Chablé Maroma : The real life Hotel California. What was supposed to be a a five star birthday trip ended in us being held hostage, with the resort not allowing the taxi to enter the resort to pick us up until we paid for scam charges that we did not agree to. Upon arrival we were taken aback by the entry to the resort . A dirt road, adorned with ruins of a long since failed resort town. We trekked down the road wondering if it actually would lead to the paradise we booked online. Finally we pulled up to an underwhelming and humid, open-air lobby with a cheap rope chandelier. At least they provided cold sweat rags and a margarita to take the edge off of the disappointing curb appeal. Unlike the other actual 5 star resorts 3 miles away, there are no bicycles or golf carts for transport to your your villa . So, we proceeded to walk to the Serenity Pool Villa we booked for privacy and rest, to hopefully redeem the experience thus far. It was not redeemable. It was not a private villa as it appeared online. The 2 story towering villas next door were peering down into our pool area and “front door” of the villa. It was “fenced off” by some newly planted palms and plants that anyone could see through. Chablé Maroma was not as it appeared online and not even close to a 5 star resort. We wanted to leave . The manager who was obviously not trained for the level of service a 5 star hotel commands, showed up & said they had some other options but that it was a $1500 per night room. She said it was the presidential suite, but we could only stay on the bottom floor for that rate . We weren’t really interested and just wanted to leave, so we said we will see it but we don’t think we will stay. Then, the manager said well unfortunately nothing is refundable so either you can stay in the villa you got or get the upgraded suite, but you cannot be refunded. Is this real life Hotel California ?! Wow - I’ve never been in a situation where I cannot leave a hotel (and not get refunded) so my only alternative is just to pay more money for something acceptable. After some re-negotiating, given our “trapped situation”, we landed on $1300 per night , massages & champagne for the upgrade we never intended on indulging in . We still enjoyed our time in the Presidential Suite, sans nightly hot water … and still less privacy than we expected . We came to terms with things. Check-out rolls around . We had ordered a taxi service for a 12:15 departure to the airport. We get to the lobby , get the final bill and to our surprise … they said it was $1300 per night in addition to the rate of the original Serenity Pool villa we already paid for . Nowhere, or never, were we ever told the room we moved to was ~$2400 + per night . All communication indicated this change would be $1300 usd, nightly. This was a shocking bill. I asked for printed out receipts indicating our records ; which they totally failed at itemizing and resisted providing . In the note attached to the receipt, it says: “$1300 usd nightly rate non refundable”. The manager would not honor the note or fix the charges to reflect what they represented to us. At this point the hotel had called off the taxi from coming to get us until we paid them the disputed charges . When we asked about the taxi’s whereabouts they kept saying 5 mins, 5 more mins, 5 mins… in the meantime we noticed a security guard approached the lobby talking into a walkie talkie. 45 minutes later we were finally allowed to leave after we paid the scam charges . Beware of the real life Hotel California - you can check in but you can never leave (without scam charges).

Beautiful property, beach, and spa. Drinks and food are decent but leave a bit desired for. Poor review stems from the service & theft. - first off, our engagement ring was stolen out of our room (not recovered) and the hotel showed a general lack of care of the incident. Was difficult to communicate with (directly and via our insurance), would not share their investigatory findings with us, and gave a half-hearted apology with a voucher to come back and stay with them again. - although the staff is very sweet and kind, they are very confused and it leads to a confusing experience - for example, they would just randomly cancel our booked activities (snorkling) without telling us out of confusion/incompetence, scheduled activities didn't start on time, and it was difficult to get clear answers on anything, including what items were included and not included in the stay. Not their fault, seemed like they just didn't train the staff honestly. I thing hotel management is to blame for all the issues we ran into & their dealing of the theft. If you go, don't bring anything you would be upset to lose as they certainly have theft (from the room and the safes).

WARNING - Don’t let the photos fool you! My husband and I did what I thought was a thorough search for the perfect hotel to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. WE picked wrong. We arrived at the hotel early to be “upgraded” to a room that was the furthest away from the beach and restaurant and also very dark. We then chose to wait for the room we booked which was closer to the beach and sunny. DON’T be fooled by the website photos. The photos represent a sunny beautiful room and that is not that case with all the rooms @ Chable Maroma. Since this hotel is in the jungle many of the rooms are quite dark which could be nice if it’s extremely hot. Didn’t love that a margarita was $30, this is tequila and we are in Mexico. On the night before we left we went down for a late meal with only a few tables to find a lack of service attendants, my husband ordered some ceviche and we shared a dessert. The next morning before our flight we went to breakfast where my husband had the breakfast quesadilla. Some of the staff in the restaurant are quite friendly which we enjoyed. BTW, we at and drank and shared each others food until the end of our stay. The other negative is the hotel was experiencing a lack of hot water and not really noticeable when the weather was really warm but as the weather cooled and while taking a cool shower it was quite unpleasant and we were never told by the staff there was an issue, I learned about this when I called to notify them and their response was they were aware and sorry. 24 hours after we arrived home my husband became extremely ill and that continued for a total of 10 days. HE was sicker longer than the time to prep, travel and get back home. I have reached out to the hotel to share our experience and we have not heard from them. I am writing this review as a warning to future guests.

