Barcelo Maya Beach Resort Review

I am writing this review of the Barcelo Maya Beach Resort in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. I have been vacationing in Mexico for many years and this is my first stay at this resort. My travel agent advised me that she had a better experience at this resort than the one I have been going to for many years. Unfortunately it did not live up to my expectations. That's not to say that it is a beautiful resort, however, there are a few improvements that must be made to the resort. Before going on my vacat [... read more]ion I read numerous reviews about the resort. The negatives that were reviewed were present but not as severe as most mentioned. Again, Barcelo Maya Beach Resort is a beautiful resort. My first disappointment was the food. Not the variety, but how almost all the food displayed in the buffets were cold. Even as they were brought out. I have never experienced that before on a Mayan Riviera resort. Almost all staff was amazing, although a few servers seemed like they gave some attitude (but that's understandable considering the amount of staff they have). I was very kind, thankful and left tips, so it definitely was not from any vibes I was sending to them. The second was the musky smell coming from our room as we entered for the first time. I expect those conditions because of where we are, however, it would make a great first impression if the room smelled better. The grounds were amazingly kept. Very clean. The front desk staff was always very helpful. Thanks Alan. And the pool bar staff was great as well. Shout out to the amazing Rosy. All in all, it was a great stay. My views about this resort are just to make some suggestions on where they could improve, that's all. If it's your first time to Mexico, you can't go wrong staying here. You will be impressed. Unfortunately I have been exposed to a better resort.

Exceptional resort.

Exceptional in so many ways, reminded me of Disney world, staff always behind the scene, there the minute you need anything. A massive property to explore and enjoy with a small resort feel to it, food , beverages entertainment everywhere.

Incredible resort. Great for resting, relaxing and beach activities!

Public areas and grounds are beautiful, numerous pools can accommodate every type of swim activity and the beach is perfect for swimming - just bring sunscreen and your bathing suit. Food is amazing - 6 different restaurants plus numerous buffets ensure that you find something that works for even the picky eater. Rooms are large and comfortable.

Best stay ever

Nothing to hate or not love about his resort my kids and I enjoyed it to the max.. and I would recommend it to anyone who has a family and would like to enjoy a good vacation. I highly suggest getting water shoes as the beach is a bit rocky but it’s still beautiful

Very long checkins and checkouts

The check-in times are very long, 15 mins to to take a copy of your passport, and until you are fully checked in they don't even offer you a glass of plain water (which you need after a long trip). And same issues with check-out: takes very long. The sea is very rocky, you can easily break your foot if you make a wrong move just once.

Barcelo Maya Beach Resort

Everything in this resort is absolutely beautiful.......................................................................................................................................................

Family Vacation

This is a nice resort. There was no entertainment for my kids to participate in. I was waiting for an entertainment group to take my both sons and give the best vacation for them. My room was not cleaned just 1 day and had to call in. The beach was not good, very dirty and smells. If you are not paying attention to where you are walking when inside the water on the beach there are big bumps. The staff were friendly, the restaurants were nice. I would go back if they can clean up the beach. The b [... read more]ar service was not good, i was standing for like 5 minutes and some dudes come and get serviced before me. I have 2 children and a wife to get drinks for and this happening to me turned me off. The weather was good but no proper music to have while sipping a drink while laying down on the chairs at the pool.

Spectacular resort

My husband and I just arrived back from a holiday at the Barcelo Maya Beach Resort . It was a wonderful experience from start to finish. The resort grounds were pristine with staff working continually to make it perfect. All the pools are amazing with different designs in each. Lounge chairs are plentiful making it easy to sit and relax anywhere. The food is excellent in the restaurants and the buffets are good with many different dishes. The staff were all very friendly and front staff helpful [... read more]. Highly recommend.

Amazing hotel

The hotel was amazing Super clean, food was excellent and staff was very helpful, it was great that we could use 4 resorts, when we did not have the Al-a Carte we tried all the buffets, beaches were so clean and the pools were spotless We will be going back next year again. We met people that have come back to this resort 10 times. The only thing, which we expected, the shows at night are not great, but again we picked the theater with the best sounding show

Wonderful

Barcelo is a wonderful complex with 5 of their other hotels with complete access. There is lots of included fun stuff, pool, amazing slides for the kids, even free daily dolphin show. Clean and spacious rooms. Friendly and courteous staff. Food and service was fantastic everywhere. The only hiccup was at the check in and check out counter which were excessively long, there was a lack of coordination and a lack of initiative and training as every clerk would refer to this one individual for clar [... read more]ification or would disappear behind the counter for 10-15 minutes at a time. This was also evident throughout our stay. However this did not affect my vacation at Barcelo, would return again.

