We booked a last minute trip here for Feb 4th-8th, super excited! We did P+C and a DSU, so getting 4 nights in a suite for 40,000 points & $670 (rate, taxes, & $75 resort fee) total. Combined with the SW points & companion pass we used for the flights, we're getting a great deal on the trip.

Some questions for those who've been/are there:

-Does OllaCeviche have any non-seafood items on either of their menus? I didn't see any on the dinner menu posted here. I don't like much seafood but my husband loves it, so I'd like to be able to try it.

-Has anyone had any spa treatments? We know it'll be overpriced, but we're planning to spend some of our travel savings on massages.

-Is there free boat transportation between all the resorts in Mayakoba, or is it a paid service? Any price/usage info would be helpful if it is paid.

-Has anyone eaten at any restaurants at other resorts in Mayakoba?

-Has anyone done a tour to Chichen Itza?

-Are there beach suites on the top floor or only the lower level?

Thanks very much!

We didn't have spa treatments, but we did use the spa hydrotherapy facilities. The spa was quite nice. Really enjoyed it. It's not big, but also not small.

We spoke to multiple folks who had had treatments that they enjoyed, crazy prices aside.

We were in a beach suite on the top floor and it looked like the unit below us on the ground was also a beach suite.

Spa is $300 final cost w expected tip for one hour.
Rosewood spa is same price, maybe a bit less, 5 min walk from Andaz lagoon, and more special.

OllaCeviche is all raw seafood, except for one cooked lobster dish. It and OllaTaco menus avail to beach pool loungers, so think it would be just fine to dine with items across both menus. They are steps apart.

Boat service is cutesy, not practical. Four trips daily each way in a circle for free, midday. The way to get between resorts is walk or hotel's free car.

Bring $100 in singles for tipping. Everyone is expecting.

Thai at Banyan Tree is A+.

Awesome, thanks for the info!

Great, thanks for the spa info. I will look into the Rosewood one & see if we'd rather check it out.

Good to know about OllaCeviche, and I was thinking we could maybe have dishes from both, given how many people here & on TA have said how accommodating the staff is. We'll give it a try!

Does OllaTaco have TVs? Andaz has a Super Bowl event on their FB page, but it doesn't say where at. I was curious if they're bringing in TVs or what.

We will look up the Banyan Tree restaurant, we love Thai food!

Thanks!

Looking to stay here in December on award nights, but trying to figure out how to get at least breakfast included. I'm only Platinum Gold Passport. I'd use more points to do a club room, but I don't see club level at this property. Any suggestions?

There is no club here, only at the Grand Hyatt PDC

I just finished a three night stay here. I was very disappointed and the stay was substantially below my expectations (in mitigation, I came in expecting an amazing property).

My main gripe is about the check-in process and the room offered. I am a Diamond, and I had booked the room on points.

Unfortunately, the the check-in agent and the manager on duty were not familiar with Diamond benefits---such as the best room on arrival (except Suites). He kept telling me Diamond members only get uprgaded one category level (from Lagoon King to Lagoon King View). They do not get upgraded to the best room. I even showed him the Diamond benefits as listed on GoldPassport.com. He would not agree. He offered to upgrade me to a beach king for $70 per night---completely against GP rules. I even told him I was willing to use a cash+points booking and a Diamond Suite Upgrade. He did not even know what one of them was... The manager kept saying he would not upgrade me--but I could pay for it. Eventually, he gave me the upgrade but made it completely sound like he was the one doing me a favour. I was pretty frustrated, this was not the way I wanted to start my trip.

The beach king, was actually a room overlooking the lagoon on the beach side. Not an ocean/beach facing room.

Then my bags never showed me to my room for an extra hour---they had sent to the wrong room (even after two calls). Diamond amenity never showed up, again I had to call for that.

Later in the evening, I called up GP, and asked about the availability of C+P + DSU, they told me they were available, but Andaz Mayakoba's reservation team had left for the evening, but call back in the morning. Since, I had checked in, it would be up to the hotel's discretion whether to let me switch to a DSU+C+P room. I tried the next morning, but the same manager was on duty, who had no knowledge of things like DSUs, and was just saying there was no availability now (even though GP said there was). He may have been telling the truth, but to be honest I just could not reust him.

Service was hit and miss. For instance, ordering a salad at the beach took over an hour. But then, Leon at Case Amate and the bartender (I wish I could remember his name) were amazing.

Food: I think they need to work on some of the dishes. Some of the dishes at OlleTaco and Casa Amate were great but then there were some really stinkers. It was strange but every waiter basically told us every dish was not-spicy. We kept asking for a chipotle or haberno sauce on the side.
Drinks: Bar tenders are magicians. Some of the mezcal cocktails were incredibly well balanced.

