Mahekal Beach Resort

When the new year starts, my husband and I start to plan our annual anniversary trip for November. We look forward to this as we work hard the entire year to enjoy rest and relaxation. We research for places to stay that call to us. This year, when I came across the mahekal beach resort, I fell in love. The concept of a tropical jungle resort in the middle of the city was perfect for us. I was hooked! So we booked a beautiful king oasis room with an outdoor rain shower and a semi private pool just steps outside our room sounded like paradise! This is where it all took a turn for the worst... reception desk nightmare!! Not only did they not have our room available it was under "maintenance," they said, which was a word we heard A Lot this week. They tried to tell us they upgraded our stay. Room #58 It was not an upgrade it was one of the smallest rooms with two double beds, no outdoor shower, and not in the oasis area. We were stuck. Where else could we go at 5 pm? They told us they would try to get our room ready and move us the next day. OK, things happen, so we take the room for the night. The next day, they put us in a room in the oasis area with an outdoor shower. Room #198 was beautiful. Our thought was that now this is an upgrade.... until that night!! Laying in bed, I started to feel water dripping on my face as we slept! I got up and turned the light on. Mind you, it's not raining, and it hadn't rained here for days. The dripping water caused me to look up at the palapa roof, and oh my God, i could not believe my eyes. The amount of mold on the ceiling was unbelievable! What do we do? Here it is, the middle of the night again, no place to go. I'm tired. i don't want to move AGAIN. I've now unpacked everything and set up for the rest of our trip, but there's no way i can stay in the moldy surroundings another night with my asthma and severe allergies. I have an idea for the night. I go to the closet and get the umbrella, and we sleep with it over us for the night in the bed! Can't make this up! The next day we go to the front desk and I start to explain the situation with the mold and the gentleman stops me from talking and goes to the back office. He comes out and says we can move you to a different room. Again, I said, "Can you please just give me the room I booked?" I've been here now for two days, and no one is using the room I booked. He tells me it's under " maintenance" and won't be available till next week. He says we have a room next to that one you can have, but it's not ready yet, so I leave and go to breakfast. When I get back, I'm told the room we booked we can now have #200. Wow, under maintenance till next week was rectified in an hour. Finally, the room we booked we are in after changing rooms 3 times in 3 days. If you think my story is the only one, you're wrong. As the days go by we hear conversations that other people are having about being put into the wrong room and their rooms are under maintenance. It seems all the people here have similar experiences with not getting the room they booked. We met a couple that had stayed here last year and couldn't wait to get back this year. Their story is almost as crazy as ours minus the raining moldy roof. The service, hospitality, and food were non existent compared to their last stay to the point that they are counting the days till they can leave here and return home. They were at the point where they almost changed their flights and went home early! Does this sound like a relaxing stress free vacation? Let's be clear i am not a diva. I understand there are less fortunate people and I should be grateful and most days we do give to those that have less such as the Mayan village we visited on our stay here where we were able to give bags of food to children in the village. After all this, there are no apologies no hey how can we make this up to you? Nothing!! Apologies go a long way! Not once did management come to talk to any of us. We just want what we paid for. They leave it up to the workers and they are not happy either. Some of them have worked there for years with no other options. Do not get the all-inclusive package if you do decide to come here. Walk into Playa del Carmen. You are steps away from some amazing restaurants with awesome food just outside the resort. We walked all times of day and night, and we were completely safe. Venture to 5th Avenue for some amazing dining experiences such as Ilio restaurant with fire dancers, to name just one. I'm giving this resort zero stars as a review, and I would encourage you to look at the recent reviews under the new owner, not the ones from before this year. Thanks for taking the time to read this review. Hopefully they will try to do better in the future!

We traveled with 6 adults for two birthdays (siblings and significant others). the concierge Corinna went above and beyond to make sure the birthday girls were treated special. She made sure they received something special in their room each day (for no extra cost). She also stayed in touch to make sure we had the reservations we needed on and off property. And I can't say enough GREAT things about the rest of staff. I've been to many high-end hotels/resorts for work and the service at the Mahekal was better than any of them. Food and drinks came out quickly and Briain and Manuel treated us like gold at breakfast and poolside. The food was also really good/the drink ingredients were top notch. THANK YOU MAHEKAL. I miss you all already!

We have been twice so far in the last few months and go again in Dec 2024. The people working at the resort are all very kind. Wonderful and accommodating. It is the hotel staff that makes it extra special. The location is amazing. The rooms are unique, small, and clean. There is simply something special about the resort. I have found that reception and management have a difficult time with accommodations if you book through third party. If you book through a third party, it's very difficult for them to help with changes, etc. When I go again after this next trip my suggestion would be book through the hotel. It seems it is easier on the staff and they can be more helpful if you book through the hotel. Wonderful place to stay.

This was our second trip to Mahekal and it was just as great as the first. Traveled with our siblings and their spouses. The staff is so kind and attentive and the grounds are gorgeous! An oasis on the beach. The spa is excellent as well- had two massages during my stay- both wonderful!

I'm not sure where to even begin to describe this nightmare? We arrived on the property around 1 pm after our flight and being up since 330 am. Our room wasn't ready so we grabbed lunch at Fuego. Walked around till roughly 3 when our room was finally ready. We snapped a few pics of our room and unpacked a little Stripped & climbed into bed when the door flew open without any notice was 2 maintenance men with an extension ladder quickly leaving since they walked in on us. We quickly threw our clothes back on and said come back in since we had no clue why they were there or what they were fixing. Turns out they were removing a hot wire that clearly was for a ceiling fan that didn't exist. They grabbed that wire and left abruptly and need to make mention we never did get a fan that we saw in the brochure pics. The bar tenders and wait staff worked their butts off for sure and was super attentive to our needs all week. Tuesday evening we started to get a light rain Soon after dinner and for 12+ hours straight it poured badly. We were soaked walking back even with an umbrella from Las Olas. We went to bed around 1030 and woke up to walk to the bathroom and couldn't believe I was walking through water on the way. I quickly turned on some lights and couldn't believe the amount of water on our floor 1-2 " Called the front desk to report the leak and clearly there were others in much worse shape with 2 feet of water and their luggage floating in their room. They asked if we needed to be relocated and we said no our bed was dry and we'd deal with it in the am. When we woke up Wednesday we did damage control and got as much wet stuff off the floor and began the drying out process. We saw Starbucks using a squeegee and went to the front desk asking to borrow one and was told that all the pumps were on for the property. I told then thanks but the property pumps weren't going to help our 2nd floor room. Walked back and stopped at Starbucks to borrow theirs and think god there allowed us to borrow it. I had it mostly done by the time housekeeping arrived. I get this area gets hurricanes and strong winds however the rain was coming in the bathroom window and the AC unit. No reason for this at all. So much property including a coach leather bag was soaked not to mention shoes and clothes that all has that horrible musty moldy smell that just still lingers a week later. It rained several more times last week and we continues to throw towels every to protect our stuff. We saw 1 room got a bottle of champagne and when we asked what that was for they told us it was from the resort cause we f***ed up. Not sure why that would make up for 2 feet of water in your room seeing we were at an all-inclusive with free alcohol.