Barcelo Maya Grand Resort

588tehc wrote a review September 2024

Amazing holiday!

I want to start by saying that I have already recommended this resort to all our friends and family, we had such an amazing experience that if in Mexico this is the place to stay.
We stayed in Barcelo Maya Grand Resort in the Maya Caribe Hotel (we had access to 4 hotels, Beach, Caribe, Colonial and Tropical) it was the perfect location as the beach has no rocks (it has rocks in Colonial/tropical/palace) and it has direct access to the Mall where all the shops, some activities and Strikers is located (24H sports bar and food), plaza mexicana (cheap shopping) is just a stone away, and one of the theatres "Kukulkan" is just there. We sneaked into the exclusive hotels, Palace and Riviera (adults only), and can only find them suitable in high season to escape crowds, otherwise they are a bit secluded, far away from all the activities and shows, in terms of appearance Riveira is more modern and Palace is just like the other hotels, beautiful. Food wise: there was plenty of variety at the buffets and the menu changed every day, the food was good 4/5 stars, we tried some à la carte restaurants, were given 4 reservations for our weekly stay and chose an italian - la trattoria (very average food) would rather go to the buffet, a japanese - Tokyo (very good, choose a table with show) and seafood - marenostrum (very good, small but tasty lobster), unfortunately we missed our reservation to the mexican restaurant. I had my birthday during our stay and was treated by the hotel to a birthday cake and champagne in my room, how attentive! The whole staff was really nice and attentive during our stay!
The resort is very well maintained and clean, the same goes for the rooms, our mini-fridge and toiletries were restocked every day and the towels were changed.
There are plenty of activities and shows at the resort (some activities aren't free but all the shows are), we specially loved the Mariachis (beautiful voices), Tropicalissimo (very inclusive, great production for a hotel), Las Vegas (talented artists) and Ellos y Ellas (very interactive with the audience).
All in all we had an amazing time and hope to repeat it, we would love to bring our entire family including the kids as there are so many activities, sports and dedicated places for them to stay, they would have a blast.
Thank you, Barceló :)

Date of Stay: September 2024

Q8031XQlaurenm wrote a review October 2024

Overall it’s a nice resort

Sadly this trip to the Barcelo Maya Resort was disappointing. The resort is clean, most staff friendly & lots of pools to enjoy, partially what keeps us coming back for another vacation. This time was different.

We arrived late to the Colonial, and despite having booked a room with 2 beds in it and knowing it was their quiet season, we were told there was no room available for us with 2 beds, we are friends traveling so having a room with a king bed wasn’t an option for us. They tried to tell us if we paid to upgrade to club premium, then we could have a room with 2 beds, that wasn’t an option for us. We were confused why the room we booked was available when the resort appeared empty during our entire stay. We asked the front desk agent multiple times to check and he kept telling us no. This wasn’t acceptable so I finally asked to see if he could move us to either the tropical or caribe property instead. Finally he gave us a room with 2 beds at the Beach (furthest building away)!! We booked the specifically at the colonial because it’s central and closest to the watersports and favorite theater. Very upset, we were exhausted and took the room, but still very confused why a room we had book wasn’t available for us. They tried to tell us we had to wait 15min for the resort bus to pick us up or we could walk with our luggage. I told them we would miss dinner (it was almost 9:45pm). They ended up getting us a ride in a golf cart quicker to take us to the farthest end of the resort, The Beach.

ROOM: Our room was nice, modern & spacious with comfortable beds. There were no snacks provided in the mini bar and no wash cloths in the bathroom, towels only. We left multiple notes in Spanish asking for these items with no luck. We called guest services and still no luck in getting either. TIP: Bring your own wash cloths from home!

Our rooms air conditioning stopped working, so it was 25c making sleep very uncomfortable. We had asked for maintenance guy to come, they did, but no English spoken and they didn’t appear to do anything as they looked at it and then left, the entire 5 nights were way tooo hot and sleepless nights because of this.

Due to slow season, multiple times during our 5 days, both the buffets were closed for lunch and one was usually always closed at dinner. Pool side grills were open.