Late check-out? Fat chance.

I was really hoping to love this hotel. But service overall was poor. And that reservations manager drove me nuts. I don't want to go back.

Why didn't you book P+C and DSU to begin with if you wanted to stay in one?
And unfortunately, no late checkout at resorts (although 2pm is normally no problem).

Thanks for the report. I also find it quite frustrating when properties don't honor the best available room policy, and it seems to happen with some frequency. Unfortunately, GP doesn't do anything to compel compliance so the practice continues.

With the restaurant and bar traffic, sounds like you are the type of guest (profitable) that the property should be incenting to return.

Actually, the oceanfront studio is the best non-suite room type.
A standard room, just oceanfront.
Seems unreasonable to except a $350/n upgrade gratis as diamond.
https://s23.postimg.cc/7nnepyksb/temp.jpg

OP was initially refused any upgrade from the very lowest room category. That's clearly wrong, and I'm not sure why you would try to justify that as acceptable under GP rules.

May I ask what exactly should one expect 'reasonably' [not except] as a Diamond member?

If the T&C states "Best available room upon arrival excluding suites [soon changing to: including standard suites] ... then how exactly should a Diamond member appropriately set their expectations?

The upgrade chart is irrelevant as the OP didn't ask to be upgraded into a Suite.

Like I said, if he thinks his understanding of the rules is correct, then pay the upgrade fee to get the room you feel entitled to. Let Hyatt Corporate sort out the ignorant manager after you request intervention via email or Twitter.

I posted the upgrade chart more generally because I suspect many will find it valuable.

Do you have personal experience of "Hyatt corporate" actually doing anything on those facts?

From recent personal experience, once you are checked-in, Gold Passport/Hyatt is powerless and everything is at a mercy of a hotel. If you have contact information for someone else who could help, please share it with us. :confused:

Even if the poster could get upgraded/moved to another room the next day, it makes sense to get that room from the very beginning as it avoids the hassles of re-packing and moving everything. That can be a pain if you are traveling as a family or just simply want to unpack, unwind, and chill.

Would you be able to post those video walkthroughs whenever you have time?

Thanks for sharing your experience. It doesn't make you a pita or a schemer that, as a Diamond, you'd naturally expect and hope for some sort of upgrade, especially if you were on vacation, especially at a property that is operating at such low occupancy. Unhelpful, unnecessary and mean-spirited comments discourage people from sharing their (helpful) experiences; thanks for sharing yours.

I am not sure any of the above is correct.

Hyatt.com doesn't seem to show detailed descriptions for the various room types but on the mobile app the Ocean Front Studio is clearly listed under suites.

This would mean under current Gold Passport rules, one should receive an ocean front king/ocean front double, assuming availability. Under World of Hyatt, I am not sure what the upgrade should be. The picture posted with the upgrade prices lists an Andaz Suite but that doesn't show as an option on the app. Next up in price is the Andaz Lagoon View suite that DSUs currently seem to book into.

Whether the supposed value of the upgrade is $350 or $35 is absolutely irrelevant. The program rules, whether one likes them or not, are clearly written. Calling someone a schemer and pita when they share their valuable experience isn't cordial and adds nothing in value to this thread. The vast majority of people heading here are likely on vacation. The last thing I want to start off a vacation, especially with family probably tired from travel and wanting to get in the room, is having a discussion/argument/stand off about what room I am entitled to per the rules of the program.

Especially under the WoH upgrade terms, there are many properties around the world where the cost difference between a base level room and base level suite is well over $350. Will I expect this gratis as a globalist? Yes, no question.

I don't think OP deserves this, as he just asked for what he is entitled to (per T&Cs). I love to hear these early reports and your comments are the ones who keep people from posting! :mad: Thanks for the report, DrEcon, and welcome to FT. Sorry that manager made you feel unwelcome, not really the Hyatt Touch.

The OP should't even have to ask what he is entitled to. It should be offered proactively and graciously - such posts will help indicate whether this was a once off failure or a troubling trend. I have never experienced something so blatant but have had instances where there have been misunderstandings and it can be embarrassing as a guest and equally so for the property, if they care.

Service recovery is also very important as, unfortunately, not every employee at a hotel may know the rules. A family member stayed at Ararat PH Moscow and, when checking-in, front-desk wasn't very clued it to Guest of Honor benefits and wouldn't offer upgraded room, breakfast, etc. Through GP and communication with GM, that got resolved quickly, though, and the rest of a very long stay had been amazing -- that hotel is going to get a lot of repeat business from us now :)

Just back from a four night stay in the Lagoon suite. Thoughts below.

