Rosewood Mayakoba

We expected a 5 star experience but it’s missing the elements that you expect from a highly rated hotel. First, it has no option for Mexican cuisine for dinner and the food options are all very similar. Second, the service is good but not great, not special. And lastly, the property is large but missing care and attention you expect from a property at this price.

We are now past the 12 stay mark and it is always a delight to return! This place truly has a soul and succeeds in making you feel part of the family. First off the location is unparalleled: you are completely immersed in the mangrove while having direct access to the private beach. The hotel goes to great lengths to be eco conscious which means we always see the most spectacular birds on the boat tours in the mangrove. More than the location, the Rosewood stands out from other hotels in Mayakoba thanks to the attentive and personalized service (there are 2 butlers at your disposal) and also by the design of the villas and restaurants. We also appreciate the diversified restaurant offering and particularly recommend the family-style Ceiba dinner hosted by management. There are also a lot of activities for all ages such as paddle boarding, boat tours, yoga classes. We celebrated our daughter birthday here and are looking forward to return for her father birthday later in the year

I recently booked a Beach Front 6 bedroom villa at the Rosewood Mayakoba. There are only a handful of these villas and they are located at the Southern end of Mayakoba adjacent to the Banyan Tree Resort and directly on the sand. There is nothing like this product anywhere else within Mayakoba. They have their own entrance and security and are the top of the top product within Rosewood and Mayakoba. I wanted to share my experience below to help other people trying to evaluate the right product to select. Travel-Very easy to get to by flying into Cancun and driving 45 minutes South (7-10 minutes North of Playa del Carmen which is a great amenity to have near by when you want to leave the Mayakoba complex. Arrival-When you go through the main gates you feel as though you are literally in the jungle until you enter through a private guard gated exclusive enclave with 5 Rosewood branded homes that are all pretty much identical (don't get skewed that the "Founder's Villa" is the better of the villas here). Actually Villa 902 is the newest completed and is technically upgraded from what is list as the Founder's Villa on the Rosewood website. Upon arrival, the entire staff is waiting to introduce themselves. Accommodation-When you arrive to the home, it doesn't feel like a villa but rather a resort lobby as you walk into the courtyard which is surrounded by ponds and a waterfall making you feel instantly relaxed. There are 6 bedrooms in this villa with the master and junior master being upstairs, 3 additional bedrooms with 2 queen beds each in the back upstairs and 1 bedroom downstairs with a king bed. It allows for a lot of different configurations and up to about 12 people comfortably. The master and junior master bedroom are really very large suites with bathrooms that are spa like including an extensive outdoor ocean view shower and soak tubs. IMPORTANT-We were almost going to book the Founders Villa because we thought it was different than Villa 902 which is literally 100 feet South and in the same enclave. It is listed at a slightly higher price for the dates we had but in the end after digging in, we found that Villa 902 was a newer and more improved version of the same exact floor plan so when we come back, we will stay in Villa 902 again if available. Food and Beverage-There are probably more than 20 restaurants within Mayakoba and at least 5 within Rosewood. We selected Sands, which doubles as the Banyan Tree Beach Club, our first night which is located about a 5 minute walk from the villa. It is nice to have this so close and a place to escape to IF you happen to want to see other guests. The better option is to hire a private chef for lunch and dinner (continental breakfast is included with your stay). You can essentially order anything that you would want and they have some base suggested menus available to start with. Both of our chefs that alternated were absolutely incredible!!!! They were anticipatory and quality and variety was out of this world even with our kids asking for some pretty specific things (BBQ brisket, whole fish, ect) Schedule/Flexibility-This was a strong point. You have a butler (more below) that is there from 7am to 11pm. All you have to do is tell him what you want (personally or on Whatsapp) and we had no issues getting any reservation for any activity with little to no notice. That is what we look for when we are on vacation. We don't want to have to plan a bunch of things in advance. Experiences-There are so many different things to do within this ~2,000 acre master planned community. Obviously the beach activities are given but the golf course is a top PGA quality course with a couple holes coming out to the water. There is also a tennis and padel/pickelball facility that is in top shape. There are cooking classes and more daily activities than you could even keep track of. Spa-You can access the Rosewood spa and use all of their services without charge OR you can have the spa come to you at your residence. We ended up doing both and they were both great experiences. Staff-Obviously, when you are going to a five star resort in Mexico you expect a high level of service but this is where the Rosewood staff went above and beyond. Our butlers were some of the best I have ever had. Gabriel even borrowed some of our son's clothes and came and played volleyball with us. He sincerely made us feel like family and no request too large, complicated or small. NOTE-Ask for Gabriel as your butler because they do take requests! Weather-The weather during January in the Riviera Maya is perfect. We got some rain for 2-3 hours out of 5 days which was fine. The bugs were minimal which is a nice bonus. Overall-This is a top tier resort destination that I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone. We stay in similar top destinations (Cabo, Punta Mita, Caribbean) and this was definitely one of the better vacations we have ever had and we look forward to returning soon. Rating-10 our of 10

The staff made us feel special from the moment we arrived until we departed. The property and accommodations were outstanding. All staff members were awesome. Jaime and David at the Zapote restaurant made my husband feel so special on his birthday. Our butlers Samantha, Valeria and Monsy took such good care of all our needs. We will definitely return and it won’t be soon enough.

A lot has changed. Rosewood used to be our favorite Mexican destination but this time, we left the hotel the day after checking in. The tranquility of this place is GONE, it's flooded with CONSTRUCTION NOISES EVERYWHERE. There was zero warning or disclosure about this. Ruined our family vacation. PS - if you need reliable Wifi, Rosewood simply doesn't have it - they haven't upgraded anything since I was here 3 years ago and it's gotten even worse.