The grounds of the hotel and the beach are beautiful but the hotel really falls short of the quality in relation to the sky high prices. Massages started from $380 dollars for 50 minutes and $480 dollars for an 80 minute massage. When you order drinks by the pool you are charged $30 for simple cocktail and no crisps or nuts are given even when you ask. Dinner again was ridiculous, a small bowl of pasta (tomato spaghetti) was $30, wine bottles started at $110 for below average wine that rarely arrived chilled. My son ordered a steak and had a below average steak (below average in taste and size) and was charged $70 The pool was nice but again water was not complimentary and was charged at $12 a bottle and where most high end hotels offer cold towels, complimentary fruit or sunglass cleaning this hotel failed to provide anything complimentary. We stayed at the Rosewood in San Miguel before this hotel and the prices were about 15% less but the service, food and quality was on absolutely different level. This resort really needs to take a long hard look at the prices vs service and quality offered. If they want to charge these extortionate prices they really need to match it with the quality of service, food and ambience. At the moment it falls short.

I cannot believe I’m writing this. This resort has such potential but it isn’t there yet. I had much higher expectations as I have stayed at the Chable Yucatán property twice before and found it to be my favorite hotel experience of my life. I enjoyed it so much I thought I would try Chable Maroma. There are so many things wrong I don’t know where to start I honestly would just prefer to have a partial refund at this point. The hotel itself is lovely to look at but has few amenities. From the moment we arrived check in was great, the lobby staff was very kind. After that it wasn’t much of a great time. The included activities that we took part of were fun but could be enhanced. Our room was nice and comfortable but the lack of details on the hotels staff was so disappointing. Every morning we received a call around 6:00 am asking us if it was ok to bring the “eye opener” even though we said at check in when asked we would like to receive it around 7:30 am. At the Yucatán property they just bring it and sit it outside they don’t call and wake you up. It was rather aggravating to be woken up by a phone call everyday while on vacation. Then when we would go to drink the coffee and eat the food that was in the basket there was never enough for all three guest it was always only two coffees and two of whatever the food was. We told the staff we had three guest and this was never corrected even though this was expressed daily. We didnt even receive the eye opener the last day. The same thing happened at night time with turn down service. They never would leave three of the turn down treats only two. That was corrected for only one of the nights but that was all. One night turn down service didn’t even come to our villa. House keeping was so inconsistent we never knew if they were coming or not. We had food dishes sitting outside that were left for at least a day and a half. One day they came and asked if we needed our room cleaned or if they needed to come back I asked if they could come back in an hour and they never did. Our mini fridge was refilled daily except for one day. The WiFi in our villa never worked. We managed to access it about twenty percent of the time. My husband needed it to work but wasn’t able to get much done while we were there. I visited the spa several times it was very small compared to the Yucatán spa but it was very clean and had a beautiful layout. I enjoyed the spa staff a lot. The pricing for the services there seemed higher than comparable spas in the area but I still went as there isn’t much to do. The services provided were very nice and everyone in the spa made us feel welcomed and at home. The only modifications I would change is having a food menu for guest that plan on staying in the spa all day which I did suggest to the spa director while visiting. I wish the steam room in the spa hadn’t been broke while I was there it would have been great to of used that. The food at the restaurants was good enough we loved the night that everything was done on the grill it was the best food we had on the trip. The pricing for the food did seem a bit high and other guest had said the same comments to me. There was one night we went to the restaurant BUUL the restaurant itself was beautiful but I was so mad because I asked for a glass of the Piper Heidsieck Champagne which I believe was $1050 peso on the menu which is around $65 usd and the person serving came back with a bottle that didn’t appear to be what I had ordered. He pours me a tasting which I told him it was ok but I would drink it. He proceeded to pour me a proper glass and I noticed the bottle. He then holds the bottle close and isn’t showing the label and appeared to be trying to hide it but I saw it. He then leaves and says “enjoy”. This is when I said to myself I was never coming back to this hotel. He had served me a glass of Costco brand Kirkland sparkling wine. I drink champagne weekly and I was insulted! I didn’t drink it. He came back and I told him it wasn’t what I wanted and told him to bring me a glass of Prosecco instead. After he left I got up and had him show me the wine cellar as I didn’t feel confident at this point. Why would you try to serve me a $1050 glass of champagne and serve me Costco Kirkland brand instead I felt I was getting cheated and lied to. I wish that the hotel would provide a printed version of the daily activities because with the lack of WiFi we had we were not able to access it online everyday. The beach was enjoyable. Overall I was not satisfied but we made the best of it. There is a level of expectation you have when you’re paying the prices that this hotel charges and it was not met. It has almost made me think The Chable brand as a whole doesn’t have a clear vision for luxury hotels. I’m hoping this was just an isolated experience that was just happening to us. I hope the Yucatán property hasn’t changed because I want to return there this year. As for Maroma I will never be back.