Blue Diamond Luxury Boutique Hotel

The hotel location is set within lush grounds of the Riviera Maya. There is a beautiful 1km walk from reception to the beach with rooms spaciously spread out along the walk. If you don’t like walking there are push bikes available throughout the grounds and also golf buggies for the less abled. That said if you walk you are more likely to see the nature, monkeys, coatis, deer, lizards, raccoons, toucans, capybara and the elusive resident wild crocodile! The hotel has a very relaxed feel and is calm and quiet. We literally felt on some days that we were the only guests, which suited us fine. Many of the rooms appeared to be unoccupied but we were told that August is generally quiet. As such the Amber restaurant was closed our whole stay but that wasn’t a problem for us. The main restaurant by the beach has a lovely outlook and the food is amazing. There is no buffet at any time so all table service from the menu which changed daily. The staff are all outstanding and incredibly friendly and helpful, special mention to Luis Pat, Fabian, Roman, Edwin, Roberto, Selina and the rest of the staff whose names escape me. The room…wow! It’s like you have a large apartment. The aircon is superb and well needed, twin showers and an outside plunge pool. The room was cleaned everyday without fail and fresh bedding and towels daily also. The cocktails are all freshly made and are all very nice. We sampled a few. The negatives, these are minor to us but want to be transparent. The beach is constantly covered in sargassum. This isn’t just this hotel but every hotel. The workers labour long hours trying to clean it and as soon as it’s gone, it’s back. The Spa needs a bit more attention. The relaxing ‘jacuzzi’ pool doesn’t blow air. So it’s just a pool with a water bed. The rainfall shower experience wasn’t the experience we hoped for, it simply trickled out. The hamman steam was great. The sauna though has no inside handle so it’s only mildly warm as the door can’t be shut. We weren’t here for the spa experience so weren’t particularly worried about it. The gym is nice with a good outlook but again the equipment could be updated and some repairs needed. Parts of the hotel are looking tired. Is it the flashiest hotel in Mexico? No. But it is one of the few hotels I have stayed at and would return to. Many of the guests have said they have been multiple times and keep on returning. If you want a relaxed atmosphere with no party people, great food and surrounded by nature, this is a lucky find. Can’t wait to return.

We booked Blue Diamond Luxury Boutique Hotel expecting a quiet, upscale, adults-only boutique resort surrounded by nature. Unfortunately, after only one night we decided to leave the property and move to another hotel. Blue Diamond agreed to refund our remaining six nights, which we appreciated. I want to make one thing very clear: **the staff were excellent.** Everyone we dealt with was cordial, attentive, helpful and professional. Our disappointment is with the condition of the property, the available amenities and the enormous difference between the resort that is marketed online and the resort we actually encountered. The lobby is attractive and gives a very good first impression. Unfortunately, things went downhill once we reached our Palafitos Junior Suite. Our room had a stained and partially damaged mirror, chipped bathroom tiles and sinks, hair left in one of the sinks, a bathroom door that would not fully close, a shower head leaking from the side, stained bathroom sealant, worn and damaged furniture, and a generally neglected appearance. The exterior railings were rusted and damaged, and this was not limited to our room—we noticed damaged railings elsewhere around the property. The metal staircase leading to the private upper terrace was heavily rusted. The terrace itself was poorly maintained, with stained cushions and an overall neglected appearance. This is not simply a case of an older hotel having some character. There is substantial deferred maintenance throughout the property. The same pattern continued in the common areas. The main restaurant had ceilings that visibly needed repainting, a musty smell near the restroom area and damaged railings. The main bar showed significant rust and remnants of what appeared to be an old exterior awning that had been removed without properly restoring the area. The spa may have once been spectacular, and the outdoor spa pool was actually one of the nicest areas of the entire resort. Unfortunately, much of the hydrotherapy area was not functioning. The jets in the indoor pool did not work, the steam room was not operational and had visibly broken stone inside, the experience shower did not function correctly, and the dry sauna door would not close completely. The "ice machine"... better not say what we found inside that cabinet. Dining was also much more limited than we expected from an all-inclusive luxury resort. There are technically two dinner restaurants, but they alternate, so effectively there is only one restaurant available each evening. One serves Mexican food and the other rotates cuisines. The included menu was extremely limited. On Italian night, for example, there were approximately two appetizer choices, one soup and two included entrée choices, while additional items carried extra charges. The presentation of the food was attractive and some dishes were genuinely good. The bruschetta and cream of spinach soup were very good, and breakfast the following morning was also good, with nice options, presentation and quality. However, the steak described to us as a New York steak was thin, tough and fatty and bore little resemblance to what we would expect from that cut. Another disappointment was that morning yoga, which was advertised as an included activity, was not being offered during our stay. There is also major construction immediately adjacent to the property. We were told that the construction noise would be minimal and would end around 6 PM. On our first evening it continued until approximately 8 PM. After the work stopped, powerful construction lights remained on and were highly visible from the resort. At a property whose appeal is heavily based on jungle, tranquility, wilderness and atmosphere, both the noise and nighttime lighting substantially affected the experience. The beach area was also unattractive during our visit. The main pool looked nice, and as mentioned, the outdoor spa pool was probably the most appealing part of the property. Even small details reinforced the sense that operational standards have slipped. Despite the staff themselves being excellent, we noticed several uniforms already stained at the beginning of breakfast and dinner service. Our conclusion is that Blue Diamond has **excellent bones, a beautiful original design and very good employees**, but the resort appears to have suffered years of deferred maintenance and reduced amenities. It is currently being marketed and priced as a luxury boutique property, while the physical condition and actual experience simply do not support that description. We were tired after traveling and therefore stayed the first night rather than immediately relocating. By the next morning, after seeing the room, restaurants, spa and other areas of the property, we decided we could not spend our vacation there. To Blue Diamond's credit, management agreed to refund the remaining six nights even though our reservation was technically nonrefundable. I sincerely hope ownership makes the investment necessary to restore this property because the setting, concept and staff deserve much better. But based on its current condition, I cannot recommend it to travelers expecting the luxury experience shown in the hotel's marketing photographs and descriptions.

It was incredible. Everything and more I was expecting. I wanted a zen stay and every member of the hotel was truly amazing. We appreciate how helpful, warm everyone was and how peaceful my stay was. Thank you everything was beautiful!

Beautiful and cultural. We really enjoyed our time here. The people is so nice and friendly, we love the patios tour and de cacao ceremony with dayana

Peaceful atmosphere and genuinely friendly staff that made us feel welcome. like any property, thereis always room for improvement, and updating some of the facilities would make the experience even better. Overall, we had a wonderful time. Even though there is construction next door, we never heard any disturbing noise, so it didn't affect our stay at all. We enjoyed delicious meals every single day, and the calm environment allowed us to have a truly restful and relaxing vacation.