The Grand Mayan

Disclaimer: My family and I did not stay at this resort. I am writing a review based on our experience of visiting the resort and the sales personnel we encountered during our day. We were invited to tour the resort and have a complimentary breakfast. We were fully aware that we would try to be sold a «membership» of some sort. With that said, my family and I went in with an open mind but had no intention of making a purchase. The resort itself has everything you could ever think of. It was designed in such a way that you don’t ever have to leave the hotel, for us that defeats the whole purpose of traveling. There is only one way in and out. It felt much like Jurassic Park and we often jokingly asked if there were dinosaurs on site. Our taxi driver mentioned that the Mayan removed any sidewalks exiting the resort in order to hinder visitors from leaving the resort and spending their money else where.
The day started well, after being paired with our sales associate Michael. Michael was friendly and wanted to get to know all of us individually. After a couple hours the pressure to buy began. After we repeatedly said we were not interested, we were sent with different sales staff who tried to «close us.» I honestly felt trapped. These people would not let us leave. After they knew we were not going to buy they became very rude and inconsiderate. They started criticizing our way of traveling, belittled us and repeatedly ignored our request to leave the premises. All they care about was getting our money and getting us to sign a bogus contract. After finally having enough, my family and I got up from our seats and demanded to leave. The sales staff would not guide us out and we were left lost with no idea where to go or how to get back to our hotel.
After our experience at the Mayan I can say with 100% certainty I will never be staying here or any other resort owned by the Mayan. I will be letting my friends and family know about our experience as well.

STAY AWAY from this place! My husband and I visited Vidanta during spring break, April 2016 and were subject to fraudulent sales process. We were lied to on too many cases. Sales People wouldn’t let me get close to my husband! there was no photos of us purchasing timeshare because they wouldn’t let me get close to him!!! I was promised cash but instead received Vida Dollars which is a scam by itself! They told us that they would get rid of our current timeshare and we won’t need to pay a maintenance fee anymore. But when we were contacted by global exchanged, we found out that we still had to pay for 2 years of maintenance fee, plus a fee to global exchange for processing our timeshare transfer. We immediately contacted Vidanta and asked for cancellation due to lies and discrepancies on sales, but unfortunately, it was after 5 days from sales date. Vidanta refuses to refund my hard earned money, even though I was a victim of their unethical and fraudulent sales process. I would like to expose them so others don’t become a victim. I want to know if you are aware of any active lawsuit against Vidanta? I am sure that I am not the only victim and there are others who want to do the right thing and take legal action against them.