Excellent resort!

Stylish. Convenient. Clean. Friendly staff. Exquisite facilities. Beautiful beach and Dolphinarium. Very good for families with children. Everyone can find something to do there. Truly enjoyed the stay.

Meh

The staff at the hotel were amazing. The rooms were clean but the mini fridge was rarely restocked with the basics which was disappointing. The night life at the hotel was a huge disappointment and not much was going on. The seaweed was horrific. Did not even swim in the ocean based on how bad the beach was up-kept and used only the pool. They had multiple dump trucks attending the beach to get ride of the significant amount of seaweed daily. The gym on-site was fantastic! Food, me [... read more]h nothing special. Average at best. If your looking for a family resort this is not the place for you. Music selection at the pool bar had foul and obscene language, which was directly beside the kids pool. Minors were being served alcohol and puking in bushes creating a fantastic smell with the heat *eye roll*. Sometimes waiting for a towel at the pool took 30-40 minutes. Workers just walked away leaving a longline and frustrated people. We also did a boat tour with Adventures Cancun. Save your money. Food was something similar to a school lunch and the drinks were terrible. We were only permitted at the front of the boat and were only served drinks by one staff member. With 30 people on the tour you can imagine the wait times. Overall the resort was meh, I would not return.

Excellent Stay

This resort exceeded my expectations all around. the property was clean and well maintained. The grounds were perfect. The food was beyond delicious, always lots and great variety. The entire experience with the TripCentral and Air Transat staff was very easy and enjoyable. We had a wonderful time.

Beautiful Resort

The hotel was fantastic because it was so central to everything we wanted to see and do. The entertainment was excellent, but I found it to be a little too short, as the hour flew by. The chicken at the Italian restaurant was the best I'd ever had. Overall, the food was good

Barceló review 👎🏽

We have been traveling to Barceló maya since 2001 2 -3 trips a year till Covid started so for the last 2 years we haven’t been. This trip was horrible, the hotel is short help and it reflects it. Service was bad, all washrooms around the resort were not taken care of, food was ok… management is aware of the situation and can’t do anything about it. Pools were also dirty, beach was ok…We will not be returning for a while with hopes they correct the issues and not let the resort fall apar [... read more]t.

Mediocre

Grounds and beach are beautiful. Food is mediocre and very repetitive. Drinks are watered down. Service is terrible. Waiters are very focused on clearing tables so much that they will swipe plates while youre still eating in between fork movements. Room was dirty on arrival and we never got our included mini fridge restocked no matter how much we asked. Room was cleaned only once (after telling front desk and showing pictures of dirty room and unchanged sheets on arrival) Restaurant booki [... read more]ng system via guest services is terrible and took 2 hours to make 4 bookings. Recommend booking elsewhere if you prefer a clean room and like food.

Clean but disorganized

I stayed at Barcelo Maya beach March 2022. Clean resort, very nice place. Very big! I was impressed with the report itself and the services offered. So much to do and I don’t even think I saw the entire place before I left! I got married at the resort on this trip and had planned a destination wedding at this resort in advanced. My wedding coordinator (Angel) was amazing through the whole process! He was able to help rectify so many issues upon check in. The resort had literally messed up [... read more] every room for booking and had everyone in the wrong rooms and wrong departure dates. Much of my holiday was spent at the front desk dealing the notes mistakes. I thank Angel for fixing many of these issues as well. Unfortunate when you spend thousands of dollars on top of your package to get married and upon arrival it was only mistakes for the resort. I would return, but I hope the hotel continues to provide training for I assume all newer staff.

Great resort

Beautiful resort with Mayan style art, pretty fountains and basins, smart design. I enjoyed the access to the 4 hotels - lobbies each have different Mexican themes. Rooms are clean and well-appointed, service is friendly but a bit slow, lineups at the pool bar. Hard to book the a-la-carte restaurants - the seafood one has great food.

