I arrived back from this hotel today and after finding no reports on it from this website I felt I should add my opinion to give people some idea of what it is like. In a word...brilliant.

The hotel is in the Mayan Riviera, which if your after all the busyness of Cancun with the clubs and shops...you would be disappointed. But, if you wanted a relaxing holiday away from it all this hotel is perfect.

The hotel itself it amazing. It's huge, to walk around and see everything it has to over would take a few hours, I should know, we did it! There are four lobby's in this hotel so make sure you know which one you want before you go (we didn't which caused some confusion). The layout at these lobby's is beautiful, they're all slightly different but all carry a Mayan, open air theme. They're quite colourful but also elegant with friendly staff who are willing to go as far out of their way as possible to please you. It is customary to tip there, but a couple of dollars to the bell boys etc will more than suffice.

The rooms are gorgeous. Set in open air buildings made up of three floors, they carry a Mayan theme as the Mayan people played a huge part in Mexico (as you'll notice with all the tourist attractions surrounding them!)

The rooms consist of either two queen size beds or a one huge bed depending on your party. The decor is quite simple, again carrying the theme with a few paintings. The hotel is clearly quite new as the rooms barely look slept in, they are beautifully maintained and if you leave a dollar tip everyday for the maid they even leave you a few chocolates in the room to thank you. The bathroom is clean and elegant with a large sink area, a large bath/shower and a partially separated toilet. The room also contains a safe which you do not have to pay for. You are also given a dressing gown and a pair of slippers each which are quite useful when you've turned up the air conditioning and come out of the shower freezing cold. We also had a small terrace with a washing hanger and chairs and table, some terraces also have hammocks.

The pool areas in the hotel are perfect. There are three or four pools.

All with wet bars, perfect when the sun is blazing down on you and you want another beer! All pools are very large and the only time you feel slightly crowded is around the bar on the odd time its busy. There is a jacuzzi area in two of the pools that i know of, not sure about the other two though. One pool has its only kids water park with about 6 slides for up to 12yr olds...which in all honesty i was slightly jealous of.

The hotel also has its own beach. The beach is about 2 miles long and the all inclusive includes the use of the water sports such as peddle boats, kayaks, surfing etc, with life jackets mandatory. The hotel also offers other water sports at a reasonable charge.

There is also a spa in the hotel, with a jacuzzi, separate male and female sauna and a massage room. All of which are free. Also there is a gym next to the spa in case your feeling guilty about the Al inclusive!

If thats not enough, there is also a mini golf course with 18holes (which i was only narrowly defeated on might I add) and also a pitch and putt course for any keen golfers. Furthermore, there is tennis courts, a basketball court, ping pong, a shopping mall with around 30 very reasonably priced shops.

For night time entertainment, there are two large theatres. The largest one has shows such as variety shows, Mr Barcelo, Mexican nights, casino nights etc. All of which are very high quality shows, and without fail the barcelo Maya orchestra are there to entertain every night! The smaller theatre operates as a movie theatre with different recent movies showing every night. There is also a night club that opens at 11pm-2am, although I've seen it from outside i cant rate it because we didn't use it.

The food in the hotel is lovely. I read on another website before I left that it was not very good, but it was brilliant! I'm a very fussy eater and my boyfriend is a vegetarian and we found it perfect. Every night is a different theme, for example Italian, Mexican, French, but with plenty of variety in case your not too much for the highly speciality food.

Also, there are speciality restaurants you can visit in the hotel, all in all I think there are 8, but we only went for a week in the Caribe hotel so could only visit the Mexican and the Spanish(though I'm sure they'd be no problem if you fancied a different one). These restaurants are lovely and it would be a waste not to go to them during your visit! The waiters are very pleasant and chatty.

The restaurants themselves are very pretty and well themed and the waiter service is a nice break from the buffet meal. Its worth taking a couple of dollars to tip because they do an excellent job in making your time brilliant.
Although it sounds too good to be true, a word of warning. If you like to explore on your own forget this hotel. The nearest town costs $30 return to get there and its not really that spectacular, with shops only a couple of $$$'s cheaper than the mall in the hotel. Cancun costs $110 return, so if your planning on clubbing its going to be expensive taxi every night, so better to stay in Cancun.

On the other hand, if you are happy to explore the hotel and just go out on day trips this is the perfect resort. Its very safe and has guards on the gate 24/7 so there are no worries around the hotel if you have kids or are walking around at night.

Although the hotel is over an hour away from Cancun, the majority of the trips available are located close to the hotel, we went on three trips and two out of three we were the last pick up and got to our destination in half an hour. Also alot of the ruins are located in Tulum close to where the hotel is situated.

One final word of warning, this hotel has a lot of Mexican and Spanish visitors, so don't be surprised if you are mistakenly spoken to in Spanish quite often (it's very confusing trust me). Although reception, guest services, bell boys etc know English, a lot of the bar staff and main restaurant staff only have a basic understanding so expect a little trouble in communicating at time. There were quite a few Americans there but the majority of the hotel was couples on holiday and a few families, so if you like the rowdy atmosphere, then don't go here. Although by no means is it dull, particularly at night time entertainment, there are much less younger groups if that is the kind of atmosphere you would like. If you just want an escape for a its a brilliant place to go as a couple or as a big group of couples. Families are also well catered for with a kids club and the waterpark.
Finally, as a final thought, if you book this hotel via the internet as we did, you will probably be given a Spanish rep, who is not the best rep ever. However don't worry, just look on the boards, find the airtours rep and they will be English and you can book all your trips through them at a very good price.

I highly recommend the speed boat jungle tour trip, so much fun for only $110 for a couple! The price of a return to Cancun...and the place you go to is actually in cancun, its practically a free trip after you pay for transport!

Hope this helped.

Sam xx