Occidental Grand Xcaret and why you should beware!

I just got back from a trip to Mexico and wanted to post my tripadvisor review of this hotel just in case anyone has been researching all inclusive resorts in Mexcio.

Let me start by saying that maybe I have been spoiled by the Spa Palace but this hotel was terrible! I booked it literally two days before leaving as a last minute trip and that was a huge mistake. Upon arrival we were told that they could not find our reservation. They did find it and had us sit in the managers office for about 10 minutes. Then the manager came in and said that our Xcaret wrist bands would have to be given to us by somebody in another office and they were busy so to come back in 30 mins. He then told us to go to the buffet and come back. We went to the buffet restaurant near the lobby. There was barely anything left on the buffet and nothing was being replaced. It was like that all week. If they ran out of something you were out of luck. However the lunch food on the buffet was inedible anyway. My husband can and will eat anything and be happy but even he agreed it was horrible. After finally getting our room key we went to our room in building 19. Now according to the travel website that I booked with, there is supposed to be free wi-fi in the rooms when you book a deluxe concierge room. There is not. The room we were given looked out onto a sort of access road and had an air conditioning dial that had a piece of paper taped to it that said "does not work". There was 1 soda and 1 bottle of water in the fridge. I went to the front desk to complain about the alleged "deluxe concierge room" and no wi-fi and the front desk clerk did say that she would move us the next day. So we did not unpack and were moved to building 20 the next day with a room overlooking the pool. I was happy about that. However there was no soap, towels, or drinks in the room. My husband went into the building lobby where the "concierge" people sit and told him that we had no soap. He was told to use shampoo. We then ran into another guest in the hallway who told us that the maid told him to get whatever he needed from the supply closet which is always unlocked since apparently they will not bring it to you. So that is what we did. For the remainder of the week, we went into the closet and got drinks, soap, and towels since no one seemed to care to stock the rooms. Btw the beds are hard as a rock. My back was killing me all week.

Pools

The pools were decent although there are no servers by the pools to bring you drinks. If you want one you walk to the bar and wait in line. I saw a server once by the adults only pool and that was only because someone went to get her.

The resort

There were cups laying everywhere all the time. Trash cans had been pushed over. The walls of the buildings were moldy, the signs were falling off the wall, and those darn birds in the lobby were so loud you couldn't think. Also there is very little view of the ocean unless you walk out to the beach club area and there is only a lagoon, no ocean access. The lagoon had a frayed electrical wire coming out of the water where people swim.The pool bar there had long lines and no servers. The lobby bar also had no servers and one bartender. My husband waited in line behind 10 people to get drinks.

The food

The breakfast buffet was decent if you could get there before the food was gone. The grill where you get eggs took forever. They would only do one or two orders at a time and you could wait 10 mins or more for your eggs. I got burnt "over easy" eggs two days in a row and was told on the third day to go somewhere else for eggs cause she didn't know how to make them. The lunch buffet was as stated earlier inedible. The waiters at the buffet wont bring you drinks but maybe once. You pretty much have to get up and go to the bar or serve yourself from the pepsi machine. For dinner you had to make reservations if you want to eat at the sit down restaurants. You can't make these over the phone you have to walk up to guest services and wait in line only to speak to the most rude woman ever. She told me that I could only eat at 4 restaurants but since I had the xcaret package I was supposed to get unlimited so I had to walk back up there a second time to correct her. When you make the reservations, if you are a minute early they will not seat you but if you are 10 mins late they will deny you. We would show up at least 10 mins early each night and there were no more than 4 other couples in the whole restaurant but they wont seat you. When you finally do get a table the waiters are rude, and if you finish your drink you are done. They are not gonna bring you another one. And the food is only a little bit better than the buffet. On the third night at the Italian restaurant I asked for a drink 3 times over 30 mins and never got one. Finally I told the head waiter that I had been begging for a drink and he finally brought me 1. I ordered a pasta off the menu and was told that they didn't have anything off the left side of the menu. I was brought a basket of bread and when I picked up a roll it had a bite taken out of it. I lost my mind and left and went straight to the managers office. I spoke to Jose Manuel. He was very nice. I told him all my complaints. He denied the bread incident and said that there were supposed to be servers by the pools. He also took notes and said he would correct the room issues. He offered to make us reservations at the Royal club restaurant which was unavailable to us before and also sent us champagne to the room. After that meeting we had towels in our room daily and our fridge was restocked. The next night at the Oriental restaurant the staff was very nice. The manager had called ahead and the waiter had my name on a piece of paper in his pocket. They brought us several drinks and a special appetizer and lobster entree. That was the best meal we had at the resort. That is the kind of service we should have had all week! We also ate the Royal Club restaurant which was o.k.

In conclusion, the staff at this hotel was very rude and didn't want to serve us. They acted like it was a problem if you asked them anything. The food was the worst I have had at any hotel/restaurant anywhere. The best meals we had all week were at the beach at Xcaret from the snack shop. The resort was dingy and dirty. I was impressed with the manager, he did what he could but that resort is horrible. I will never ever stay at an Occidental resort again!

Sorry you didn't care for your hotel, but hope you ventured out and enjoyed Cancun!