Barcelo Maya Riviera

Staff was amazing, views were great, beaches and pools were awesome, the sleep quality of the beds and pillows were out of this world. Couldn't have asked for a better week for the wife's birthday

We visited Barcelo Maya Riviera for a wedding in September. Overall the stay was ok at best. This is not a 5 star hotel

Check in - We were staying in the Colonial resort and were premium (although we didn't realise this when we booked this). This meant that our check in was done in the premium lounge, which was air con and had drinks and snacks. We could visit anytime we wanted during our stay which was nice. During check in we were told they had booked us into the restaurants which was nice but we couldn't make all of them as we had wedding events happening during our stay.

Room - The room was large and spacious. We had an ocean facing room, but we looked out to the children's pool and the ocean was in the far distance, so we felt that we didn't actually get what we paid for. In addition the room smelt of damp/drainage, but I think it was because the room had not been used for a while, so by the next morning it was fine, The air con was great. The bathroom was large, but the shampoo and shower gel was in plastic containers drilled into the wall and were broken and had cracks all over them. Not exactly 5 star.

Food - This is where the hotel really lets itself down. Breakfast was in a different dining room everyday because the hotel wasn't at capacity so they only had 1 open. This mean walking to the neighbouring hotel, which was fine for us. The options for breakfast were a mix of traditional Mexican and international choices. BUT the quality was really poor and tasteless. It felt like a lot of choices were sugary or packaged yoghurt drinks, again not really 5 start quality. The Mexican coffee was nice, so do try this. We had lunch once at the Grill and it was appalling, most of the food was uncovered, under heat lamps and looked like it had been there for a long time. The biggest turn off was that the veg and meat dishes were together and people had clearly used the meat spoons and vice versa in the veggie dishes. This for me as a veggie meant that my options were then limited. The staff were too busy talking to each other than giving us a 5 star service. It is crazy that no one was looking at this, due to cross contamination. We did have lunch at the buffet restaurant a few times, and this was better, but again meat dishes were behind veg dishes not anyone getting a meat dish were dropping sauces into the veg dishes. The hotel really needs to look at this. We did dine at Capri and that was amazing. The service, ambience and food were all great.

Beach/Swimming Pool - Beach was nice. Swimming pools were nice and quiet, with plenty of sun beds. Drinks were a bit weak, but ok. It was hard getting a normal margarita that was frozen or a fruit version. What was anooying is that we went to the grand hotel swimming pool, which we were allowed to do, but we were refused drinks at the bar as we weren't staying at the Grand hotel. But if this is the case, why even let other hotels use the facilities? Again, this is where the hotel needs to let everyone in and get drinks or stop this. We stayed at the Moon Palace and if you weren't staying in the Grand hotel, then you weren't allowed near it.

I really didn't enjoy this hotel and I don't think it's a 5 star.

Everything has been great! Service was awesome, fun experience with the cook and our family would love to eat here again. Susana Lopez and Maria Con were awesome when it came to our customer service experience!