Valentin Imperial Riviera Maya - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

19103 reviews

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  Great Resort, has some issues

  We stayed at the Valentin Imperial Riviera for 14 days, and this was our second time staying at this resort. The last stay was in 2023 and we stayed for 10 days. The resort is clean and well maintained with lush garden/Jungle pathways with lots of wild life to enjoy. The resort has excellent staff who are very friendly and they strive to make you happy in everyway possible. The resort seems to really pride itself on cuisine from its several themed restaurants, which are problematic in several ways to be discussed below. Overall the beach is sandy and clean, but again the actually water way is NOT ACCESSABLE due to high winds and white cap waves. Pros: Lots of food choices at themed eateries Excellent staff service (Ricardo "down at the beach service area" is excellent and stands out for exceptional service) round the clock room service Clean rooms and very quick attentive cleaning staff in room mini bar and drinks kept stocked Beautiful scenery and grounds kept clean and inviting Interactive schedule for pool and exercise entertainment Perfect weather, no rain or very little a small onsite gift shop Nightly entertainment and live music Cons: While the staff is excellent, there just is not enough of them, often you find yourself looking for help and no one to do so. Also staff calls your room 3 times daily, once to see if you want towels, once for no obvious reason and once asking for turn down service, even if you have the do not disturb sign on. we had one person enter our room unannounced during (intimate times) to deliver some complimentary desserts , so use the chain on the door for the love of pete. The themed restaurants are nice but have NO RESERVATION system for the average guest, leaving you waiting often for 2 or more hours to eat. While tables sit empty reserved for guest who paid additional fees to have priority seating reservations (upwards of 2k) for this feature, whether they show up or not. So you more often than not stuck either eating at 5pm when they open or 930 before they close. The restaurants and some bars have strict dress codes, so if you are at the beach or pool and need to go eat, you WILL have to change your clothes. I understand this for some of the more up scale eating options but for ANY eatery ON THE BEACH it's just silliness, and a hassle. which brings me to the next problem. As you will be changing your clothes a minimum of 3 times a day to meet eatery rules, and beach wear you will be walking upwards of 2 to 4 miles daily. Now this depends on the room you are in of course. So plan accordingly, if you are gonna be a "pool buzzard" get a room next to the pool, if you are going for dinning, get a room in buildings 1 or 2. If you get a suite on the beach you are hosed, everything is a 10 to 15min walk for a healthy person, and you are gonna be doing it 6 times daily just to change your clothes so you can eat. Now you can get a ride on a golf cart if you can't make it, but often there is no one around. One time my wife had too much to drink and I asked for a cart, 20min later the guy made a u turn 50ft from me and never picked us up. Pool bars and food at the pool close at 5pm, and I mean CLOSED, those guys are packed up and checked out by 5:15 max, so don't plan on swimming even though the suns still out, you CANNOT GET a drink after 5pm at the pool. With only one beach bar open after 5 and the rest of the activity located at the opposite end of the resort you will be hoofing it back to the main plaza for the evening. The gift shop or small convince store is RIDICULOUSLY priced even for mexico, if you need simple things like Ibuprofen or Imodium prepare to be overcharged to the point of piracy. 20 dollars for a box of 6 pills, thats a 900% mark up from American down town Chicago prices. BIGGEST CON, NO SNORKELING OR SWIMMING IN THE RESORT for 14 days if you tried to swim or move into deeper than ankle deep water, they blew whistles and told you to get out due to high winds. When I asked if this was the normal weather and surf for the area I was told "yes and it is rare that conditions allow for water activities" At our last stay we got lucky and had 3 days where we got in the water. If you love looking for shells, fishing and snorkeling GO SOMEWHERE ELSE.. The room motion censors are not functioning correctly and will turn on and off the bathroom lights at will. I informed staff and they knew about the issue, but it will wake you up if you are not tanked enough to ignore it. The fix The resort uses their app for everything, but fails to utilize it where it counts. Allow guest to make drink request at the beach through the app. There are over 90 cabana's and only 2 servers covering nearly 1/2 mile of sandy beach, unless you want a melted soggy mess, let ppl order directly to bar through the app the cabanas are numbered, and just have servers bring the drinks out. This saves time and whole trip. Inform guests of construction, this ruined my trip, it was loud and destroyed an otherwise peaceful beach atmosphere, I paid to get away to join another construction crew, drilling well into the surf. Use the app to allow guests to make reservations to restaurants, I paid a lot of money to go out to eat, and for walking up to the hostess to be told it's gonna be 2 hours is unacceptable, only to sit and watch empty tables go unattended. Allow guest to choose their rooms, on our visit a large chunk of the resorts was under construction, which ruined the beach with a well drilling rig, pounding the ground all day and stopping foot traffic from out room to the pool and beach forcing us to walk several 100ft on every trip (which there are many) around the compound. Unplug the motion censor over the whirl pool tub, this fixes the motion censor issue. In closing, Imperial Valentin is an excellent resort, but is large and becoming unmanageable for longer stays, I've stayed at several 5 star resorts and it's definitely a cut above the rest, it's staff that is present are EXCELLENT. I wouln't stay longer than 5 to 7 days and be prepared to not go in the ocean.

