Barcelo Maya Tropical: Great Resort, pools & beaches are lovely

The grounds were great, very clean, staff very good. Food very good, lots of chooses. Great nightly entainment, and things to do. Only problem is I found it damp, could use a better hvac system, but otherwise had a great time.

Barcelo Maya Tropical: Mostly great experience!

This is our second visit to Barcelo Maya. We loved the resort last year and decided to come back again this year. We had a nice stay but there were few issues as well. To start with the positives, the resort is very big and the grounds are beautiful. There are so many places to walk and yo get a feeling that you are in a small village rather than just a hotel. We love that it had so any amenities and there is always something to do. The rooms are spacious and kept clean. The food is pretty good  [... read more]and there are number of a la carte restaurants which are quite good. The beach is amazing. Probably one of the nicest beaches on the Mayan Riviera. In regards to what could be better, there was a lack of beach loungers and we had to wake up early in order to reserve a lounger. People, including ourselves, ended up dragging loungers from the pool area to the beach. Second, there is a lack of small spoons. We had to ask for one almost every meal. Easily remedied by buying more. And lastly, Barcelo Maya caters to families and elderly and this is one of the reason we enjoyed the resort and feel safe. However, this year there was a very large group (over 100) university students from Spain that arrived near the end of our stay. They were very loud all through the night and we didn't get any sleep that last 2 days. We called the reception to address the issue but nothing was done.

Occidental Nuevo Vallarta: Most disappointing trip , first time to Mexico

First time traveller to Mexico and wished we were warned about the "snake pit" at the airport, The husslers, nearly cost us missing our bus connection, plus the Air Transit represnetative was not observable to help direct us to the connecting hotel bus. We sent everywhere by Mexican husslers in the aiport who apprear to be legitimate travel assistants. NOT .. so be aware, just walk through to the outside without giving any eyecontact , and look for a representative, it is chaos there. Second [... read more]ly, the Air Transat rep at the us is very rude and not helpful at all, aswell as the meeting with rep at the hotel. Went to the scheduled meeting at hotel, no rep., someone when to fine the person. The person eventurally arrive, and was not welcomng, language barrier, only concerned to selll off hotel tours.. did not know anything about the local area, buses etc. I was other tourists who educated us... never again will I go to Occcidental . 1. Arrived and told we were up graded. We thoough how nice. well, not, we were in a closed off room with no windows to open, only to listen to the music nightlfy from othere hotels, and under our room was as the supply area. Every day woke to deliveries , beeping, etc . and ending every night with loud music from the hotel next door.. SOME upgrade.. to add to this was a disgusting odor from the inside of our night table, all of our personal items took on the odor or what smelled like animal urine,, it was disgusting. No fresh air, moldy air conditioners, and woke to workers drilling 10 other rooms having the air conditioner serviced... not ours. Complained to desk and asked to be moved after a frustrating week of no sleep. Was told to return the next day, did that, was told no one knew about about the complaint, come back next day and to find that a couple 2 doors down, complained becasue thier tv did not work and were moved that night ....returned 3 rd day to the evening manager who took us seriously, came to room and had the night bed exchanged and them said he will have a "surprise" the following day ... suprise , not surprise .. one hand does not know what the other is doing at the front desk. The departure day after 2 weeks on no sleep, and constant noise, and lack of action, the front desk could not find our reservation with our personal informations -- copy of our passport ... no one could find it, and showed no concern for the fact our passport information was misplaced... I have since written the manager. Accomodations rate - old dumpy... however, the cleaning staff were lovely, responsive and very kind! as I became very sick from the mold in the air conditioner. Food variety very good, and generous in choices. The 3 restarants are a nice change fa nice change from daily crash bang caferteria and line ups to get in. The pool is often filled early in am filling up with americans who enjoy drinking at 8 am and stay in pool all day. No fun, loud obnoxious , resort .. I lived at the beach where peddlers constantly bugging people to buy something .. it never ended. Overall, if you like to drink, booze flies constantly, the lounge is taken up by sports people, always full of americans wthinc bloody football,, the resort offers very little for options, your are stuck with the same old pool junkies, and the lounge is taken over by 8 tvs of sports , It it is your thing, knowck yourself out. The best thing, was perfect sunny weather while is stormed her in Ontario.. would I recommend air transat or Occidental , not on your life. I an extensive traveller and it was the worst holiday I ever had. It was alot like Cuba but at Cuba you know what to expect.

