My husband and I were at HVWS for the first two weeks of opening following the First Choice rebranding (3rd – 17th May). There were a few issues but, not traveling with children, nothing that affected us directly. Unless you’re expecting perfection, you should have a great time.

Upon arrival at the hotel we were met by the First Choice rep (Simon) who gave us our room allocation and arranged the transfer of our luggage with the bell boys. We were given our key cards and all-inclusive bands at reception and walked straight through into the resort – there were Mayan dancers and welcome drinks; beer, champagne and orange. All very well organized and straightforward. Guests who had paid for the upgrade (and therefore should have had a private check-in area) were taken to one side by another rep who explained that this facility – and indeed the VIP rooms – were not yet available. They were given ‘superior’ rooms (which seemed to be the standard rooms with a connecting door to a separate suite area) and told they could move across if they chose to once the VIP rooms were ready – they were also, according to one couple we spoke to, given a partial refund to reflect this. To be honest, the check-in process was so smooth it would be hard to see the benefit of a separate facility anyway, but I appreciate that if people were expecting this, having paid for it, the absence may have been a disappointment. We had all been given a letter on the transfer saying that the high ropes activity course and the splash pool weren’t available, and a free excursion would be offered as compensation – understandably, some people with children opted to move hotels on arrival. Less understandable were the adult travelers who seemed determined to be outraged, swearing and making unreasonable demands of the staff (i.e. “Just [--] get it sorted! Now!” – what are they meant to do? Magic up the facilities? Anyway…).

Our room was a standard double, as we had booked, on the ground floor of one of the two storey buildings. It was fine – spacious enough with two double beds and spotlessly clean. Fairly basic, but everything you’d expect; tv, coffee facilities, safety box etc. The mattress was new, firm but comfortable. The curtains were blackout lined, and as we prefer to sleep with them open to wake with daylight we went back to reception and asked if a first floor room was available. The reception staff were polite and courteous (as they were for our whole stay) and said they’d let us know the following day once departing guests had left – they did, and we moved the next morning. The second room was exactly the same as the first, but with a high, vaulted ceiling to the thatched roof, so it felt a lot more spacious.

The grounds were obviously very well maintained, but as others have mentioned there were holes along the central pathway awaiting the arrival of palm trees (there were some trees, just not the full complement). The holes were marked off with yellow tape, so falling in one would have been very unlikely! It did give a slightly unfortunate ‘crime scene’ appearance to the place, but hey, hardly a deal breaker. There were iguanas strolling around the grounds, which seemed to be a problem for some – I’d call it a novelty personally – but they were shy creatures, scampering off if approached. Not one person was attacked by an iguana the whole time we were there..! Oh, when we were in the ground floor room we did see a tiny (one inch) scorpion stroll across the floor – we swept him out without incident… you could argue that the scorpion had more right to be there than we did, Mexico being his natural environment and all…

The pools – for the first couple of days both the main pools (i.e. activity and relaxation) were open without incident, and this was always the case with relaxation pool. The levels in both came short of the filters meaning algae had formed around the sides. This was cleaned off daily; a lot of effort when topping up the levels would have solved the issue! After a couple of days the notorious ‘blue paint’ issue arose at the activity pool, which I think has been a little exaggerated by some reviewers. Yes, it seemed a foolish decision to try and touch up the paint work while people were using the pool, but that’s all it was – a touch up. People were not coming out of the water looking like smurfs, rather some people suffered the odd smear. Annoying, but not a disaster. The area effected (by the swim up bar) was roped off – yellow tape again! – but people persisted in ignoring it and swimming up anyway. Perhaps some responsibility should therefore be their own? The majority of the pool was still in use, and didn’t affect the daily activity programme.

The food – we thought it was excellent. All the buffets (breakfast, lunch, dinner) were fresh, plentiful and varied. There were restaurants requiring reservations with guest services available for dinner, a Mexican and an Oriental. The Mexican was good, the Oriental was brilliant. There were four courses on the menu, and you could order as many items from each section as you wanted; the sushi was fab and the main course sweet and sour pork was the best we’ve had anywhere. You could eat continuously all day if you so chose – as soon as breakfast was done the snack bar (burgers, hotdogs etc) opened, which rolled through into lunch and so on. Dinner ended at 11pm, not sure if there were options after that as we didn’t need them so didn’t look!

The staff – all the hotel staff that we had dealings with were really friendly and polite. Service was good, although it did seem to dip a little at the start of the second week – it seemed that fewer waiting and bar staff were available to cater for increased guest levels – but it did equalize out. We tipped regularly in the restaurants, and left money for the maids every other day or so. The In2Action team and the First Choice reps did a sterling job all round under difficult circumstances (expected equipment was marooned at customs) and you could take part as much or as little as you wanted – water polo, volleyball, quizzes, poker, etc. You could take kayaks and hobiecats (provided by the hotel) onto the sea, along with snorkeling gear, windsurfing and so on. The beach was spotless and the sea warm and clean – a bit choppy for the second week, but that’s nature for you.

All in all, this hotel met and exceeded my expectations. It was comfortable, had good service, the food was delicious and (of course!) the drinks free… As we left some palm trees had been delivered to plug the holes, so that should all be sorted soon. Obviously, the on-going lack of the splash park (hydraulic equipment again stuck at customs) would be an issue for families, but might – don’t hate me! – actually benefit adult only parties, as it meant fewer children screeching about… If you go with a positive attitude, and don’t expect that always elusive perfection, you’re going to have a really good time here. Thanks to all who contributed to our holiday.