A warning to all, this company is NOT reliable for return pick-ups. They no-showed on me. They told the doorman that I should just bring my taxi receipt to the booth at the airport and I'd be issued a refund. The booth at the airport (departures) was not staffed. I've followed up by email, and while they acknowledge they failed to provide RT transport, they will only offer a partial refund (i.e., only a portion of the half-RT price).

Looking at TripAdvisor (wish I'd done that first), it seems this is very very common, and that their selling of "round-trip" transfers is borderline fraudulent.

Note they also promised me an Audi in order to close the deal at purchase. That was a lie. VW.

Any suggestions on alternatives? I have heard Uber can be used going to the resort but not vice versa.

Andaz standard suite then GH standard suite then GH standard room then Andaz standard room

I absolutely loved the Andaz suite.

I've used USA Transfers multiple times (once from Andaz) and they were always prompt and reliable.

Uber is banned, the taxi mafia drove them out.

From the resort, you can have them call you a taxi. They have regular drivers they use who charge reasonable fixed fares (this is true to PDC as well). I paid 750 MXN for a ride to CUN with an excellent driver in a clean, well maintained Jetta. I'm sure they can also arrange airport pick-up and/or a more upscale ride, too.

The difficult taxi ride is PDC back to the resort. The taxi drivers will charge outrageous fares for that, i.e., 250 from Andaz, 400 back. This was a shock coming from Mexico City, where you can cross the city in an Uber Black luxury SUV for 150 MXN.

Thanks, do you typically book in advance?

I received an email saying that I have been confirmed into a Beach suite overlooking the Lagoon. I'm not entirely sure what this means. Can someone who's stayed clarify if this is a good suite? If not, should I request to switch to a Lagoon suite?

Beach suites (and Ocean suites) are in the beach area, steps from the sea.
Ocean suites face east towards the ocean.
Beach suites face west, so you would be looking onto the man-made lagoons that snake throughout the Mayakoba resort.

Lagoon suites are in the lagoon area.
This area is a mile east of the beach area, connected via ambling paths for a long walk or on-demand buggy.
Lagoon suites overlook the man-made lagoons.

I have posted frequently in this thread about the comparison between beach vs. lagoon suites.
My evolved thinking is now beach suite is preferable.

Yup, for all of these definitely book in advance.

As noted, you'll be at the beach, but facing inwards toward the lagoon. You'll be quite a ways from the lobby, which has pluses and minuses depending on what's more important to you - easy access to beach or to transport and the main restaurant. My lagoon suite had some traffic noise from the highway, you won't have that. The most important thing IMO is avoid assignment to one of the buildings that's right next to the restaurant (Olla Taco).

Enjoying a great stay here in a Beach suite. I saw many posts about picking the Beach vs Lagoon side and wasn't sure what the big deal was as many resorts that offer golf carts are actually very walkable but this resort is literally huge and it would seemingly take 30+ mins to walk from one side to the other, so I can see why it is important to choose which side to stay on.

I saw some discussion about this upthread, but I must say my biggest issue with this property is how the 15% service charge is handled. I don't have an issue with the service charge itself, but it should be made clear that if the hotel chooses to add this to everything then they are responsible for delegating tips to their employees expectations should be managed as such. Ultimately, management are the ones short changing their staff by adding this to everything as I would likely be inclined to tip more than 15% if it were not already decided for me. There were numerous instances where employees left us with the impression that we should be leaving more money than the 15% which is already included, and we did when someone went above & beyond but at the end of the day I do feel management is playing games with these charges in an attempt to confuse guests into overpaying.

Just finished a great 7-night stay here, and wanted to pose some counterpoints to a few of the negative comments that are scattered throughout this thread. I'm not trying to devalue anybody else's comments, but our experience appears to have been different so want to share those quickly, as I had been worried about a few things before we arrived, that didn't end up being a real issue for us.

Some general comments first. The hotel is beautiful, new, and modern. Our room (a beach suite) was in excellent condition and very clean. Housekeeping was mostly excellent, with just a few minor issues (i.e., they didn't provide a new bar of soap for the shower until our 7th day, despite the fact that we had used up the original and had switched to the hand soap as a stop-gap).

