I stayed at the hotel on an all inclusive basis from 13th to 27th January this year. I was rather daunted having read the reviews, but I had requested a sea view, and my lovely room overlooked palm trees and the gorgeous sea.
I went on my own, as most of my friends are settled down, and met loads of people from day 2 onwards and have made some incredible friends from Canada, France and the UK.
The hotel is a 2.5 star, so the food can be very repetetive, there is a distinct lack of seafood, only one species of white fish is served. But the bar staff in the main restaurant are very friendly, especially whacky old Thomas with his hairnet! The queues in the main restaurant are reminiscent of school dinners! You get the odd rude tourist pushing, so just push back!
My room was clean, the sheets smelt lovely and clean. Very powerful shower. Always had hot water.
Be warned, not enough beach beds, so me and my new friends had to get up at sparrow fart to save them.
And it could be frustrating when they ran out of basics like milk or bananas, but hey! Get over it!
Alberto on reception is lovely and speaks very good English. Pierre the main chef in the smaller Excaret restaurant is charming.
All in all, the best holiday I've had due to the mad, lovely people I met. Never laughed so much and relaxed so much in my life. So, if you're on a tight budget this is cool. I myself might go up a notch to a 3 or a 4 star next time, just for a treat!
Do get in touch if you want more info.

My boyfriend and I recently spent five nights at the Maya Caribe, and I'd like to share my honest thoughts about the hotel. After reading other reviews on this site, I was terrified and had no idea what to expect. What I discovered is that the place is fine for those who realize that you get what you pay for. You need to realize that if you're paying under $1000 for a week's vacation, there will be quirks.

First, DO NOT use Travelcomm. The hotel and the travel agency's relationship is on the rocks due to terrible communication, and you, the guest, end up suffering. When we checked in, the reservations were screwed up, and the concierge had little patience in dealing with us. It was a giant headache, and ended up taking about three hours to solve. Not what you want when you're beginning a vacation, but everything was figured out and there were no further problems.

Second, the rooms are big and comfortable, but in need of renovation. To rehaul the decor would require a raise in prices, which would piss more people off, so just be happy with your cheap room. It needed a fresh paint job and new linens, but it was clean, sunny, and overlooked the ocean.

Third, the food and drinks were fine. It's the same deal with the rooms: if you want gourmet meals, you'll have to pay more. We're pretty sure most things were bought at a nearby Costco; regardless, it was better than I'd hoped. Every meal was a buffet with plenty of choices to accommodate the picky eaters. I was nervous that it would be the same food every day, but they do a great job at varying the choices. The mixed drinks are kind of weak, but we are beer people, so were fine (small cups were a minor annoyance).

Finally, the staff (besides the concierge) was amazing. They were busy but friendly and upbeat. At meals, they serve you with greatly appreciated casualness. The housekeepers do a great job at tidying your room. They appreciate your attempts at speaking Spanish, and are willing to help you learn.

In all honesty, I would return to Maya Caribe. it gets a bad rap from stuffy people who expect too much, but we had a great time staying at the hotel.

Well, i've just returned from a fantastic fortnight in Cancun, staying at this hotel. I have to say, i was really worried about satying here after reading some of the awful reviews on this site, but we had a brilliant expeirence.
While this budget hotel is obviously not going to be as plush as many of the faceless office block hotels in the area, i thought it had real charm and character. Our room was really big, and very atmosphetic with hand carved furniture, and the patio doors opened out practically on to the beach! the room was kept spotlessly clean, and whilst the bathroom was very basic it was fine for grabbing a shower after a hot day sunbathing!
The staff in the restaurant bar made a real effort, and there was a great choice of food (buffet style) everyday. (the omlettes for breakfast were delicious.) For the price we paid we didn't mind trying different restaurants some evenings.The hotel was pretty quiet when we were there, as the season is just starting, but eveyone we spoke to seemed to be happy!
Theres a bus stop just outside the hotel, which shuttles constanty between the party district and the city centre with the hotel about half way in between, so we made our own way around very cheaply and easily.
Chitchen Itza, playa del carmen, Xel Hei and Isle de Mujhers are all worth a visit. and a swim with the beautiful dolphins at Xel Hei is an experince i'll never forget.
I went with my boyfriend, and couples and small groups of friends seemed to make up the main clientelle. The alcoholic drinks included at the hotel were a bit on the weak side, until we discovered Long Island Ice Tea, two of those was nearly enough i can tell you! Anyway if you are staying at this hotel, see through the bits of flaky paint and dodgy electrics in places, and have a great time. And say hello to the resident (timid) iguana for me!

First let me say that we are not Hotel Snobs. However, we do a lot of traveling and find that we prefer an equal balance of comfort, safety and price. The Maya Caribe failed miserably at all three.

Hotwire & other websites has this hotel listed as a 2 1/2 star hotel..... I think NOT!!!! It really should fall in the motel class. We were dumped into this hotel due to Hurricane Dean. We were originally scheduled to check into the Oasis Cancun when we were told that the Oasis was no longer accepting new guests due to the hurricane. Therefore we had to make a very quick decision on where to stay. Hotwire had this listed for $111 per night for the all-inclusive. What a waste of money.

This place, simply put, was a DUMP!

I came to this hotel with my 12-year old daughter expecting a clean, well-kept all-inclusive much like the Oasis America (3 star according to Hotwire but I would have given it 4 stars) that we had just checked out of. At first glance, it didn’t appear to be so bad. It was very evident that the place was old and outdated but the grounds appeared to be kept. However, once on the property it all went downhill fast. The pebbled walkway is very rugged and the steps were large and somewhat steep - it broke one of the wheels on our luggage. The hallways were littered with lizards and bugs from the grounds and once inside the room, the air conditioner was so loud you couldn’t rest. We ended up turning it off and turned on the ceiling fan just so we could sleep.

Room Issues: Telephone didn’t work, No alarm clock, dead Bugs all over the floor and in the bathtub, No Hot Water; not even lukewarm water. It took forever to take a shower because the shower head was so awry it shot in every direction except where it was supposed to (with cold water, mind you - we didn’t have hot or even warm water our entire stay). Bed Bugs – we woke up in the middle of the night numerous times the 1st night and discovered bites all over our legs. We were afraid to even lay on the bed the next night. We were still itching 5 days later, No blowdryers, no Iron or ironing board. No washcloths our entire stay.

Restaurant Issues: One Restaurant, nothing but pasta, rice, fruit and a multitude of flies. We tried to eat at the restaurant one time ( a dingy little hole in the wall with filthy floors, tablecloths with goo on them and open windows and doors – no air conditioning) but because flies were swarming everywhere, we discovered that flies had blown the food that lay uncovered and unattended…I don't want to totally gross you out so I will leave it at that... Ugh!!!! Needless to say we were absolutely disgusted and never attempted to eat anything else on the property. The all-inclusive was a complete waste of our money! We ate our remaining meals off-site, spending even more money. We are truly disappointed with Hotwire.

Service Issues: Shady-looking and unwelcoming front desk staff, Concierge did not ask how our stay was until the day we were checking out and only to insist that we take a timeshare tour – Of all the nerve!

Of 4 pools, only one did not have debris floating in it, the other 3 were filthy. The water was gorgeous but the beach had so much old seaweed deposited along the length of the beach, it wasn’t worth trying to climb over it to get to the water – it was everywhere and no one made any attempt to clean it up!

We couldn't wait for the storm to pass so we could leave this dump! We have serious reservations about ever booking with Hotwire again based on this hotel. I think we will stick with booking direct through the hotel from now on.