Just got back, was a great stay, albeit pretty quiet as was told by their staff the occupancy last weekend was only about 25-30% of rooms. We were upgraded to a Beach Suite after having booked the standard room through straight points (have diamond status).

The breakfast buffet at Cocina Milagro for those without diamond status would cost about 650 Mexican Pesos plus a 15% service charge which converts to about $35 USD per person. Not sure if this 15% meant the gratuity itself or not as we never asked the staff but left a cash tip anyway everywhere.

Dinner at Casa Amate ran us about 3000 Pesos or $140 including taxes/tip for the 2 of us which was for 2 soups, 2 cocktails, and 2 entrees (no dessert).

Snacks in the minibar included very tasty chile peanuts, potato chips, some Mayan brand of chocolates, and several non-alcoholic beverages free of charge.

The spa that we didn't partake charges about $190 USD for a 1 hour massage or facial plus 15% service charge and about $235 USD for 90 minutes.

the lagoon suite here is special. private hot tub pool is truly private & heated to about 98 degrees. design is fun. huge balcony with round dining table. three balconies.

aside from the presidential & bi-level, it would be a mistake to upgrade further. nothing nicer at the lagoon. upgrades would be beach suite, ocean suite which are about 1/3 smaller than lagoon suite overall due to missing the whole pool area that the lagoon suite has. this is a half-the-size tub on the balcony in the beach/ocean suites, taking up half the balcony. further, this private pool is not heated. similarly, the hotel pool at the beach is not heated - they didn't install a heater.

lagoon suite you want an XX31, not an XX21. there are only 12 lagoon suites, one per building in about half the 20 or so lagoon side buildings. looks like 8 are XX31 and 4 are XX21. XX is buillding number 01 to 22ish. three story buildings, you want the top 3rd floor. for the XX21 suite, the walkway on the 3rd floor looks down onto your private pool. you probably want a higher XX number for less foot traffic in front.

11am boat tour is a must. show up 5 minutes late to get on the 2nd boat, less crowded.

multiple servers advise, unprompted, 15% service charge goes to hotel. so, menu price + 50% is the final cost if you're not a d. truly +++.

private taxi 107USD roundtrip. just walk out of the mass of hawkers to curb upon CUN arrival, find the Super Shuttle stand a bit to the left. despite the name, it is private transfer.

overall stunning. best hyatt resort in my mind now. better than papagayo, closer & better beach. better than maui, cheaper & easier/better DSU. $600ish roundtrip DL J flights nonstop LAX. will be here lots.

So from what your saying, 15% service charge is NOT gratuity? Good to know as had left additional tip everywhere anyway.

This is insanity! 15% resort fee + 3% whatever fee + 15% SERVICE CHARGE at restaurants and still it's not for the staff!?

I emailed the hotel and I received a contradicting reply vs yours.

..."Regarding your inquiry, I would like to say the service charge it is the tip for the staff of the restaurant, however if you considered the service was excellent you can give an extra tip for your waiter. About the resort fee this charge is split in the entire collaborators in the property."

What is a proper additional tip anyway? If I have a 3,000 Pesos meal at a restaurant + $450 service charge + what? Another 15% seems outrageous.

This resort will be insanely expensive with these fine prints.

Curious as to what others feel is an appropriate tip on top of the 15% service charge ... all tip suggestion sites ... even the liberal ones ... say there's no need to tip if the restaurant already includes a service charge.

Check your PM.

your issue here is with management. management knows exactly what it is doing. it presents a bill with a line item "service charge" with a calculated 15% and a separate line item "propensity/gratuity" with blank line. at Banyan Tree, the F&B receipts print with the sentence "service charge is included". No such sentence on Andaz receipts. Banyan Tree additional line is labelled "additional gratuity". Management's decisions at Andaz are quite intentional.

employees have income expectations - if the Andaz model is to confuse & extract an extra 15% from most customers, then the employees have likely accepted lower wages as a result. if management eliminates this nonsense, Andaz will need to raise wages to attract & retain staff.

as it stands now, the only choice most reasonable American customers will see is to add an additional 15% to the bill for the server. the battle can't be waged with the server and his family as the collateral damage.

that being said, Andaz printed prices at 50% markup should be the final cost expectation, and, even still, it is a fair final price. $20 final cost for a frilly, quality cocktails with an umbrella & fresh garnish overlooking the Caribbean ain't too bad in my mind.

