Azul Beach Resort Riviera Maya

Where do I even begin to describe my disappointment in this hotel?

My husband and I have been to AIs on many occasions before travelling to this resort, and we've both concluded that the countless positive reviews must be from families with small children, as this hotel mainly caters to that type of clientele. If you're single, a couple with no children or in a large group, I would avoid this hotel. The rooms are tiny, activities are very limited and everything shuts down by 11pm, which makes for a somewhat boring vacation. I was left wondering why I had paid so much for a resort that offers so little.

Rooms: the smallest rooms I have ever stayed in at an AI. "Deluxe Rooms," which are the basic rooms, have no bathtub (fine, I can live with this), one sink and almost no counter space, and no drawers. The room itself consisted of a small washroom, large bed, two night tables, an armchair and round table. Although my husband and I don't typically spend a lot of time in the rooms, when we did, it was tight. In addition, since the activities on the resort were severely limited (I will get to this), you find yourself staying in the room longer, and once again, space becomes an issue. Perhaps the more expensive rooms were much nicer, but considering the price you pay, we expected something better, at the very least counter space and drawers.

Activities: little to do. Beach activities were sparse, they had a gym, a single volleyball net, daily water aerobics and yoga (which only a couple of people would do every day), and certain classes (i.e. guacamole making) once a week, so if you missed that class, it was not offered again. They had a nightly show at 9pm in a tiny theatre (with no bar around it), but no disco, sports bar or anything like that. That said, there was a tequila lounge, but it was frequently empty, had no music, and there were times when there was nobody even working in it (we went behind the bar and poured our own drinks). It closed at 1am, or sometimes earlier. There was a "sports area," further away from the main areas of the resort (what's the point in this, nobody will ever see it unless they wander), and all it had was one ping pong table. The spa was very nice, but it was expensive...think $133 for a 25 minute massage. This resort really needs to amp up its activities, this was a major letdown for my husband and I who like to go to resorts and actually do things.

Bars: I know this is a boutique hotel, but there was one bar on the entire resort. Granted, it was centrally located, but when that closed at 11pm, the whole resort seemed to shut down, or even earlier than that. Again, there is a tequila lounge, but it was often empty. There was no bar on the beach, near the theatre, or anywhere else. And considering the price you pay for this resort, you would think there would be premium liquor, but there was not. The room did contain a minibar, but it was the worst stocked minibar I have ever seen. Just beer, pop and water. You could get random gross banana chips and chocolate if you asked, but they would only bring you 2/3 bags.

Food: the restaurants were the highlight of this trip for me. The food was very good and the service in the dinner restaurants was fantastic. I will definitely commend the servers and chefs in the Asian and Italian restaurants who were fantastic, constantly refilling our glasses and bringing out food options even beyond what was on the menu. I really appreciated that, as my husband and I love good food and trying new things. That said, aside from dinner, this resort did not have the "gourmet exclusive" feel and taste that they tout. As another reviewer just mentioned, the breakfast options were limited. Breakfast is the only time you can have a buffet (I'm alright with this), but aside from an egg station there was nothing at all that was gourmet or high end about this. Fruit consisted of melons and bananas and cheeses consisted of brie, blue cheese and parmesan. There was one snack bar, and it closed at 5pm. If you wanted food at night, you had to order room service (not as much fun as drinking with your new friends and grabbing a bite late at night). The room service had a limited menu after 11pm, but it was good. Lunch in the blue restaurant was great (I mainly had the salads and pizza and they were delicious), but Chil was terrible. For all of you Canadians out there, has anyone heard of M&M? That's exactly the type of food I was heated and served for lunch. Not gourmet. If you choose this hotel because you want a gourmet experience, my husband and I have been to resorts that cost far less, and had great food with premium liquor. If you've been to a decent restaurant in any city, you'll know this is not gourmet.

Service: the resort was clean and the service was good. My husband and I have been to Mexico several times and overall we've concluded that the service is consistently good and it was the same here. Not outstanding, just good...because of this: service in the breakfast and lunch restaurants was extremely slow and on several occasions I had to remind them of what I ordered. This even happened when the restaurants were dead. On several occasions we went to get towels (which you take from a big bin by the main bar) and there were none, and we found it ridiculous that in order to book a bali style bed you had to get in line every day at 2:30pm to do so. There were hours in the day were these beds went unused, so at one point I went to use one and was told that I had to leave because someone had booked it. That person didn't show up all day. When we were leaving for the airport, we waited about 10 mns for a bellhop to come and get our luggage which we had stored in a room at the side of the hotel. They never came and we had to leave, so finally I went into the room and just took my luggage myself. Imagine your luggage sitting in a room outside of the main entrance, where nobody is supervising it, the door isn't locked and anyone can take it? Biggest annoyance of all was that when you arrive you are met with champagne, and a staff member who allows you to choose the types of pillows and scents you'd like in your room. A nice touch, but we never received these services at all and neither did others we met. I don't care too much about this, but what was the point of my wasting 20 minutes doing this?

