DON'T STAY HERE!!!
Upon first arrival at Coco Tulum, I thought I would be in for a nice 5 day retreat with a few of my girlfriends. Our hut wasn't the nicest (only one of our outlets worked, the AC was spotty, there were bugs, and the one dingy light bulb did nothing to light the room), but I was still happy to be on vacation and didn't notice anything too amiss-we were in the jungle after all!
The first mishap occurred when we rented bikes for the day. Out of the 6 bikes we rented, 3 of them broke during our bike ride. The worst was the chain completely falling off of my bike after being repaired 3 different times by nice Samaritans who put it back on for me every time it broke down on the main strip with the resorts. It was very dangerous, as the roads are bumpy with a lot of pot holes, and every time the chain fell off, my bike swerved into traffic. I ended up having to leave my bike at a different resort we went to lunch at and take a taxi back to the hotel. My friends also had their bike seats break, and the handle bars fall off. Needless to say, they don't keep their bikes in good condition and are dangerous for anyone renting. They refunded us for the mishap, but I wouldn't spend the $25 a day to rent them-atleast from Coco Tulum. There's a bad accident waiting to happen with one.
On our third night staying here, I noticed that $40 was missing from my wallet that I had left in the lockbox, but forgot to lock it for that day. The "safe" that they offer you is a heavy wooden lockbox about 1 ft x 1 ft with a metal lock and key. It was cumbersome to open and close, so I must have forgotten to snap the lock shut before heading out to the beach that day. I had much more than $40 in the wallet, but as only $40 was stolen, I'm assuming the person thought I wouldn't notice (not a chance!). I was upset, but I wasn't planning on reporting it, as it was on me that the safe was unlocked, and $40 wasn't going to ruin my trip. I made sure to lock the box the next day, and thought that was the end of it.
However, as I returned that night from a day at the beach, I realized that a very sentimental necklace of mine was stolen from our hut that day. This necklace was worth less than $100, but was a gift after the birth of my daughters and was very important to me. It was left on a shelf in our room, and was stolen at some point doing the day. I was livid. There had been no one else in the hut except for my roommate and our 2 other friends, and we were very careful to lock our hut every time we left. The only other people with access to the room were the employees of Coco Tulum.
At this point, I was very upset and went to the front desk to report the necklace and the money, but was met with disdain from the front desk. The man there (said he was a manager on duty) asked me if I had locked the stolen items up in the lockbox, as if it was somehow my fault someone stole them even though we locked our room every single time we left (even for a 30 second trip to the bathroom). He informed me that they had no responsibility for items not locked in the tiny foot by foot lockbox. I was flabbergasted! I asked him if anything in the room then was fair game for someone to take that couldn't fit in the miniscule lock box. He then proceeded to come out from behind the desk to show me the hotel policy line that states they're not responsible for any missing items that aren't locked up. I then asked how it could be possible to lock every single thing I brought with me in their lockbox if there was free reign to steal anything not in it! He took down my information, but couldn't help me with anything else.
The next day it was time to check out, and I asked him again about the necklace. I didn't even ask about the money, but was still hoping for a return of the necklace. He acted very nonchalant about the whole situation, but told me that the housekeeping team said they didn't take it, and that they took a picture of my lockbox unlocked. This was a bizarre thing to say, as the ONLY time my lockbox was unlocked was the day I had the money stolen from my wallet. Why would a photo have been taken of it that day? Did they unlock it after I reported it to then try and take a photo to make it seem as if it was unlocked again? Who knows. The manager then tried to tell me that it's unfortunate, but these things happen, and that he's had things stolen from him before too. NOT HELPFUL. After arguing back and forth, I knew that nothing was going to be done. I left very upset and disappointed in Coco Tulum.
I work within the hospitality industry, and was highly disturbed with what happened here. The monetary loss meant nothing to me, but being treated as if I had done something wrong and being violated not once, but twice, ensures that I would never step foot on a Coco Tulum property ever again. This property is not worth it with the copious amounts of other options available in Tulum. All in all, a horrible experience. read more