Palmar Beach Resort and Spa Riviera Maya - All Inclusive

I booked this hotel back in May and it has seemingly changed management again. I cannot reach the hotel in regard to my upcoming reservation. Who manages this property and what is the contact information for the reservation line? Taffer was no help.

We just got here. We were so excited, checked in, walked outside and were hit by a smell like raw sewage. We’re not picky and assured ourselves it would go away. Maybe it’s the day they pump the sewage or something? We walked the property and the smell is everywhere. I asked about it and was told it’s the seaweed but I’ve been to many places including coastal towns in the last 2 weeks that smell nothing like this. Also, it would have been nice to know there is no beach access here, none at all. The manager said we are “only guaranteed access to the property, not the beach”. He would not offer a refund even though we just got here. We worked hard for this vacation. It’s disappointing to say the least.

This review will be mostly negative but I'll start with the positives. The restaurants, pools, food, drinks, and staff are all great. Especially the outdoor activities staff namely Jorge. Definitely do his water aerobics, he is full of energy and positivity. Marcellus in the La Casona restaurant does the best coffee fire dessert presentation I've seen anywhere and is a fantastic server on top of it. Sergio and Alejandro at the pool are awesome. The staff as a whole minus some front desk employees are fantastic. The excursions staff are great especially David. They booked us at a better rate than anything online for Xelha, which they recommended. Xelha is a beautiful place with so many fun water experiences, I will recommend it to anyone. Take the time to talk with these folks. Palmar is part of Tafer Group which purchased this former Azul resort from Karisma end of 2024. They're in a 15% capacity "soft opening" which they try their best to conceal through any ways of booking. They also use this as an excuse at the front desk for any issues. The morning front desk staff is ok. The afternoon and night Supervisor Roberto is rude and not helpful. He will tell anyone in ear shot what you paid for your stay and use that against you. Imagine going to the grocery store and the cashier chastises you for using a coupon in front of everyone. Just immature. The sargassum is out of control. It's piled up 5 feet high and stinks up a lot of the resort. They need to get a Bobcat and haul that out of there. There's no beach because of it, zero. Our Air conditioning did not work, the room was over 80 F, which is hard to sleep in. They never did fix it but eventually after 2 days switched us to a different room. The building elevator was broken for 2 days for a 4 story building. We used the stairs whatever but the poor room service and cleaning staff had to lug everything up there which sucks. We went to the timeshare or ownership 90 minute tour which is a really tough sale given the lousy experience a lot of guests we talked to had at the resort. Their other properties sound nice but this one is not. We won't be back here. There's many, many better resorts in Cancun that will treat you better, apologize for issues and fix them, and remove seaweed every morning.