Water: ok beach, very narrow, a lot of seaweed and they didn't do a great job cleaning it at all. There was a hot tub, but it wasn't hot, so I didn't understand the point of them even having one. It was also used as a play area for a lot of kids.

Internet: we had to pay $70/week for the internet and this was a "deal" they were offering. What a massive rip off when my husband and I have been to other resorts and have not had to pay a cent for the internet, as there was free wi-fi throughout the resort. I read another review where the manager responded to someone's complaint that they "charge people for wi-fi because most people don't use the internet while on vacation." In 2015, this is total b.s. Everyone uses the internet, even if it's just to update their social media, check their email or to text, Facetime, etc. They should consider doing away with this ridiculous charge.

I think I've covered everything. I do have to say that if you are a couple with young children, this is most likely a good spot, as they do seem to cater to children (i.e. Fisher Price rooms, snack bar with Gerber food, popcorn, etc.) and it is VERY quiet, just not for anyone else, in my opinion. Overall, they seem to offer little given the cost of the resort.

The owners of this boutique hotel should consider catering just to families, and nobody else. [Details]

travelled with 2 young children and hotel was perfectly catering to us, lots of children for our daughter to play with and the beach was great [Details]

We came to this resort with high expectations due to previous gests reviews and high star rating. In short we have expected better service, food and accommodation then what we have at Bahia Principe Tulum resort where we were going last 4 years. What a mistake we made. Here are some of our observations:
Room: Average size room with flat screen TV and addition of DVD player for witch I do not see any use. Maybe hotel management was considering that as a replacement for non-existent organized entertainment. You can upgrade room to more luxurious but that adds to more disappointment because add to the price you played for this whole experience in shot is not worth it.
Pools: Very small, some private houses I have seen have similar size pools. Not big enough for the hotel. Hotel has several small pools but layout and access is not made to be friendly for hotel guests.
Bars: Since hotel was not busy all the bars were almost or totally empty which adds to the disappointment. Usually deserted island is not good synonym for fun summer.
Food: What a disappointment. Fresh fruits are treated as special treat and you need to go to the special “healthy snack bar” to get some and when you get there choice is limited to watermelon cut in to small pieces, yellow and green melon and apples.
Breakfast: You can order eggs to be prepared to your liking but if you do not want to eat eggs every morning choice is very poor.
Lunch: You have to order meal which is usually not prepared as you imagine. Choice is limited and if you have sweet tooth forget about this place. Ala-carte is not kid's friendly.
Dinner: Only restaurant which lives to 5 star rating is Latino restaurant. All others are below the standards you have seen in average North American restaurants.
Beach: Full of the sea grass and very small and shallow. Not at all what you expect to see after you read reviews from Trip Advisor Web site. Beach beds are nice but you have to tip well “the right guy” in order to get one. Hotel has only few of these so you need to compete for them. Not the good idea for nice relaxing summer experience.
Overall impression is that this place is below expectation for the price we paid. We will not go back to this resort. [Details]

Excellent hotel for those with children under 10. Kids club (Azulitos) is great and babysitting is available at $15/hr. Baby monitor, booster seats, pack n' play, Gerber food, etc for those with babies. Five restaurants with plenty of delicious choices that you'll never get sick of, all served to your table. Premium alcohol choices, nicest beach in the area (we walked an hour in both directions and realized this). SERVICE is the best we've seen throughout our years of 5* travels. Whatever you want, you can have. They aim to please. We will return to the Azul Beach. WARNING: caution with timeshare presentations. If you have the time to waste and don't mind the hastle, feel free, but the other hotels are not as nice as the Azul Beach, we've seen them. [Details]

From the crew to the facility one short statement ...THE BEST [Details]

This is a beautiful hotel with wonderful food, great staff and a beautiful white sand beach. Does not disappoint! [Details]

We enjoyed that the ride from the airport was short. We were greeted by friendly staff with champagne. Our room was ready when we arrived at 10:30, which was nice. We had a swim-up room with a jazzuci suite. It was very large, modern and beautiful. The swimup area was very small and didn't lead very far but there was a large pool at each end you could go too. The food and staff were just amazing. The beach staff worked extremely hard to make everyone comfortable. The beach area had a nice sandy bottom and was quite wide for some resorts. The only thing that bothered us, was that you had to reserve a beach bed for the following day. The line up usually started around 2pm-3pm and the first 18 or so in line would get a bed for the next day. If you stand in line for an hour per day, that's a lot of time waiting around. We had read that this was a "family" resort and there would be alot of small children, which there was but they were all pretty good. We much prefer Adult resorts but this was a last minute booking. I can't say anything bad about this resort, especially the staff! [Details]

