Lengthy Review of Grand Velas Riviera Maya

And yes, I cross posted to TripAdvisor so if that is verbotten, feel free to delete.

I am en route home from an eight night stay at the Grand Velas Riviera Maya with my wife and two young boys (7 and 5). My expectations were unreasonably high and I tend to be a bit overly critical (according to some), so in a weird way I almost felt like I was setting myself up for disappointment. Instead, I was so blown away by the experience that I also feel compelled to point out the exceptionally minor less-than-perfect items solely to maintain some level of perceived credibility. In my opinion, this hotel experience was actually beyond Four Seasons resorts, beyond Ritz Carlton and other branded luxury properties. It was literally in another league and the combination of the "hard product" and "soft product" was exceptional. The service side was so impeccable it is actually difficult to describe because it requires me to identify specific areas of excellence when the whole magic was that everything was so excellent it just felt seamless. Small example: my wife used the Nespresso machine in the room and was partial to one particular flavor (of the three provided). After two days of raiding my kids' supply as well as depleting our own on a daily basis, the crew left many of the same variety. Noticing the small things and addressing them – that's the difference between good and great.

The choreography of the airport pick up (arranged through the hotel at barely a premium to "normal" car services/taxis) was good. We were ushered into a Suburban and driven for around 30 minutes from the somewhat chaotic arrivals area to the dramatic gate of the hotel. We were staying in the Zen section – more about that later – and were dropped off in the large lobby. I'm sure anyone seriously considering a visit has seen many photos, but the level of detail throughout the Zen section is very impressive. Long, dark wood-planked walkways with thatched roofs and somewhat dim lighting was simply beautiful. At check in, we were asked to be seated (not standing at a "normal" desk) and were presented with a welcome drink. The "explanation" of the all-inclusive concept was brief as there really was little to understand. There were five things not included: internet access (more on that soon), laundry, spa services, items from the boutique and an totally optional "premium wine list."

Our "butler concierge" guided us to our "suites" (we had adjoining rooms with our boys) and gave us the quick tour. It took my kids around 10 seconds to discover the fully-stocked minibar and begin the polite begging phase – to which we acquiesced much more frequently than normal. The rooms were absolutely wonderful – great beds, huge bathrooms, powerful HVAC, decent drawer and closet space. I was also really impressed with what seems like (and perhaps is) a small thing - each room had a beach bag ready to go so there was no need to bring one, use a plastic bag or whatever else. There has been much written about mosquitoes but my family of four went the entire week without a single bite. I'm not sure if that is a result of the season, the weather, the frequent mosquito fumigation or something else, but considering how dense the jungle is around the buildings and the outdoor walkways, I was pleasantly surprised. It's worth noting the rooms are exceptionally large but are not "suites" in what I would consider the traditional definition. There was not a separate bedroom or sectioned-off area so it might have been a bit tight in one room . We did not have a plunge pool but I did spend quite a bit of time outside on our balcony on a cushioned bed – really pleasant.

The butler himself was slightly different than what I anticipated. Across the board, service was beyond perfect. However, I expected our butler to really be more involved in the day-to-day. I'm not exactly sure what I'm saying here as I didn't necessarily need help to get to the pool or beach or much of anything, but we didn't see a ton of him. This may have been unique to this particular guy (as friends that we met said the same thing about the same person), but the butler was not a relevant part of our experience or particularly memorable.

It is worth noting that the occupancy went from exceptionally low at the beginning of our stay to exceptionally high toward the end. I sense that there will be many posts that follow mine that will refer to the massive – truly massive – Bar Mitzvah that took over the hotel over Labor Day weekend. For starters, the criticism is completely valid and this was not minor. The hotel was not properly prepared to deal with the onslaught of people (400+) and the number of tweens (hundreds) that simply overwhelmed the otherwise perfect main Ambassador pool. The family staged an unbelievably elaborate four day production - complete with rock-concert worthy stage set-ups, a flown-in planning/management team from Miami, fireworks, and countless items feting the Bar Mitzvah boy (including drink cups – it did not thrill me to drink from "Absolut Alex" cups as someone totally unrelated to the event. And yes, feel free to judge the appropriateness of vodka-inspired cups for a 13 year-old. And while you are judging, feel free to wonder if you would spend millions – literally – for a 13 year-old's celebration even if you had massive wealth). There was a team of 30+ people working for four days to erect the on-beach set-up used for some of the events. This was unlike anything I've seen (wedding, Bar Mitzvah, whatever) and I've been to a few memorable ones. I will say that my observation of the event itself is that it was gorgeous. The entire 400+ Venezuelan/Miami family in full white linen – customized sandals as the ceremony was on the beach – neon orange Yarmulkes with a stylized "A" on them. This was a big bucks affair and I imagine the father is pleased with the work of the event planning team from Miami. I think if P. Diddy converted to Judaism and his son was turning 13, he would have been pleased if this had been his.