Beautiful grounds and Facilities / Average Food / A la carte difficult

Restaurants were overbooked. Thus only able to access a la carte 3/7 days. That was booking immediately upon arrival. Very disappointing Limited english language amongst staff. Other than front desk and guest services (not typical in the Mayan 8 previous visits) extraordinary grounds excellent fitness facility beautiful beach with adequate chairs well maintained pools Buffet - average Ala carte Italian - average, Mexican - above average, Spanish - below average

Recommending for a great time away .....full review so read away:)

We have just returned from Barcelo Maya Beach and are looking forward to our next visit. From Booking with Martine Reid to departure home our trip was a wonderful experience. We spent 15 days at the resort and a few none issue items that we just went with. 1.Arrival in Cancun- easy, no problems with the provided transport other than a longer than necessary wait for a couple who were duty free shopping and held up our bus, I prefer a direct drop off as the 2 hotels we had to stop at added [... read more] about an hour in total to the trip but again that is my preference, Barcelo is about 70 mins away from the airport and the bus had great AC, working toilet and great cold beers and canned Margs for purchase. 2.Checkin- It is at 3pm and onward.. we had requested 2 beds and they had 1 king so it took until 430 pm to get our room, we had some lunch, wandered about to get an idea of where things were and then got our room. Checkout-easy and no issues at all and the bus was direct with no stops to the airport.. 3.Room 1315- it is Tulum building and the room was great, clean, mini fridge well stocked, large towels, quiet and a top floor with the garden view. AC worked great a room key is used to activate it, lots of hot water in the shower and no issues at all. 4.Beach-looks exactly like all photos, kms of white sand beautiful warm ocean... if you want snorkeling head to the opposite end by the Plaza and it is rocky so water shoes are a suggestion. 5.Pools and Towels- huge pools and lots of space to float about, towels are bath sheet size so no need to bring from home and the Pool bar... a fun place to sit and watch or participate with the Activity Team but be prepared as it is loud from 12-4pm 6. Shade, sun and lounge chairs-tons to use on the whole resort so no need to get up early to towel mark a chair. 7. Restaurants/Bars - Main Buffet-hit or miss but there is always something to eat, (they are learning service so drinks are a bit slow to arrive but again its vacation so no need to rush about anyway) -Captain Morgan's for lunch- always fresh pasta, pizza, salads, burgers(as big as your hand) and a great spot for some shade during the day to sit and chill, the Managers, Marayil and Enrique were lovely to speak with and they brought us fresh Mango Margarita's to the pool and they were some of the best Marg's we had the whole time... -Room Service- not included in the All Inclusive pricing but definitely worth the few dollars for great sandwiches and a salad instead of going out for a night -A la Cartes- -Italian was a delish experience , we went a few times as it was fabulous, highly recommend it -Tokyo for Japanese, a great meal and show and again we went a couple of times, highly recommend it -Mexican- it was ok.. we both felt rushed, it was too dark and the food was not what we expected.. It was good but again not authentic feeling or tasting. -Strikers Sports Bar- Great place for some bar food, a fun atmosphere but expensive for Bowling (15 US a person) Arcades games fun for kids and a bit expensive but the Air Hockey was a fun hour! Drinks: The drinks were a hit and miss at all bars we tried as everyone makes it their way.. only a couple that were definitely off the mark but for the most part they were great..they made for some great laughter so again not a big deal as you just order another one if its not what you wanted or like but for the Supreme package you do not get access to anything other than house liquor so be prepared as I did not know this. Beer in room was Corona but on tap was Montejo I think and it was great and cold.. Bottled water at the bars and pool and it was always chilled Spa- Highly recommend it and the coupon at checkin was fabulous.. you pay this on arrival at the spa so credit card is needed and again its in US. Dolphin Show- free and fun to watch or you can pay to swim if you like. Nightly Shows- start at 930pm but good for an hour to unwind, open air and lots of seats and all age friendly. Venture Park: We did the go carts and Zipline and it was fun and scary for a first timer but its on site and no need to leave the resort.. it was 35 US each and a good way to spend and hour and a half. There are great shops on site and a Mexican Market for all your souvenirs including string hammocks and a great Tequila shop that is comparable to duty free and when a taxi to 5th Ave is 25-30 US each way it was easy to pick up what I needed without the Playa craziness as much fun as it is. We had a great vacation and our on site rep Johnny assisted with our PCR test booking and again no issues and his check in and check up on us was appreciated. n We didn't do tours off site this time but many folks did and the prices seemed to be the same as every time we have visited. Masks were mandatory for public spaces (going into restaurants, shops etc but not in the pool at the bar and all staff were masked the entire time... Covid protocols were in place and we felt quite safe and most people were respectful of each others space and if the staff can wear masks, we found no issue in having ours at all times. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions I can answer but again , we had a great experience and Martine's help from Trip Central from start to end was really appreciated.