Thanks so much for this review. We planned to go there in September, but obviously we'll give it a second thought - at least until they finish all these fixes!
Take no notice, it's just 1 persons views. I've stayed 3 times and each time was fantastic. Tulum was just updated 2 years ago. The food, staff, everything is great. NO, complaints by us. Don;t let 1 review put you off, go and enbrace the hotel, YOU will definitely enjoy your stay
Barcelo is beautiful and I love their beaches, the upgraded rooms, the swim up rooms/suite at the Caribe, etc...however if you are looking for nightly activities they just don't have it outside of the nightly show. The staff at the Bahia in my opinion are much better that Barcelo. For this reason I choose Bahia Akumal.
the lower-level staff at Bahia is amazing. The management - in our experience - proved they have zero skills to manage a place like this. 1. we were checked in into a room with BLACK MOLD. I mean, what?! This is insanity. If it was in USA, they'd be sued 5 minutes after 2. The same room had no shampoo/etc refilled in the shower :)) So they just dont prepare rooms for guests. They dont care. 3. The same room had both (!) toilet paper holders broken. 4. The same room had bathroom ceiling broken. 5. The fan in the room worked in 2 modes only: off or "full force that blows you out of your bed" :) Even though the control panel was as-if offering you to choose the fan speed. 6. AC was - also - either full-force "meat freezer mode" or "off". Because the regulator was broken :))) 7. The balcony was all chipped. If it was my balcony in my apartment, I would fix this issue myself in, say, 3-4 hours max: grind the old paint off, cover with 2 coats of paint - done. They didnt do this, they dont care. BUT the didnt forget to charge $400 extra and advertise it as a "higher level suite" :)) 8. The view - you saw it - broken building that they dont even know how to paint professionally :))) 9. And I havent even started about the exterior condition of that building. When we asked to change the room, at first we received the answer of: "We checked all our other rooms - they are THE SAME AS THIS ONE, sorry" :))))) So it's an admission of the quality of 100% "other rooms" ANY of my employees would've been fired in 5 seconds for any work of this quality level. Their management does not understand the meaning of both 5* and luxury in their name at all. And when you take money for something you arent even trying to deliver - it's called... a fraud :)
In your cons part of the review I did notice you are saying that the repairs are being done while you are there, So when should they do the repairs, shut down the resort and do the repairs? Not sure I am understanding your comment. but I will return again I go twice a year. Thanks for the review.
Well, this is business decision to make. As I responded in the previous comment, I can compare it to Hilton hotels practices: even a 2.5* Hampton Inn hotel here in the States guarantees you pleasant stay, and if they did not deliver it - you get a 100% refund easily. Once we checked in to such a hotel where they were making renovations. Hilton automatically refunded us and explained that they understand we were NOT signing up for living on a construction site. This is called The Level and class. Selling the picture as in the commercial WHILE on the site one upsells a "premium room" that has mold, broken almost EVERYTHING in USA is called "a fraud". So when you ask me, a paying guest, "when should they do the repairs", there is only one answer to this: NOT when paying guests are present. OR - they must inform paying guests beforehand that "hey, our hotel right now is under heavy construction and renovations, AC is not working in most areas, but our kitchen is still awesome. IF this doesn't scare you off, please enjoy our room for $200/night instead for $(whatever/night)". Once again, Hilton does exactly this: when some hotel is under reno, you can see in their app: "$140/night due to ongoing renovation". So you do understand that the reno is happening RIGHT NOW, when you stay there. But you pay 140 instead of 240-260, AND you're alerted about the fact, because the brand does care. Bahia Principe is owned by Grupo Pinero, and google says they reported a $982M turnover in 2018 (no fresher data I could find). So, lets put it mildly, we're not talking about a 'mom and pop' business that will go broke if they treat customers with respect. They just CHOSE not to. It was and is a business decision for them. The issues specifically in the room that we were checked in into can be fixed withing 24 hours total. So you shut down the room for 24 hours, send 4-5 people there to caulk, sand, paint, fix,etc - and in 24 hours you have a room that simply.. well... works :))) Once again: they CHOSE not to do this AND still charge its full rate + extra for calling this trash "a premium" room.
thanks to you. I traveled about 50% of the world, and lived in any conditions: from bedouins' huts to 5* luxury hotels and/or simple family hotels in war-torn Syria. It really hurts to see when a business in an ultra-popular destination simple exploits the fact 99% travelers will not stand up for themselves and chops money instead of earning them. But hey we, the people, have the power to kick them whenever we see anything that is not up to the promised level and can better the hotel for ourselves and those who come after us :)))) Thank you for your comments!