The hotel has real responsibility as do parents who somehow had the ability to ignore their 12/13 year olds throwing french fries in the pool, dumping drinks in the pool, etc… Did it impact the product: yes. Did it impact my experience: yes. However, I will say that I was very very impressed with the response to specific and direct criticism. I sent an e-mail to the GM at 8am on a Saturday morning. By 9am, she had e-mailed me back wanting to arrange a meeting to address my comments. We had a cordial discussion and I appreciated their open acknowledgement that they just plain screwed up on some of the logistics and incorrectly anticipated the impact on non–group guests. It did not make the situation instantly better, but they assured me that they would not repeat their mistakes. This was apparently the first event of its kind (specifically with hundreds of kids) at the hotel and they seem to have learned their lesson. To be clear, the issue wasn't that it was a large event or a Bar Mitzvah, it was that too many kids that were not managed by their parents (or anyone else). While it's in-bounds to assign some of the responsibility to questionable decisions that allowed the hotel to be managed by one large check-writing family, it is also impossible to blame only the hotel for the total failure of the parents to do even a passable job of parenting. This, of course, was not all of them (some the kids were exceptionally polite – ironically including the Bar Mitzvah boy) but a few dozen misbehaving 10-17 year olds is more than enough to be brutally impactful. The hotel should have added pool bar staff as the wait went from 5 seconds for a drink earlier in the week to a long, long time. This is absolutely not the fault of the bartenders – they needed help – and the hard working guys were literally hand-making 50+ chocolate shakes and smoothies an hour for kids who rarely said thanks. They displayed more patience and professionalism than I could have. The situation was simply out of control. I applaud the hotel for acknowledging it but it saddens me that 3-4 days of my otherwise flawless trip were deeply impacted by it.

Rant aside, it is a remarkable testament to the rest of my stay that I am as exuberant as I am despite what would have killed my opinion of 99% of other hotel stays.

There seems to be much debate and discussion on the merits of Zen versus Ambassador – and I think it really falls into the "to each his own" category. The rooms are substantially identical, so the question is simple: is the beach front view worth several hundred dollars a night. There is no right answer but the question is not really more complicated than that. While the Zen pool is really extraordinarily beautiful, there is no question that, for most, the Ambassador pool is the "main" one. The Zen pool has full amenities – full swim-up bar/caf– and was literally empty on each of our three visits. Let me repeat: we were literally the only people there on each occasion that we visited. That said, our kids (and us) preferred the massive ocean-front perfectly temperate main pool and spent 95% of our waking hours in it or alongside it. The Ambassador pool (prior to the "coup de tween") was idyllic. Kids were happily playing (in a well-behaved way), parents were chatting and drinks were flowing. There was never even a moment's wait for a drink. Bar service at the pool was literally perfect (again, pre-group). I can't overstate how simple the back and forth was between the two buildings – there was literally a van every 60-120 seconds along with a guy to get you in, a guy to take you out, a guy to carry any stuff that you may have had. Seriously.

The beach area is also beautiful and impeccably groomed. Every night, they pack down the sand seemingly removing all rocks leaving just a smooth beach. It's a long beach – from one side in front of the adults only section of the hotel to the extreme other side of the Ambassador building (which are connected to each other) is a good .3 - .5 miles. That's a long stretch of beach. There are countless chairs set-up (same process as the pool) and plenty of drink guys around. There is an affiliated on-site water sports company that handles both the free (non-motorized) water activities and the rentals (jet skis for example). Like so many other things, if you choose to bring cash (as opposed to sign it to your room) things can be negotiated. There is also a somewhat dodgy duo with their own jet ski about a minute down the beach that was a bit cheaper.

As a travel geek, I (of course) wanted to check out other hotels as well. The Mayakoba complex is literally just a 5 minute beach walk away and easily visible. Banyan Tree is the next hotel down, followed by the Fairmont and (I think) the being-built Andaz (opening 2015) and, finally, the Rosewood. All were beautiful but I'll say that the beach at GV is dramatically larger, wider, nicer than any at Mayakoba.

Quick note about the kids club…My wife and I have not used kids clubs in other hotels before and always felt somewhat guilty for even entertaining it. I'll go on the record and say I was just plain wrong on that one. The kids club was awesome – and our kids were begging to go while I enjoyed dinner with my wife. Eight consecutive "date nights" after spending all day playing with my kids. Everyone won. While there are kids clubs in both the Zen and Ambassador section, our kids really wanted to be in Ambassador even when we ate in Zen. This was no big deal. The woman who was responsible for it, Zoe, is simply a wonderful constantly-smiling delight who even came to say farewell to our kids as we left the property. The hotel is lucky to have her.

