This is a stellar place in Mayakoba and Riviera Maya, with wonderful scenery, restaurants and facilities, but most importantly great people who work here. The reception area has several bars and restaurants. My favourite is Cello (thanks to Diana Cardenas, Laura, Hugo, David, Javier and all the team - for creating some very special and welcoming moments, as well as making special dishes for me). You feel like in Venice there with the canals view and authentic Italian food (Cello's chef was apparently trained in Tuscany for 6 months, I was told!). Saffron is another fantastic spot if you're into Asian food - thanks to Jasmine and Karen Rocha. In the beach area, the place to be is Sands, a super-cool restaurant with the French Riviera vibes (so many thanks to Aleida Mendieta, Leila, Alan, Miguel, Arturo, and all the team). The personnel at the F&B are so well trained and genuinely care for you, which shows that they're happy with their work, for which thanks to Abel and Israel. They go an extra mile to accommodate last minute and special requests, which is excellent teamwork. Executive chef Alfonso de la Dehesa is a super inviting and friendly person, personally showing guests the catch of the day and making them feel like home. The resort is a very peaceful place, especially the beach area. A huge respect is that, unlike many places in Riviera Maya, their spa doesn't offer commercialised "shaman meditations" and other such practices, and do not exploit local pagan beliefs for profit, thus conducting business in a very ethical manner by respecting their guests' religion and not trying to "sell" and impose esoteric practices on them. You can feel there is a good ethics/culture and the staff treat customers as precious clients, respecting their business. All staff speak good English (not just pretend they do but are actually very good at it) and are very professional, you can tell they have selective, competitive recruitment. The only little imperfection in a long period was that the Front Office manager Andres was nice during a personal encounter, showed some villas and left his number, but then disappeared and ignored messages. I guess it's a busy place but you need to be consistent and follow up as promised. Make sure you use the boats and explore all the canals around Mayakoba! Their boatmen are super nice, thanks to Jesus and his colleagues who ferried me all over. All in all, if you plan to be in Mayakoba, especially for a long stay, it is the place to stay or visit if you want excellent service, fantastic food, positive vibes and great, lasting memories. Most importantly, the resort have unbelievable flora and fauna! Please take good care of the nature, all plants and living creatures at Maykoba, as they make the place an image of Paradise on Earth! Muchas gracias!

The quality of the property is fantastic and the service is very good. The only reason I deducted a star is because the hot tub didn’t work. I had to call them three times and message them on What’sApp before it got fixed. It only got fixed on my last night so I barely got to use it. It’s crazy that at a resort this nice, I have to spend my time tracking a simple maintenance request instead of enjoying my vacation. I have seen several other reviews that mention maintenance problems so there might be a theme there. The beach and water are not very nice but that’s not the hotel’s fault. If you’re going to stay here, you have probably already seen photos and videos of the beach so you know what to expect. The water in downtown Playa del Carmen is much prettier. I stayed in May and the seaweed wasn’t that bad. The resort did an excellent job of cleaning it up. The security is insanely tight but that’s a good thing. I felt like I was going to the White House with all the security checkpoints. I felt 100% safe here and appreciate them keeping a close eye on us.

This was our second time here! My husband and I absolutely LOVE it here! So relaxing and the service is above and beyond. Staff is amazing and so welcoming! Rooms are super private! We like staying on the beach side villas! We highly recommend Banyan Tree Mayakoba! We can’t wait to come back!

We had an excellent stay at this fabulous resort. We were there for a small beach wedding of 30 people, which was catered and managed well. The smallest villas are 3200 sq feet and very spacious, with their own private pool. I didn't see the larger ones but who needs them? The staff always had a smile on their faces. We had a minor hiccup with our reservation on their end, and some maintenance issues, but the general manager, Rafael Del Corral, was 100% committed to making things right. Brenda in reception also went the "extra mile". It is easy to make a request for a golf cart transportation or room service merely by texting (SMS) or with WhatsApp, 24 hours a day. WiFi coverage was great, and the restaurants served extensive and great food. The breakfast brunch was huge! Nice gym too! Onsite spa (we didn't use it). Kids were welcome but seldom caused an issue during our stay - except for one loud nearby villa. I wish they had a place to get an ice cream or gelato or light snack a bit lower cost, but perhaps they will add this in the future.

The highlight of the trip was the beautiful pool set on the picturesque beach. We spent most every day, all day there and the kids club was smartly located nearby. My 5 and 7 year old loved the kids club and not for what it offered but because of who worked there. Maggie and Narni are amazing! I told Maggie I wish I could bring her home with me. Three things prevented this from being 5 stars. Our 3 bedroom villa was a far distance from the beach. Your methods to getting there are either bike or golf cart. At popular times you have to wait 10/15 minutes for a cart so we found the bike fastest and a scenic ride however with a 3 year old there was no way for him to join us biking (no trailers or toddler seats) so we’d split up. Second is the price of some of the meals. The Mexican night was $175 per adult. I had chips/guac, 3 tacos and a churro with no margaritas. It was great fun, a piñata for the kids and a mariachi band however still pricey for the food. The Tomahawk steakhouse is also pricey however, at least comparatively it’s somewhat worth it. Finally, there are only 5 beds next to the pool at the beach and people would head down early to save them. The frustrating part is some people would save them and never use the pool, but there were no other places near the pool to sit. As someone with kids we’d get a chair on the beach but spend our whole time in the pool.