The Sian Ka'an at Grand Tulum - 77780 Akumal

I don't want this review to be all negative, there are lots of positive points to my stay also. My room is great, I had a swim up “club Sian Kaan” suite. The pools are lovely and really well laid out in relation to the beach so everything feels as though it belongs together. The food at the Sian Kann side is very tasty. Sadly now it's time to be honest… It takes way too long for food. There has to be a staffing issue, it should not take 2 hours to eat lunch. At that rate you're literally spending up to six hours a day waiting for your food. We had New year's dinner which was tasty, but it took 3 hours to complete the service. Thank goodness we were at the early seating. It seems to me that they have tried to appeal to the ”trendy” crowd with food choices and “gastropubs”, but they lack the staff to complete the dishes. Stick to what you're good at, or pay someone to take over where you're clearly failing. As for the restaurants on the other side of the resort which we have access to, sadly it's the same. The difference here is that the food is not tasty and you're waiting 2 hours to get a sub par meal. The buffet is your only option for a meal in a respectable time frame. The food there is good, but is nothing to write home about. It's simply sustains you. That's it for the food. Amenities are in abundance, there are areas for outdoor recreation as well as an indoor fitness center. I am a rather active person so these are important to me. We shall start with the lovely tennis courts; lovely yes, the fences are in disrepair and there are large holes where it is easy to lose a ball and then literally have to crawl through a jungle to get the ball back. As for the gym, it is the size of a broom closet consisting of rusty equipment that is falling apart and is literally unsafe for use, as well as a selection of hand weights that someone has clearly taken weights home. The selection starts at 10lbs and quickly moves to 30lbs. The exercise bicycle selection is just as bad. The handle bars wobble uncontrollably and adjustments are next to impossible. On the plus side, the pools are lovely and well maintained. There it a wonderful tablet in our room filled with wonderful activities such as daily yoga. These activities do not exist, many of the restaurants are not open as they are supposed to be. It honestly feels as though I'm being sold a bill of goods that does not exist. As for the “Adults Only” portion I'd like to say that I am bothered by this. If you want to stick to 3 restaurants, 1 of which was never open, and spend the 2 hours waiting to eat its fine. If you want to go to the buffet and eat in a timely manner, you will hear and see children. The other restaurants offered are also available to the children. Finally, an adults only resort should have a bar open 24hrs a day with a coffee machine. Working adults tend to wake up early in the morning regardless of being on vacation. I like to wake up, grab an espresso and a cognac while watching the sunrise. Then be able to bring my spouse a coffee in bed. Instead you must wait until 7 for the communal coffee bar (open to children on the other side of the resort) to open. If you want a drink, the bar opens at 10ish maybe. All other resorts I've been to have this as a basic option. The staff that was there seem to generally not care about you and have poor attitudes. There is no follow through and unless you are holding cash in your hand to tip with, you are met with a sad look. There were a few exceptions to this staffing issues, but they could not be counted on one hand. Perhaps at one point in time this was a five star resort, it clearly comes in at a 3 star now with 5 star travel cost. I will not recommend this resort to anyone, in fact I plead with any interested party not to attend. Your money is simply spent better elsewhere.

Food was terrible mold in the shower. Jacuzzi old and disgusting. No safety signs until after i fell on a wet floor and bruised my ribs. They wouldent even replace the the sun glasses i bought there that got broken in the fall. The manager said nothing to me he didn't even care. Paid for adult only and there were kids everywhere. They shared the dinning area. Not a good trip at all.

This our 4th trip to Mexico around Cancun and adjacent areas. I would come back anytime to Mexico with no hesitation. We like to try something new every time. Sian Ka’an the Grand Tulum is a relatively new property (Adults only) that was added to the Oasis (Family oriented). They do have some work to do...but there is a lot going for this place. It is a very very quiet place. So if that is what you need, then this is your spot. If you crave action and activity, then don’t. The great things: - Food, best I’ve had in all of my 12 trips to the Caribbean with 5 star rating hotels. I say Bravo. - Beach cleaned every morning - Ocean view rooms are really outstanding ocean view - Staff is lovely - Beach and pool beds are plenty and really nice - Multiple pools for every taste - The drinks at the bar are very well done - The evening shows are much better than anything I have scene - Fruits are the best I tasted in my life. Really awesome Need improvement : - No coffee or tea after breakfast at the hotel. You have to go all the way to the adjacent property to get it... really!!! - Not enough staff to provide services around the pool and beach. - No washrooms to serve the pool and beach... you have to go all the way in the lobby... seriously! - No showers in the pool and beach area - The room safe is on the floor. Who designed this! - The is no mirror long enough to see yourself in the room All in all, deserving of a solid 4 stars