  Feb 19, 2025
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  Beautiful, welcoming, great food!

  The Valentin was welcoming and beautiful. Situated on a large property on the ocean and packed with native wildlife, it was a perfect escape from urban winter. We spent time in both the pool and on the beach, which were all clean and spacious. We opted for the Prive upgrade, and our Bali bed on the beach was reserved for us daily. Though there is an option for a party every day, there are also options for a low key visit. We stayed in a Junior Golden Suite, and though we had a pool view, we could hear the ocean from our window. The food at the resort was top notch, our favorite was the beach restaurant Mar y Tierra. We also received excellent wine recommendations from the resort sommelier, Mattias, and a wonderful welcoming conversation with Dora, the resort PR representative. I wish we could’ve stayed for a month, but we will certainly be back!

  Feb 19, 2025
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  Valentine's at the Valentin

  Our ninth time back at Valentin Imperial - been celebrating Valentines Day there for the last several years. Happy to be back with some 1st timers in our group of six. Overall, our stay was great. Did notice a little slippage in the room condition in Building 5. The mattress and pillows were no bueno and really needed replacing. Sheets were hard and the room temperature fluctuated during the night. While the room was clean, the furniture and decor was old and needed replacing. Lamp shades were brittle and stained and loose on the lamps, couch and chairs looking a little old. We don't spend a lot of time in the room anyway so it was OK. Seating in the restaurants is still way to slow. We tried to get to the restaurants by 6:15 each night hoping it would speed things up. Usually at least a 45 min wait. Italian and Japanese were the longest waits - at least 1 hour before being seated and 2 hours before eating. Also - one of our party wore shorts to the Italian restaurant and was asked to leave and change to pants. We were not allowed to order until he returned. Aside from this incident - Valentin staff is still the best of any hotel in Mexico and will give you 110% to please you - we have made many friends with the staff over the years. The resort itself is also so beautiful and the old hacienda vibe is one of our favorite things about the hotel. My wife and I got a couples massage on Valentine's Day and it was the best massage I have ever had - in Mexico or anywhere. While I continue to love the Valentin Imperial and consider it my Mexican home, I am concerned that the decline in the condition of the Building 5 rooms will force me to look for another place. Hopefully the hotel will address this as they do with the rest of the hotel and We can return for many more years to come. Thanks VIM for a very relaxing stay - see you next year!

  Feb 18, 2025
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  Home away from Home

  Absolute paradise, it is our second home. We visited every year and the staff are truly family (you know who you are! Sonia, Dora, Lorenzo, Angel and Jorge). After 13 years I honestly can’t say that we have ever had poor service, everyone is always striving to go above and beyond! The food is amazing from the buffets to the a la cartes, our favorites are the French and the Indonesian and it’s always fun to try new things on the menu. They also have an amazing coffee shop with so many different hot and cold drinks as well. If you want excursions go to the guys at Barrakuda by the pool, from the fishing charters to the swimming with sea turtles you won’t be disappointed. Best part it’s exclusive to the Valentin so no wasted time picking up people from other resorts! I could go on and on but unless you have been there, there’s no way to describe this resort. We can’t wait to return to our second home❤️

  Feb 16, 2025
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  #1 Resort in Cancun! Valentin has the best service and fantastic food!

  I've taken several trips to the Valentin and will come back again. The staff are the most welcoming we've ever experienced, their service is top notch! The Go Team keeps things fun and entertaining at the main pool and games/activities all day long. My husband and I enjoy going to the gym in the morning, and it has a good amount of machines/free weights. The food is amazing, one of the number one reasons we keep coming back. 24/7 complimentary room service, yes please! We love Mar y Tierra for breakfast, the pool side food carts for lunch, and getting to pick from several different dinner options. There's enough variety that you don't get bored and feel like you have to eat the same thing again. The cafe is great for a pick me up any time of the day (seriously, it's open till 1 am!). I've also never been to a resort that does twice a day turndown service, but Valentin does! The only thing I can complain about from our most recent trip is the churro cart wasn't out our last night, boo! :)

  Feb 15, 2025