Spanish speaking groups would come on the weekend and be treated with priority at the bars and would be extremely loud and raking up all the space at the bar, making you feel awkward approaching it for a drink, upsetting to see, wasn’t just us noticing this. Pool side servers often walked right past us when we were clearly needing a drink. We had to almost yell at them to get their attention.

Grounds are clean. Most staff are friendly. The evening shows are late (9:30pm) and hit or miss, some are awesome (circus, magic) and others are not great at all.

Date of Stay: September 2024

J5915RKdeniser wrote a review December 2024

Not a high end luxury resort by any means.

This resort boasted being high end luxury but was anything but. The roof of the resort grounds bus flooded rain directly on us and the floors of the bus were so rotted, it felt like we would go through them. We were told one price, found another processed on our credit card. Vomit stayed in the dining and pool halls for several hours before being cleaned. Food service was in-edible and the resort said they subcontracted the food out so did not hold responsibility!! Only one beverage machine out of 6 worked so there was a steady lineup during all meals. Bar lounge chairs were broken and could cause you to fall from them. Dolphins were in a small pool filled with fecal matter and this is not legal in Mexico as they outlawed captive dolphins in 2022. Night entertainment was just a bunch of screaming into a microphone so loud that you could hear it from the balconies at the next resort over. Place was truly the worst we had ever been to. High end, this resort is not.

Date of Stay: November 2024

csdeschamps wrote a review January 2025

Nice resort but no place to sit

Nice resort but not enough chairs. Stayed for 2 weeks and finding an empty chair at the beach or by the pool was impossible after 8am. All the chairs would be reserved with towels and personal items. So you either had to sit on the ground or remove someone’s belongings (which not only created a bunch of anxiety when we’re supposed to be on holidays) or cause conflict / arguments when people returned to the spot they “reserved”. Most days we were carrying chairs from the pool to the beach. In the evening the staff would move them all back to the pool. Reserving chairs is against hotel rules but everyone does it and it’s not enforced. If the hotel bought more chairs the problem would be solved. Didn’t matter which hotel in the complex we went to. Everywhere was the same.

Date of Stay: January 2025

xxmartika wrote a review January 2025
Red Deer, Alberta

Horrific

Hotel is not what I expected. I had no idea they had live dolphins in appalling captivity there or would never have booked. Food was mediocre at best. Rooms are getting old. But smelly.
But it's the dolphins that have put me off big time. Why do they keep them? For fun? Tourist pleasure? Makes no sense in this day and age. I'm boycotting all of their hotels now worldwide

Date of Stay: January 2025

socooksley wrote a review February 2025
Bristol, England

Horrific cruelty to dolphins.

Please don't go to this resort.
Check out Dolphin Project for details about captive dolphins..
The dolphinariun must be closed.
Please don't go to the show. Four dolphins have died in these concrete tanks through neglect and abuse.
Shame on those that go to these torture chambers.

Date of Stay: February 2025

963brucej wrote a review February 2025
Camrose, Alberta

Put me where I booked..

"Grand Resort" I was able to make my booking at the Maya Caribe all documentation says so. Upon arrival we get off the bus at the Caribe Then told "No you are booked at the Beach" We say no they say yes and please walk your luggage down there. (I'm not saying it's a far walk) at this point it's about principle. All of this comes after the fact that I was originally told they didn't have my reservation, It had been cancelled. Well here I am so that can't be true. There are price point differences between the resorts yet you just ignored my reservation and moved us to a resort that we didn't book. We booked where we did because we have been here before. You sell it as "Grand Resort" nothing more, then fine put me wherever works but if I'm able to pick where I want to stay then you should honor that. The people who work here work very hard but for some reason this trip we just didn't get the same level of service. Maybe employee numbers are down or something? Just wasn't the same. Maybe second trip allowed us to notice more finer details. Room fridge didn't work yet was restocked mostly every second day and no one questions the warm fridge?( I used ice bucket to cool drinks). Sit for breakfast turn mug over and completely finish meal without anyone asking if I would like coffee? Again I see all very busy, just not enough people or something. That's enough complaining I wanted to stress the booking the most. The rest probably comes from the experience of checking in. Oh yea to top it all off I had to walk my luggage back to the Caribe for bus pick up. ( Again, not far but principle. All because we were supposed to be in the Caribe in the first place.) One last thought if I had booked the Palace or the Riviera
I doubt moving me would have been an option, even though you sell it all as "Grand Resort".