- The service throughout the hotel and restaurants was some of the friendliest and most sincere we've ever had. While it is certainly more casual than one would receive at places like the Four Seasons, we found it to be perfectly enjoyable. We had one bad server our entire stay there, and he was basically overwhelmed due to the Superbowl party they had at Olle Ceviche.

- The food was good, not great. We ate all of our lunches outside at Olle Taco. Someone had mentioned up-thread that there is no outdoor seating there, which is not true. There are four tables on the steps leading into the restaurant, which is where we ate. It provides a break from the sun without being indoors. Olle Taco was generally good, but a bit expensive for what you get. We also ate at Milagro and Amate. Amate was our least favorite fine-dining experience while we there. We also ate at Saffron (Banyan Tree) and Casa Del Lago (Rosewood), and much preferred both of those. We liked the one at Rosewood so much we at there a second time on our final night.

- Despite Invalyd's experience in the post directly above this, we never once felt any pressure or received any indication that additional tip was expected. The servers all remembered our names after the first day, and couldn't have been any friendlier throughout our stay. We did typically add 50-100 pesos per meal onto the bill. I brought a bunch of $1's along to tip, but only used a few the entire week, mostly to tip the guys that brought us back and forth to the other hotels for dinner. However, I must agree with Invalyd that the hotel really should make it more clear that tip is included and anything added is optional. Both the Rosewood and BT both clearly state such on their receipts in big bold print. Andaz should adopt the same.

- Bikes were ubiquitous during our stay, and they now have over 100 of them on-site. Granted, we were told that the hotel was only about 50% capacity, but for us we always found a bike within about 20 feet of every common area and building. No issues.

- Beach vs Lagoon - We loved being at the beach section of the hotel. Quiet, 30 second walk to the beach, great pool, etc. It's literally a 7 minute bike ride between the two sections of the hotel, so I don't see the big deal about getting back and forth when needed. It's a long walk for sure, but between the golf carts and the bikes, it was a non issue, at least for us.

- Someone above complained about the flashlight. Odd, but I brought along a little LED flashlight just in case. It never came out of my bag. The path between the beach and lagoon side is lit the entire way, and there is plenty of lighting throughout the hotel. Also, it's just a normal-sized flashlight in the room, not some big industrial monstrosity.

- The beach suite plunge pools ARE heated. Maybe they weren't in the past, but ours started at well over 100 degrees. And twice we had to have maintenance come and make it colder for us. If the heated plunge pool is what was making you lean towards Lagoon side, don't let that be a factor.

- The top floor is preferred due to noise from above and better views. You should request to be on the second floor for beach-side rooms, and 3rd floor for lagoon-side rooms.

- This hotel is VERY family-friendly. We were there during a slow time, and the hotel was majority families with small children. There are no adult-only areas are pools, so if this is a consideration for you, plan accordingly.

- The beach was quite nice. I didn't see any of the sandbags mentioned in previous posts, and the seaweed wasn't a major issue while we were there. A tractor and a few guys come by every morning to rake up anything that has washed up.

- The service at the beach/pool was excellent. Always there to greet you and set up chairs/umbrellas, provide water, and take food/drink orders.

- We used Canada Transfers to get us there and back, and they were great. $98 RT. Highly recommended.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

Thanks, very helpful!

Hi there -

I'm thinking about staying at this resort in October, with a newborn and a 2 year old. Does anyone have any feedback/experience on whether it's going to be a good fit, and if they have any babysitting experience?

Also is this part of Mexico lousy weather in October?

Alexei

@rabido:

We did not stay here with kids, but to my knowledge yours would be too young for supervised time at Kimbo. I think you would still be able to stop by if you are with them. They also do offer babysitting, but I am not sure if it is contracted out or is part of the same team from Kimbo. If it is part of the Kimbo team then I would enthusiastically recommend them since my wife and I were very impressed with them on our visit and are trying to plan a visit with our newborn as well!

