azepine00

book the cheapest, email hotel for paid upgrades options

Rd3

Stayed here a week or so ago. Was upgraded to an ocean view room as a Explorist. At check-in I asked how long the walk was from our room on the beach side to the lagoon side & was told 20 minutes, which is accurate-lol, although we did not have a problem getting a cart to take us to the Lagoon side when needed (the only breakfast restaurant is on the lagoon side, FYI). Interestingly enough, their 'lobby' is called a 'sanctuary.' There were quite a few families there, at least on the beach side. Excellent service, beautiful beach. We didn’t care about exploring, & we were only there for 2 days to relax, so we stayed on the resort our entire time there, but it does appear to be a remote location. On another note, I recommend USA Transfers for transportation to/from CUN airport.

SP03

How do you search for Prive rate online? Do you just price it based on the Standard Rate? I assume resort fee applies for the free night too?

txhyattlvr

You have to go through a Prive agent to get details. It's typically the standard rate and the agent gets a 10-15% cut! You'll find many on here using FT to advertise their services... and probably get IM'd by several more seeking to solicit your business.

SP03

I know you have to book through a Prive agent, but I was hoping there's a way to search for rates online. It's just more convenient to be able to price compare before I have to bother an agent.

SNA_Flyer

It's kind of like Amex FHR rates, they are typically similar to the Best Available Rate, sometimes less.

ABG

You can take the best available rate as being equal to the Prive Rate, minus the upgrades and perks. 3rd night free may be blacked out for your dates but unlikely
In the Prive thread here someone posted how access the rate on the website with a code, which I won't repeat here as it is a private code and should not be shared publicly

59Impala

You can enter the corp code mentioned here. Mind only in the app, the web browser will not display the rate.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32858012-post913.html

SP03

Thanks. That's an awesome suggestion! I like playing around with dates since I'm flexible before contacting an agent. This is really win-win for everyone. I wish other resorts would do it too.

59Impala

It‘s a general code for Privé rates, works at other locations, too.

SP03

Oh I know. I meant for other chains. Such as Marriott Star.

Kacee

Just wrapped up six nights here. Overall a very nice stay, though by no means perfect:

• Booked a Lagoon View King on points. Checked inventory daily for weeks for a TSU suite, nothing ever opened. About 10 days out, with inventory tightening, confirmed a paid upsell to a Beach Front Studio. Based on inventory day of check-in, would not otherwise have received an upgrade (was told they were at 80% occupancy over New Year's).
• Loved being right on the sand, but the Beach Front Studio was a bit lacking in terms of indoor and outdoor seating areas, and the views of the water were about 90% blocked by bushes (which do provide a privacy screen). The lack of comfortable outdoor seating was a particular disappointment.
• Best features here IMO are the (mostly) warm, gracious staff and the spacious, natural feel of the resort. Love the bike ride back and forth from the lagoon area.
• OTOH, there were service glitches. Paid for the hotel car service from airport, and the driver was 20 minutes late picking us up. The FDA I called from the pick-up area was downright rude about it. There was never an apology or service recovery of any kind. The one night we ordered room service, it took two hours (to their credit, we received multiple profuse apologies for this one). In room wifi seriously glitched starting on day 5 and front desk refused to acknowledge the problem. Housekeeping twice left dirty towels lying in the middle of the bathroom floor.
• COVID protocols were excellent EXCEPT for NYE. They jammed extra tables into the restaurants and held an open bar dance party at the beach pool with live DJ. It would have been a classic superspreader event (see, Tulum) if more than about 20 guests had shown up. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the NYE dinner buffet at Cocino Milagro - well worth the $85 pricetag.
• We booked massages (spa is fully open). Quality was so-so. Not worth the money.
• We ate everywhere except Casa Amate. Food was generally very good, but we were frustrated they wouldn't make things spicy. Learned to ask for the salsa de chile manzano, which is fantastic. Globalist breakfast (buffet plus anything you want off the menu) is very generous.
• No mosquitos at all. I tried not to think about how they accomplish this. (By contrast, we got swarmed at Saffron.)
• The eco boat tour was surprisingly fun. Saw lots of birds and a crocodile.
• Beach has recovered from the hurricane, and seaweed was tolerable but water was very very cloudy. Visibility was basically zero.

coleslaw

More than a few times I was gassed by their golf carts converted to anti-mosquito tanks as I was cycling by. They spray a thick cloud of grey smoke that’s an insect repellent / poison and do a few laps around the resort. It’s quite unpleasant. They also have boats that do laps of the lagoon every day spraying the same type of thing. Perhaps it’s some kind of eco friendly pesticide... but I doubt it.

Kacee

I don't think it's a coincidence that there are very few birds at Andaz. The mangrove swamp is almost eerily silent when walking/riding through. Lots more wildlife at Banyan Tree, where it seems they do not so actively suppress the mosquitos.

Kacee

Looking at my bill now and have a couple of questions for those who have stayed here before.

1. Are Globalists supposed to pay the 5% "Resort Fee"?
2. Did you get credit for restaurant and spa spend? I've got about 50,000 MXN worth that didn't credit.