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Fairmont Mayakoba - Riviera Maya, Mexico: Set amongst 47 acres of lagoons, forest and the beach of Mayakoba, is the 400+ guest room (including 34 suites) of the Fairmont Mayakoba.

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A AAA 5-Diamond award winner, the Fairmont Mayakoba was set to be our home for our first few days while in the Riviera Maya in Mexico.

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First Impression/Lobby: The entrance to the Fairmont Mayakoba was relatively understated. I was expecting something grander. Inside the marbled floored lobby was a lot of open space, a few flower bouquets, views that looked out over the resort, and my favorite, to large cat statues looking over their shoulders at each other. Was I impressed? Mildly.

Reception: The front desk agent was young and seemed inexperienced, but his warmth and kindness did make us feel welcomed. The registration process was relatively quick. The one major downfall was his explanation of the $15/per person, per day resort fee. His explanation went from “it covers things at the property” to “it goes to the workers in the back office” to “it pays for the golf carts”.

I would think when a resort wants you to pay an additional $30 a day; they should be able to tell you what it actually is for. Who knows, maybe it was to help cover the cost of the welcome drinks we had as we were registering. To this day, I’m still not sure what it covered!

The Suite: Our Oceanfront Premium Suite was absolutely huge! With a large dining room, big living room, office, kitchenette (ok, a large room with counters, cupboards and a refrigerator) and over-sized bedroom and bathroom. It was more space than we imagined it would be. The not-private-what-so-ever deck had lounge chairs, a private plunge pool and was truly an oceanfront setting as described.

The décor and layout of the suite was rather boring. Yes, it had a very Mexican feel to it, but it was neither as luxurious nor as posh as I expected from the Fairmont Mayakoba.

A few negatives… the table in living room was just too large! It left a scant amount of room to get to a seat on the couch. The furnishings were dated and did nothing to make the premium suite feel “premium”. The walls were barren. A few art pieces would have done wonders to update the suite.

A positive and a negative – the location of our premium suite at Fairmont Mayakoba was smack in the middle of the beach. If you want privacy, this suite offers absolutely none. If you like people watching, it’s a prime spot. Keep this in mind when booking. We were expecting it to be a private or at least, semi-private location. We were disappointed, but in the end, enjoyed the distraction of sunbathers, swimmers and the like.

Room Service: If there was one area where the Fairmont Mayakoba had shortcomings it was with their room service. We really had no idea what to expect when we placed an order. Sometimes it was on times, but more often than not, our order was delivered late. Most resorts have a 20-30 minute delivery time as their standard. The Fairmont seemed to have a 45 minute as their standard and even then they had issues delivery on time.

Housekeeping: Pretty much perfect! Both the day and evening service was completed flawlessly! And for a suite this big, that’s say a lot!

Concierge: We had two butlers assigned to our suite (one day time, the other for the evening) that were supposed to handle our concierge related requests. We were only partially satisfied with them as getting accurate and timely information seemed to be a chore.

Restaurants: Fairmont Mayakoba offered a variety of restaurants. The first night we were there we wanted to do something special. We had brought a nice bottle of wine from our cellar in anticipation of our first night in the Riviera Maya. We inquired about the corkage fee and told it was $40. A bit pricey, we checked what the corkage fee at the restaurant at the Rosemont was. There, it was only $20 so we decided to dine there our first night.

The next morning, we had the breakfast buffet in the main restaurant at Fairmont Mayakoba. It was horrible. Everything about it was bad – fruit days away from being ripe, watered down juices, dry pastries, dull and tasteless eggs. Right then we made the decision to go into the city for our dinners for the remaining few nights while at the Fairmont Mayakoba.

Pool/Spa/Activities: Five swimming pools, a beautiful (but messy, due to their non-arrangement of chairs) beach, full service spa and amazing lagoons teaming with waterfowl and birds, and golf, golf, golf, makes Fairmont Mayakoba a perfect place to vacation whether you want to just relax or do a few activities to keep yourself a little busier.

Check-Out: The check-out process from Fairmont Mayakoba was quick and easy. The bill was correct and so it was just a matter of them swiping the card and a signature and we were on our way.

Overall Impression: Our stay at the Fairmont Mayakoba brought many different emotions; joy of a huge suite, disappointment in its décor and location. Loved the oceanfront setting, hated not having any privacy. Loved the lagoons, hated the long waits for buggies and the longer drive to get from one location to the next. Like the food from the pool restaurant, really disliked the breakfast spread. Housekeeping was stellar, room service failed. Overall, the Fairmont Mayakoba has more pros than cons, but just too many cons to give it a Bombastic score. Therefore, our rating for the Fairmont Mayakoba is Almost Bombastic.

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