I went here with my husband for our Honeymoon last year (June 2015) and it was one of the best experiences of my life. Not only did was I getting married to the greatest man alive (I might be a titch biased), but this resort, the whole Vidanta property in fact, was just outstanding.
(The city of Puerto Vallarta is also amazing, so if you stay here, you have to make it down to the city. We made sure to go down to Old Town every single day we were there.)
Just going to give you some highlights for our visit, and to be specific, we stayed in a 1 bedroom suite.
–Very basic kitchen — stove, refrigerator (full size with ice box), microwave, sink, lots of counter space with stools on outside as to sit bar-​style. (We stocked up on eggs, coffee and other snacks from the market over at the Grand Luxxe for those mornings that we just wanted a homecooked breakfast and coffee on the balcony.
Small dining table (seats 4 – 6) separates the kitchen from…
Living room: so comfortable. 2 sofas straddle the room and you can just sink right into them. 32″ Flatscreen TV for background as you’re getting ready. Nice sized coffee table and side tables to put your junk food down on after a long night of drinking. We constantly had the sliding glass door open while we were in the living room just to feel the nice breeze off the ocean. And those glass doors lead right out onto…
The balcony: just freakin splendid. Two lounge chairs/​pool recliner chairs, and a plunge pool. Yes, our own private plunge pool on our own private balcony. The balcony itself measured approximately the width of 2 hotel rooms (so maybe 24 feet) and a depth of 10 feet. Key term: plunge pool. We spent so much time on the balcony, reading, drinking, yada yada…
From there, you can go straight into the master bedroom which, upon entrance is a nice seating area with a sofa, two armchairs and a coffee table. Past there, you get to the king size bed (so comfy and cozy, you’ll never want to get out of bed) and an in room jacuzi. We used it a couple times while drinking our CA Pinot Noir and vegging to tv. There is a flat screen tv, and luckily they had cartoon network or tbs so i could follow my usual routine of falling asleep to American Dad and Family Guy. This then leads into…
The bathroom: and seriously, it’s huge. I could do a dance routine in there (I’m not saying I did, and as they say: «photos or it didn’t happen.» there are no photos). Two sinks, hairdryer, a shower stall which gets really warm really fast. Clean toilet which has a door for more privacy if your significant other is brushing their teeth. :)
And that’s it for the room. the daily cleaning was impeccable. Room Service was quick and decent.
As for the property: A tram takes you everywhere, which is good because it’s a huge property. Lots of good dining options. One of the restaurants on the ocean had a nice tasting menu that I’d recommend. The Grocery Market at the Grand Luxxe (I think) was great — a whole cheese area, with cured meats, and then a general grocery area as well for everything from lunch meats, breads, milk, bottled water, eggs, meats, BACON!, and then another section with just wine (my favorite section by far) with a decent amount of Northern California wines. There’s also a gym at the Grand Mayan that I used almost every day I was there.
Luke’s Law: when travelling to Mexico, it should be illegal to stay anywhere else (at least for me, this is not the case). Vidanta or nothing.

Stayed at Vidanta Resort in Nuevo Vallarta at the Grand Mayan. Walked into lobby after all day of traveling to check in. They Bombard you with going to a Time Share presentation, that will only last one hour, in return you get a free Breakfast and 10% off your bill. Not bad Right !! WRONG…3 &½ hrs. later we are still listening, JUST HORRIBLE
The whole property is segregated, Trams take you everywhere except the Front of the Grand Mayan. If you stay in the lux buildings you are golden. Grand Mayan is the inexpensive way of staying. Their lux Hotels and pools are night and day compared to the Mayan.

Grand Mayan Review
Arnaldo the concierge when asked about our room which we couldn’t have ocean view because came through RCI was told that the back of the Grand Mayan faced the golf course and that we couldn’t have pool or ocean view but would see gold course. When we went to the room faced roof of a building and the street and ugly field of weeds. The gold course is not even close to the Grand Mayan buildings but other units at the resort. First lie from Mayan.
Activities crew was awesome. Noël, Brandon & Daniella to name a few. This is the great part of the Mayan. Also Jorge at pool bar super nice. All the employees great except the management, the concierge and the check-​out person Joel very bad.
Joel upon checking out when asked about a charge for 75.00 which in the beginning was told optional for internet and admit to shows. When we asked again about it on checking out he stated it’s a mandatory RCI fee. He even told us to talk to RCI about it. This is not true another lie as once I asked for a manager Adriana she finally told us the truth that it’s a mandatory Mayan fee because we used RCI to come into the resort. This is only resort I know that has ever done this.
Went to the plaza store and put bottle of Rum on counter to purchase price on bottle was 185 pesos. He rang it up and handed me a bill to sign that said 360 pesos and when asked why was higher he said price was mismarked. The problem is he took a photo of it with his phone and never bothered to tell us price was wrong but instead was hoping we wouldn’t look at the charge and just sign it. Very dishonest and deceiving. This is the way they do business.
The Mayan is all about selling time shares they don’t care about customer service at all. They lie to make you stop asking and they make things up to their satisfaction. The employees besides management and reservations desk are great. If not for them would give a 0. We are Mayan owners also and that made no difference how we were treated. RCI customers treated very badly at the Grand Mayan.
Beautiful resort lots of fun and nice employees. Management doesn’t care about customers and teaches employees to lie to customers. Mayan blocked the street behind the resort so you can no longer get to the Marina but instead have to take the long 10 miles ride around the other way. But the blocked street is only 2 blocks away from Marina but can’t get there because they won’t let you. Employees are on it and can get there but only using badges and going through locked doors. See photo for the street view and also so called «golf course view». Take the beach can get to the Marina that way.
Don’t recommend there scammers and only care about selling time shares. Alot of walking and after 3 miles a day gets old. Beautiful but not worth it.

