The resort is located on a great stretch of beach with sand but also some coral heads for beach snorkeling and saw a turtle most days we snorkeled. The staff keep the water volleyball and silly games going to entertain and keep everyone active. The diving group is also mostly European so better English speaking and our teen boys took the resort dive course and loved it. The downside: you can't use the bars/grills/restaurants of the other 3 Barcelo resorts, only Caribe and it is identical to Beach, even sharing a kitchen. The buffet food gets really old and I got my first Montezumas revenge here. I have never had that awful experience in 15 prior Mexico adventures. We could not get into the ala carte restaurants and were lied to about the Internet. I booked a plan that gave two $10/day vouchers per week per room to offset the Internet expense and they would not honor the plan unless I had printed the fine print. Horrible customer service would not happen in the states when the concierge knew the plan I referred to but said I had to have it printed out. Our group of 10 won't stay here again and plan to go back to a condo rental but the overall experience was positive.

This was our 3rd trip to the Barcelo Maya Beach and we had a great time again! There are pros and cons about staying here but the cons are usually minor and do not affect your overall trip as long as you don't sweat the small stuff.

The Pros - The hotel rooms and linens are clean, the beds are comfortable with pillow top mattresses, the flat screen TVs allow you to plug in your iPad to watch movies at night, rainfall shower head with hot water all the time, and excellent maid service. The beach is beautiful and much better than the higher end parts of the resort as there are less rocks and more mature trees for shade when you need it. We always found a chair and the staff do a fine job of keeping the beach clean. There is always activities going on and photographers walking around letting you take pictures with some exotic animal for your photo album. The food is very good with plenty of options to choose from. We went to two a la cartes (Spanish & Mexican) and enjoyed both of them. We also paid an extra $15 per person to go to the Japanese restaurant on our last night which we always love to eat at. The disco was fun but we arrived too early to find Lionel Richie playing on the big screen but a quick chat with the DJ fixed that and the party got started right away!

The Cons - We had lots of problems with our room this time (Room 2217 in Coba Building). (1) The fridge did not work at all - the fridge is not normally very cold but the complimentary drinks were room temperature. We called maintenance who came by the next day to fix it and left water all over the floor and the drinks on the counter. We did not know if they fixed it or if they were coming back. We called the front desk who sent a maid to wipe up the floor and put the drinks back in the fridge (which we could have done) but we weren't sure if we should load the fridge back up if they were coming back. We called maintenance to find out if it was fixed or not and the lady said she would call us back - but she never did. It turns out the fridge was fixed since the drinks started to cool off but it was very hard trying to determine that. (2) The roof above the toilet was leaking so we had to wipe the toilet seat before we could use it. (3) The sink faucet cap was broken and it looked like it had already been fixed several times already. (4) There was mold around the shower which should be cleaned off with Javex - they don't have fans in the bathrooms which doesn't help with the mold problems. (5) Our main door lock from the hallway did not lock so our room was left open throughout the day. When we finally noticed the problem we called the front desk. After four hours of no one coming to fix it we called the Manager who finally sent someone to make sure we weren't doing something wrong (I'm sure they get lots of dumb complaints). Once they confirmed there was really a problem they had maintenance change the whole lock system right away and everything worked fine after that.

The Maya Beach rooms are getting old and need some repairs. Our friends stayed at the Tropical and they had rock hard beds with old TVs and a rocky beach - and they paid more to stay there! All the rooms at the Barcelo should have good mattresses and flat screen TVs. There should also be free internet service throughout the property so people can check on things back home or check in for their flights. They have a better internet pricing strategy this year so you get discounts for the more days you use (we paid about $30 for four days vs $12 per day before).

Mexico isn't the cheap place it used to be years ago as the prices are very "American" now. However, the rooms and amenities should be upgraded to reflect the prices they charge. Voices echo throughout the hallways so people really need to be more considerate to others that may be taking a nap, especially parents who let their kids scream.

Overall, we really enjoy staying at the Barcelo Maya Beach because of the comfortable beds, good food and drinks (great mojitos), awesome beach and staff! We would go back again and will continue to recommend it to others. However, we might try an adult only hotel next time to get away from the screaming kids in the morning while we are trying to sleep in.

Where did the nay sayers stay?? We have been here 4 times and always better. The resort is spotless and the people can't be nicer or more helpful to you. The food is excellent and the beach and snorkelling is the best we have found on this strip of Mexico. No one ever seemed unhappy or not liking their job. Here are a few of the many great people who made our stay the best...Lorena and Martha..reception, Alarmo Marales and Lorenso..buffet, Crecencia Aquillar for our spotless room, Migiralina Hernandez for cleaning up after the "guests" at the beach and to the ever happy Elena who has a smile and laugh bigger than her and Francesca the best bartender at the Maya lobby Jose Koyoc Beach bar. My big complaint is the Joyeria jewellery shop. Last year I bought a locket and after a month the Black inlay peeled of. When I took it back they apologized and said the supervisor would fix it. After 6 days of run around and "managers" with no name tag and no name supervisor ever appeared. They are NOT part of the Barcelo but just a heads up if you plan to buy jewellery I was told they do not guarantee their product no matter what the salesman said. Won't shop there again. This is really the best overall resort you will find.

This hotel was one of the worst hotels I ever stayed at the services was terrible. One night we had a problem with one of our lights and I called front desk at 7:30pm and I ask them if they can plz fix them they told me they were going to send someone in 10 mins they never show I called again they tell me other 10 mins I go down to the lobby and they told me they would send someone right away I told them there was not goanna be anyone in the room because we have a dinner to go to they told me ok its ok they will still go in even if you are not there. I get back to my room at 11pm and the light is still not working I called again and they told me someone will be there in 10 mins 15 mins pass and there is no comes I called again they tell me other 10 mins other 10 mins pass and no ones shows. I call one more last time and they told me we are sorry someone will be there soon I told them that I needed to take a shower I was on the phone with them for about 10 arguing with them. Someone finally shows up by the time they show up it was already midnight and I was not able to take a shower. Other thing was that one day i was getting out of the shower and one of the towels was drity. The ocean was nice but it had a lot of rocks, I called one week be four my trip and ask if they had free wifi and they told me yes when I got there they told me there was no free wifi. In order to use the wifi you had to pay $35 per day or $3 for 15 mins only. The only good thing about this hotel was the food. The hotel was very beautiful not going to lie. I would not go back to this hotel ever.