Conrad Tulum Riviera Maya

Starting with the positives: 1. The property is a beautiful location and very well laid out. 2. The food was generally very good (when it arrived). 3. Hotel staff were friendly. 4. The room was very quiet. Unfortunately, 1. There was a 5 hour wait for our room, (90 minutes after the 3pm check in time) after being told to relax and it would be available in 60-90 minutes, then 1 hour more, etc... 2. In the room, the shower regulator was literally falling off and the button to start the shower missing, the jacuzzi was 1/3 filled and yellow (they insist it is clean) and the temperature control did not function. The shower was fixed in a few minutes, the aircon guys were in the room until 9:38pm until we asked them to just come back the next day. 3. Restaurant service was painfully slow even for Mexico. We waited one time almost 30 minutes to have our drinks brought to the table, and left after 1 hour as they still had not brought any of the appetizers we ordered (guacamole, hummus, ceviche...) Disappointing to have such an accumulation of issues for a 2 night stay, and certainly not worth the prices they are asking.

Overall my family and I had a wonderful and relaxing vacation at the Conrad over December break. Here are the highlights. -The facility is beautiful. Very stylish, modern and clean. -The staff is very friendly. - Everyone speaks English (and are very patient with my broken Spanish) - It is very easy to get a taxi into Tulum or wherever you want to go from the hotel - The gym is nice - just busy on holiday week - The food is delicious but expensive. A great breakfast buffet. - The beach and the pools are very nice. They are definitely geared towards older families (not a ton of young kids). - It is a great place to relax and unwind. Definitely more geared towards a relaxing vacation than an activity focused trip. - Unfortunately as with many resorts during busy times people go down to the beach and main pool early and save seats for later in the day. this is one of the things I did NOT enjoy about the Conrad Tips: - go to the beach early and “save towels” ( - Try and book tours and rides off site (via Expedia, Trip Advisor or Viator) you’ll have better options and pricing. There is a convenience to book via the hotel which is nice. - A trip into Tulum is a nice excursion- you can take a taxi for 20-40 min (depending on whether you go to the beach or the main drag) - If you can, bring snacks so you’re not reliant on the restaurants for every meal. - If it’s a busy time definitely make dinner reservations in advance.

Our second time to the hotel, hopeful kinks of the first stay in 2023 were ironed out. Service is very unprofessional and unpolished. Butlers don’t provide responses in the app. A rollaway bed delivered at 10 pm after the child’s bedtime, although requested days before our arrival. We purchased cabana #1 with a view and then told it was given to another family. We were told it was our fault for booking cabana #1 through the Hilton Honors app, which they don’t use (although it’s still an actively used app). Nothing was offered to make it right. No chairs available on the beach or any pools, so we’ll be sitting on our balcony all day. Not a pleasant experience.

The property is beautiful and equipped with a positive, energetic staff. Unfortunately, it is not representative of the global luxury branding of the Conrad Hotels & Resorts platform. The experience was not 5 star unlike the Conrad in Washington D.C. that I often stay at. The biggest issue was communication and training. I do not fault the staff for this. It's a managerial issue and can be corrected. It was completely unclear with we were only supposed to use the Ceiba club concierge and when we used the main concierge for booking something the 2 entities acted like separate resorts and did not communicate. So many plans and reservations lost in the abyss. Everything seemed to take twice as long to communicate or book. We would order a beer and get the incorrect one. Order a dessert and 3 would show up and none that we ordered. The red flag should have been that I sent 3 emails to the concierge in weeks in advance of arriving about getting a roll away bed in the room and noting my daughter's birthday. We received 3 separate responses that were generic and never answered my questions. Not surprisingly, the staff was mystified about the requests when we arrived, asked for more $$ for a bed and had no idea about the birthday. We booked an excursion and were told we would return at a certain time and get back an hour and a half later missing a dinner reservation. We would order a drink or dessert and get something else. Other common executional gaffes that are easily correctable included having a woman start sweeping and cleaning around us in the restaurant to hurry up with closing while we were still eating dinner, a gentleman randomly cleaning the little pool on our terrace at 10:30 in the morning when I have the red / no service button pushed and my drapes are open and I'm about to change. Also... going to my room with the red / no service button on to find a gentleman from house keeping about to enter. It's as if no one was listening and there was no communication between the main hotel, the ceiba desk, the excursion group and the restaurants. We had zero confidence in anything we asked for or about. God forbid we had a food allergy. I would hate to have to depend on that being addressed properly. And finally, what is the story with using WhatsApp to confirm anything? Nobody uses that as a universal form of communication. Texting is universal. It's like the entire resort just would beat to its own drum when it came to communication and lack there of. Checking the box instead of providing the best-in-class experience of a luxury flagship Conrad property. My recommendation would be to improve training and communication at the resort and provide an additional layer of upper management on site. In the meantime, reclassify as a 4 star property. Best of luck to you. So much potential for this resort with the proper attention.

The most beautiful and relaxing time! Came here for an anniversary trip and made conversation with Daniel on the concierge team while at the beach. He surprised us with a special private mezcal tasting that same evening! His kindness and hospitality made my girlfriend and I so happy. He even made us a piece of art on the beach. We will definitely be back ❤️