Beautiful resort horrible service if I can rank them a lower star I would the beach is horrible you feel sticky after you get out of the water… bar at the pool closes at 6pm the pool closes at 8pm they don’t let you play your own music it never says that on the pool rules… BE CAREFUL they try to charge you vallet twice and they try to charge extra fees after you check out. you have to walk a lot It takes about 10 min to get to your room they do not give you rides to your room. Cancun was way better pool closes till 3am and you can take your own beer to the pool and the service is way better

If you can make it thru the check in, you will love this place. I’ll start from the beginning at the airport. Once you grab your bags and walk out of baggage claim, there’s an in-​between area with very aggressive tour guides, or whatever they are, I’m not sure. But they asked us where we were going and we said Vidanta, they herded us over to one of the desks on the side and pulled out a map. They acted like they were with Vidanta, we started to get a weird feeling and walked away, once we exited that area and walked outside, we saw the Vidanta transportation concierge. She took our paperwork and hailed us a cab. When we arrived to the resort, there was a very long drive from the main road to the first stop. The first stop an employee welcomed us and took our bags to be delivered to our room. He made sure we weren’t charged for the cab, which we weren’t. He said a lot of times people get tricked into using the wrong company and have to pay for the cab ride. I also didn’t want to give him my bags, but conceded them to him. Thankfully I did this, because it is quite the hike to get to your room. From there we hopped on an elongated golf cart that took us to the Santurio. From there you have a little bit more of a walk to the Grand Mayan. The walk is beautiful tho, and the entrance to the Mayan is impressive. Check in went fairly smooth, then once you check in they send you across the room to get your roomkey/​wristband. You need to wear this the whole time you’re on the resort. This is the gentleman that offers you the opportunity to attend a 90 minute presentation one morning for a timeshare. He told us we would get 2 free massages, a free ride to the airport during check out, and 10% off our bill. We told him we’d think about it and get back to him, which we never did. We had a lock off room, which was very nice. The bathroom was large, the balcony was nice. A couple drawbacks were we could hear the people in the suite next to us very easily, there was no insulation and there wasn’t a refrigerator in the room. Our luggage arrived after we were in the room for a few minutes, the person delivering the luggage let us know that we would have to pay to use the safe, if we used the bath soaps, and the large bottle of water on the bathroom sink. He also attempted to get us to attend the time share meeting again. After this encounter, we weren’t bugged anymore. This is the most beautiful resort I have ever been to. It is large, and we kept getting lost the first couple of days we were there, but after a while we started to get the hang of it. There is no lack of pools, so many to choose from. There’s also many restaurants to choose from, and I was satisfied with the quality. I would recommend staying here.

I don’t usually give out 5 stars. I feel an establishment has to earn them! With that said… I gladly give this place five gold stars. not white stars!!!
We stayed here awhile back, two different times.. (kept forgetting to write a review). We had gorgeous suite, equipped beyond our plans. (Kitchen was very nice, but we’d planned to eat out.) Beds were very comfortable, view from the suite was unbelievable!
The resort (we had full unlimited privileges to everything), was absolutely amazing!!! Pools were SPECTACULAR, spa was relaxing, restaurants were simply DELICIOUS!!!
The staff was on point ALWAYS!!! EVERYTHING was so clean, and maintained DAILY… EVERY INCH of the resort.
I really can’t say enough honestly great things about this place. If you’re THINKING of going… GO YOU WILL LOVE IT!!!
The worst thing was departure day, we didn’t want to leave EVER!!!
We’re looking very much forward to our next trip!!!