Date of Stay: February 2025

610jackieo wrote a review April 2025

Sapporo

We ate at the Sapporo Japanese restaurant three times while we were there!!! The manager Danna G. was so amazing and attentive from the moment we walked in the door until she took the picture when we left!!! I hope we have a chance to get back here again and when we do, we will head right back to Sapporo and ask for Danna!!! Cheers to a beautiful vacation in Mexico at Barcelo!

Date of Stay: April 2025

enricol72 wrote a review May 2025
Rome, Lazio

Disappointed.

The location is stunning, and the resort is large and well maintained. Food was good, though not excellent. However, several aspects affected our overall satisfaction: lack of communication between the tour promoter and the actual guides, small beds, bathrooms clearly aged and needing renovation, and excursion shuttles with broken A/C vents and temperatures far too cold...The welcome upon arrival was cold, with no luggage service to the room, even in buildings without elevators. During excursions, staff often appeared annoyed even by simple requests, with tipping expectations that felt excessive and uncomfortably direct. Sadly, the final disappointment was the airport transfer, which not only had no seat belts but ended with the driver rudely and aggressively demanding a tip, despite it being a service already paid for. Being a Latin country, we expected more human warmth and connection...disappointed...

Date of Stay: May 2025

traceylE6440VT wrote a review July 2025

Dont eat here!

The grounds are beautiful and well maintained. The pools are lovely. The staff are super friendly and polite. The air con is very effective. Seen some amazing wildlife while here.
However, I wouldn't return due to the dreadful food! I enjoyed one meal and that was in the Italian restaurant. Getting a booking for the restaurants is almost impossible. 10 days and got 1 booking. Yes, the rooms are a little dated but they are functional and clean. The tv wouldn't work and it took 2 days and 3 complaints to get it fixed.
The in-house team deal with excursions. Not many places pick up from here so you can only go through them and they're not cheap. The trip we went on was almost £350 for me and my son but it was amazing.

Date of Stay: July 2025

familytraveler082 wrote a review July 2025
Kansas City, Missouri

Take your chances. Bait and switch.

I will just tell you to watch out for "bait and switch" they will book you into one resort then upon arrival move you to one that is not full. This happened to us and ruined our 7 night trip in July of 2025 as our reservation which was confirmed the day before we left and then upon arrival we were moved to a different resort which had a smell on the beach and no swimming or snorkeling due to sargassum. The palace we had booked was in great shape with a beautiful beach. Our reserved room was given to families which is what I was told and we were moved to the adults only Riviera convention center. They were renting the rooms we had paid for higher than the roo.s at the Riviera we were moved to. Sleazy business practice and how will you ever know if you are going to get the room you paid for? I would not take the chance again to many resorts in that area.

Date of Stay: July 2025

S7968EGtimk wrote a review July 2025

PUBLIC HEALTH WARNING – BARCELO MAYA GRAND RESORT, MEXICO

⚠️ PUBLIC HEALTH WARNING – BARCELO MAYA GRAND RESORT, MEXICO

As a paying guest at Barcelo Maya Grand Resort, I am compelled to expose a serious failure in guest safety, sanitation, and accountability. On two consecutive nights, our rooms were severely flooded, standing water, at 1:00 a.m. — disrupting sleep and creating a hazardous, unsanitary environment.

Despite assurances from staff that the issue would be resolved, it occurred again the very next night. Maintenance took hours to respond, leaving standing water that posed obvious public health risks. Not a single manager offered an apology or explanation.

This is not a minor inconvenience — it is a blatant disregard for guest welfare, safety standards, and basic crisis management. In posting this video, we are demanding:

• A full investigation into facility infrastructure and safety response protocols
• A public apology to affected guests
• Concrete steps to prevent further flooding or delay in emergency response

If Barcelo does not take swift and transparent action, this documentation will be shared with:

• Travel health authorities and tourism safety boards
• International consumer watchdogs
• Thousands of potential future travelers considering this resort

The hospitality industry depends on trust. Barcelo Maya Grand has broken that trust. We urge them to do bettwe.

Date of Stay: July 2025