I had the opportunity to speak to one of the managers. He clarified that the service charge IS the gratuity for the wait staff and the resort fee is to cover the services / activities offered at the resort.

it is my opinion (and there are countless opinions) that something extra directly to the waiter for excellent service is appropriate -- but not another 15% -- and not on the bill! It is MUCH better to give it to your waiter directly in cash, to ensure all of it goes to the person intended.

I'm a generous tipper - believe me - but we really need to get clarity around this now.

PS - this is such an awesome, unique property. Amazing first impressions.

Thanks for the info Collin! Currently looking at booking here for my honeymoon coming up in April (plan to use DSU into Lagoon Suite). Originally was thinking about upgrading further with cash to a beach suite, but may not do this after hearing your thoughts. Any other tips or advice that you can give?

Quick thoughts: I'm stunned by this property. It is beautiful. Just got off the Eco tour and it was AMAZING and beautiful!

I encourage anyone who's mildly interested to book this property now. I don't see the (comparatively) low rates or wide-open points availability being around for too long, it will likely catch up with its counterparts soon enough.

Amazing!

Any pictures of your suite and balcony would be greatly appreciated! Kind of hard to understand the layout of the room's because there are not that many pictures uploaded on the website. (I have seen a few on hotwire and tripadvisor)

Of course! The only way I know how to do that on FT is via text message lol! PM me your number or email and I'll send you some pictures. We are in a beach suite. Had to take the upgrade because I needed a two double bed room next to it and this was the best set up available. Although I have to agree with Colin, a third floor lagoon view suite is probably best other than Bi level or Presidential. We get enough beach views in other hotels - the lagoon view is something special.

But right now every room is amazing! Spanking brand new and super high ceilings (15 feet?).

Here now and am blown away. I know folks have strong opinions in both directions on the Andaz Maui, but I personally love it (have been 4x in the last 12 months). I love the Andaz Mayakoba as much as the Andaz Maui and in some respects even more.

We had a lagoon view suite and ended up switching to a beach suite. Both are absolutely stunning both in size and design.

Really like OllaTaco, the casual dining restaurant by the pool. We had poolside tacos there the first day as well as dinner that evening. While the prices may seem "expensive for Mexico," given that I live in San Francisco/NYC, the prices seemed downright fair/reasonable to me. Quality poolside cocktails ran about $11 each.

I'd be VERY curious to see how the whole golf cart setup works during peak season occupancy. Presumably right now they're under 40% occupancy and there have been moments where we had to wait a good bit for one to arrive to take us around the property.

Nonetheless, this property is a homerun and the service has been stellar. Spa was beautiful too. We didn't have treatments. We just did hydrotherapy.

I did a video tour of the lagoon suite and will do one of the Beach Suite as well before we leave. Will post both once I get them uploaded back home.

the lagoon suites XX31 connect nicely to a XX32 lagoon double to create a 2-bedroom suite.

in the picture below, to the left of the pool is the connecting XX32 lagoon double.
to the right is the bathroom and further right the king bedroom.


https://s28.postimg.cc/mwo829fvh/IMG_0277.jpg

Having just spent four nights in Mexico City, the prices quoted in this thread (3000 pesos for dinner, $190 for a 1 hour massage, etc.) are absolutely insane and reflect massive price gouging by the management.

This still looks like a beautiful property but I will wait until after March 1, when resort fees are waived for top tier.

I spent 5,000 for a dinner here. :P I suppose it was worth it as a similar dinner in the USA would probably cost 4x if not more. It was an amazing dinning experience.

I did notice the hotel has (already) raised prices of some dinner entrees vs the menus available in this thread.