What a whinger, you're on holiday, enjoy it. Embrace the hotel instead of looking for faults. We stayed twice at Akumal and recently in May/June we stayed at Coba. Never had 1 complaint, it's a great hotel chain
I agree that you are not there as an inspector, you are a guest! I’m sorry you had this experience for sure. We were upgraded last November to the adults only and we’re fine with that but the light over the sink dripped water on my husband’s head! Water and electricity, bad combo!! We are going back this November and have booked what is called Premium Room, we’re assuming it’s one of the newly renovated ones, we’ll see! Our first stay here was in 2002 when it was new, and it was amazing. We’ve also stayed at Sian Kaan around 14 times but it is in need of major upgrades as well. We’ve tried other resorts but keep coming back to BP because of the nightly entertainment that’s provided other than the main theatre. Your review was the best that I’ve seen, so bravo to you. My hubs and I are not the type of people who complain over little things, but I think we’ll be more vocal this time around. Thanks again, I’m glad I watched you! I hope your next visit is better as I hope ours is in November! 🇨🇦👏
my main idea is that the management of this hotel has no idea how to run it. Say, a simple comparison: we traveled by car around ALL the United States. Still do travel to many places. We usually stay in Hilton hotels (any of those) on our way because of how they treat customers and price/quality ratio as well. So, say, Hampton Inn (which is a 2.5*!!!! hotel) set the bar this high: "If a guest does not like their stay, we're refunding them". You can get your full stay refund from Hampton Inn if they failed to deliver you the service you paid for. It's a TWO AND A HALF STAR (!) hotel. Most of them are fully renovated now, with huge rooms. Once we traveled and happened to get into a Hampton Inn that for some reason decided to renovate their entrance, and used power tools to do this. We got an automatic refund for the stay, because, as they put it, "we understand that you were not aware of the hotel condition and you did not plan your stay in a construction zone". I mean... 2.5*... and THIS. This is what sanity looks like. Here they put the word "LUXURY" on their flag. I really, honestly, sincerely would love to see their CEO's home videos and photos of how they spend their vacations in this sort of "luxury" :))) No, not in the renovated swim-out rooms. The "premium" ones. So you get the idea: they just don't care about customers. It's their honest and public position proved by facts. And that's what bothers me a lot. I wish your next travel to be better than ours! :) We made them work a little here and there. So HOPEFULLY they did start behaving like a decent business that is honest with their customers. Bc if anything like this happens next time, I'll simply call my bank and get a 100% refund on the basis of fraud :)
Thanks so much for this review. We planned to go there in September, but obviously we'll give it a second thought - at least until they finish all these fixes!
Take no notice, it's just 1 persons views.
I've stayed 3 times and each time was fantastic.
Tulum was just updated 2 years ago.
The food, staff, everything is great.
NO, complaints by us.
Don;t let 1 review put you off, go and enbrace the hotel, YOU will definitely enjoy your stay
Look at the Tulum section. It was very nice in January 2024. Updated rooms and good food.
Barcelo is beautiful and I love their beaches, the upgraded rooms, the swim up rooms/suite at the Caribe, etc...however if you are looking for nightly activities they just don't have it outside of the nightly show. The staff at the Bahia in my opinion are much better that Barcelo. For this reason I choose Bahia Akumal.
the lower-level staff at Bahia is amazing. The management - in our experience - proved they have zero skills to manage a place like this.
1. we were checked in into a room with BLACK MOLD. I mean, what?! This is insanity. If it was in USA, they'd be sued 5 minutes after
2. The same room had no shampoo/etc refilled in the shower :)) So they just dont prepare rooms for guests. They dont care.
3. The same room had both (!) toilet paper holders broken.
4. The same room had bathroom ceiling broken.
5. The fan in the room worked in 2 modes only: off or "full force that blows you out of your bed" :) Even though the control panel was as-if offering you to choose the fan speed.
6. AC was - also - either full-force "meat freezer mode" or "off". Because the regulator was broken :)))
7. The balcony was all chipped. If it was my balcony in my apartment, I would fix this issue myself in, say, 3-4 hours max: grind the old paint off, cover with 2 coats of paint - done. They didnt do this, they dont care. BUT the didnt forget to charge $400 extra and advertise it as a "higher level suite" :))
8. The view - you saw it - broken building that they dont even know how to paint professionally :)))
9. And I havent even started about the exterior condition of that building.
When we asked to change the room, at first we received the answer of: "We checked all our other rooms - they are THE SAME AS THIS ONE, sorry" :))))) So it's an admission of the quality of 100% "other rooms"
ANY of my employees would've been fired in 5 seconds for any work of this quality level. Their management does not understand the meaning of both 5* and luxury in their name at all. And when you take money for something you arent even trying to deliver - it's called... a fraud :)
In your cons part of the review I did notice you are saying that the repairs are being done while you are there, So when should they do the repairs, shut down the resort and do the repairs? Not sure I am understanding your comment. but I will return again I go twice a year. Thanks for the review.