Barcelo Maya Palace: OK RESORT

The grounds are ok, it's not small at all.......if you like small and personal, this is not for you. No beach bar or music and YES there are rocks in the ocean. I'm a beach person and I hated this beach because you always had to watch were you step!!! Yes there's go-carts and a bigger water park and bowling.....ALL AT AN ADDTIONAL EXTRA EXPENSIVE COST!! $50 USD for the go-carts. As far as the chairs......after 7:30am everything is gone and the reviews were right!!!!!!!!! they need at least [... read more] 150 extra chairs to maybe make everyone happy. I read the reviews and like always resorts are all the same and I'm not that picky about the rooms, about the food, about the service, however, there was something about this place that I just would not recommend it to my friends. oh, and they now try to get you at the airport to book excursions for a good price but yet, its a set up for timeshares. be careful if that's not for you. You will be stuck to do a 90min meeting just for a better price for a sink hole excursion....but yet they forget to mention the 90min meeting to you.

Occidental Papagayo: Average resort

The hotel was average as far as services and food selection/taste. Lots of stairs if you like to work out. Not recommended for persons with limited mobility. The grounds are well maintained and the staff is nice.

Occidental Caribe: Not as advertised

The hotel is very old (and it shows every where) but clean. However, the food is mediocre at best and only about 5% of all the employees speak any English. It was very hard to get anything since no one understood what you're trying to say. Making reservation for ala cart restaurant was an ordeal. it took over an hour to communicate and get reservations. From all the restaurants we've tried, I only recommend the French (both food and service was great). Our toilet brook and we had to wait 16 ho [... read more]urs for someone to come and fix it (the technician and the supervisor both didn't speak English so we couldn't talk to them). Every time we called Guest Services we were told that someone is coming or were told nothing and the person who answered just hanged up on us. When we physically went to the Guest Service we were told that there is no Technician on premises and they will call someone to come to the resort.... They wouldn't change rooms for us, so my husband and I had to go to the lobby to use the bathroom..... Over all I would give this resort 3 stars (even though they have the potential to be a 5 star resort)!

Occidental Caribe: Honest Review

My honest review. This resort is definitely an older resort. The resort was kept clean on a daily inside and out. Of course they can not keep a cleaner at ever public washroom all day so on occasion there was a mess on a toilet or on the floor. That is no fault of the resort. Our room was a superior oceanfront room. In my head an oceanfront room is actual right close to the ocean. That is not the case an oceanfront room is actual a straight on ocean view. This should be specified. Our room wa [... read more]s in unit one on the second floor. We were lucky and got two balconies as our room was a corner unit. That was a pleasant surprise. Our room was also the top unit which there are usually 4 floors but this section was only had 2 floors. I mention that because in many reviews there was leaks coming from units above. Just because we didn't have a unit above us did not save us from having a leak coming from above when it rained. We booked with airtransat. They sell you an oceanfront room that comes with many perks. However there was really nothing in our room that was supposed to come with it. That being said im a seasoned traveler and knew if I left notes for the maid daily and tipped with money and treats that she would bring us what we needed. She gave us new towels when requested. Stocked our fridge with pop and water. Left us beer and rum when requested. She was a lovely lady and did a fine job keeping our room cleaned and supplied with the necessities. Our room was definitely on the smaller size but ample for us as we don't spend alot of our time in our room. One issue was that we booked two superior ocean front rooms and one was in unit one and one was in unit four. That should not happen in my opinion but we made it work. We got up early Sunday morning to stand in line to reserve the a la cartes. We were able to book 4 right away but were told that we'd have to come back the following Sunday to reserve additional a la cartes. We stayed for 10 days but chose not to wait in line the following Sunday. Partially because we didn't want to line up but also because the buffet has a theme each night and the food was actually good in my opinion. My group of 5 adults also felt the same about the food. We ate at the Italian, Japanese, Dominican and Mexican a la cartes. They were all good. We had a surprise, one of our group members daughters showed up to surprise her and each restaurant allowed her to join us. Thanks for that. There was a smaller buffet by the swim up bar pool also a pizza place that served at lunch right above that buffet. We spent some days at the swim up bar pool. There was also a very shallow pool to the one side where you could sit on the bottom and relax in the water. That shallow pool hardly ever had anyone in it. That was wonderful. We of course had our favorite pool bar girls. She would bring us drinks wherever we were. We gave her money tips and fed her snacks that we brought from our country. She was a pleasure. The quiet pool was right in front of our room and we spent a few days there also. There is a bar by this pool also. There was only one day that they played music around this pool. If you want pool chairs you must get up early to put your towels on them. I hate that people do this but if you don't you will be shit out of luck. There are ample places for chairs they just don't have enough. That is definitely something the resort should rectify. The beach was stunning. Beautiful color, beautiful sand. Lots of palms on the shore line for shade. Once again a shortage of chairs. There were no umbrellas on this beach. The ocean was always wavy. This would be a deterante for some but a fun time for us. There was a different show nightly. I caught a few shows and they were average for a resort but entertaining. There are also on site shops, over priced just like other resorts. There was pool tables, a casino. Im not a gambler but was talked into going in with my group to try our luck with 20 dollars each. I left with 150 in my pocket. They have a weight room climbing wall and a trapeze. Also a disco for the night owls. Would I go back? Yes I would. This resort is bigger then I like but it was a good resort. I was worried after reading reviews but there was no need to worry. We got what we paid for.