Each building has its own – and virtually identical – gym. Solid equipment (LifeFitness cardio) with TV integrated to the console. I'm boring in the gym – I just run – but it had a full assortment of weights. They also had scheduled classes (Zumba, yoga, etc…) but the very low occupancy and my very early hour had me in there solo almost every time.

To me, the biggest unknown going into the stay was whether my snobbish food desires would be satisfied. Sure, there are lots of reviews about the great restaurants but let's be honest, people rave about the food on Carnival Cruises as well. Even on Trip Advisor, there are dozens of hotels in Playa del Carmen that are "more highly rated" than GV, but I think it's safe to say that the evaluation criteria differs among reviewers. I'll cut to the chase and say that the dining experience was extraordinary. Three of the restaurants, Sen Lin, Piaf and, of course, Cocina de Autour would hold their own in any major US city. Yes, that includes NY, Chicago, LA. Really. It's not just the food – although it was awesome – it was the whole experience. Service was amazing – really amazing. The atmosphere, the colors, the lighting fixtures, the art – all extraordinary. I thought Frida was also excellent but it was hard to post up to the other three (and I love gourmet Mexican – so it's not about the food type). The only disappointment was Lucca – and it wasn't bad - it just wasn't memorable. Even the feel of the place was that of a restaurant in a random, urban Marriott, not the "holy sh*t" feeling of the other places. Little details were huge. Each restaurant had a signature drink – different and interesting stuff (and my wife love most of them). From a wine perspective, the included options were perfectly acceptable. They were not extraordinary – I didn't practically expect them to be – but as a frequent wine drinker I did not feel compelled to explore the "premium" list (which was really expensive). The sommelier offered the list one time and a polite "no thanks" was the end of it. No upsell attempts, guilt trips or awkwardness.

I'll also mention that room service was flawless. Our kids would sometimes eat dinner in the room while my wife and I were getting ready for our later dinner reservations (sans kids who were rocking it out at the kids club). We also ate breakfast in there regularly as we had our kids out later than they normally would be and we started the day a bit later than normal. Despite the all-inclusiveness, room service felt particularly elaborate, decadent and wonderful.

I've read a great many things surrounding the "great tipping debate" at Grand Velas. They usually center around two concepts: first, why do you have to sign what is considered by some as an artificially high restaurant check after a meal (the theory being that it is to induce tipping). The second is why there is even an acceptance of tips as tips are ostensibly included. This is another "to each their own" thing to me but I'll say this: I have never wanted to tip more in my life. Actually wanted to – not felt compelled to. I also fundamentally reject that the prices on the menu are higher than the same meal would be at a non-all inclusive resort if they delivered the same dining experience. My dinner "bill" was typically in the $300-400 range (for two people) including plenty of wine. That's about what a meal would cost next door at the Banyan Tree or at the Rosewood. In any case, it really doesn't matter as – obviously – it is included. On the tipping front, I chose to get a stack of $50 peso notes (around US$3.85 at time of writing this) at the time of arrival and I would tip as I felt appropriate . I spent between $50 and maybe $80/day on tips and I felt just fine doing it (mostly meals, kids club and at the end of the day at the pool bar). I don't think I was the biggest tipper nor the smallest. But one key point – I never, ever got the impression that anyone was expecting a tip. Never. And honestly, from an informal and unscientific series of conversations, I would estimate that more than half did not tip at all. And none of them complained about being neglected or treated poorly. Again, I'm not claiming to be right or wrong so do as you see fit.

Much as also been written about the bizarre out-of-character internet situation. I could not agree more. It is patently absurd that a hotel so over-the-top in every component of its all-inclusive operation chooses to charge for internet. To be clear, it is US$79/week for ONE DEVICE. Think you'll get around it by using a travel router and creating an network in your room? Didn't work. Think you can just log off and log back on with a different device? Nope. It really is inconsistent with everything else the hotel is doing and stood out as being totally out of place.

My last minor gripe is laundry. It would be nice to either offer guest machine access or – better yet – offer to do laundry once for guests staying for a full week. Yes, they offer laundry service with the normal hotel form and pricing was slightly (just slightly) less punitive than many other resorts but it's still less than ideal.

In summary, even with the misery of the massive group, this was genuinely one of the most extraordinary travel experiences of my life. Obviously it's not inexpensive, but when you think about what it entails, there is no way you could stay at a comparable hotel on an a la carte basis and spend less. I have every intention of returning to the hotel in the not-too-distant future and am already looking forward it.