Well, when we arrived for check-in, everything seemed as expected. We were greeted and introduced…read moreto the concierge. We were given the information about the property and all the amenities as well as given a tour and then shown to our room, typically when you first arrive, they perform a greeting cleanse to, clear energy, set your vibe and give you a little taste of the beautiful Mayan cultural traditions. Unfortunately, when we were shown over to the location where they perform the energy cleanse no one was there so they said we'd have to come back the next day which never ended up happening. Finally, moments before we were checking out we asked if it was possible just to see what the experience was like before we left. That part was actually really good, especially after our experience staying here for six days, which will make sense by the end of this review.
When we checked in, it was already dark out but the design and lighting as well as the bio inspired architecture which fuses art in nature was pretty cool to see. They only give you one key for your room for some odd reason, it was a little inconvenient because it meant that me and my wife had to be together at all moments and couldn't explore or do services separately without the hassle of having to meet up to share the key, or the other option is to go walk all the way to the front desk, which, although the walk is beautiful, the design of the floor is made out of a bunch of branches for the walkway and is very difficult to navigate, especially at night so walking turned out to be more of a hassle, but that's just me being nit-picky. The other option is you can reach out to your concierge and then they can send someone which means you're waiting sometimes 5 to 10 minutes, again very small minor inconveniences but nonetheless adds up when staying there for six days. It definitely has an effect on the overall appeal and serenity that one would expect from a place like this. The room itself had two very small shelf like closets definitely not enough hangers or space to accommodate both of our very limited wardrobe that we brought. I had to put 2 to 3 shirts on one hanger and hang the pants inside and that's literally all I brought other than T-shirts and socks and underwear and one pair of nice shoes I literally packed very minimal and still didn't have enough space... again very small inconvenience but nonetheless 20 different small inconveniences all fused together to make one kind of annoying overall experience.
Now I can say that I have mixed feelings about the minimal electricity and necessity to use tea candles for our lighting, but I respect the sustainability aspect of it and it did make very nice environment and mood. The only downside is they tell you that you don't blow the candles out and you can leave them on overnight and we had one explode right next to our heads and over all of our bathroom essentials. The shower is right in the middle there's no protection for water so it gets all over the floor, I nearly slipped a few times because of it. Probably sounds nit picky, but these are things I believe make it or break it for places like this.
We experienced some type of mishap daily. We ordered hot water and they brought a dirty used coffee pot. They left the dirty brush in the toilet area. Didn't pick it up until the following day. Asked us if we could place it outside the door. Took forever to bring blankets. They got maybe 8/10 requests wrong and charged us for some and denied that, so wasn't able to get a refund. wasn't much, but principally speaking it's horrible feeling in the midst of many things going wrong.
Atmosphere - 90%
(small weird sewage smell almost everywhere except the room)
Vibe - 80%
Cost - 75%
should be more enjoyable for the price imo... i dont mind paying extra for experience when its on point
Food - 60%
(first meal, room-service, was incredible {and cost matched that} every other meal on property lacked in all ways except the sushi which we enjoyed as a snack before going to dinner off site. Really over priced in general but the experience and design makes it palatable.
Service - 2 stars overall
(except for our concierge who had to deal with her associates lack of professionalism and incredible number of mistakes made each day).
Location/architecture,view - 100
(If it wasn't for the sound of the ocean slapping the rocks below our balcony and the sound of the waves soothing us at night, waking up to the most amazing view from bed facing the ocean and the sunrise and also the sunsets each night with a great breeze and insane temperatures than this trip would probably have been all bad.
My suggestion. Book 1-2 nights for the location and view then find a better spot elsewhere.