I think they only open Tinta del Pulpo for breakfast when occupancy climbs above a certain threshold. It was open over New Years (though we enjoyed Cocina Milagro so much, we made the trek there every morning).

Just booked a stay for October paying cash rates while receiving a 4th night free. Any dining recommendations across the entire mayakoba complex?

I would recommend taking the boat taxi to Saffron at Banyan Tree. It’s setting is absolutely incredible, and check out Banyan Tree resort for a bit (we got pre-dinner drinks at their rooftop bar). The food is insanely overpriced, but it’s decent Thai food and worth the splurge IMO.

PS bring bug spray!

The bugs at Banyan Tree are definitely worse than the Andaz. I'm pretty sure this is because the Andaz have an exterminator golf buggy that drives around the resort fogging the whole place. They have boats that do the same thing on the lagoon. I haven't seen this during any of my Banyan Tree stays (but I have noticed I get bitten SIGNIFICANTLY more at Banyan Tree vs. the others).

The food is indeed insanely overpriced. Saffron is hyped up a lot - the food is decent but not amazing - you're really paying for the setting and the resort. The drinks are relatively reasonable for a resort (vs. the food, at least). Maybe $8 for a beer and $15 for a cocktail (+ tax, tip, etc).

The food is very westernized, i.e., bland and over sweetened. They would not make it spicy for us.

We felt Saffron was worth it for the setting and atmosphere nonetheless.

Curious what the FT community thinks about the situation I'm in here. Here we go.

I booked 4 nights at Andaz Mayakoba back in January for the beginning of October through a Prive agent who I absolutely adore.

Flash forward to yesterday and I get an email saying the general manager of Andaz has been in touch with my Prive agent and told him that the entire hotel has been bought out while we are staying there. Apologizing for the inconvenience, they offered me 3 options:

1) Change my dates - the simplest solution and they'd comp my dinners, make sure I got a good upgrade.
2) Have me stay at either GH PDC or Thompson Beach House and move me over after 2 nights when the hotel opens up again.
3) Have me stay at Fairmont and shift me to Andaz after 2 nights.

#1 was immediately out because my flights are booked (from deep in the pandemic, meaning they were dirt cheap flights and no longer that price) and because I've already got my PTO at work approved. #2 was out because of just the distance between PDC and Mayakoba. I am traveling with a two year old who sometimes gets vomit-inducing car sick. Thus, I chose #3, and the final results is my having to pay about $580 for 2 nights at the Fairmont in an upgraded Singature Casita King and my 2 Andaz nights being comped. They will pick me up at Fairmont at about 2pm and bring us over to the Andaz.

I had originally been booked at the Andaz for $880 for the 5 nights, so I'm coming out about $300 on top, and I'm hoping Andaz will treat me nicely when I arrive, as well. Overall, I think it's a pretty good deal, but I've never been to Mayakoba, I understand both of these resorts are massive, and I'm kinda worried I won't really get to get a feel of either hotel having just 2 nights in each. The other downside is I will no longer be eligible for my 3 elite qualifying nights at Andaz (paid a 3 for 4 rate) and will have to pay Fairmont's exorbitant food prices without the benefit of getting Hyatt points (got the WoH Chase card, going for 60 night Globalist next year).

Would you feel happy with this resolution? Ask for even more than what they've offered? Curious what your take is here.

Personally I would have taken the Grand Hyatt option and split the stay between PDC (busy, lively, lots of good food and drinks options) and Mayakoba ("remote", quiet, nice place to unwind before heading home). You need to pack up and move hotels either way, the extra 15 mins drive from PDC to Mayakoba really isn't that bad... it's a lot shorter than the drive from the airport. But that's just me.

The Fairmont is fine. I would maybe have pushed them and tried to get into the Banyan Tree or Rosewood if you're intent on staying in Mayakoba... but there's usually a pretty significant price difference between Andaz and Banyan Tree/Rosewood.

I just stayed at Thompson Beach House in June and GH PDC just before the pandemic, and while I enjoyed both, I don't really feel the need to be back in PDC again already. Kinda looking to just go relax at a resort and not worry about leaving.

Good point on BT/Rosewood. I probably should have at least tried asking, but didn't even think about that. Oh well. Fwiw, I looked up the price for 2 nights at the Fairmont in the room we're getting and it's $1500, so I still think we're getting out on top. More just inconvenient than anything else...

I'm not sure what I would ask for, but I would not feel happy with this resolution.

Moving after two nights for another two nights would be an inconvenience I would not enjoy, especially if we had to pack up all my kids stuff for the move as well.

I probably would have gone with the GH PDC and pushed to get that stay comped as well (I doubt they could get the Fairmont comped), with some number of Hyatt points added to my account to make up for my troubles.