Barcelo Tambor: Totally recommend!

The grounds were amazing, everything was incredibly clean. Loved the beach and pools. Nothing was a disappointment! The staff was second to none. I can not find a single thing to complain about. A friend recommended your Resort, so happy we listened.

Barcelo Maya Colonial: Beautiful resort

We loved the beautiful beaches, and there were always enough lounge chairs to go around. Stunning weather (end of Jan, beginning of Feb), and the resort is so spacious, so it was fun to walk around. There were plenty of activities (we did a yoga class), and the staff go out of their way to make you comfortable and happy. The food was also plentiful with enough variety not to get bored. They did overbook and move us to another hotel at the resort, which was really noisy, so we moved back to the o [... read more]riginal hotel the next day - they were accommodating about that. Amazing trip!

Barcelo Maya Palace: Beautiful resort

Barceló Maya Palace is one of several properties owned by Barceló along a lovely stretch of clean beach. Both the grounds and the beach were meticulously maintained. Stay at one and access all, except for adults only property. The room was huge, with a comfortable king sized bed. Lots of storage for clothing, and a large bathroom with two sinks. But the room was damp, very damp. Our clothes came home smelling very musty. Our bathing suits never dried out fully in the 10 days there. The buffets w [... read more]ere full of tasty food and the a la carte restaurants were excellent. Service was attentive and timely. However, the beach bar and lobby bars were understaffed, resulting in waits up to 15 minutes for drinks. On the plus side, all frozen cocktails were freshly made in the blender, to order. Very tasty. The first week of our stay was very busy, so it was difficult to get lounge chairs at the beach and pools. Most resorts have a “no reserving” policy but I have never seen it enforced like here. I made my way to my preferred location around 6:30 each day (I was awake anyway) to leave my towel and water bottle, then stayed to watch the sunrise. Management and a maintenance worker came by and randomly removed towels and personal belongings! This created a couple of nasty altercations on the beach later in the day when people discovered their reserved chairs had strangers in them. Clearly the resort does not have sufficient chairs for everyone either at the beach or around the pools. Unfortunately some people put towels down then never show up, which is incredible selfish, or they reserve chairs at both the beach and pool, also selfish. On the whole, it was a very pleasant vacation. I would return to this resort or to one of the adjoining properties for sure.

Royal Hideaway Playacar: Ok

Hotel is nice. Quite dated with old shower. The bed was comfy. 2 sinks was great. Beach grounds and shoreline was outstanding however water although aqua in colour and warm was very rough with lots of sharp coral. Windy conditions for 10 days, too bad for us. Swimming was very difficult. Lots of steps and slippery surfaces. At 75 I was very careful everywhere I walked. Food was not good at the deck/grill. Good at Azia and the Mediterranean restaurants. Drink selection was very good. Having be [... read more]ach chairs available without reserving was a Hugh plus. People working at the resort were pleasant.

Royal Hideaway Playacar: Perfect Getaway

Not only was it a beautiful resort with amazingly beautiful views of the ocean but it was also a great place to relax and be catered to. Our room was spectacular. The resort size was ideal since it was not crowded at the pool, for dining nor on the beach. As picky eaters we were impressed by the variety of restaurants and menu items to choose from. We were especially impressed by the dining service at the Grill from our favourite staff member named Frank N. He was attentive and very efficient. W [... read more]e appreciated the willingness, efficiency and cordial nature of all staff which enhanced our stress-free vacation. The atmosphere, the service, the beauty and the tranquility of this resort made this our favorite vacation so far.

Barcelo Bavaro Beach: Great vacation

Adult side of the Barcelo Bavaro complex, great location on the beach. Beach no problem getting a lounger any day, there was always availability. Water was calm and clear, swam with the fish and turtles. Ground were clean and well maintained. Staff very pleasant and helpful, even with a language barrier at times. Some activities in the evening but it was an easy 5-6 minute walk to the main area at Palace if you want more late night activities. There was always good food available. We found th [... read more]e Buffets often had the same if not better food than the restaurants. Had our best meal at Santa Fe. The buffets at the Palace had more choice than Beach but were much busier. The room ( we were at the basic level) was dated but had what you would need. Most rooms close to the main area. The gym at the main resort had decent equipment for a resort but was busy at times. Had something taken from the shelf that was never found, not what you would expect at a higher end resort. We would visit again and would recommend the adult side for a relaxing vacation

Barcelo Maya Palace: Beautiful vacation

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Bacelo Maya Palace. The beach was awesome and swimming with the sea turtles was so cool. The food was delicious, the rooms clean and service was excellent. When there were line ups for the bar, a manager would be present to organize a quicker method. Our only complaint, would be there are not enough seats. You need to be up and out of your room by 6:30 am in order to reserve loungers at the beach or at the pool. We heard heated arguments because people [... read more] were stealing a loungers that were already reserved with towels. It seems the only way they wouldn't be taken was if you left personal items on them. It is a very busy resort, with tons of people. I think I prefer quieter spaces, but now we know for next time. Overall, a great spot!

