We just recently completed another week long stay at the Fairmont Mayakoba. This was our fifth stay over the last few years under the all inclusive package and the consistent service/quality is why we continue to return. There have been some changes since our last stay a little over a year ago which I will highlight. Historically we have stayed in the signature casita suites which works well with our two young kids given its size. The 2nd bathroom is the perfect place to wheel the crib into for the 2 year old's nap and sleep time. This time around we elected for a beach area casita suite which in my mind comes with four major differences: the use of a butler, private use of buggy/trolley transportation, proximity to the beach vs the main building/pool area, and most importantly, a plunge pool on the roof of the casita. I have never really seen the value of having a butler, but Daniel could provide a fair bit of value if you were so inclined to use him. Whenever a question/issue would arise, there was never a time that he responded by text in more than 2 minutes regardless of the time of day. We are fairly low maintenance and don't ever leave the resort so our requests were more with respect to dining reservations/transportation etc. I did have one request as to if they had any children's bikes with training wheels. Although they didn't, he would see what he could do. A few hours later we had a bike complete with training wheels in our suite for our 4 year old! He would seek us out at least a couple of times per day to see if there was anything he could do. It was beneficial to revise reservations/transportation if we were running behind with a simple text.

The biggest asset to the beach area casita suites were the heated plunge pools on the rooftop. This proved ideal for whoever had to take our 2 year old back for afternoon naps. There is a sizeable patio area with an ocean view. I'm not sure if they turn the pools up at night, but they seemed almost hot tub temperature in the evening. The pool also proved to be great for a post dinner swim with the kids, eliminating the need to pack up everything and head to the pool. The beach area also enabled one to utilize Brisas for breakfast instead of the usual buffet at Laguna. There was no buffet at Brisas, rather, the menu choices were considerably more upscale than Laguna. I should note that you can now order room service under the AI plan, but have to pay the service charge. Also, there is now a mini-bar which is replenished daily with beer/soda/chips/candy, etc.

Dining was good to very good with most of our dinners having been at El Puerto. Dinners did tend to drag out a bit, but we are on vacation after all. There are a few more items that require an upcharge as opposed to prior visits and the dinner menu at Brisas isn't as extensive as it once was. One solid addition is the new Korean bbq located at the new beach bar. There are grills built directly into the bar and you are provided with various meats to grill. Service was spot on and the meal was quite tasty. This required a $50/person upcharge, but was worth it to add some variation to the limited number of restaurants.

We utilized the kids club/childcare on several occasions. Unlike prior visits, they now require 2 babysitters if you have 2 kids under the age of 5 which I think is ridiculous at $50/hour so I pushed back and to get around it they let our 4 year old into the kids club (normal age is 5 with 10am-1pm free everyday) and the babysitter took care of the younger one. After the first afternoon, the workers were so smitten with our 4 year old, they made an exception and she was allowed to come back for the free 3 hour periods each day. In fact, some days she was the only one in there. There were various activities such as trips to the beach/sandcastle building/scavenger hunts/crafts etc. Our daughter had a fantastic time and looked forward to her visit every day.

We visited the spa for massages a couple of afternoons and nothing much has changed there. It still continues to be extremely quiet with other visitors few and far between. Accor members can elect for 50% off massages before 3pm which is a solid deal.

One thing my wife and I both remarked were the number of familiar faces of employees that we encountered that we have seen year after year. There appears to be very little turnover which I guess is a testament to how solid a place it is to work. Ultimately, the best attribute of the resort is the service with the vast majority of employees catering to one's every whim. We are already looking forward to next year's break from our Canadian winter.