I might have your Prive agent push the hotel for some things (e.g., comped meals when you get to the Andaz, some points, and as big an upgraded room as exists) but not get to the point where the hotel says, "Fine, we'll do nothing and cancel his reservation", which I doubt they would do.

the Fairmont is really old and dated, massive & resort-factory-y. i’d decline a free all expenses paid trip. even the “nice” accomodations along the lagoon are meh. you should def reshedule Andaz, pay the extra cost for flight changes, and enjoy whatever luxe suite you can secure for being so accommodating. i’d ask for the bi-level and settle for ocean suite.

maybe you love in some place like MN. reschedule trip to Feb.

you’re not thinking this through creatively enough.

I wouldn't. I'd be pushing my Prive agent to get more concessions, e.g., confirmed upgrade and/or comped meals, from Andaz. And get that in writing. They're getting off too easy. Remember, they're dumping your reservation because someone offered them a big pile of money.

You don't want to leave anything to arrival, the front desk staff at Andaz is customer unfriendly and I could easily see them blowing off anything that's not confirmed in writing.

I have seen conflicting info on whether there is a Club at this hotel. Can anyone advise and if there is is it worthwhile?

Thanks

No club or lounge

How does this property do with upgrades upon arrival? I am both a Hyatt explorist and booked through amex hotel collection in a 1 bed room lagoon view. Hoping for a slight bump but curious if its something I should be anticipating or not even.

Have never stayed at a resort in Mexico or the Caribbean. Other than two nights at the Hilton in Waikoloa, no resort stays at all. Joining family who are Hyatt people and love the Andaz Maui, but haven't been here.

Was able to book 5 nights in April and price matched down to $229 a night. Applied a TSU and requested the beach area suite (showed available on points) via Twitter.

Twitter confirmed an upgrade to the oceanview suite - said the beach area wasn't available. I heard these are noisy. Should I be terribly concerned?

Asked in the BRG thread, but we are booked for 2 adults only, and will also bring a 4 year old. Will we be OK to just show up? I understand a kid can't be added to the reservation with a BRG attached.

Ps. Created my Hyatt account in August after being frustrated with Marriott taking a month answer emails about not crediting rollover nights from last year properly. Have been super impressed with all my interactions since then. Sitting at 55 nights now, and should end the year around 65. Really surprised how easy the TSU and (extra surprisingly) BRG were to utilize.

Yes, they overlook the pool, they're loud (including piped in music) and lack privacy. I'd rather have lagoon view.

I am on the property right now so can provide some context. The first night was fully booked but we were able to be moved down to the beach area on the second day for the rest of our stay. All the rooms are nice but if you spend most of your time outside of our room and prefer to be at the beach, the lagoon area is pretty far. We have a room right outside the pool and while it can lack some privacy, the proximity to the beach (vs lagoon) is beyond worth it.

The one thing I will add regarding the upgrade policy for WOH members is the hotel will offer a single upgrade in the same room category you booked. Per Hyatt, I should be been able to be upgraded to a studio type room (can anyone else confirm?) but the resort would not budge after multiple attempts. Fine - not a total big deal. What did rub me the wrong way was that they couldn’t offer a “free” upgrade the studio rooms but they absolutely were available for a price.

Which room type did you book and which studio type are you referring to?

As far as I am aware, the “studio” designation is only used for premium suites, which you generally aren’t entitled to an upgrade into (apart from some specific suite to suite situations related to prive / promos).

Booked lagoon king and was referencing any of the studios regardless of location and view.

The confusing part is that I spoke to Hyatt prior to booking and the front desk staff and both said the studios were not considered suites.

Even getting a upgraded to the best available in the same room category required multiple asks.

Ultimately really enjoying our stay just have to reel in expectations regard status on the property.

If you look at the hotels website it seems like all of the studios are considered suites:

https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/me...ya/cunam/rooms

The only standard suite is the lagoon view suite.

But yes, in general, this property is known to be inconsistent at best in their treatment of Globalists (and customer service in general).

Yup - totally fair and more so just amiscommunication at this point. Thanks for pointing it out.

Personally, I didn't mind the music from the oceanview suite, and with a second floor suite I didn't feel like it was un-private. I've stayed in both Lagoon and Ocean View suites, and both are great. The room layout is basically the same, it's just a question of whether you're in the lagoon area (and need to catch rides to the beach) or you're in the Beach area (and need to catch rides back to the interior portion of the resort). Personally since I wanted to be able to go back and forth to the beach the most, and for lunch/dinner frequently ate at the restaurants by the beach that was my ultimate (slight) preference.

Re: child - there's absolutely no problem with just showing up with a kid, as long as you didn't book an all inclusive package (which it didn't sound like you did). If they ask about it (which they won't), just say when you'd booked you weren't sure if the child would come along or not. The rooms all accommodate 3+ people so there aren't any issues.


