Caribbean All Inclusives : Caribbean Hotels : Caribbean Resorts : Caribbean Rentals
Occidental Grand Flamenco Xcaret Traveler Review :: "Dissapointed"

---

F U L L     H O T E L     R E V I E W :     

---

Add your own Review Receive Review Updates Via Email View all Occidental Grand Flamenco Xcaret Reviews

Receive updates of new hotel reviews: Email:

Summary of All Property Reviews Ratings based on answers from a total of 14 reviews (All Reviews) 10 is best 1 is worst
Feature	Ranking	Feature	Ranking
Cleanliness of Property	8.86	Quality of Property	7.79
Privacy & Quietness	8.14	Quality of Service	7.21
Courtesy & Hospitality of Staff	7.71	Accuracy of Website (marketing hype) VS. Actual Experience	7.00
Food and Dining Experience	6.29	Price/Value of Property	6.71
Safety Factor (Did you feel safe at property)	8.71	Quality of Beach (ranked closest beach if property is located off the beach)	5.64
Total Property Score: 7.41 | Average Star Rating: 3.79 out of 5

• 57% (8 visitors of 14) said they would go back to Occidental Grand Flamenco Xcaret again.
• 64% (9 visitors of 14) said they would recommend Occidental Grand Flamenco Xcaret to friends.

LAST MINUTE OFFERS from CheapCaribbean.com: View All Island Deals
$839.00 Book by: Oct 13, 2008	$739.00 Book by: Oct 13, 2008	$759.00 Book by: Oct 13, 2008	$879.00 Book by: Oct 16, 2008	$1629.00 Book by: Oct 15, 2008	$719.00 Book by: Oct 16, 2008

Add your comments about this review View Comments (0)

My wife and I are fairly discriminating travelers - we normally stay at or near top of the line hotels. In Cancun, we like the Moon Palace and especially Paradisus. We decided to give Flamenco Xcaret a shot, based on some reviews and recos. keep this in mind when you read the review - it's quite possible this hotel is a decent choice for many people, but we were dissapointed overall.

Our flights into Cancun were delayed a few hours, so we got in a bit later than expected. Long line for check-in. The room we got had windows open directly into another room (and I mean, 10 feet away - no privacy - a big deal for my wife). Why a property THIS large has to have buiuldings one on top of another I'll never know. We also got 2 double beds instead of king we asked for (we requested and were moved into a better room the next day). When we arrived, no one could explain to us where we could eat (and we left at 6am for the airport, no meals on planes, so we were pretty hungry around 4pm in Cancun!). We later found out there was one place open, way down at the end of the property, but no one directed us there. Instead, we ran around for about an hour between places that were closed, but no one would tell us they were closed when we asked about it. Very frustrating.

The food at the restaurants was somewhat comparable to Paradisus, but the buffet was MUCH worse. Also, no room service! The restaurant policy was to only allow guests with a 7 day stay to eat 4 times, and that's for a property with 5 restaurants - basically not letting you eat at one. they had a coupon system (like Paradisus) and enforced it strictly (unlike Paradisus).

The biggest difference we found was the staff attitude and the 'little' things. At Paradisus, the staff tried to anticipate your wishes and help you BEFORE you asked for it. At Flamenco Excaret, not only did they not volunteer help and you had to really get it out of them, but they also didn't think to provide much info beyond what you asked. They weren't horrible or hostile -just indifferent and uncaring.

For example - no one would tell you you have to insert your room key into a slot inside your room before AC or electricty would work (EVERYONE we talked to had this same problem, it boggles my mind the check-in desk doesn't tell you). If you ask for directions to a restaurant, sometimes you wouldn't get good directions, and the staff people would NOT tell you the restaurant is closed right NOW, even if it's obvious you're headed there.

The property is very large, and it's difficult to find things at times - much better signage is needed. We didn't mind the small/man-made beach - if anything, we liked it! However, get ready to not have enough space and definitely not in the shade when you get to teh beach or to the swimming pools by later than 9am. We typically go out until late - say 3-4am, then sleep until 11-12, so this was a real problem for us. That's purely unacceptable - a rosort of this magnitude simply must have enough 'shade space' to accomodate all the guests who want it.

There are no public phones on site or nearby! To make any phone call, even locally, the hotel charges ~$3.00 USD/minute!!! Also, no free taxis/shuttles are provided, even to Playa Del Carmen 5 minutes away (Paradisus had free shuttles to basically anywhere you wanted to go in the area of Cancun).

The park adjacent to the property is great - definitely worth spending a day in there, although the river adventure everyone raves about is over-rated.

This place is GREAT for kids - we didn't bring our little one, but we've seen all kinds of kids of all ages in organized activities having all kinds of fun. In this respect, Flamenco Xcaret stands alone - I didn't see anything like this at any other hotel in Cancun.

Again, we enjoyed our stay, but we doubt we'd come back to this hotel - unlike Paradisus, where we had low expectations and were blown away, Flamenco Excaret dissapointed in many respects. If you are a traveler looking for a high quality experience, Flamenco Xcaret isn't it.

I highly recommend the Moon Palace or Paradisus, you can catch it for a good price on an Apple or Vacation Express special- very comparable to Flamenco.

Property Review
10 is best 1 is worst

Would you stay at this property again?: ... No
Would you recommend this property to your friends?: ... No
In your opinion, how would you classify the "style" of this property: ... Family Oriented
Possible Anwswers: Family Oriented, Couples Oriented, Mixed/Diverse in a Good Way, Mixed/Diverse in a Bad Way

• Cleanliness of Property: ... 8
• Quality of Property: ... 6
• Privacy and Quietness: ... 4
• Quality of Service: ... 2
• Courtesy and Hospitality of Staff: ... 2
• Accuracy of Website VS. Actual Experience: ... 5
  
• Food and Dining Experience: ... 5
• Price/Value of Property: ... 5
  
• Safety Factor (Did you feel safe at property): ... 8
• Quality of Beach (ranked closest beach if property is located off the beach): ... 7

Destination/Island Review
10 is best 1 is worst

Would you visit this destination/island again?: ... Yes
Would you recommend this destination/island to your friends?: ... Yes

• Cleanliness of Destination/Island: ... 7
• Options of Activities in the Area: ... 8
• Ease of Transportation (air, taxi, bus, shuttle): ... 10
• Quality of Beaches in the Area: ... 8
• Courtesy & Hospitality of Locals: ... 7
• Safety Factor (Did you feel safe in the Area): ... 7
  
• Local Restaurant Experience/Options: ... 10
• Price/Value of Destination (Does your dollar stretch?): ... 8
  

Hotels by Expedia.com: Find more hot deals in Playa del Carmen.
Playa del Carmen Riu Palace Resort	Playa del Carmen Grand Coco Bay (formerly The Reef Coco Beach)	Puerto Aventuras XPU-Ha Palace	Playacar Allegro/Occidental Playacar	Playacar Viva Wyndham Azteca	Playacar Royal Hideaway Resort & Spa

	Web www.caribbeanmag.com

Playa del Carmen Links

Island Home | Hotels & Resorts | Hotel Reviews | Maps | Weather | Forums | Island Facts | Attractions | Restaurants | Restaurant Reviews | Island Directory | Island Articles | Travel Tips | Hotel Reservations | Car Rentals | User Photo Galleries | Dive Resorts | Travel Deals