Pros:
- Very friendly staff
- Hard product very nice. Rooms well decorated and the common areas (pools, restaurants, etc) very well done.
- Food quite good.

Cons:
- Staff somewhat clueless, seems that many are not that well trained.
- Was told that could only have diamond breakfast at Cocina Milagro and only the buffet (no a la carte). Not sure that this is accurate but was told the same by multiple staff members.
- Buggy system is a bust. Can't imagine how bad this will be when the hotel is at full occupancy (multiple times we had to wait ~20 minutes for a buggy).
- There are 25 bikes for the entire resort. Clearly not enough, basically were told that we could 'steal' any that we find. People apparently horde them inside their rooms. Weird.
- Diamond amenity was bottle of wine. Only red, were told that it is not possible to substitute a bottle of white.
- Drinks at pools/beach are extremely slow. Probably 15 minutes on average from order to receiving.
- Activities are poorly coordinated. Often late starting or do not occur as shown on the 'curator' calendar.

My husband & I stayed here 4 nights Feb. 4th-8th. All in all we enjoyed it & would probably give it 4/5 stars. We did use P+C and a DSU, so we didn't pay nearly as much as some people do, & our rating would probably be a bit lower if we had paid the full price/resort fees.

We were in room 1231, a 3rd/top floor lagoon suite. We asked about an upgrade to a beach suite, but they said they were all occupied (hotel was at 70-80% occupancy). We truly enjoyed the lagoon suite & lagoon view though, and spent more time at the lagoon pool, so we were fine without the beach suite upgrade. It's a beautiful room, I love all of the wood they used, and the quality of most stuff seemed great.

I will post more on what we liked/didn't like later, but first, some pictures. These are in order of the room layout, & then some outdoor pics at the end. You enter into the living room, & across from the door is a hallway (w/sliding door) to the bathrooms, then another sliding door to the bedroom/closet. To the left of the entry is the balcony & then further left is the plunge pool.

Living Room
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/8x...=w1267-h950-no

Main Bathroom-2 sinks, really nice shower w/rainfall shower-head & movable side shower-head. Window is partly opaqued so you can still enjoy the lagoon view.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/XK...=w1267-h950-no

Toilet/Additional Sink-Across from main bathroom, nice that they were separated.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/AS...A=w713-h950-no

Closet-To the right as you enter the bedroom. Nice feature.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pj...w=w713-h950-no

King Bedroom & Another Balcony
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Te...=w1202-h902-no

Main Balcony Where I'm standing is the part the plunge pool is on.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Yq...=w1267-h950-no

View From Main Balcony: This is my favorite pic I took at the resort, just gorgeous.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Gh...=w1267-h950-no

Here now.

A few things.

As a Diamond member, the free breakfast includes items from the menu and the buffet. Even if you order from the menu, you will get billed for buffet price.

The AC in the room is very loud. Very noticeable when it kicks on in the middle of the night.

The golf cart system seems to work pretty well, but bikes are very hard to come by. I have a feeling that people may be keeping them in their rooms.

The food has been good to excellent.

The service has been fantastic.

The beach gets moderate amount of seaweed. Not as bad as the past years.

Place is huge. It is a really long walk from the lagoon pool to the beach. A good 30 minute walk.

Can 2 adults and 2 teenagers book a suite?
 

Looks like only kings in suites. Would hotel accommodate a rollaway in other room?
Will try to call today but wanted to see if anyone was able to stay in suite with 4 people.

The fact that there is a designated child pool but no designated adults-only pool is a huge turn-off at this property. I fully understand and accept bringing the kids on vacation, but the presence of multiple little ones simultaneously at each of four (!) pools can make relaxation extremely challenging for those of us without kids.

Having been to Zilara and Ziva in Cancun, I was actually surprised how many people brought their kids to the Andaz. The ration of couples with kids was far higher than Ziva it seemed.

But the pools are so spacious, it wasn't really too much of an issue.

Most of the times, the kids had stuff to do at the kids club.

Tip about water.

The resort gives out nice bottled water for free everywhere: lobby, pool, and rooms.

HOWEVER, when you go to lunch or dinner at the restaurants, they will ask you if you want still or sparking water. If you ask for still, they will give you a big glass bottle of water and then charge you about $8-$9 USD per bottle.

If you want free water, you have to ASK specifically for non bottled ice water. Then they will just pour you iced filtered water from a pitcher.

During breakfast, everyone gets free water from a pitcher.

It's cheaper to pay for soda than drink bottled water at the restaurants.

