Mahekal Beach Resort - European Plan

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

4151 reviews

• 

  Mahekal really is Magical!

  We couldn’t say enough good things about of visit to Mahekal. The Resort grounds are stunning! The staff were amazing and attentive. Special shout out to Rubén who invited us to the beach dining night! This was a spectacular evening. All the food at Fuegos was amazing. My husband and I are already planning our return

  Jan 24, 2025
• 

  Lovely setting couple of issues which would put me off returning.

  Room nice (133) - ocean view paid for but was only sort of a view- you had to be standing on the edge of the patio wall to actually see the sea, though the sound of the waves was lovely (very loud at night which we loved but if you don’t then bring earplugs) - was not on the ocean front so this was a little disappointing. Hotel is in a good location and feels secure despite being on a public beach & the staff really friendly and helpful. Really sour taste left at end as having paid for everything as we went along (we had half board so just drinks with dinner and a lunch) we were then charged again for some of them at the end. Advise you keep itemised receipts for everything as just showing the charges on my card was not sufficient & so had to double pay. Another downside was the gym which is pretty poor - one broken cross trainer & the other then broke during our stay & the treadmill would only go max 3mph & then the incline even stopped working so essentially no aerobic options! It’s not a great area to go for a run outside - busy streets etc. Weights selection ok for a hotel gym (5lbs to 50lbs at intervals of 5 and 3 static machines) Other tip is you only get 2 pods for the coffee machine at the start (maybe more if you were all inclusive) and after that you have to pay $60 pesos (£2.70) per pod. They are lavazza and I could not find them in any local shops so if you don’t want to pay that bring your own/upgrade to the on site Starbucks for a better coffee (similar prices there to the UK) Generally it’s more expensive in the hotel for most things as you’d expect - $200 pesos average for a cocktail, $100 pesos for a beer, food dishes ranging from $120-1000 pesos. With half board you get to eat at the Buffet for breakfast and dinner- you can switch dinner for lunch if you prefer (again make sure you keep itemised receipts!)

  Jan 24, 2025
• 

  Ups and downs

  As the titel say this hotel has some ups and downs. I will try and be as objective as possible. The hotel itself is great. Perfect location, great vibe, and very relaxing bungalow feel to it. Own private beach and several pool areas. Rooms are quite small and not 5 star, but if you arent to fuzzed about that then thats no problem. I loved the roof witch wasnt insolated at all so could hear both wind and waves while sleeping. I had halfboard and i recomend that you dont take all inclusive. Breakfast is just ok. Definitely not 5 star. Lunch at Fuego is to recomend. Good value with a 3 course included in the halfboard. Evening is ok at Fuego, but quite similar to the lunch and prices higher then the quality admits. Las Ola retaurant in the evening is not to recomend. Basic buffet and quite bad. Better to go outside the resort and try new places in the evening. My main issues are these. Pool needs better cleaning. Food need improving, mainly in La olas. Staff is to much after tips. Even at breakfast they expect tips(even if i did all the work, exept bring a coffee). We had 4 weddings on campus during our stay. 3 just outside our room, so quite noisy until 11pm. I asked for a recomendation for an airport transfer and they recomended 1 firm that was twice as expensive as everyone else. The one i ended up booking( that was great) by the way was litterally half price. We bought a halfboard package. I informed the hotel that we would be arriving late so we wouldnt eat in the first eventing. I asked during the stay if we could have a lunch during our day of checking out since we paid for it and also informed them well in advance. They said no, and offered a take away burger once we checked out. So they wanted us to sit and eat in the lobby or airportshuttle. I found that very bad since we acctually did pay and inform them in advance. I also asked to check out 2 hours later then normal checkouttime. I understand if you have new guets coming that that wouldnt be posible. But now they werent but still asked for 60 us dollars extra for that. For 2 hours!!!! And finally we got 1 room key for the whole family. They werent able to give 1 extra since they didnt have any extra keys. Hope this review helps you. And i guess all hotels have some good and some bad.

  Jan 23, 2025
• 

  Unforgettable stay!?

  Lovely hotel we spent an unforgettable New Year’s Eve the food was amazing & top service, unbeatable location in front of the ocean,love the spa was a lovely experience thank you to Monse the manager, simply the best stay! Thank you to all the team Tere at front desk,Raul F&B manager,Chef Chulim,Sofía our server,Mr Bonilla the GM you all make us feel so special . Thank you !! Definitely come back!

  Jan 21, 2025
• 

  Not worth it

  I guess it's all about what you're looking for. If you want to be in the heart of downtown Playa del Carmen, then this is a great location. I was willing to pay the extremely high price per night because I wanted a beach front property with a direct view of the ocean. I thought there would be more beach. Instead, the waves pretty much wash up onto the porch/deck. Because of this, people are right outside of the deck, walking by and giving zero privacy whatsoever. Also, the middle of the resort is split by the public beach access area. So, loads of people just camping out, drumming, making noise all night long right outside. My recommendation if you decide to stay here is to book a second floor room with an ocean view. That way you get some privacy and maybe some peace and quiet. The smell was the absolute worst for me. It was difficult to go to sleep with that smell and it also woke me up in the night, it was so strong and so bad. It was a combination smell of sulfur and sewage. All that being said, the staff were fantastic, the service was great, they do have lots of security guards to try to keep safe from all wandering people. The resort itself is so cute and other-worldy. Too bad about the proximity to the public beach, the lack of a real beach area, and the obnoxious smell. The food was ok. It was fine. Some things we ate were delicious, others were a bit of a miss. The drinks were fantastic. In the end, I feel like the price for what you get just doesn't seem worth it.

  Jan 21, 2025