Payed too much for too little. No activities except beach volley. Need to pay a fee for water activities. Not worth it... Go somewhere else. [Details]

We went to this hotel on a last minute deal based on price and location as it was close to Cancun because we had business in Cancun to deal with. The ride from airport was short. About 15 to 20 minutes. There were a lot of people that got off the bus at Azule and this overwhelmed them. It is a small resort of 149 rooms. It was a bit confusing and they did not communicate with us as to what was the procedure or how long this was going to take. They took all of our passports gave us a glass of champagne and we all just waited for further instructions, but they never said anything. I asked many times when we would get our room but they never gave me any time estimate. We finally gave up waiting in the lobby and found the bar for some cold drinks. I think it was about 2 hours after we arrived that we finally got our room. The room was in the old section Villa 2 ground floor. Very nice with a king bed, excellent air conditioning {too cold we had to turn it off}. Big shower, no bath tub. We never had any issues with having enough hot water. We sat on the little terrace outside the patio doors in the morning and watch the sun rise and ocean view.We walked through the new section and liked the older part better. The new section seem crowded with all concrete or wooden board walks or swim up rooms. No grass or trees. Some had no real views at all.Over all this was an excellent resort that I would not hesitate too go back to. The only real negative was the check in. It is not a party resort, but a real relaxing holiday with amazing food and service. They call it a "Gourmet Inclusive" resort because all the restaurants are a la carte. They really cater to families with small children. There are booster seats in all the restaurants and they have beach toys for the kids. Over all if you dont mind having small kids around this is an very good resort to just kick back and relax. The room service was very fast and I was impressed with the different choices on the menu. The staff did not expect tips and they seemed very appreciative when they got one. Witch surprised me that the amount of service they provided that how many guests never tipped. Anyways I could go on forever about this place. In a nut shell, nice place. I would go back. [Details]

This resort is great! I love that it is smaller-boutique like. It is very kid friendly and my 4 year old was treated like a princess. Beautiful beach, nice pools and the food was excellent. [Details]

My husband and I wanted a boutique hotel experience and boy did Azul Beach Hotel deliver. Everything from choosing what kind of pillow you want to the aromatherapy scent in the room we wanted. Great restaurants on site. Staff was extremley helpful and friendly. The beach itself was nice ( lots of lounge chairs and private cabanas) the water itself was 'ok.' Lots of great pools on the property as well. If you are looking for a family trip -- this is the spot -- totally kid friendly. Singles, lots of quiet spots away from kids. Not a lot of night action but if you are wanting R&R, this is the spot! And -- it is only about 20 min. from the airport. We arranged our own shuttle so we got there quickly. [Details]

This Boutique Hotel is a great place, awesome food, and wonderful staff.
Too bad it was paired with Thomas Cook - the worst air travel so far - 10 hours delay on way out, 4 hours delay on way back; not sure if they will pay us back the 1/2 day we missed and the long waiting in the airports because of their incompetence and lack of communication. [Details]

An excellent experience all around [Details]

BEAUTIFUL RESORT. [Details]

We had a fabulous family vacation at the Azul Beach Hotel in the Mayan Riviera. We chose this resort after reading about how baby friendly it was. It surpassed our expectations. We booked a swim up suite which was key with our napping 9 month old. We were upgraded to the end of the pool in Villa 9. This was a family suite with a family room area and eating area in the room. Very private location with a beautiful pool outside our room and a pool bar at the end of the pool. The only negative was that everything in the pool ran off to our part of the pool so by 5 o`clock the pool was very dirty.
In terms of catering to our little one they gave us everything we needed: crib with sheets, baby monitor, change table and little tub (we preferred to use the jacuzzi in the room which provided hours of entertainment for our daughter) and bottle warmer. We used the bottle warmer to sanitize things. At all restaurants there were high chairs for kids, toys for them to play with, gerber baby food. They pureed apples for us once since they didn`t have the gerber apples at that time.
They would have what we needed for the baby every morning when we arrived to the breakfast restaurant. Service was phenomenal. (Note: we did tip at every meal.)
Food was very good. Remember that things will not taste the same as what you are use to so try things you wouldn`t normally eat. For example would you really order spaghetti in Mexico? I found the soups to be delicious and we loved Chil Restaurant for lunch for the burritos. Menus include various steaks, lobster, ect. All very good.
Travel time from the airport was no more than 20 minutes. When we arrived we didn't have to line up at the desk. They greeted us with champagne and came to us as we lounged on the swinging beds and couches and did the paperwork there.
Overall this was the perfect family vacation. I think it will be hard to find a better family vacation after the high standards we have from being here. [Details]

small boutique hotel was perfect for small children. Once you get past the front desk the service was excellent. [Details]

