Banyan Tree Mayakoba

I recently stayed at the Banyan Tree Mayakoba, expecting a premium luxury experience based on the brand's reputation and price point. Unfortunately, the reality was a massive disappointment across the board. Dirty Rooms and Maintenance Failures: The room was simply not clean, and to make matters worse, we found cockroaches in our villa. Furthermore, the electronic lock on our door completely died. We were locked out and had to wait an agonizing hour for maintenance just to get back into our own room. Unfriendly and Unreliable Service: For a resort of this massive size, you have to rely on golf carts to get around. However, the carts we requested never arrived, leaving us stranded. When we interacted with the staff, the service was consistently poor and unfriendly—a stark contrast to the hospitality you expect in Mexico, let alone at a five-star hotel. Airport Transfer Fiasco: The breaking point was the hotel’s car service. Our flight was delayed, a common travel occurrence that any luxury hotel concierge should monitor and easily accommodate. Instead of adjusting our pickup time, they refused to automatically update it and actually charged me twice just for moving the time. Subpar Dining: To top it all off, the food was simply bad. When you are a captive audience at a sprawling resort paying luxury prices, the dining needs to deliver, and this fell completely short. The Verdict: Save your money and stay elsewhere. The property might look nice in photos, but the terrible service, maintenance issues, unaccommodating staff, and poor food made this a highly regrettable stay.

We just got back from our third family trip to Banyan Tree Mayakoba (two adults and two boys age 8 and 12) and it was wonderful. The boys really enjoyed the adventure and independence of the free bikes, which let the adults relax and enjoy a true vacation (rather than the typical family “trip”). Our two bedroom villa was newly renovated, with excellent space, well heated pools, comfy beds, and timely housekeeping twice a day. The service was clearly world class. We say many staff members who we remembered from our last trip two years ago. The staff clearly love their jobs and no request was too much - one bartender even went back to the kitchen to make our drinks with fresh fruit instead of the carton stuff when we asked. The gym is very good - dumbbells only go up to 50lbs as is typical for many hotels but the had leg press, leg curl, leg extension, chest, shoulder, and cable machines plus a smith machine and separate Olympic bar so doing lifting workouts was not a problem. The natural setting was beautiful. Food was excellent but look at the prices before you go as they are generally over 2x NYC prices. If you don’t want to pay $200 for a filet mignon for example you may have to eat off property.

Banyan Tree has been absolutely amazing. The hotel and beach are beautiful, and the staff has been incredibly friendly with outstanding service. Gamaliel at the beach was especially kind and helpful. 100% recommended!

Beautiful stay and excellent service all around! The property is gorgeous and staff goes out of their way to ensure you are having a relaxing stay. Especially Jorge at Sur beach club, he took great care of my husband and I during our visit. Thank you, Jorge!

Would highly recommend this property. Staff took care of our every need, especially my resort host, Roi. Food was phenomenal at every restaurant. If you are looking to be treated like royalty in a beautiful place, I couldn’t recommend Mayakoba Banyan Tree more.