Gran Bahia Principe Tulum All-Inclusive, Akumal

2nd trip to this area and never want to leave at the end. Planning on living in the Mayan at some point in the near future. Great people, hospitality, food, surroundings etc. We are from Canada, and I don't wish to paint all Americans with the same paintbrush, but it seems that most of the negative reviews come from Americans. Here's a thought...treat people well and not as if they are beneath you, don't complain at every turn, go with the flow, communicate and ask questions of the indigenous people (they appreciate it), turn down your volume....and perhaps things and perceptions will slowly change. We had the best time and experienced the opposite of some reviews....we love Mexico and especially this region and they seemed to like Canadians.

We just got back from our 8th trip to the Bahia Principe Tulum. We love everything about the place. Our first trip was in 2000 when the hotel was in its first year of operation. The 1st trip was great but each year things get better. The quality of the food has gone up up up. The al a carte restaurants are a wonderful experience. The employees at the resort are very helpful, they can't do enough for you. Over the years we have come to know some of them and look forward to seeing them on our return trips. They have many things for you to do or you can just relax and enjoy the beauty of the resort.

Great food , great staff, great hotel great holiday well worth whatever you paid . romance at its best

We booked this hotel as part of a package deal on Travelocity. Everything was fine until we arrived at the hotel. When we checked in they had our reservation but claimed they never received payment from Travelocity. I gave them a copy of the printed confirmation from Travelocity and they said they would sort it out by checkout. Things went downhill from there. When we got to our room there was a huge dead cockroach in the closet. It has been previously noted on this website that they have a problem with cockroaches and it's true. The bed and pillows were extremely hard and uncomfortable. The rooms were gaudy and outdated. We decided to go down for a quick bite that evening before the buffet closed. The food on the buffet was very disappointing. Many of the hot dishes were cold and bland. The evening entertainment in the main square was pretty amateurish. A lot of the staff also didn't speak English which many people who don't speak any Spanish might find challenging. We checked with the front desk everyday during our stay to see if the confusion with our payment had been cleared up and everyday they told us "no" and to check back. This process of constantly checking was time consuming and worrisome throughout our stay. When we finally went to check out the front desk told us the discrepancy still hadn't been cleared up and we would have to pay them again - and pay the rack rate! Obviously, we were outraged, but they had our credit card. We even had the assistant manager on the front desk call Travelocity and speak to them directly. Travelocity confirmed that we had paid and faxed them another confirmation. The hotel would still not accept this as proof of payment and made us pay. Even without the confusion with our payment we would definitely not stay at this hotel again. We were in Tulum for a wedding and most of the wedding party stayed at Dreams Tulum. When we realized how disappointing our hotel was we spent most of our time during the day at Dreams Tulum. If you want a real 4 star hotel for not much of a difference in price we highly recommend it!

If you like smoking,alcohol,and breathing nicotine 24/7 instead of air, cockroaches in your hotel room and a nice view of molding pools. Youll have a great time here! Seeing as many of these reviews are old this place gets worse and worse by the day. The service is terrible! You ask for water at a buffet and you get it when your leaving and done eating!The pools had mold between the tiles! and the bathroom floor as well! This hotel was the worst one ive been to in my life. THINK TWICE BEFORE YOU DO SO. The shows were the most boring things i have seen in my life. You can have your children sitting next you and nasty tourist will start smoking right in back of you! its disgusting. The service plays tricks on you. I saw a family from the UK at the buffet one beautifulest morning and they sat to eat at a table. it wasn't occupied. nor reserved. however i saw the waitresses giggling amongst themselves next thing i know i see the poor family being moved about table to table like a joke forced to hold there belongings while the wait for the disgusting waitresses to finish fooling them. The bars dont offer a great variety of drinks. and they dont take "custom orders" what the hell you make it in front of my eyes you can't make it diffrent. Other thing is the Mexicans are tricky they currency for US dollars from pesos is 11. they tell you its 9.50 with this is bought nothing at the gift shops. Please consider it twice before you go to this filth. Dont say i didnt warn you. Five stars my ass!

