Valentin Imperial Maya in Playa del Carmen

Laura Mulvihill-Spry was our travel agent for this vacation and I feel that she did a fantastic job. I would give this resort 5 stars. The hotel staff was very friendly always saying hello and communicated well in english as well as some french. Although our room was not ready on our first night they upgraded us to a king suite just outside of the lazy river, and they made the transition to the other room the next day as painless as possible. The rooms were cleaned daily (you can arrange for a t [... read more]ime that works better for you), and they had turn down service at night. Meals were fantastic and waiters were professional but look exhausted and unhappy while they were serving. We also enjoyed the 24hour room service (food usually showed up within 45min after ordering). They had multiple swimming areas (one with party music and activities, and offered a quieter area. The beach was immaculate (they raked it every morning). The swimming area was clearly marked and there was a lifeguard available most hours during the day. The grounds were well kept and plush with greenery and tropical flowers. They also seemed to have activities throughout the day and entertainment every night. We loved our stay.

Better than we could have imagined

Amazing resort! We had the silver suite, and had made prior request that were all met! Air transit had done well to bring us to the resort and helping us book a tour to the Xplor park. Thank you Natalie and tripcentral.ca for making this trip amazing. The resort itself is very clean and we'll maintained, the people are amazing! 3 people to us stuck out, Luis in Le Marche for breakfast he went above and beyond and was super friendly, and gave us great advice about the resort and the restaura [... read more]nts. Angelo, and Sairy are great at pumping people up and their silliness honestly boosts people up, the tequila tasting was super fun and involving everyone. The room service and house keeping is a great thing as well. Never been to a hotel or resort where I was satisfied with the cleanliness until now. The house keeping and turn down service is great I can't say enough about that! Truly enjoyed it, the beach was great, the food at the restaurants were great, 7 restaurants plus the hibachi awesome. Only thing that disappointed me a little was the habchi, the chef seemed a bit sloppy but food was still good. 5 stars

Fantastic resort

Grounds well maintained. All the staff where very friendly and gave excellent service. Exceptional rooms and room service done wonderfully. My third time at this resort and it keeps getting better. Will be returning next year.

First Visit

We enjoyed that this is a smaller resort than ones previously visited. It is well laid out so that you never feel crowded.The beach was beautiful - long and wide! You have to be there before 10 am to get a seat. There seems to be too many palapas for privilege which are not utilized and not enough for regular guests. We liked the centralized restaurant/bar area. You could easily move from dinner to drinks to entertainment. We also liked that fact that there were I reservations, just  [... read more]show up and if they're busy you get a buzzer. The food at the buffets was always cold, never hot. The food at the restaurants was okay to good, we found nothing fabulous. Our original room was in a terrible location, noisy with lots of traffic and noisy people passing so it was hard to sleep. We eventually were able to get a room change and upgraded to a quieter lovely room. We would visit again but it would definitely depend on the price.

Gorgeous Resort

We absolutely loved this resort. The food was amazing. You could enjoy the best buffet breakfast and lunch and a la carte dinners. The French and Italian were our favourite. All staff were very friendly. We stayed In the Golden Section which had a lazy river right in front. I did not think we would enjoy it half as much as we did. The food you can order around the lazy river was wonderful. The rooms were beautiful and cleaned regularly. The only negative for us was the beach. It was very rough w [... read more]ith larger waves as it was a little stormy. This was due to weather nothing to due with the resort. We had a wonderful holiday.

Still a class operation

We really liked the grounds and beach and found our 'entry level' room to be more than satisfactory. A high point for us was definitely the restaurants -excellent variety, quality and no reservations required. Right across the board, the staff are friendly and efficient. Very pleased we returned.

Awesome Vacation

Beautiful place...plenty of room around the pools and beach. Staff were all great, friendly and accommodating! Some reviews complain about the walking but we found it really reasonable and no big deal. Lot's to keep you busy on and off the resort. Restaurants were all good with only little to no wait most times...general speaking the larger the group the longer the wait for tables. Don Miguel will need to come up with a new menu though...we tried every martini on the menu so they will need [... read more] to come up with some new ones for the next time we visit!!!