My mom, myself and a group of friends stayed at Vidanta resort in Nuevo Vallarta. Some friends stayed at the Grand Mayan while my mom, myself and a few other friends stayed at the Grand Bliss. I’ll start with the bad, but just for the record, there was way more good than bad. There was pressure from the concierge for my mom and I to attend a timeshare presentation. We were told that we would receive two free massages and 10% off our whole hotel bill if we went. They promised that they were just going to share the information with us and that we were not obligated to purchase a timeshare. It was quite the contrary, however. They said that it would take 60 minutes but they ended up taking three hours of our time. They had four people come and talk to us instead of just one like they said. We left the presentation frustrated. We were considering a timeshare purchase, but since they did not allow us time to think about it we decided not to purchase. We were not prepared to make a 10,000+ dollar decision that quickly. Now, there is no way that we will purchase a timeshare at Vidanta. So, do your best to avoid these presentations. We didn’t end up getting 10% off our entire bill, just certain items on our bill (gifts purchased in the shop, alcohol, etc). We enjoyed the massages, but we didn’t feel like they were worth spending four hours at a timeshare presentation when we could have been at the beach! The concierge also told us to leave the hotel four hours before our flight, leaving us 3 hours to get through security at the airport. we were told that we had to go through customs, when there was no customs check at the airport. Just allow enough time to be at the airport as you would in the US. Concierge also told us that 10 dollars could cover a taxi ride to the airport and that the driver would accept USD instead of pesos, but the driver claimed that we owed him more and he was mad that we gave him USD. the hotel employees need to have their information right to minimize drama for their guests. In general, they were helpful, but misleading regarding timeshare presentations, airport guidelines, offsite tour details and directions around the resort. We also talked to many staff members who hardly spoke any English. That is ok, and I understand that the language can be hard to learn, but I think the company can train their staff in English since many customers at the resort are English speaking. It would help them understand and help the customers have a smooth trip. Customers pay too much money to deal with stress on their vacation. Lastly, the staff continuously came up to us on the beach while we were trying to relax to sell us souvenirs. We didn’t appreciate this on a private beach.
As for the good, there were many great things about this resort! The restaurants were fantastic. Guests are able to purchase a meal plan where you can eat in any of the resorts 18 restaurants for two meals a day where each person receives an appetizer, an entrée and a dessert at each meal. Some places had buffets too, which costs one meal ticket a person in most cases. We absolutely loved the food overall and felt like the meal plan prices were very reasonable (25 USD per person, per meal). There’s a great bar called the Santuario that has live music every night too. The scenery was the best part of our experience. The resort is very picturesque with lots of foliage, flowers, a private beach, palm trees and multiple pools. It truly felt like we were in paradise. Walking around outside was so refreshing. The pools had plenty of space so that you didn’t have to sit by others. Many pools had swim up bars too, which were beautiful. The beach was nice too, and included activities such as paddle boarding, boogie boarding, jetskis, windsurfing, surfing, etc. that was a really nice touch and I had a great day boogie boarding. The waves were huge so that made it fun. We loved our hotel, The Grand Bliss. Our room (the studio) was wonderful. We didn’t have an ocean view, and you can hear the music from the bar at night. I didn’t mind this, but it’s something that a guest should know about. We had a nice, large bathroom, comfy beds and a nice balcony. I had no complaints about the hotel. The bar, pool and lobby were beautiful.

The Grand Mayan has incorporated design amenities that combine it with grand luxx grand bliss which ARE NOT guest friendly. The Plaza store is a ½ mile walk from Grand Bliss so access isn’t quick or convenient. There two service styles in the restaurants… slow and slower… I realize that I am here to relax and chill and don’t have any reason to be on a schedule but sitting down at 7:45 and being served entre at 9:20 isn’t conducive to an enjoyable evening. Too bad as the Grand Mayan was our PV resort of choice over the past 6 years. We will look for another option gong forward.

