bar/lounge, not the most comfortable, and the big screen in there always has some music concert on, good, but they turn it up loud, then people talk louder, then they turn it louder... There is also an outdoor patio area beside the bar, again, loud music videos playing all the time and right thru till midnight, its a constant boom boom boom. My room was at the far end of the resort, near the privilege area and I could still hear the noise and music at night, i know anyone closer to the lounge area had trouble sleeping before midnight. Unfortunately the DJ caters to the abundance of 20 guests at the resort... not sure how these young people afford this place, but older guests were out numbered.

The main lobby is very dark, very unfriendly, not a comfortable chair to sit on, lots of hard marble slabs. We had to check out about 6:15 am and the lobby was so dark, you could barely see where you were walking. Also, there is absolutely no food or beverage round before 7:am if you have an early shuttle pick up.

The dreaded Convention Center: this is attached to the resort, we had just missed the convention from hell according to many guests we talked to at the resort, a very large, very noisy, very rude group of 1000 guests that took over the place and did as they pleased(smoked everywhere). I did not witness it, but others were very quick to show me videos that they had taken. Their concerns went on deaf ears to the management and some were told if they did not like the noise, then go to their room. (not sure, I was not there). There were some smaller convention groups while I was there, only saw them mostly at breakfast time and they did dominate the dining areas and the staff.. Seems like it is a very common problem for regular guests and after talking with one of the sales managers, they were not aware of the problem. I guess group money talks more than guests.

Overall, there was good and bad, it is nice that it is part of a large complex, with lots to do at the neighboring resorts, such as mini golf, bowling, sports bar, disco, casino, shopping, water park for kids etc, If at the Adults only, you can travel to any of the 5 resorts, but no one else can come to the adults only. They do have a great double decker bus that drives around all day and night between the resorts and the main complex, but the route is slightly annoying if being picked up at the end at the Palace and you want to go back to the AO, you have to stop again at every resort and main stop. They should have the bus only going one way to pick up, then it goes straight back from the Palace to the AO and starts over. But you can swim in front of the Palace and see Turtles and lots of fish, bring snorkel equipment.

Food and staff are an issue, rooms cleanliness not great, drinks usually good and well made, the young ladies that worked the pool area serving drinks and the young ladies in the lounge/bar area, were the only ones that smiled and were attentive and deserve all your tips, there was always a smile and a thank you.

Very modern, and cold looking place, nothing Mexican about it, but if that is what you like and want, great you will love it.

This place is not for everyone.. I would only cautiously recommend it for certain clients, depending on age... Unfortunately it was Super Bowl weekend while we were there and the start of US spring break... us quiet older Canadians felt a bit overwhelmed by our American neighbors.

Some people really like this place, we personally did not and would not return... We would return to the complex and go to the Barcelo Palace, but not the Adults only. Others we talked to who were repeat guests, said they would not return either, things had changed for the worse. [Details]

We were pleasantly surprised at how great the resort handled the pandemic and sanitation for the most part. Oddly enough they never once swept or mopped the halls or elevators the entire time we were there. They did keep our room clean though and all restaurants and lobby kept pretty clean. The buffet had great spacing but once people got to the buffet there was no physical distancing and not many people sanitized. Then the taco bar and tapanyaki was crowded and we had to sit at a crowded table with 3 other groups of ppl. Love that there are plenty of loungers and ppl do not need to reserve loungers in the am. Beach is amazing. Staff is pretty great. We booked a couples massage and showed up to being told only one of us could get massage yet the place was dead. Then tried not giving us the discount they promised. [Details]

We went to this resort from Feb. 8th-15th with another couple. The food was spectacular. A huge shout out to Agave restaurant, the mexican restaurant and our outstanding waiter Oscar. He made our two visits to the restaurant so memorable. [Details]

It was a treat, to be able to check out this brand new hotel, in it's first month. There are some bugs but overall, it's a spectacular hotel. [Details]

The Maya Riviera is a new resort and is a first class all adult hotel. The suites are large and lots of space. The hotel is very modern, laid out well and spacious. The Barcelo complex is easy accessible to all other 5 resorts. We ate at all the restaurants and enjoyed the French one the best, this was excellent. The staff and servers in the lobby bar were happy and always very helpful. I would highly recommend this hotel. No complaints from us. [Details]