Amazing resort

We just returned from a week there to celebrate my husband's 50th birthday. I would like to thank my Tripcentral agent, Jack Gentile, for his help and guidance for making this trip a wonderful experience. Everything went very smoothly from departure to hotel transfer and back home again. I definitely give 5 stars to Jack and Tripcentral! The Valentin Imperial Maya is an absolutely beautiful, amazing resort! Only about 25min from the airport. The staff is very friendly and accommodating,  [... read more]the grounds are beautiful and well kept and the beach is amazing , big, wide and with sugary white sand. I read people complained of seaweed and that the beach is rocky in some reviews - it only gets rocky outside the main swimming area and they do an excellent job of cleaning up seaweed. Our group of 6 stayed in the Emerald suites which are oceanfront. People in previous reviews said they couldn't see the ocean. All three of our rooms had beautiful ocean views, there is a lot of greenery but that made it more beautiful! The room was big & spacious & clean. The 2nd floor rooms had large balconies & the ground floor room had a big hammock! Other reviewers commented on the extensive walking required there - the complex is huge but they have golf carts that cart you around if you can't or really don't want to walk. The pools were fun - if we wanted action the big pool had lots going. When we wanted peace and quiet the lazy river pool had just that. Both had swimup bars with great drinks. The beach has a bar with swings as well as service coming to take your order on the beach. The food at all the restaurants was fantastic, they are very good at presentation! They were very talented with the special effects as well! The baked Alaska dessert in the French restaurant, the Japanese and Mayan coffees and the martinis at Don Miguel's! Especially the Imperial & chocolate martini & the cotton candy mojito! Yummy! They have a Mexican market on some evenings - nice things but a bit pricey (still bought stuff like painted bowls, glasses & jewellery). My husband's birthday was acknowledged in the daily schedule which is left in the rooms every night. They also brought him a piece of cake in the room and at dinner, they sang him Happy Birthday at dinner and we came back to the room that night to an artistcally created bday cake made from towels with rose petals on the bed! So cute! The concierge were very helpful in helping us organize excursions - we went to tulum & Coba, Chitchenitza, swimming with dolphins & snorkeling. We definitely HIGHLY RECOMMEND this resort - you will love it! We hope to return there in the future!

Five star

The rooms were large and very clean and the beds were extremely comfortable. Large soak hot tub in the bathroom. Separate toilet and shower. Bartenders mixed th drinks as requested. Awesome big pool.

Very nice large complex!

Nice large comfortable rooms with unlimited access to a-la-carte restaurants. All restaurants have good service and excellents food. Nite life provides all: Sports bar, piano bar and at least 2-3 live good short shows per night!

Excellent Service

This is my true and honest review Hotel was a beautiful site and very well kept. Check in was fast and efficient. This hotel is very large approx 5 km in size but there is a shuttle that is a phone call away to bring you where you need to go. Rooms are beautiful but are in need of a few repairs. We stayed in building 11 on the ground floor and had to have someone come and fix our door that leads to the patio as it would not lock. All they did was break the key off in the lock so we weren't abl [... read more]e to use it. Our patio door looked like someone at some point tried to pry it open which made us a little worried. Don't leave anything sugary in your room. Many little bugs. Maid service was top notch and we had beautiful things made out of towels each night we entered our room. Our anniversary was acknowledged and that was wonderful The pool is very large and clean and they have mats you can float on. Lounge chairs plentiful Entertaining team worked very hard to keep everyone entertained Buffet was typical. Lots to choose from but nothing spectacular Tried the French, Italian and steakhouse a la cartes and again food was good but not stand out. Desserts were the best at all 3. Long pants for men required at most restaurants. Beach was ok but had quite a bit of seaweed. Had red and yellow flags all week. There is a turtle sanctuary on the beach. What an amazing thing to see. Staff were very friendly and never walked by without an hola. Although I would not go back to this resort only because I like the feel of a small more intimate place, I would definitely recommend this resort

Bonus Nachos!

Fantastic resort! Rooms are all amazing, even just the basic deluxe junior suite! We tried all the restaurants except Mexican (Hacienda). Only reservations are required for the Teppanyaki inside Ginger, otherwise they are walk in and no need to book. The room service has excellent choices if you feel like staying in. The pools are all amazing and clean, the big pool has plenty of entertainment going on all day but if you feel like a quieter spot, check out the river pool by swim up rooms. They a [... read more]lso serve you lunch to your poolside loungers. There were plenty of chairs available at all times. The nightly shows were all amazing, especially Michael Jackson, the Circus and Magic show. Service is excellent everywhere! Building 4 is closest to pool so you can walk out the building and be right there. The lobby smells amazing and you can buy the scent from the gift shop. If upgrading to Oceanview, the 2nd floor rooms are much nicer as they have vaulted ceilings. Ocean water is a bit rocky but you can swim out to more shallow water where it's less rough. Overall, excellent and would go back in a heartbeat!