And finally, I'll just echo the other comments - I really like this hotel. It's fantastic for both a family getaway and couples/adults. But the couple of issues I have are around globalist recognition (they don't follow the letter of rule to best available upgrade to standard suite) and they will not take off the tip associated with breakfast.

just to add, I was told kids under 5 eat free. It was about a 50/50 if we were actually charged. The meals were <$5 so I never made a big deal of it.

Thanks so much for your detailed response! I'll leave my reservation as is. It looks like flights are way cheaper (like 50% less) if we tag on two more days. Debating staying here longer, or tagging two nights on points at the Ziva in Cancun at the end of the trip. If anyone has done both an thinks this is a good idea or bad idea, happy to hear thoughts. Will have to pay an extra $110 for the kid at Ziva, but doubt I could get the Andaz to extend our BRG rate for another two nights. Plus I'd get one hotel closer to a brand explorer.

I have done both on one trip before. Just keep in mind the Ziva is about 45 mins (Assuming no trafic). USATransfers took care of this no problem for me. A shorter and another option would be to look at the Grand Hyatt PDC. Or the new Hyatt Ziva Riveria Maya would also be closer.

Driving this thread way off topic, but after further research, Ziva Riveria Maya looks more our speed. After watching a video of the one in Cancun, it looks a bit like one of the nine circles of hell (the size/scale and the whole hotel zone in general)

Your loss. It's an incredible hotel.

Just finished up a 4 night stay and wanted to provide a few points / highlights:

• Room: We originally were booked into a Lagoon King View room but then was moved to an Ocean-Front King Room after our first night as the hotel had availability open up. It took a little bit of back and forth with the hotel to ultimately honor our status but glad it worked out. While the room lacked some privacy, as it sat directly behind the pool, the proximity to the beach was worth it.
• Activities: As many have mentioned prior, the Eco Cruise was fantastic. A great 45 minute activity that was a nice way to get out of the sun for a little.
• Food: I thought all the food on the property was good and beyond reasonably priced - coming from NYC so take that with a grain of salt. However, our two favorite meals of the trip were taking the boat (must arrive by boat!!!) to Baynon Tree to have dinner at Saffron and walking down the beach to the Rosewood and eating at Aqui Me Quedo for their Al Fresco dinner. Both of the meals were spectacular and the settings were gorgeous. They were easily more expensive than any meal at the Andaz but still highly recommend. Sunday Brunch at Casa Amate was also very good, which we opted for instead of dinner.
• Beach: The beach and ocean were fantastic. Very little seaweed, if any at all on days, and it couldn't have been more relaxing. We spent our entire time at the beach and would bounce back and forth between the ocean and our chairs. Pro Tip: We found the dining menu at the beach to be extremely limited but the staff was happy to bring us food from Tinta del Pulpo. We even had breakfast delivered to the beach one day which was great.
• Transportation: We used USA Transfers for our transportation and booked a SUV. The drivers were on time, prompt, and the cars were clean. Would also highly recommend.

Happy to answer any questions if anyone has them as the stay is top of mind!

Just finishing a disappointing 10 night stay at Andaz Mayakoba. Overall experience was way below our expectations, especially due to very low service quality from the staff. Just to bring some examples:


- Organized transport from airport was a very old and foul-smelling van and our driver was texting on his phone the whole time
- No personal welcome or real explanations of Covid procedures with regards to mandatory restaurants reservations at check-in
- Buggy driver at check-in didn’t know the property, lost one luggage on its way and then lied to us and said it was his water bottle that felt down from the buggy although we saw that it was one of our bags
- During our stay we ordered buggy service to restaurants twice one hour in advance and they never showed up, but the real highlight was when one driver refused to drive us to restaurant at Banyan Tree and just left us standing in the rain
- Staff completely overstrained with small tasks, orders were forgotten or delivered to wrong tables on a daily basis
- Restaurant reservations can’t be done with staff at other restaurants and it took us four discussions to finally get explained that reservations can only be done at specific times (6/6:30/8/8:30) and before our reservations at 7pm were simply denied without explanation
- We had to wait for more than 20 minutes at their flagship restaurant Casa Amate until a waiter finally showed up and serviced us
- Dinner trays were not collected after lunch/dinner in the room for a couple of times despite several messages so that animals showed up before the door to finish rest of the meal
- New vegan restaurant and shop at the beach area are very uninspiring and do not offer a cozy atmosphere at all - if you go to the new Zapote at Rosewood or Sands at Banyan Tree you know and feel what I mean. That’s how you design restaurants nowadays! The Andaz is only five years old but the style of the resort and restaurants is not how it should and could be (Papagayo is so much cooler!)

GM and Head of Front Desk has helped to improve situation with a free upgrade after a few nights, free breakfast and free spa treatment but overall too many things happened and accumulated to that negative feeling now. I know it’s the beginning of the season and weather down here also doesn’t help much but if you plan a trip in the new future be prepared or a bumpy stay!