The couch was definitely big enough for an adult to sleep on.

Thoughts about this property versus Grand Hyatt PdelC for an Explorist with a club certificate? I have originally booked three nights here on points (great value!) for February, but as a single person not too keen on the all the kids, and I wouldn't be able to use my club certificate. Andaz just looks much more plush, though.

Grand Hyatt is so close to the party area, it's quite a contrast to andaz. We took a day trip to playa and could not wait to go back to andaz.

We even walked around the grand Hyatt to see if it would be a place we'd want to stay in the future. No way. It's way too crowded. The resort is beautiful but do not like the way the pools are all squeezed into the middle and onto the crowded beach.

You will have lots of more food and entertainment options outside the grand Hyatt.

If you want space, peace, "nature", and luxury then choose andaz.

If you want nightlife, shopping, cheaper food options all in walking distance, the grand Hyatt would be better.

But I think Hyatt ziva in Cancun would be a good compromise.

Thought I'd share my thoughts having stayed on points with no status for 5 nights in February.

My wife, 6 month old daughter, and I stayed here on points last week and we loved it, but I think you have to "figure out" the resort a little bit to really get everything out of it.

We had a standard "Andaz King" room in the lagoon area. Our view was pretty much nothing, as we were on the bottom floor, just some plants outside our little patio. We were in building 12 and could easily walk to the gym, lagoon pool, Cucina Milagro and Casa Amate (the two restaurants up in the lagoon area). Our room was great for us. Comfortable bed, nice shower and plenty large. I especially appreciated that everything in the mini bar other than alcohol was free. They had chips, nuts, sodas, sparkling waters and juice, as well as two chocolate bars. They'll replenish everything once a day for you, so if you want you can stock up and then get new stuff the next day. My wife also really enjoyed the Nespresso pods for coffee in the morning.

We really liked being up in the lagoon area instead of down by the beach. The lagoon pool area is much more kid friendly, and we like to wake up and workout in the morning, which would have been a pain taking a cart up from the beach. Kids club is also located in lagoon area, so if you are dropping your kids off there, its easy.

Food: The breakfast buffet is nice but expensive ($37pp). We ate their twice and then twice we ate breakfast down at OllaTaco (French toast, coffee, OJ for $12... my wife had chilaquiles for like $13 including coffee and juice). If you're the type of person who wants to eat a lot of food for breakfast then skip lunch or have a really light lunch, then paying for the very extensive buffet might be good, but for us the value just wasn't there. We had dinner at Casa Amate one night and thought it was pretty good and a very pretty setting but it was quite expensive for what it was. Food was fine, not great. We ate lunch by the pools or in Olla Taco most days. Thought it was good and reasonably priced. Guacamole is excellent. We were a little frustrated though that the exact same guacamole (and fajitas) were twice as expensive at the beach pool as at the lagoon pool. (Guac 90 pesos vs 205 pesos, chicken fajitas 105 pesos vs 215 pesos). So, if you want to save some money time it out so you're up at the lagoon pool for lunch (or early dinner). FWIW the fajitas and guacamole were excellent.

We also ate at the Saffron (Thai food) at Banyan Tree. Thought it was very good, though not really any better than the Thai food we get from a few places in Dallas. Was expensive, but not crazy... and we really liked the view, location out on the lagoon, etc. Recommend heading over there one night.

Pools and Beach: We really enjoyed the pool area and beach area. Service was excellent at both, with someone always around to help you set up or move an umbrella, bring you drinks/food and make sure you had a couple cold waters. One of the lagoon pools has a hot tub in the corner that mixes with the rest of the pool. End result, pool is nearly 90 degrees and the hot tub is maybe 98. This pool was great for our 6 month old as the other pools (maybe 82 degrees) were a little chilly for her liking. The beach is beautiful and the sand is soft and they kept it very clean. Nobody trying to sell stuff. On windy days they do get a moderate amount of seaweed washed up on the shore (happened to us 2 of 5 days). I didn't really mind the seaweed, but they do send out crews of people to rake it up and put it in trash bags and haul it away, but they're pretty much out there all day doing it, which is a little bit of a buzzkill. Still, its not a huge deal, and its not a problem specific to this resort, the entire area has to deal with the seaweed when the wind blows from the East.

Transportation: Free anywhere in Mayakoba either by car or golf cart. Never took more than 2 minutes to get a car ready to take us to another resort or the golf course. It does take a little longer to get around than you might think though. Door to door from our room to Saffron at Banyan Tree probably took 25 minutes (golf cart from room to lobby, car to BT, golf cart from BT lobby to Saffron). Speaking of golf carts, the system works pretty well around Andaz. The walk from our room to the beach was at least 30 minutes, so we were glad they had the carts. Never had to wait long for one, we usually just started walking and they'd pick you up when they saw you, but you can call for one too if you're particularly immobile and/or lazy.