My husband and I recently visited this hotel to celebrate our wedding anniversary. I am a person that usually tries to find something nice to say and the only thing I can find here is that the location on the beach was nice. There were so many issues that I just frankly don't even know where to start. The management of the hotel clearly does not take pride in its staffing because there was a lack of staff. When we did interact with staff for the most part they appeared unhappy and many bordered on rude. They were either incapable or didn't care enough to resolve issues that were brought to their attention. For example, the bed in our room was like sleeping on bricks. After the first night my back and neck hurt so bad, I could barely walk. We mentioned it to the front desk personnel and she wrote a note but never communicated it to anyone. I mentioned it again during our travel and was told something would be done but of course it wasn't. There were very few staff that were proficient in English which made communication challenging and the blank stares that they gave when you attempted to talk to them were even more frustrating. The food was horrible... there are not 11 restaurants, the food options were extremely limited and much of the food was simply inedible. In order to actually eat any acceptable meal, we had to leave the resort. This of course ruins the benefit of staying at an all inclusive resort. One evening my husband ordered a hamburger at the buffet and I am certain that it was not beef, he actually had to spit it out, it taste so bad. One of the other reviewers mentioned that the buffet was always open, that was not the case when we visited. There was no food available after the buffet closed around 10 pm and frankly, we wouldn't have wanted it anyway because the food was not rotated properly and was gross and I'm sure contaminated from having set out for so long. We ordered room service one afternoon and finally gave up after it hadn't arrived in over an hour. When we returned the food was on the floor outside of our room and remained there well into the next day. The cleanliness of our room and the hotel in general was hit and miss. We were there for a short stay of only 4 days and 3 nights, I can only imagine what it would have been like for a longer visit. There was little to no entertainment or other activities on the resort, it consisted of an evening sub par show of some sort, a piano player in the lobby bar and either a DJ or small local band on one of the patio areas. By about 10 pm, there was absolutely nothing to do but drink the house-to-medium, not top shelf liquor that was included in the package. If you wanted tequila or bourbon better than what you can by in the states for $15 a bottle, you had to pay extra for it. The drinks were very clearly watered down and anything with lime left a weird aftertaste in your mouth. And adults only...hah, what a joke. There is no true barrier to separate the family side of this small resort. Children were present on the adult side and we never saw staff removing them. Oh and there's a resident dog and several cats...not animals that looked at all like they had been vaccinated recently. I could go on and on but honestly, I just get upset all over again to think about what a waste of money this hotel was. My husband and I travel frequently and have stayed at much better resorts with excellent service, facilities and friendly staff for less or around the same price. This place is honestly the pits. Grand Oasis Management, either step up to the plate and make this place the "resort" you advertise it to be or close your doors and let those entities that believe in creating a great guest vacation experience do so.

My boyfriend and I just returned from a week stay at this resort. While the resort itself, pools, beachfront and sunrises are very nice, we will not be returning. We have stayed at several all inclusive resorts over the years (in Jamaica, Dominican Republic and México) and this experience was by far the worst. The unfavorable reviews are right on point. First, the resort is a ghost town and while I understand it is the “calm resort,” it was very strange to arrive and no staff present to open a door for you to help with your luggage let alone welcome you with a drink or assistance checking in. We had to find a representative at a small desk at the far end of the lobby to check in. We were then told we would not be getting the junior suite with balcony, pool and Bali bed we paid for. Our “butler” who we only saw day 1 showed us around to three rooms to choose from after we insisted and we were then happy with the oceanfront, lower level room “at no charge.” The room itself was nice - besides the jacuzzi and shower full of other people’s hair in which my boyfriend cleaned himself. The champagne bar and cigar bar were both closed our entire stay though we were told the champagne bar would reopen. We were told these areas were under maintenance - the coffee bar was being painted half way through our stay. We would have appreciated a heads up before our stay that half the resort would be under maintenance during our stay due to new management. Electricity went out one day. The alcohol offerings were terrible - none of the staff knew how to make a proper drink. The champagne was a heavy Brut. There were better champagnes on ice at the bar but were “display only.” We ended up buying our own wine and champagne bottles out of pocket a number of times. We walked the beach to another restaurant for proper drinks and food, again out of pocket. We ended up leaving the resort for three nights mid-week and stayed at a nice hotel in the hotel zone of Tulum - again, paying out additional money as we did not want this resort experience to ruin our overall trip. The staff overall was nice but understaffed - food was okay, service was slow, atmosphere was blah. We did enjoy the rental car and drove to some of the local cenotes for a day. Overall, we had an amazing trip but that is attributed to most of it spent getting off this resort and paying out of pocket for better accommodations, food and beverages. This resort disappoints.