Strategy on suite stay
 

Funny enough, I loged in to post the almost exact same thing :)
I want to go in October with my newborn and 3 year old! It will be the first vacations as a family of four. I expect to keep my newborn with me at all times, but leave my 3 yo at Kimbo.

My questions however is on upgrades. I feel my stay will be entirely different whether I'm in a regular room or a suite, but I'm an explorist without an easy way to upgrade, and I don't want to spend all my $$$ on the room considering how expensive everything else seems to be there.

Ideal would be P+C then a DSU... that I don't have. Can those ever be bought from another WoH member? Or exchanged?
As an example I have a free night from my hyatt chase card that I won't use this year (up to cat 4, as you all know).

Any other strategy on getting to a suite without paying full price would be welcome!
Lagoon side seems to be the best with kids, from everything I've read (better pools, close to transport and kid's club).

Thanks all for your help, and see you there, @rabido?
Ben.

PS: if someone know the answer to rabido's question on whether in October, cheap in!

Q1: Weather in October:
I haven't been there in October, but I was there in November. There were some cooler days (high 70s), but was overall very nice. Weather Link. If you're coming from a northern US area, any time is a good time!

Q2: Suites.
If a suite is incredibly important to you, you can get a suite for 6K/night *IF* you pay the standard rate on a room. See "Room upgrades on paid nights" from Hyatts T&C.
TSUs can't be bought or exchanged. And I wouldn't be able to apply a TSU to your reservation. Really the only way to do that would be to make a reservation in my name, apply the TSU, then add your name to the reservation. But Hyatt's cracking down on that (anecdotally) so I doubt you'd get anyone to go along with it.

Q3: Where to stay.
I was there with kids (11,9,7,2). We were in the Lagoon side and then moved to Ocean. We used the carts to go to and from kids club and breakfast, but we spent most of our time at the ocean on the beach. So it was much more convenient to be close to the beach for napping children and a much shorter transportation (since Bikes aren't helpful when there are small children). And for lunch/dinner we really liked Olla Taco. Great tip: Olla Taco has half price for all kids even when ordering off the adult menu!

Thank you so much for this complete reply!
I've read very little about the standard room, so I don't really know how we'll fit in there and how enjoyable it is. Suites sound awesome which is why I'm doing my best to get one.

If anyone has experience with standard rooms, I'd be happy to read your remarks!
Also, chances to get upgraded with my explorist status?

Thanks again!

Explorist should get you an upgrade at checkin to one of the view rooms but not very likely a suite. You could ask at the time of checkin for a suite and they *may* provide it or maybe for an upcharge. But of course, that depends on what's available.

It's extremely unlikely. As a Globalist they wanted me to pay to "upgrade" from Lagoon View suite to Ocean Suite. They eventually gave in since they are both standard suites I could have booked with points had it been available at the time. But I would assume that you'll need to pay to upgrade.
Definitely call Hyatt reservations, ask what rooms/rates are eligible for paying points to upgrade since that's going to be your best deal. It is NOT available with Points or P+C, so hopefully you can get a decent cash rate and upgrade from there :)

Another option that you might want to consider would be to book this through the Hyatt Privé program. Any Privé advisor can check rates and availability for your stay. Here are the Privé benefits for Andaz Mayakoba:

- $120 USD Property Credit
- Room Upgrade, Response within 24 hours of request, Subject to availability
- Daily Complimentary Full Breakfast for Two at Hotel Restaurant
- Welcome Amenity
- Guest Welcome Letter.
- Early Check-In, Response within 24 hours of request, Subject to availability
- Connecting Rooms, Response within 24 hours of request
- Free Wifi

If you wanted to use points, you could use them to book some nights of your stay, and you could book the Privé rate for the remaining nights.

Thanks again for all the help. Does it have to be the standard rate (ie not advanced discounted rate) for the 6k/night upgrade to work?
Couldnt find the answer on the T&C.
Thanks.