Generally speaking the service at the resort was wonderful. Every single person we interacted with was friendly and professional and seemed proud of their job. Everybody spoke English proficiently and were happy to go slowly in Spanish if you wanted (my wife and I both know just a little bit). While you should definitely tip for service there (but not for rides in the carts imo) I never got the impression that they were expecting a tip... no awkward lingering or anything of that sort.

One thing that did annoy me- they have a 15% service charge on EVERYTHING. Now, I'm fine with having it at restaurants (though the end result for them is less than if they just let me tip 20% as a minimum on my own) but when I buy sunscreen at their little shop, it seems kind of ridiculous to me that they add a 15% service charge to that purchase as well. Though I will also say that the 15% is on the pre-tax price or things. Since all the prices there INCLUDE the 16% tax, the 15% service charge actually ends up being less than 15%. So my 260 peso sunscreen had something like a 30 peso service charge instead of 39 pesos.

One other thing, the golf course.... it's a good course, it hosts a PGA event, and they're very proud of that. But there are no ocean views (two par 3s play toward the beach with the green above the sand, but its nothing like some of the courses in Cabo, no holes running along the coast, etc). I used one of my 3 free Citi Prestige rounds and thought it was a decent use of that, but I wouldn't pay $300 to play their course (this coming from a former scratch golfer, now 3 handicap who is happy to pay $500 at Pebble, $300 at Sawgrass, etc). There's just nothing special about the course, its fine, reasonably challenging, and the pace of play was good.

Anyway, that's a long post, but hopefully gives those without status out there a feel for what they'll get staying here. We really liked it. I would not pay $400+/night to stay there, but we were looking to burn some Chase points and this was a decent way to do it.

Thanks for sharing your experience. ^

About the 15% service charge issue ... it left a sour taste for me because I felt the restaurant staff took advantage of me for being a 'dumb American' as most of them said the service charge is not their propina / tip. So here I was expected to pay a 15-20% propina on top of the insane variable resort fee, service charge, etc. But that's my fault for falling for the trap as "service charge" at restaurants equals tips and should be left at that without asking further. I did receive wonderful service at all restaurants so I guess that makes it 'Ok', right... I did confirm with the GM and FOM later who acknowledged the 15% service charge is the tip "unless we want to recognize an an individual employee" but that there might be some confusion as the employees have not been paid yet with their 'bonuses' (this was within their first few weeks after opening) - but there should be SOP for all employees to follow and not make up stuff, instead this behavior seems to be encouraged as the checks have a line to leave a "propina / tip" instead of "additional propina / tip" ... just to make things confusing.

I thought that Saffron at Banyan Tree was very expensive for what it was. Good - but as you say, not anything mind-blowing. Also key to note that the prices there are before tax (16%) and the service charge (15%). We had the set menu (~$65 USD each if I recall), a couple of cocktails and a couple sparkling waters and our bill was ~$280.

We did 1 set menu and one pad thai. With wine we got out for 170 USD. Yes, expensive, but we could have done 2 entrees with an appetizer instead of the pricier set menu and maybe gotten out for 130. Could be worse, but yeah, triple what it costs in Dallas (but atmosphere lots better).

I know the preference of Cancun vs. Playa Del Carmen vs. Cozumel vs. Mayakoba can come into play here. But as I evaluate the choices of beach hotels in the area from Hyatt, this has to be the standout property, right?

Have people been able to form an opinion on the Zilara vs. Andaz Mayakoba? And is there anyone who really just likes the Hyatt in Playa Del Carmen?

We went to GH PDC for 5 nights in early march of last year and had an excellent experience. As a diamond, we got a plunge pool suite (I had to talk my way into the extra category upgrade on top of a DSU), and found the club lounge food and drink excellent. Over the course of 5 nights, we got hundreds of dollars of value out of that. The suite was great, although the plunge pool was a little cold for us. We found the pool area and beach to be very good. The pool is not GH Kauai, but then few places are.

I was worried about the noise from the day club, but wasn't really bothered by it. I like EDM, and it stops pretty early (6 or 7pm?), so it's not an issue at night.

While we didn't spend a ton of time off-resort, there's also something to be said for accessibility to shopping, nightlife, and restaurants.

We're looking forward to our visit to Andaz Mayakoba next month, but would definitely return to GH PDC in the future.

So are all the pools, including the private plunge pools NOT heated on this property??