The hotel itself is fantastic. The food is delightful although bring your patience. Our favourite restaurant was Roma, great service and delicious food. We were in one of the brand new rooms and it was beautiful and modern. The older rooms are a bit tired (we used one as a hospitality room on our way out) but still seem pretty spacious.
There were some issues and to be honest we were a bit fussier since we were staying at such a high-end place. We had to wait longer to get into our room (arrived at 11am and didn't get into the room until 4pm) and some of the meals weren't cooked properly (raw chicken and bad risotto).
On the whole though this place is wonderful, you never have to fight for a chair and the staff is wonderful. The resort was at about 70% capacity and we often felt like we had the place to ourselves. [Details]

The hotel was phenomenal. We should have paid twice the amount we did for this luxury hotel and the gourmet experience! [Details]

Great hotel and staff. Be wary of reception, in case of problems, talk to manager as staff is not too knowledgeable. Beach is not the greatest and in winter is very windy. Cabanas on beach are great. New suites in building 7 and 8 are the best. [Details]

I absolutely loved this vacation. The resort was georgeous, the view spectacular and the people top shelf!

If you are a vegan like me, or vegetarian or glutten free, they will treat you like royalty. They made me amazing meals and took the time to introduce me to the chefs on our first night and the next morning. This place is super family friendly with a great kids area but also fantastic for a romantic get away. Go snorkelling for sure on the boat that leaves the resort, such a fantastic experience. Also be sure to visit chichen itza and tulum two mayan ruins! Xel-ha is a great family friendly water park on an ocean inlet. Cliff diving, ziplining and snorkelling. All you can eat and drink at 4 restaurants. [Details]

Nicest all inclusive resort I have been to. I would go back again. The food was excellent and the sand was like walking on icing sugar. Thank you Azul Beach Hotel for a great vacation. [Details]

The staff at this hotel are wonderful. They go out of their way to make you as comfortable as possible. I have never had such great food and service at any other resort. The rooms in villa's 1-6 are in need of some work. They are clean and comfortable, however everyone in our group had issues with our rooms and all had to be moved. Because the hotel was full, we were moved to another resort. If you stay in a junior suit or swim up suite you will be ok, as it's the newer area of the resort. Another new section will be open in December 2011. The beach is small and rocky, but beautiful nonetheless. The beach butler service and cabanas totally make up for it. [Details]

Azul Beach Hotel is an awesome boutique resort with a focus on Family. Offers great service and amenities. Would not recommend to those who want a party atmosphere or who don't care for children. [Details]

happy experience [Details]

The best for families with young kids! [Details]

... they need to work on their front desk staff. They were the glaring exception to a fantastic holiday. [Details]

everything was excellent except the late availability of the room 3pm (not appreciated as we had to get up at 3 am for the flight) the internet (the instructions were incorrect ) and the phone system (the instructions were wrong and the charges were not appropriate [Details]

Best Service we have ever had at a resort. We had a jacuzzi suite and it was very large with an amazing bathroom. Food was good - really liked the fact it was a la carte - buffet only at breakfast. Asian and Chil restaurants very good. Beach service was excellent - kudos to the bar staff and servers. Like that it was a quiet hotel - just 97 rooms and not a party resort. Will return again. [Details]

The Azul resort was beautiful. However, I found it caters more to families. This was the first time I had encountered so many kids at this resort. Next time, I will definitely aim for Adults only. However, the food, drinks and the service from the staff there was amazing. No music at the pool like most resorts and the entertainment at night was just okay. All in all, this resort should only be recommended to families and seniors only. I found we had a late check in at 5:00 p.m. which is supposed to be 3:00 p.m. and we had to check out early at noon and we were not leaving the resort until 8:30 p.m. They could have made an exception to have a late checkout considering they gave us a late checkin coming in. They did provide a hospitality suite for a quick shower and change of clothes (30 minute limit). They were friendly and courteous when we were checking in and during our stay but they couldn't have cared less when you were checking out. We had the feeling like they just wanted to get rid of you so they can check new people in. I definitely will not returning back to this resort. However, I will recommend it to my friends that have small kids to definitely go to this resort. [Details]

The staff are friendly, the food is amazing, and everywhere is clean and well kept. We read a comment about bed bugs before we went, but the bites the individual received were more likely from tiny ants on the beach, and not bedbugs.
They are doing some refurbishment, but nothing that bothered us or our stay.
They have wonderful beach beds with 'curtains.' The only comment I have is that you are required to book these beds 24 hours ahead, so that means you don't have the option of using these until the second day of your holiday if the hotel is busy.
It is not a hotel for wild parties, but somewhere you can get true peace and relaxation. I took one point off for the beach. Azul staff keep their beach really clean, but there is a disgusting amount of dumped plastic from further up the beaches, and it gets into the water, and surrounding areas.
Finally, they don't push 'time-share' information on you if you give them a polite 'no.'
We would go there again if the price stays this reasonable. [Details]