Maybe a dumb question. Are all the beachside suites all on the "ground floor" or are there some on the 2nd floor? It sounds like 2nd floor is preferred in general for views and less noise. If they are on the 2nd floor how are they "beachside" without going down steps?

suites are either in the beach area (ocean suite, beach suite) or the lagoon area (lagoon suite, ada suite).

the ocean suites are in buildings that offer direct views of the ocean. there are both upper and lower ocean suites.
these lower suites have the advantage of walking directly out to the beach from your private pool deck.
these upper suites have the advantage of privacy on your private pool deck.

the beach suites are in buildings that are behind other structures and thus offer no sight-line to the ocean. there are both upper and lower beach suites.
these lower suites have no advantage over the upper, as both suites face away from the beach with nothing really behind it. the upper is better though because a higher view of the resort, versus mostly foliage view on lower.

Thank you. From the "upper" beach suites to get to the beach do you have to take stairs? We will be there with a 1 and 3 year old so if the lower suites have more direct access I think that would be preferred.

there are no elevators

Thank you Colin

I'm considering staying here with my wife and two kids (ages 4 years and 6 months). They have several good prepaid rates for our dates, so trying to figure out the best way to book as a Globalist (no remaining TSU left, but could upgrade w points/standard rate). We were thinking of booking a Beach Suite, but the Ocean Front Suites (or even the Ocean Front Studios) look pretty great. Ocean Front Suite cash rates are ~50% more than the Beach Suite, though.

Has anyone here received a complimentary Globalist upgrade from a Lagoon/Beach Suite to an Ocean Suite? Also, do they typically offer paid upgrades from a regular room to the different levels of suites?

Beach Suites and Ocean Front Studio have nearly the same cash rate - is it worth the extra space of a suite to lose the Ocean Front view in a "mini-suite"?

FF

1) Has anyone here received a complimentary Globalist upgrade from a Lagoon/Beach Suite to an Ocean Suite?
I've had an upgrade from Lagoon -> Beach, but not Ocean.

2) Also, do they typically offer paid upgrades from a regular room to the different levels of suites?
Yes, they hard sell these upgrades at check-in. I think someone earlier posted a picture, it's exactly what I saw as well. My hunch is that at low cash prices like you're seeing now, it's probably cheaper to pay the upgrade up front.

3) trying to figure out the best way to book as a Globalist
Do you by any chance have the Citi Prestige Card? Or are you willing/able to get it before you book your vacation? This is the perfect time to use it, since it gives the fourth night free.
Also, if you book through the Prestige, check on Prive rates. With Prive you'll get $100 credit, room upgrade (at booking, not if space available on arrival).
So in that case you can book the Beach suite, get the 4th night free and have a decent chance at an upgrade to Oceanfront suite.

Colin is correct, there are no elevators. I was there with a 2 year old, and actually like the upper suites a little better (slightly better views, a little more privacy since the hot tub & rooms are elevated). Yes, there are stairs, but you're only on the second level so it's not that many.
I had a lower beach suite, and mainly what I could see was foliage and occasionally see a golfer through the branches on the other side (since it butts right up to the golf course).

This is just to let everyone know that the current Half Price promotion (that includes a 50% room rate discount, welcome beverage upon check-in, 25% discount on food & beverages and 25% discount in the Mayan oasis, Naum Wellness & Spa) is now fully combinable with Hyatt Prive - so you will also get a full daily breakfast for 2, $120 property credit, welcome amenity, early check-in (confirmed within 24 hours of booking), room upgrade (confirmed within 24 hours of booking), VIP status and more. Send me a PM for more info and to book this very special offer!

Must book by August 31, 2018 for stays between June 29, 2018 - October 31, 2018

Lucky (on his blog) said the upgrade is room to room or suite to suite with Prive.
I assume this means booking paid Beach Suite confirms into Ocean Studio (only a $20/n difference) and then paid Ocean Studio confirms into Ocean Suite (a $138/n difference).
Can you confirm this?

Yes, that is correct. The upgrade is always down to the hotel's discretion but I work very closely with the hotel to ensure that they give you a full one category upgrade (at least). A great upgrade is from the Ocean Studio to Ocean Suite! Send me a PM and I'll help set this reservation up for you. Thanks!