Superb week

The hotel was top notch across the board. The grounds and pool were impeccable and the staff was extraordinary right across the board. The restaurants in particular were fantastic. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Still Amazing

This was our third visit to the Valentin and our first time booking through Tripcentral. We really enjoy everything about this resort. It is well maintained thanks to all the hard working staff. We love the huge pool and the creativity of the pool bartenders in providing us some tasty drinks. The beach is beautiful though the water was rougher this visit. The food and service at the restaurants is fantastic. We stayed in a different building this visit. The room had been recently upgraded an [... read more]d was very comfortable and beautifully decorated. We would definitely return!

Incredible stay and a memorable place

The moment we arrived we were treated exceptionally well by friendly and helpful staff. We had a beautiful room, the beach area was gorgeous and pools were clean with lots of entertainment and activities throughout the day. Delicious and plentiful meals at each of the restaurants, and delightful drinks of the day! We cannot wait to return!

Fabulous resort

The resort was absolutely beautiful! and the grounds were immaculate. Our room was very nice, spacious and clean. The beds were comfortable. We enjoyed the beach and pool areas. The restaurants were a la carte and the food was amazing. Our favorite restaurants were the French and Vietnamese / Thailand. Staff were friendly and the service was excellent. They provide 24 hr room service and shuttle around the resort for your convenience. We are definitely going to return to this resort on our next  [... read more]vacation. Thank you to our restaurant servers Alberto, Sergio, Jesus for quality service. Also, thank you to Imelda for great service at the pool bar. Amazing vacation!

Valentin First Visit From Mexico Veterans

We have traveled to Mexico and the Cancun area more than 50 times and decided to try this resort. The grounds are beautiful, Resort is spread out so bring your walking shoes or use the shuttles that are available. Food was ok 6 out of 10. The Sushi Bar was fabulous if you like sushi. The service was hit or miss we chose the Privilege package but still were told no, more times than we have ever been told no at any other resort. No flexibility and the resorts effort to make your experience memo [... read more]rable was lacking. There were some excellent employees but we found ourselves on the phone trying to get basic services that were supposed to be included in our package. Overall our experience would be 7 out of ten with some highlights and lowlights. We probably will not go back as there are definitely better options that we have frequented on previous visits.

Amazing 3rd visit

This was our third time staying here and we won't stay anywhere else in the Mayan Riviera. The hotel and staff are amazing. You feel welcomed the second you arrive. The grounds are emmaculate and the food is top notch. You never want to leave; it truly is that amazing.

Lovely resort

This was our 3rd time back to Valentin and we loved it just as much as the other times. Resort grounds are lush and well maintained. Food is excellent with a nice variety of choices. Staff and management are easy to deal with, very friendly and accommodating. These folks work hard to please you. Rooms are cozy, private and quiet. Beach is clean with lots of chairs. As an adults only resort, you can find activity if you like it, or quiet places to relax. One of our favorite things to d [... read more]o is dance and the entertainment at the Valentin never disappoints. Each night they have a different theme in their central courtyard which makes it easy to engage and enjoy yourself. If you are not a dancer, just sit back and enjoy the evening. All in all, a great time!

Absolutely Fantastic Vacation

All the fabulous comments that you read online about this resort are absolutely true. The food was so good, the beach and water was amazing. The people were so nice and genuinely seemed to enjoy working there. The gardens were outstanding, so lush and beautiful. We spent most of our time at the beach, but did go to the pool the last day to experience it. It's massive! The entertainment included shows and bands each night, closing out with a DJ. The restaurants had a pager system which was great. [... read more] They give you a pager and you can go to one of the many, many bars, or walk around and enjoy the scenery. We never waited longer that 30 minutes during the peak time. Did I mention the food was amazing!!! The bar staff will make you anything you want. It was almost like 3 resorts in one. The Golden section with the lazy river, the Emerald section with the beach, the Deluxe section with the main pool. You could find quiet when you wanted it, or a party atmosphere if that's what you enjoy. We kept running into people that were returning for the 3rd, 6th, 9th time even, and we would ask them "what keeps you coming back". It was all the reasons that I mentioned above, and the same reasons we will be going back next year. It is a large resort, but the golf carts run around all the time, and the walk during the evening was very peaceful and romantic. We found when we were there that the median age is probably around mid 50s, and it made it for a very respectful atmosphere. Everyone was very willing to chat and make friends. We did make sure to tip, they deserved it. 20 pesos for breakfast and lunch, 50 pesos for dinner, and every now and again for the bar staff. We didn't find the evening dress code overly strict and it was enforced, which we found to be good because it improves the overall experience. There still a ton I could say, but I've been long winded enough. The only down side my husband could find was that they didn't have chicken wings in the sports bar, lol.