Occidental at Xcaret Destination

We had never experienced so many problems during a single stay. It was one issue after another after another. My family has been part of the Vacation Club for more than 20 years, so we have been staying at Occidental and Barceló hotels for a very long time.

The problems started as soon as we arrived with the restaurant reservations. Because of their policy, during a three-night stay you can only expect to get one restaurant reservation, something we had never experienced at other hotels within the same chain, especially as Vacation Club members.

Then, in our first room, the toilet became clogged to the point that it overflowed. Maintenance fixed the clog but left the floor wet with small puddles. Since the water had come from an overflowing toilet, I had to call again specifically requesting that the area be cleaned and disinfected, and we waited approximately another hour.

That same night, the air conditioning stopped cooling. Maintenance came after 10:00 p.m. It started working temporarily but failed again during the middle of the night. There were also lights in the room that did not work.

The following morning, after I complained, they decided to move us to another room. The new room was not available until around 2:00 p.m., and after we finally got into it, we waited more than an hour for our luggage. We had medications inside our luggage that we needed to have available. To make matters worse, the telephone in the new room did not work. It was pouring rain, and I had to personally walk through the rain to the First Club to get assistance.

I asked to speak with a manager several times: first because of the problems with the original room and the room change; again while we were waiting for the new room; and once more when our luggage had not arrived. I was never able to speak directly with one. I was told that the manager was either busy or not there. Only one representative offered an apology that I perceived as sincere, along with the maintenance staff each time they came to our room. If I, as a customer and hotel guest, insist on speaking with a manager, that is not a suggestion, recommendation, or casual request. Providing me with the opportunity to have that conversation is a basic customer-service responsibility.

The problems continued in the second room: the telephone did not work, the room keys stopped working, the toilet flushing mechanism broke, and on our last night, we had another problem with the air conditioning. This time, we were told that the issue affected the entire building.

I was also served a chicken breast that was not properly cooked. I returned it and watched the chef laugh while discussing what had happened with the person who had prepared the dish. No one apologized.

Service at the buffets and bars was inconsistent; several drinks we ordered simply never arrived. The rooms are also in urgent need of renovation.

Even the birthday cake that had been arranged for my wife ended up being delivered to our previous room after we had already been moved.

I do want to recognize the staff at the Italian restaurant, who provided us with the best service of our stay. They were attentive to everything and went out of their way to help locate the missing birthday cake. Congratulations to them for their excellent service.

I understand that things can go wrong at any hotel. What I do not consider normal is having to deal with one problem after another while on vacation. We did not travel there to spend a significant portion of our time calling maintenance, waiting, changing rooms, searching for our belongings, and trying to get assistance.

This was the worst and most frustrating experience we have ever had as First Club guests — and, ironically, even the word “First” is misspelled on one of their signs.

This was an amazing experience and everyone put so much effort in it was incredible the way they bonded with everyone at the event

We stayed in Royal level for our honeymoon and had a wonderful time. The food was average, royal restaurant was delicious. Italian and oriental restaurants were good and the other 3 were average. If you are a foodie and want 5 star or are beach people, this is not the resort for you. If you want a budget friendly, jungle resort with large pools and wildlife, then you need to go here. Deer, iguanas, coatis, sereque and monkeys everywhere as well as a pen for flamingos by the one pool. The beach cove was nice, great that you didn't have the sargassum (seaweed) to deal with and fish were swimming around you...only downfall is that it's small. There's sand , but this is not your typical beach that you can walk down and explore. We went in low season, and the cove got busy. The resort was not at capacity. You had plenty of space at the pools...they were never crowded...they're quite large. The main pool is separated into 3 sections...activity pool, swim up bar pool and a large adults only pool that had jetted pools in the one section of it. There is a bar with swings in the adults only section, however it was closed the whole time we were there. There's a snack bar above the swim up pool (Roman Diaz is an awesome server and will have you in stitches! This man deserves a raise!). There's a buffet at the beach cove. Main buffet in lobby area as well as the other restuarants and the pizzeria and taco restaurants. All staff are super friendly and helpful. Royal level gives you access to 2 additional pools, an extra restaurant (delicious) and an exclusive bar and lounge area with jacuzzis at the beach cove. Having access to Xcaret park next door was awesome! Definitely worth the extra cost for the all inclusive as well as the photo package. This place definitely had areas to improve on and the rooms are nothing fancy and food was average...we never left hungry. Even though it wasn't close to being a 5 star, it certainly didn't ruin our honeymoon...we had an amazing time, wildlife and atmosphere was wonderful and we would definitely go back.