Review: Hard Rock Riviera Maya (HRRM)
(Please excuse if I spelled some names incorrectly.)
1. First, we cannot say enough about how wonderful our butlers were, and we must give our heartfelt complements to our butlers Vincente Arriaga and Samantha Garcia. They were both incredible and provided excellent service fulfilling a myriad of requests from us, sometimes at the last minute.
2. Gaby, Mac, Ruth, Marcos, Francisco, Elisabeth, and all the waiters we had at Faro for breakfast were so friendly and attentive as were the hostesses (Paola and Jessica) that greeted us when we came in and who took our information at the door every day. We think their attitude and exceptional service must be due to the exceptional leadership they receive from Maria as manager!!
3. Managers and head waiters at Umo, Wei, Ciao, and Toro were excellent as were all the wait staff we encountered. The food at all these restaurants was better than just good. In particular, we wish to give a shoutout to Raul (Manager at UMO) and a senior server named Nico who made one evening an exceptional for us.
4. We spent many good hours at the Eden pool served by an exceptional staff, e,g, Ari a pool server, and the many good bartenders (e.g. Manuel, Uriel and the other Uriel).
5. Mukul, Diego, and Isai bartenders at the Heaven Bar were most responsive to our requests and always friendly with a smile on their faces.
6. We want to give special shoutout to Lupita, the AZUL Cafetto barista. She was excellent and always ready to help.
7. In fact, the staff of the hotel are so very well trained and so pleasant to deal with. The management team is definitely doing something right with regards to training and creating esprit de corps.
8. Only place we experienced where added training would be welcomed is in housekeeping standard protocols. Staff did an excellent job of cleaning the room. However, it seemed to us that what they did to make up the room was not the same every day and in the turn down service. Sometimes new towels, water bottles, and other items were replaced and other times not. Sometimes we got turn down service with new towels and other times not. The management should shoot to have a standard high end housekeeping protocol and train staff in that.
9. The elevator, at least in ROJA, didn’t work for the whole 2 weeks we were there, and as my wife has Parkinsons, it made it most difficult to go to Zen and the Theater. All elevators should be keep running all the time! They should be fixed immediately as people with disabilities, e.g. my wife, need an elevator.
10. Another shoutout is to the overall bar manager and hotel manager as last time we noted that the liquor quality had declined a lot. Not so this time as they had sufficient higher quality liquors, e.g. Maker’s Mark, Havana 7 rum, Grand Marnier, etc.
11. HRRM needs to restore and maintain its overall quality of facilities to match the quality of its employees.
12. We love the music you play - good, ole rock & roll. Also, last time we suggested adding more country music and at least at the Eden pool we noticed they would play some in the early part of the day. We suggest adding some all day and in other parts of the resort.
13. Buffets are good, BUT, if you are going to use heating trays, you need to turn them up in order keep the food hot! Lukewarm eggs, sausages, etc. do not taste as well as hot items.
14. Delays in golf cart pickups was not good. Hotel requires more golf carts and drivers to transport guests. Delays were sometimes 25 minutes waiting by your building after calling for a cart and, on several occasions, no one would answer when you called for transport. It was not the fault of the bellboys. It was that there were not enough of them to answer phone and drive golf carts.
15. As there were no ice machines in the building (we stayed in BLDG 1) we had to call for ice each evening. Delivery time was not what it should be at all times – sometime as much as 45 minutes and multiple phone calls. Not sure if it was a cart, # of personnel, or other issue.
16. Overall maintenance at the hotel needs improvement. Renovating building and facilities is not the same as maintaining them. It is great that renovation is ongoing to replace old and worn-out buildings and facilities. But, whereas in the past you always saw workers on landscape, touching up paint, repairing nicks and breaks in the walls, floors, etc. This time we rarely saw maintenance work being done unless we or others called it in.
17. Suggestion: Convert the end unit Presidential Suites into being able to be used as an Ambassador Suite and a lock off Deluxe Room. Perhaps a good way to convince customers to become HOF members as they could use the Ambassador Suites, as presently there are none.
We do love Hard Rock Riviera Maya and want them to succeed.
