Sandos Cancun Luxury Resort

Alan has been our server at a few restaurants on the resort and he has always been friendly and helpful.

Alan is the best !!!!!!! He served us at every restaurant we went to and was so great every single time. Always was on top of drinks, remembered my drink order and was so nice. Cheers to Alan for making our experience awesome!

To be candid, I’ve stayed in worse places. And if you are simply looking for a place to stay on a beach so you can read a book or enjoy the sunshine, you can do far worse. But there is so much to improve at this place that I’d never come back. Pros: - Rooms are clean, spacious and comfortable. - Staff is friendly and helpful. - Very easy to get alcoholic drinks. - Beach is very nice and super accessible. - Breakfast is OK, the lunch place by the water has a beautiful view (and the food is OK). - Nighttime entertainment was fun, some nights were better than others but overall a plus (don’t eat there though, see below). Cons: - Dinner is legitimately disgusting. I don’t consider myself the pickiest eater, but I genuinely dreaded going to dinner every night. I was slamming pure slop down my gullet, akin to a pig at a feeding trough. One night, my girlfriend asked an employee “what is your favorite thing on the menu?” He laughed in our faces, amused at the thought of eating this gruel. - I cannot stress enough how terrible dinner is. For the love of all that is holy, do not try the Italian restaurant. You’d be hard pressed to find worse pasta in any part of the world. - Also avoid Seasons restaurant, unless you’re looking to develop emphysema. It was curiously smoky in there every night, not sure if they were overcooking the “meat” or just had no ventilation. And, surprise surprise, the food sucked. - The pool parties are utterly bizarre. The DJ begins blasting EDM at 10am, though nobody is dancing. At 1pm, they trot out performers who are dressed in all sorts of peculiar fits. It’s degrading to the employees to force them to do that when nobody is asking for it. Even the drunkest guy at the resort was bewildered as a male employee dressed as Satan literally twerked in his face. - They keep the pool at a balmy 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The outdoor “hot tub” (no jets, just a circle of lukewarm water) is kept around 70 degrees. Naturally, the pool is unusable. I didn’t see anyone use the 2 upper pools for the entire week we were there. The only people in the lower pool were a blacked-out dad and Satan himself. - They charge you $30 to use the real hot tub… for 1 hour. It’s legitimately hilarious to gatekeep a hot tub like that. I can’t imagine that the resort owners are that close to bankruptcy that they need to try to extort guests in that manner. Not to mention, the hot tub is kept in the dungeon of the gym, which fills the nostrils with sulphur. - Getting bottled water here is akin to finding El Dorado. The workers look at you with confusion if you ask for it. I’ve never experienced this at a resort until now. And all of the soda was flat, not sure where all the carbonation went. - Elevator was broken for 4 days. There was no attempt to fix it. I guess this could also be considered a pro, if you want to get your steps in. - There was an intense, external blue spotlight shining directly into our room every night from 7pm until 6am (picture included). Which I guess was both a con and a pro, as we got a kick out of pretending to be the Na’vi from the forests of Pandora. Many other rooms had either blue or red spotlights shining into the rooms (we heard several couples complaining to the front desk about the lights). - Not the resort’s fault, but the Secrets resort being built directly to the Southwest really impacts the sunlight in the afternoon. After 3pm everyday, you are in the shade (and thus the pool and beach area can get a little chilly).

Sandos Cancun is a beautiful hotel & resort. It’s not very large, which makes the experience so much better. The staff are wonderful, and the level of service is excellent. This was our first time in Mexico, and we brought USD in cash after reading it’s widely accepted. However, please know that if you charge anything to your room, the final amount in USD may differ from what you were originally quoted. We purchased trips with Seek & Go from the hotel and agreed total price was $760 USD, but our final bill showed $777 USD and when I questioned it at the reception, I was told to speak to Seek & Go, which I did. Seek & Go confirmed they charged the originally agreed upon amount and could not explain the $17 USD increase. Our total bill came up to $1,053 USD but I was told by the receptionist, Rosio, that if I pay the trips in cash they would honour the original price. I said that I wanted to cover the full bill in cash, at that moment the exchange rate changed gain, and now the total bill was $1,063 USD. So, between printing the total bill and me paying it 30 minutes later, the exchange rate changed. I understand that exchange rates change daily, but I had no idea that Sandos’ exchange rate moves in line with the FOREX markets. In total, we were overcharged $27 USD. While the amount itself isn’t large, the way it was handled was dishonest and unnecessary. We were tipping generously throughout our stay and were very happy to do so, which made this experience even more disappointing. Once the bill was covered, and I did pay the $1,063 USD, the final receipt only showed MXN, with no USD amount or exchange rate provided. My advice: if you charge extras to your room, pay in MXN to avoid unpredictable exchange rates and ‘system issues’. There were also some smaller concerns. On arrival, the same staff member exchanged $100 USD for me but initially returned only $90 USD in small bills. I had to point this out several times before receiving the full amount. On another occasion, I asked to break a $5 USD and she said she only had four $1 dollar bills and if it’s ok. Aside from the billing problems, I truly can’t recommend this resort enough. The kindness and friendliness of the staff, food, drinks, and atmosphere are all 10/10. It’s a shame such an excellent vacation ended on a frustrating note.

Very loud people very loud music / not enough chairs around pool. Place needs an overhaul in maintence or just tear it down and start again. Service is good The place due to its cleanliness attracts the low life. I guess I should read trip advisor more to avoid these mistakes