DO NOT BOOK HERE! This resort is far from luxury. We were staying in the adults only Sian Ka'an area on our honeymoon and when we arrived, they tried to bait and switch us on the room type we booked by putting us in a room with 2 double beds pushed together and no jacuzzi tub. We insisted they give us the room we booked. They only had 1 of their restaurants open and we had to go to the family resort for any other food which was disgusting. Room service food was inedible! Their included bar is a joke. They give you options of frozen drinks or cheap wine. Anything else is a paid upgrade. Speaking of upgrades, we were supposed to get a $400 resort credit and come to find out, they allocate a certain amount towards the spa, upgraded drinks, lobster dinner, etc. That wasn't disclosed in advance AT ALL so that was extremely disappointing. But the worst part was when we lost water at the resort for 9 hours. The next day we came back from the ruins to find that not only had the water gone out again but the power as well. They had been doing construction to open one of the restaurants that was supposed to be open and killed the water and power! No back up generators, no lights, no AC. There was a humongous cockroach in our room. Rain shower didn't work at all. Total nightmare experience. We left and went back into Cancun after arguing with the GM to transfer us to one of their resorts there. Barely got an apology let alone any compensation for completely ruining our honeymoon. I'll leave you with this final comment... THEY REUSE PLASTIC CUPS. They dip them in solution and pour a new drink. It's absolutely disgusting and as far from a luxury property as you can possibly get. They should be ashamed at the way they deceive people.

This was the worst experience I’ve had in a hotel EVER! When we got there we were upgraded to the adult side which we were excited about until we saw the room. Then I wondered what did the other room look like. The bathroom was the worst. The toilet was disgusting, it always had these black floaty things at the bottom no matter how many times you flushed, these things would appear and just settle to the bottom. The shower was moldy and totally unkept. I felt so uncomfortable that I showered with flip flops. My husband and I were so uncomfortable in our room, we didn’t sleep properly for the whole stay. The resort has been neglected. We walked by the same garbage and the same dirty cotton swab in the hallway everyday for 10 days! Don’t trust the pictures! It looks like it’s quite nice but it isn’t. The pools are not clean, there’s always stuff floating around. There were also areas of the resort that smelt like sewage which we tried to avoid. The restaurants we tried were no good, we walked out of one restaurant mid meal. It was quite funny actually, we were at the Mexican restaurant and when we got our meal and tasted it it was so bad I guess my face kind of said it all, so much so that it sparked conversation with the guests around us and we all commiserated on how terrible this place was. Turns out the buffet was better then any of the restaurants. I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone. This trip was two years ago and we still talk about how terrible this hotel was.

I stayed here about two years ago for a friends' get together, and it was one of the worst places I've ever stayed. Truly, DO NOT BELIEVE the good reviews and photos. A small amount of cash was stolen from my room. The room was very worn, the air conditioning didn't work (and windows didn't open), and there was a large puddle on my floor most of the stay, smelled like sewer. The entire property was worn and very dirty, trash laid around all day without being picked up, the paint in the pools was flaking off and floating in the water along with other dirt. The restaurants were on a schedule such that only one or two were open on any particular day, so you didn't actually have a variety to choose from, some seemed permanently closed. You couldn't make a reservation and had to wait (up to an hour+) to get a table, despite there only ever being literally a few other diners. The service for drinks was **INCREDIBLY** slow, both at the bars and restaurants, there was no international brand name alcohol available, and drinks were weak. The wine was very bad. They also reuse their disposable cups, I saw a worker pulling some out of a trash can to reuse. I expressed all of these problems to management, they had no response or remedy. The one and only thing that was not bad about the experience was that some of the seafood was actually really tasty and good quality. That said, I would not stay here again even if they paid me to, it was a very disgusting and unpleasant experience.