Unfortunately none of what you describe is particularly surprising at this property. When it’s good it’s good, when it’s bad it’s terrible.

I used to put this down to the pricing, but lately the prices have often been in the same range as the Banyan Tree in the same development. And they’re worlds apart.

I think it mostly comes down to poor management.

I don't know, sounds much, much worse than our visit last January. We found the front desk unhelpful bordering on rude, but pretty much all other staff were very friendly and helpful and we didn't encounter any major glitches at all apart from a late airport pick-up.

I had similar front desk experiences on a few of my previous stays.

I did find the other staff to be generally very friendly - but I've seen lots of the same issues as Gioventu - but the staff will have a smile on their face when they finally come over after leaving you sitting at a table waiting to order, after they mix up your order, after they eventually turn up to your room with a bucket of ice after multiple calls over the course of an hour or so, etc, etc.

I do think most of the staff really do try their best - but management is really poor and seem pretty disorganized/disinterested.

Was thinking about coming, but for now, it seems Andaz Papagayo is a better choice (loved it my first two times).

Hoping someone here can help me - I'm new to the points game and I'd like to book the Andaz Mayakoba for an Easter Break trip with my wife and two kids (4 & 7). I've read this whole thread and it seems like this property would make sense for us (complimentary kids club, beach + kid friendly pools etc). Ideally, we're travelling in early April for 5 nights, and we're doing so in the most economical way.

However, I'm entirely new to figuring out the best use of my points. I've got 450K in Amex points and 85K in Chase Ultimate Rewards points. I know neither are a staggering amount, and I've been doing my research on the best way to use them, but I've hit a wall in my understanding as a newbie to all this.

Is there an expert/patient good Samaritan out there who can help me? In particular, I can't figure out how to apply my AMEX points to Andaz... And am I right in assuming that this is a good property for families (ie. Kids not bored, but also not on top of us all week)?

Any help is welcome - I know from reading that the information is all out there, I"m just having trouble making sense of it all!

Thanks

Only Chase UR points transfer to Hyatt but not Amex MR points. I'm assuming you have a Hyatt account but you would need to have one and transfer through the Chase UR portal. Your Chase points will get you 3 nights on points for the base rooms @ 25K per night. I'm sure someone else will be able to respond to your kids club etc, questions. I hope this helps.

Your Amex points won’t transfer to Hyatt , but you can use your points to book the Andaz with Amex’s Fine Hotels and Resorts. You may or may not get night credits and Hyatt Points. You may get 5th night free, resort credit and Breakfast
I’ve been several times and it’s a great family friendly resort and you children will have plenty to enjoy

You could also get the Chase Hyatt card, which is currently offering a 60,000 point sign-up bonus.

If you are truly new, you may not appreciate the difference between (1) using your points to book on amextravel.com or Chase UR travel portal and (2) transferring points to a Hyatt account and redeeming Hyatt points for a room directly through Hyatt. In many cases--and this is clearly one of them--you are far better off transferring points to a Hyatt (World of Hyatt) account and redeeming Hyatt points.

The stay will cost you 25,000 points per night, so 125,000 total. You can transfer your 85K Chase, so you need 40K more. As Kacee says, you can sign up for a credit card, meet the minimum spend requirements, and get 60K more that way. Or you can simply buy 40K points for $672 on the Hyatt website (under the current 30% off promo which runs through 12/30). That is not a bad price for points to top off, particularly when you have a specific good-value redemption in mind.

I would strongly caution against using your Amex points here, see below.

1, Andaz is part of the Hotel Collection, not Fine Hotels and Resorts, so the benefits are limited
2, the redemption rate to use Amex points here is truly terrible. For a 5-night stay, OP will likely need 430,000 points or so. Those points would have at least $7,000 in value even if simply redeemed for airfare on amextravel.com. Or they could be used for at least two roundtrip international business class tickets by transferring to airline mileage programs. Spilling them all on 5 nights at the Andaz is a bad deal compared to the option above.

Thank you platbrownguy, surikatina, martinplas and Kacee!!

So if I understand correctly, it sounds like the smartest way to do this is to redeem the AMEX points through AMEX travel for airfare, then use the Chase points (after buying 40K points from Hyatt - giving me 125K points) for the 5 night stay?

Seriously, thank you each for your help! As someone new to this, its been super helpful to have people share their knowledge as you just have.

martinplas : Do you have any hints or tips for the resort itself? Anyway I can hopefully position myself for an upgraded room? Any rooms I should stay away from? Good restaurants etc?

That may or may not be the best use of the Amex points for airfare.

You could also transfer them to an airline for an award redemption. Likely candidates would be DL or BA (for redemption on AA). Both of those could yield a higher value redemption than the 1 cent per point you'd get booking through Amex.