Barcelo Maya Tropical: Very clean

4 resorts in one. Disappointed that we were downgraded from the one we selected to the resort in the total opposite end which limited activities I planned. It’s a long walk if you’re able to make it. The buffet food was great. No beach service. Not enough beach or pool chairs available unless you “claimed” them at 630 am. Also there is not enough a la carte restaurants for the size of the resort and I’m sure resort was not at full capacity. I wouldn’t expect to get into the 4 allotted especiall [... read more]y during peak times. We managed to get in after complaining. We were told that even with premium package there is no guarantees.

Barcelo Bavaro Palace: Mediocre stay

We stayed at Barvaro Palace from Jan 23-30, 2025 and it was underwhelming. The room was a junior suite with the jacuzzi which was nice. There was a door I guess for the room next door but you could hear everything. The wash area is not a room, the only thing separating you from the rest of the people in your room is a few mirrors or a frosted door which you can hear and see everything. Just odd. The hotel lobby was beautiful. No issues with staff or check in. We were in building 6 so it was a l [... read more]ong walk everywhere. The food was dreadful. We tried the seafood restaurant one evening it was so bad we couldn’t eat it. I had the lobster ravioli which look like a big heavy sheet of pasta. We didn’t see any filling. Just couldn’t eat it. The buffet was the cheapest foods around. Rice , mashed potatoes, pasta mainly. The pizza was good but it was always out so you would wait. Anything good or different was very limited and gone quickly. I was unwell after one evening and couldn’t leave the room the whole next day from an upset stomach. It is just so big and impersonal, more attention paid to the casino and shopping area. Just not what is shown on videos Would never go back

Barcelo Ixtapa: Affordable but dated

This was our fourth trip to Mexico, first visit to Ixtapa and Zihuatenejo, but out 2nd time at a Barcelo property. Property - 3/5 The resort is quite dated. Bathrooms and balconies are tiny, paint needs updating (not a big job) and all the upholstery in the restaurants needs replacing. Pools are nice, not very cold, and of course you have to play the towel game or you'll never find a spot around the pool. Staff - 4/5 The majority of the staff were pleasant, attentive and helpful but som [... read more]e of the buffet staff completely ignored you if you didn't have a gold bracelet. Alexis at the lobby bar was awesome! Food - 3/5 There was lots of food at the buffets, but not all of it was presented well or looked particularly appealing. Great breakfast buffets with both Mexican and American choices, the lunch buffets, not so much and most "American" choices were overcooked or cold, but you could get a burger if that was your thing. The a la carte restaurant choices were terrible. They either weren't open, or they speed-dined you in and out. You need to book at 9am which means you can't leave early for anything if you want to book one. Beverages - 3/5 Both the available red and white wines were barely palpable, and if you didn't ask for your hard liquor or beer by name, you got the cheap or watered down versions. Never once got a decent margarita from the bar! We did the sunset cruise and it was excellent, highly recommend, and the beach is amazing!! It is a great location with the shopping 'centre' of Ixtapa just a short walk away, and a taxi to the Zihua pier was only 160 pesos. We had a good week, but won't stay at this Barcelo property again.

Barcelo Maya Riviera: We loved this resort!

Rooms were beautiful. hotel is very modern not the fun tropical vibe of the other barcelo resorts. We enjoyed being able to walk through all 6 resorts and trying some of the other restaurants. Being in the adult only was nice - quieter dining, beach and pool weren't as busy. Food was fantastic. Pools. Beach and gardens were beautiful. Would 100% recommend this resort and would return in the future. .

Barcelo Solymar: Good

Hî everything was good ´for the hotel just with sun wing i take upgrade for seat elite plus and it’s worst service I have ´I pay 140.00 for service and I pay for no service thsnks norm 514 895 6185 and they sell seat for 30.00 on the plane si I been screwed

Royal Hideaway Playacar: Wonderful relaxing stay!

This small resort was recommended to us by our Tripcentral Agent, Jenn Black, and we were so glad she did! We are not folks that normally enjoy an all inclusive vacation. However, we needed a quick break from Nova Scotia and this one ticked all the boxes. It was a great vacation, relaxing, good food, quiet with a pleasing stretch of beach to enjoy a good book and go for a swim.