Mahekal Beach Resort

14 family members and guests gathered to celebrate an 80th birthday. This would be the 3rd time my wife visited here. 2nd time for me. The good: Nice grounds, nice people, easy access to 5th avenue, okay food. The bad: countless billing and refund issues - never did receive all our money back despite calls, emails, filing with our credit card company. What money we did get back took forever! In a few cases, original reservations were increased - i.e. more days added - inexplicably the extra days got treated as a new reservation (we learned when we arrived) - with more fees added - and we had to go back to the front desk as if we were checking in anew to get a new key. Asked and paid for an ocean view room for our 80 year old mother whose birthday we were celebrating. She initially was put in a 2nd floor of a palapa which was not ocean view and right next to the public beach access. Finally after two more tries she ended up in what we originally booked. Checking in and out seemed to take forever - like the longest amount of time of anyplace we have ever travelled. It also would have been nice if the staff told us it would be loud on the weekends due to the neighboring nightclub - which would explain why we had earplugs in our bathroom up arrival. Some parts of the resort were also showing wear and tear and needed updating. We enjoyed being together but sadly we will never return given so many other options.

The resort is a stunning and relaxing place in quite a busy area of Playa del Carmen. The green and vibrant gardens surrounding the cottages make you feel like you’re in a paradise! We thoroughly enjoyed the amenities, beach, pool and restaurants! We took daily yoga classes with Ashley which were amazing! We had an individual beach cottage and it was fabulous! Beds are very comfortable! The rooms and the surrounding areas are well looked after, clean and safe. The staff were amazing, making us feel welcome with their friendly approach! We felt that the food was of a very good quality, super tasty and fresh! Special thank you to Roberto, Ismail, Antulio, Braian, Kimberley and Daniel, to name a few! The two negative experiences in this resort was lack of hot water for four days and the activities manager was challenging in accommodating guests and yoga instructor’s request re class times! Despite that the stay was still very enjoyable! The wild life on site are also super friendly, we thoroughly enjoyed their company! We definitely would return! Thank you to all for a wonderful time here!

I am writing this review because before I left for my stay at Mahekal I read a lot of negative reviews and was worried I had made a mistake booking out stay here. Let me tell you I did not. This resort was beautiful and very relaxing. Every one that worked at Mahekal was friendly and helpful. The rooms were comfortable and clean. I think this is the place you stay when you want to feel connected to nature yet still comfortable. When the sargassum came up on the beach it was cleaned away. Dinner every night we ate at the buffet was delicious. Breakfast was just okay. Lunch was good. Very short walk to 5th avenue with tons of shopping and food options. If you think this place looks like somewhere you would like to stay don’t let the poor reviews scare you away. We enjoyed our stay very much.

I stayed here for a couple days for an early birthday celebration. I’d always seen the cool Palapas during my visits to Playa and was super excited to finally stay here. I was so utterly displeased by what happened during my stay. First, there were very few people staying at the property. Yet, they put me in a room the farthest away from the beach. I awoke one morning to find a 2 inch cockroach that had crawled on my arm and I screamed and jumped out of the bed and notice that between the nightstand and bed in this second floor Palapa were numerous dead or alive bugs. I immediately brought it to the attention of the staff and they just said “oh sorry”. WTH. I requested to be moved to another room but it was still to the rear of the property. Service and accommodating customers left much to be desired after dealing with bugs and an undesirable part of the property. I gave two stars only because the servers in Las Olas were very kind and helpful. The location is great. Most other things were a disappointment, including the spa for the prices being charged.

This was our first trip to Mexico, and we agonised over a hotel and decided on Mahekal. I'm so glad we did. The hotel itself is nicely laid out, an oasis in the middle of busy Playa del Carmen, close enough to Avenida Cinco to be convenient but peaceful enough that you're not distracted trying to relax. The atmosphere is partly elevated by the design of the hotel, but enhanced by the staff, who are warm, polite and incredibly helpful whatever you need - and not just the hospitality staff. Security, cleaners, maintenance all greet you with kindness, which should be standard but in my experience isn't. This is true Mayan hospitality, which we encountered on a couple of excursions out of the hotel (booked in reception - both of which were outstanding) and was further embedded here. We spent a lot of time at the swim up bar pool near Fuego, which has enough shade when the UV is high to keep you safe but enough sun that when you do want to top up your tan, you can. Our presence by the pool was enhanced by Mario and his team, who kept the drinks flowing while we relaxed, was happy to chat when you wanted to but also intuitive enough to know when you want to spend some time with those you're there with. He'll remember your drink order and suggest new drinks to try that fit what you like - he was a pleasure to be around during our stay. We were there in low season which meant not all the restaurants were open, but the food we had was excellent and there are good restaurants on the doorstep. I found out beforehand that vaping is banned in Mexico, so resorted to smoking - it's testament to the care of the ownership and staff that the smoking areas are among the most scenic I've ever been in, normally you're dumped out by the bins but the spots here were really nice. If a chain hotel isn't your vibe, if you want something traditional and peaceful where staff go out of their way to make your stay as relaxing as possible, this is a great spot.