Barcelo Maya Palace - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

17960 reviews

• 

  Loved it.

  Three couples travelled for a week at the beginning of February. Apart from having no bellboy to direct us to our rooms or carry our bags, we had an incredible stay. The beach is absolutely beautiful, especially if you enjoy snorkelling with fish and sea turtles. Yes, we had to get up at 7 AM every day to reserve lounge chairs, but it was worth getting a good spot. The ocean was warmer than the pools and more enjoyable to swim in. We enjoyed most of the food and the à la carts were exceptional. Our favourite was La Brasserie. The lunch buffet at the palace was very very good. (make yourself a Panini with fresh bread.) Entertainment is lacking at night, but everything else seemed to make up for it, including the amazing staff - always smiling and happy to help. Without a doubt this was the cleanest, all inclusive we’ve ever been to.

  Feb 07, 2025
• 

  Wonderful time, wonderful food, wonderful experience!

  This resort is fantastic and we loved the Coral Grill, Oscar Caamal was superb!! The resort is gorgeous. The service is excellent, Natanahel Soto made sure we had everything we needed! The food is fantastic!! The view and the weather made our experience fabulous.

  Feb 07, 2025
• 

  Nice but over priced

  Nice facility clean rooms pool and beach. Buffets are limited in selection and are constant the same very little variety. Food was ok. Restaurants were very good 2 out of the three we ate at. The Italian restaurant left a lot to be desired service was poor and meal was not very good. Service at the pool was limited but when available was above average for service. The lobby bar was a great place to relax on most days. Pool area was always neat and tidy but difficult to get loungers. Multiple signs saying no reserving loungers if you didn’t you likely never got a spot. If you have walking limits this is not the place for you as rooms area distance from pools lobby and buffet.

  Feb 07, 2025
• 

  Beware: switch-and-bait reservation policies

  We have stayed at Barcelo Maya Palace several times in the past with three generations of our family. Now that we are grandparents, we wanted to take our adult children and young grandson to visit. We like the beach but the resort was much more crowded on this visit, which meant there were not enough lounge chairs and there longer waits for just about everything. We paid up for the flexible rate for our room in case we needed to cancel. When it turned out that other family members would not be able to stay for as long as we had reserved our room for, my husband and I decided to end our trip at a quieter, smaller resort. I called Barcelo to cancel the last two nights of our five night reservation. Barcelo told me that I would be charged more than $1,000 if I canceled the last two nights because their rates have increased and the cost for the entire stay would be reset to the higher rate if we made any changes. I told them that we had paid extra for the cancellable rate, but I was told that did not make a difference. I later reviewed my confirmation email which stated: "Plans changed? No problem. You can change or cancel your booking free of charge up until 1 day before your arrival at the hotel." This was a complete bait-and-switch tactic and there was no reasonable way for us to fight it, so we canceled our reservation at the smaller resort and felt stuck someplace we did not want to be. Another switch-and-bait with their customer service happened upon check in. We arrived at 11:30am and were assigned a specific room in the ocean-front category we had reserved six months in advance. When we returned in the afternoon to get our key, as instructed, we were told that the room was not available after all and they were assigning us to a less desirable location and we would need to start the lengthy check-in process all over. After what we had experienced with our reservation already, I told them that we would not accept any room other than what were already assigned, and I would wait at the desk until that room or a comparable one was available. I literally had to have a stare-down with the rude clerk until she relented and said our assigned room was available after all. Another concern arose when I returned to our room one day after we had left a cash tip and note for the housekeeper, but before the room was cleaned. The tip (but not the note) had been taken, presumably an employee who saw the "please clean room" sign on the door; there were no cleaning staff in sight. When I reported this at the front desk, they expressed no concern or surprise about the theft, and asked no questions that could have helped them figure out who took the money. It was clear that this was not a new complaint. It seems that stealing from guests happens in many different ways at Barcelo. On a positive note, we appreciated the helpful and friendly staff who work in the buffets and restaurants, and we appreciate how much care is taken to keep the grounds and beach in good condition.

  Feb 07, 2025
• 

  Some good, some bad

  Let me start with the good. On the whole, the food was very good, some of the best we have had in Mexico. The serving staff at all restaurants, including the buffets were very friendly. Also, the cleaning staff (maids) were excellent and very punctual, every day they restocked the room and gave us fresh towels, etc.. The whole of the resort grounds are kept very clean and the beach is kept very clean as well. There are a couple of big negatives which could be easily addressed by the resort. Our check-in experience was bad, it took an incredibly long time for the three or four agents at the front desk to check people in and they seem to spend a lot of time chatting to people, especially Spanish speaking people. A number of other reviewers have mentioned the same issue. It really needs to be addressed because reception is the first impression that everyone gets of the resort and increasingly this is not a good impression. Management has to really jump on this issue. Second, and this is caused by the selfishness of selfish guests staying at the resort, it is very common to see people reserve chairs on the beach and then not show up for five or six hours. Some of these people have the nerve to also reserve chairs at one of the pools at the same time as they are holding chairs at the beach. The resort should hire more security to enforce the no reservation of chairs rule. It is one thing for people to reserve a chair and then leave for an hour for breakfast or lunch, but it’s quiet another to simply hog the chairs for the entire day and not show up until much later. At the sister resort which is adults only, there is strict enforcement of the reservation of chairs rule. In busy times there are not enough chairs on the beach, such that you have to be up by seven in the morning to reserve a chair, and no palapas for shade so you have to rely only on palm trees here and there. I think it is against the law in most places in Mexico to smoke on the beach. Tourists totally disregard this and smoke anyway. If I’m right about the law, the resort should strictly enforce the no smoking policy, except in designated araeas (the resort has provided these but due to lack of any enforcement of the rules, people smoke anywhere. It is very annoying to guests who do not smoke, especially those with breathing issues.

  Feb 07, 2025