Conrad Tulum Riviera Maya

Positives: Excellent campus and facilities - very clean, very relaxing, not overcrowded Good kids club Good breakfast selection Very nice beach, with plenty of chairs, great snorkeling Outside of breakfast, food throughout the restaurants at the resort was very mediocre, but priced exorbitantly because guests have no other option than to pay 4X normal pricing for a basic hamburger. Given the already high price tag, it is extremely disappointing to feel like you are being price gouged for below par food and drinks, because the hotel knows it would take a significant effort for you to leave campus and find something else. While we have no issue paying a ‘vacation tax’ on food, drinks, etc. the Conrad Tulum has taken that idea to the extreme with every bottle of water, bowl of chips and guacamole, etc. being marked up 4X+. Very slow and spotty service in the pool area. Despite the resort being far less than full, it was hard to get any food / drinks in the pool cabanas, and when you finally flagged someone down to order, it was 30 minutes before you received your food / drinks. Not up to Conrad standards or the price tag. The final bad taste came from the activities / tours that are being pushed by the partner agency at the hotel. After being pitched a unique and special experience, We signed up for a full day trip to the ruins, cenotes (caves) and turtle snorkeling, and from the very beginning realized we had signed up for a conveyor-belt-style day completely oriented around selling pictures. Each stop on the tour was some variation of walking to line up, waiting in massive lines, being shuffled through souvenir shops, and joining masses of people in overcrowded roped-off areas tracks. The hotel sold this experience as unique and intimate, and priced it accordingly, and it was anything but - it was the same cattle herding copy-paste tour every other family in Tulum sings up for. For the steep price of the tour, we expected much more, and when we asked to cut the day short because of the underwhelming experience to start the day, we were told we could not and would have to stay for the duration, including watching a 10 minute slideshow of pictures they pressured each family to buy. Even the lunch that was included with the tour had add-on prices if we wanted a Coke, which they tracked diligently. The Conrad brand was diminished by their association with these tours and the false bill of goods that are being sold to Conrad guests. Not up to Conrad standards, and disappointing overall.

We stayed at the Conrad for 9 nights with our 2 daughters 11 and 14. The Resort is beautiful, clean, and brand new. We rented a car from the hotel, which was recommended by another guest. Sofia, the concierge, helped us with this and gave us recommendations for restaurants off the resort. I highly recommend visiting the tulum beach area. They have many restaurants on the beach, and is a very nice area to walk around. Puerto Aventuras, which is 15 minutes north, has a marina that has many restaurants and shops to see. The resort is located on a bay which has a great sand beach and the water is very calm (great for kids). Jesus from the Chiringutio Crudo restaurant took care of us all week with food and drinks on the beach, and had our chairs with towels setup every morning. He has sunglasses with red frames, and would recommend getting to know. The hotel had a business conference with L'oreal makeup, and this is what ruined our stay. Three of the nights during our stay we were woken up between 3 to 5 am in the morning. The one night there was at least 10 people singing at the top of their lungs in the hallway, and both are daughters woke up crying. This went on for over ten minutes, and we had to call security twice. Around 9PM the hotel would setup a party with a fully stock bar for the company, and also started pouring carts full of shots. We spoke with the front desk, and asked to be moved to a room away from the frat party, but the company wasn't isolated to one area in the resort. The hotel has an upgraded ceiba club, but they refused to move us to one of these rooms unless we paid the full upgrade price. I can't remember the exact price, but it was around $300 to $600 night. I am shocked that Hilton would have one of their high end properties turned into a frat party. They are more concerned with generating additional profit, then meeting their individual guests expectations. I would verify that there aren't any business conferences going on before booking your stay.