Well, this is business decision to make. As I responded in the previous comment, I can compare it to Hilton hotels practices: even a 2.5* Hampton Inn hotel here in the States guarantees you pleasant stay, and if they did not deliver it - you get a 100% refund easily. Once we checked in to such a hotel where they were making renovations. Hilton automatically refunded us and explained that they understand we were NOT signing up for living on a construction site. This is called The Level and class.
Selling the picture as in the commercial WHILE on the site one upsells a "premium room" that has mold, broken almost EVERYTHING in USA is called "a fraud". So when you ask me, a paying guest, "when should they do the repairs", there is only one answer to this: NOT when paying guests are present. OR - they must inform paying guests beforehand that "hey, our hotel right now is under heavy construction and renovations, AC is not working in most areas, but our kitchen is still awesome. IF this doesn't scare you off, please enjoy our room for $200/night instead for $(whatever/night)". Once again, Hilton does exactly this: when some hotel is under reno, you can see in their app: "$140/night due to ongoing renovation". So you do understand that the reno is happening RIGHT NOW, when you stay there. But you pay 140 instead of 240-260, AND you're alerted about the fact, because the brand does care.
Bahia Principe is owned by Grupo Pinero, and google says they reported a $982M turnover in 2018 (no fresher data I could find). So, lets put it mildly, we're not talking about a 'mom and pop' business that will go broke if they treat customers with respect. They just CHOSE not to. It was and is a business decision for them.
The issues specifically in the room that we were checked in into can be fixed withing 24 hours total. So you shut down the room for 24 hours, send 4-5 people there to caulk, sand, paint, fix,etc - and in 24 hours you have a room that simply.. well... works :))) Once again: they CHOSE not to do this AND still charge its full rate + extra for calling this trash "a premium" room.
@@GreenCardShowUSA excellent answer you are correct and there should be some type of notice and or discount. Thank you for the reply
thanks to you. I traveled about 50% of the world, and lived in any conditions: from bedouins' huts to 5* luxury hotels and/or simple family hotels in war-torn Syria. It really hurts to see when a business in an ultra-popular destination simple exploits the fact 99% travelers will not stand up for themselves and chops money instead of earning them. But hey we, the people, have the power to kick them whenever we see anything that is not up to the promised level and can better the hotel for ourselves and those who come after us :))))
Thank you for your comments!
What a whinger, you're on holiday, enjoy it.
Embrace the hotel instead of looking for faults.
We stayed twice at Akumal and recently in May/June we stayed at Coba.
Never had 1 complaint, it's a great hotel chain
we always enjoy - wherever we go. Your comment clearly says you've never seen great service, but that is okay :)
I agree that you are not there as an inspector, you are a guest! I’m sorry you had this experience for sure. We were upgraded last November to the adults only and we’re fine with that but the light over the sink dripped water on my husband’s head! Water and electricity, bad combo!! We are going back this November and have booked what is called Premium Room, we’re assuming it’s one of the newly renovated ones, we’ll see! Our first stay here was in 2002 when it was new, and it was amazing. We’ve also stayed at Sian Kaan around 14 times but it is in need of major upgrades as well. We’ve tried other resorts but keep coming back to BP because of the nightly entertainment that’s provided other than the main theatre. Your review was the best that I’ve seen, so bravo to you. My hubs and I are not the type of people who complain over little things, but I think we’ll be more vocal this time around. Thanks again, I’m glad I watched you! I hope your next visit is better as I hope ours is in November! 🇨🇦👏
my main idea is that the management of this hotel has no idea how to run it.
Say, a simple comparison: we traveled by car around ALL the United States. Still do travel to many places. We usually stay in Hilton hotels (any of those) on our way because of how they treat customers and price/quality ratio as well. So, say, Hampton Inn (which is a 2.5*!!!! hotel) set the bar this high: "If a guest does not like their stay, we're refunding them". You can get your full stay refund from Hampton Inn if they failed to deliver you the service you paid for. It's a TWO AND A HALF STAR (!) hotel. Most of them are fully renovated now, with huge rooms.
Once we traveled and happened to get into a Hampton Inn that for some reason decided to renovate their entrance, and used power tools to do this. We got an automatic refund for the stay, because, as they put it, "we understand that you were not aware of the hotel condition and you did not plan your stay in a construction zone". I mean... 2.5*... and THIS. This is what sanity looks like.
Here they put the word "LUXURY" on their flag. I really, honestly, sincerely would love to see their CEO's home videos and photos of how they spend their vacations in this sort of "luxury" :))) No, not in the renovated swim-out rooms. The "premium" ones. So you get the idea: they just don't care about customers. It's their honest and public position proved by facts. And that's what bothers me a lot.
I wish your next travel to be better than ours! :) We made them work a little here and there. So HOPEFULLY they did start behaving like a decent business that is honest with their customers. Bc if anything like this happens next time, I'll simply call my bank and get a 100% refund on the basis of fraud :)
Hi
When have you film this movie ?
Just end of July 2024.