Another good time at Secrets
May 21, 2022 matthew j Scunthorpe, United Kingdom
I'll start by saying that this review is in comparison to when we visited Secrets Akumal a few years back. So to start we were very pleased to receive the usual warm welcome with the nice cool towel, cold drink of our choice, simple check in and then the golf buggy transport to our room. All of this is a nice touch and makes the start of the…
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I'll start by saying that this review is in comparison to when we visited Secrets Akumal a few years back. So to start we were very pleased to receive the usual warm welcome with the nice cool towel, cold drink of our choice, simple check in and then the golf buggy transport to our room. All of this is a nice touch and makes the start of the holiday a bit more special. We had a tropical view room which is pretty much the most basic room you can get here (cheapest). I did send the hotel a cheeky email before we arrived trying to get a free upgrade, explaining that we had booked ocean view and preferred club experience prior to covid kicking off which we obviously had to cancel. As the prices had increased significantly I could no longer afford this same level and asked if they could bump us up a notch or two. The email I received back was polite but made it clear that any upgrades would mean paying extra and the upgrade option was made available to us at check in but again it was a money making attempt which we declined. Rooms are big, well furnished, good beds etc... but we both noticed that certain parts were looking a bit tired in places. Walls have a few scuffs and marks on them which look like squashed mosquito stains (we added a few more unfortunately). One warning, the room had a step down to a separate seating area. No idea why it is on two levels but that step nearly had me a few times on the first couple of days. Even though it had a auto light fitted to it, it is still easy to forget about it and I went over it on more than one occasion. Balcony was big enough for us but again looked a bit tired, needs a good jet washing and the soft furnishings need a clean. Hotel is very nice, lobby is quite grand, pools are nice but again the sunbeds are looking tired in places and I noticed that the sunbed cushions had the odd splatter of bird poo on them that didn't seem to be cleaned while we were there. Not a huge issue as you put towels over the cushions anyway but there did seem to be a towel shortage at certain times of the day (probably because some people seem to need 3 each!!). Another word of warning to the British, the hotel will be mainly full of Americans, who as we all know can be loud and very annoying to listen to. They also seem to demand certain things from the staff that they could easily achieve themselves which really grips me but you end up getting used to them. Restaurants are decent and coco Café is again my favorite part of the hotel. Food around the pool is also decent during the day. Beach is lovely when it is clear of sea weed but they do lose the battle with that which for us sort of puts the beach/sea area off limits.
Staff are all friendly, happy to help and all work very hard to please. I'm not going to single any individual out as they are all good. We sort of got the impression from the odd one or two that they were kind of expecting a tip for their service. Just a slight linger on occasion but certainly nothing pushy. Daytime activities are good. Lots to do if you want to such as the activities by the entertainments team (pool & beach volley ball, archery, ping pong, crazy game, arty stuff, dancing, Spanish lessons etc...) Other games available such as tennis, croquet, bat n ball stuff on the beach, bowls etc... Evening entertainment is ok and the fairly standard stuff for a 5 star. There was a couple of good singers on at the lobby bar and we enjoyed the mind reader who did the rounds on the guests who entertained us with a couple of card and mind reading tricks.
Overall we had a good 10 days. The hotel is older than the one in Akumal and is starting to show it. As with Akumal we loved seeing the wildlife such as the large iguana type lizards and the Mexican type of raccoons. Would we go back to Secrets Maroma Beach?? Probably not unless it had a revamp but if you can get a decent price when comparing it to the other Secrets in the area then it would be well worth a visit. It is still a million times better than anything you get around the Mediterranean all inclusive resorts. Happy to answer any questions anyone sends my way.
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