Myself and my family have been here twice now, and it cant get any better, i cant wait for the next trip there this year, the staff are so friendly and cant do enough for you, we have never been ill at this hotel and there is plenty of food choices (im really fussy)... there are far to many good things to say about this hotel, visit and you wont want to go anywhere else...

beautiful hotel and grounds, great entertainment through the day and night...3 resorts in one..over 20 bars =)amazing pools and resteraunts...plenty to do for people of all ages..crystal clear beach..brilliant staff (go out of their way to make you holiday truly special)...fab rooms...just an amazing holiday...nothing to complain about!

We loved this resort. Even though it is more that the Iberostars that we have stayed at, I think we will have to pick it again. My boys loved the kids club-fun stuff like a lip sync contest, cake eating contest and they put on a swimsuit fashion show where the kids got to model. The buffets are so good, you never get tired of them. The pool and beach are great and close to each other. The transportation to restaurants and around the resort is wonderful. The only complaint is it is the last resort on the way to and from the airport-it takes about 2 hours with all of the stops.

We stayed in the Tulum last October and as soon as we arrived we fell in love with the people, the place and the beautiful location. We couldn't have asked to be made to fell more welcome by the staff. There is absolutely nothing we can fault with this hotel. The entertainers were great during the day round the pool and in the amphitheatre in the evening. They worked so hard and always put on a great performance. The grounds of the complex were absolutely immaculate, there was never so much as a leaf out of place. The gardeners were out continuously during the day to make sure the standard was always maintained. The variety of food was amazing, my boyfriend is a very fussy eater but with the huge choice available from the several A La Carte restaurants, the main buffet and the 24 hour snack bar he was never left hungry. I have never stayed in a hotel where i have been 100 percent happy with the accomodation but the room we had was fantastic. The bed was huge and so comfortable. The air conditioning was great and didn't keep you awake with the annoying whir you get from some. Everyday the cleaner would come in and leave a different towel design on our bed which was always nice to come back to. The beach was beautiful with its almost white sand and crystal blue sea. I wouldn't say the hotel catered for one type of holiday maker as there were plenty of things to do for everyone. As for value for money we felt it was fantastic and would definately recommend to anyone to have their holiday there. We loved the Tulum so much we are going back this June and we cant wait!!!

We just returned from this very nice resort. I would have rated the overall experience 5 stars if not for a couple of things that I I'll mention. Before I discuss the negatives, I will say that I would recommend this resort to my family and friends. The setting is incredible, the facility very much in keeping with the surroundings, and the value very good. There is a good chance that we will return here some time. There are 3 resorts here, Tulum (don't confuse this with the Mayan site), Akumal (great bar by the beach) and Coba. I felt that the walking distances between these 3 was easy but most guests took the regularly scheduled trams. They run every 15 minutes or so. I had read other postings that stated that folks from the USA were not well liked at this hotel. The only time I felt unwelcome was at check-in of all places. The check-in clerk motioned us to his position then starting speaking Spanish. Well, we were in Mexico so I had no problem with that. However, when it was clear that we did not speak Spanish, he remarked "If I came to America you would expect me to speak English". It was clear to me that he did not like the fact that we spoke no Spanish. He spoke excellent English by the way. I was in the Peace Corps. I get it. People should be proud of their culture and heritage. It just seems that the check-in clerk should concentrate on welcoming a guest rather than making a point. Check-in was the only negative interaction we had all week. Every other staff member with whom we came in contact was very friendly and helpful. We also made a point of asking how to say things in Spanish. Everyone delighted in helping us learn the language. We agreed that we enjoyed the opportunity to start to learn a new language. The other negative I must mention is the bed. The mattress was very hard. I have traveled a lot in my business career. Some years I spent 175 nights in a hotel, this over the course of 30 years. I have slept at hundreds of different hotels. This bed had the hardest mattress I have ever encountered in my travels. I read this in other posts and kind of just rolled my eyes. Well, by the end of the 6th night, I was waking with a backache. In summary, we had a wonderful vacation. Although there were a couple of things that need improvement, it just added to the adventure.