Following the cancellation of our trip to the Maldives we had to book somewhere fast to get away to celebrate a significant Wedding anniversary, having been to Mexico before and enjoyed every visit we have made we saw and decided on the Haven through British Airways holidays. It was really last minute and was ridiculously expensive but because of the trouble going on in the Middle East we found all the companies we searched had taken advantage and increased their prices by up to 40% in just a week so accepted we would have to pay a premium,
The twilight checking worked well and the flight was uneventful. We had a long wait for our bags at Cancun airport as a number of flights from the US had arrived so were glad that the Haven is only approximately 20 mins from the airport. We had to book our own transport from the airport to the hotel as BA do not include it in the fare so there was a bit of messing around being sent from one part of the car park to another. Upon arrival we were met at the reception. Our first impressions were that for a nonsmoking hotel there was a lot of smokers congregating just outside the reception so not the best first impression. You are giving a tag to wear around your wrist which you must keep with you, and this doubles up as the room door opener which is great as you’re not fumbling about with door cards. They do make a big issue on arrival of telling you that if you lose it you will have to pay for a new one, if you smoke in your room you will have to pay a surcharge and then stating (Which BA didn’t’)t that there is a resort tax to pay!
We were shown to the room it was large, seemed clean and had a partial view of the sea, it had that musty smell that we have found a lot of in Mexico hotels. There was a lot of cupboard space and a large bathroom, however, you are limited as to where you can hang wet towels. There is a mini bar which they say is replenished daily, it wasn’t nor the tea or coffee We had to chase up 3 times to get it replenished, to their credit they did this, but we shouldn’t have had to remind them a 2nd or 3r time. It was the same with the bed being turned down, being honest it’s a service I could well do without but if they offer it and you pay for it then it should be done, it was not on 5 occasions during our stay.
On one occasion the receptionist came with us to our room after we highlighted some issues and told us that we hadn’t put the in/out indicator light on so the person replenishing or tidying would not enter, we were never told of this light and the procedure but in any case we switched the light to green on going out and the room still wasn’t visited later in the holiday! They do provide bath gels etc but (being honest) they are rubbish! On our balcony we had a hot tub, which takes an age to fill and at one, at one stage, would not turn off!
You must pre book the restaurants apart from the buffet but be aware that the buffet can be shut without any prior notice so if you’re intending to have an evening meal at the buffet, I would suggest booking a restaurant as a backup.
The restaurants were all good without being anything special, the pick of them in our opinion was the Teppanyaki at Satsu. There does appear to be a big culture difference at play which I’ve not really noticed previously in Mexico or the Caribbean. Europeans tend to tip if they get a good service whereas US citizens tip to get a good service, this is clearly evident in the restaurants (and in the bars to a lesser extent) as we rarely got asked if we wanted more wine, beer or water whilst others were being topped up without being asked as they were tipping, It also helps if you’re a serenity club member!
We booked the Mediterranean restaurant for our wedding anniversary, we did not ask for anything special other than a nice table, we were given one bang in the middle of a walkway, also we were offered wine at a cost of anything up to 3,000 USD! They clearly knew it was our anniversary as we told them on the booking plus at front desk when asked at check-in. They even placed a banner saying Happy Anniversary on our door, however, this was removed very early on the actual day! So, again, it would appear that if your prepared to put your hand in your wallet and pay on top of the high amount you have already paid then you will get the ‘special’ service,
If you visit one of the bars you are best to order your own drinks from the bar yourself, you may well have your order taken by a member of staff but (tipping being the issue yet again) in some instances you will wait a long time for it!
Some of the restaurants have a dress code, however, we couldn’t see anywhere where it was enforced with the exception of the Mediterranean.
As mentioned, it is advertised as a no smoking resort with some smoking areas put aside outside, whilst not a major issue we still witnessed people smoking at bars, balcony’s and as mentioned the worse is outside the reception
All in all it’s a really nice hotel with friendly staff, it has a lovely beach plenty of sun beds, a noisy party pool or a quiet one, food and drink always available, plenty of entertainment ( but give the Burlesque a miss if you want an honest opinion) and is kept clean. However, it is the small things which let it down and comparing it to other Hotels we have stayed at in Mexico and Cancun in particular we personally do not think it represents fair value for money. I’m not sure if BA had a huge mark up the sum paid by us but it was was more than we had put aside for our Maldives trip which included an underwater restaurant and two boat excursions! This is of course just our opinion as it seemed plenty of North Americans were rebooking whilst there, but to us if returning to Mexico we would probably not return to this particular hotel given the superior value and quality of others we have stayed in.