Have been here 5 times now over the years. Each year they make modifications to make it tougher to enjoy the surrounding area as well as getting around. Use to be able to easily walk off property to the harbor for dinner. Not anymore. Use to be a market right behind not its over by the Luxxe which is like 15 minutes. Checking in takes forever. This time it took 2 hours and no apologies just a smile. Need a late check out its $ 150 per hour. Taxi in to grab a tram to another location and then a 5 – 10 minute walk to Grand Mayan makes coming and going unattractive. Use to love grabbing lunch at Break (taco place on golf course) one day not any more. You can’t get there unless you want to take a 10 – 15 minute can ride.
Lazy river, great pools (though majority are ice cold), water slide, swim up bars, greatest pool side server in Omar and great view. So much good but it’s getting easier to go elsewhere.

So disappointing. We love the Grand Mayan weve been coming for years this year they’ve changed the whole resort layout making it far too big. The worst part was the three hour check in with no remorse for the room situation of going back-​and-​forth to three other rooms due to the lack of a bed when we requested and confirmed three beds multiple times on the phone. Ask we we asked for a manager he said no problem they walked away and never came back. Out of all the hotelson this resort not one hotel room was offered. We had every intention of buying a timeshare this year because we love the ground so much after this ordeal it’s very unlikely

Facility is going downhill. Constant construction. Some areas smell
of sewage. Lots more walking involved to get to taxi area.
Very long walk also to the beach. Grounds are beautiful though… BUT…
Avoid Timeshare presentations… they out-​in-​out LIE to you.
If you DO fall for their sales slam… make sure you READ THE CONTRACT
before you sign… you are so exhausted from facing 6 or more salespeople,
that by the time (if at all) you sign a timeshare contract … it is a total LIE!
…if you catch them… it’s ‘oh I’m so sorry, I grabbed the wrong contract’

Read my photo!!! Don’t sign!!! You’ll be sooooooooooooo sorry!!! Liars — scammers — will tell you anything! Don’t sign! Totally lied to us last year when we signed — everything completely different from what we were told & promised! Don’t sign — read my photo that is posted! GL!!! Read my photo review! Last photo uploaded!

This is by far my favorite by far of the the Mayan Palace resorts that I have stayed in. From what I understand the Grand Mayan will be undergoing significant refurbishment and have many more additions to the Mayan complex, including a Cirque du Soleil village and resident show being added. (3 years?)
The food vouchers they offer a re a good deal. 6 breakfasts and 6 lunches or dinners for $ 235 US. I spent over that on meals.

No real complaints. I booked airfare and 7 nights here through travelzoo for just $ 750 for a trip in late June/​early July. When I arrived, the lobby was totally packed with tons of people checking in. It smelled a bit mildewy, but i was just going to have to get used to that given the humidity. I didn’t have problems checking in, though I was told my room wouldn’t be ready till 7, which was about another hour. No matter, I decided to take a seat and watch a movie. I did get targeted for purchasing a time share, but I was well-​prepared for all of that and just kept politely declining. I was also told that if I should be asked again, just say I was 26 so I would be left alone. Haha, I guess age counts here and it was to my favor that I look 18.
Rooms were clean, facility was nice, and the wristband key was helpful. Staff speaks English well and even helped me locate my wallet one day when it fell out of my bag. I was so thankful. There is turndown service (which I don’t really get) and housekeeping was prompt. The food on the premises isn’t as expensive as I thought and you can eat well for not very much at the resort. The beaches, however, aren’t that nice — very muddy water, but it’s warm.
It is a very large resort, but I did get used to navigating it and it didn’t take that much time to get out and to the airport as other reviewers mentioned.

Samba restaurant is Amazing! The Chef– manager Maurico is creative with the Mexican flavors he chooses for Breakfast. The flavors and choices of meats, veggies, empanadas are all so grand. The staff are friendly and helpful, they have special juices and smoothies. Also Maurico made the kids dinosaur, flower and heart pancakes. A must

We have stayed at the Grand Mayan in the Riviera Maya several times so we were excited to try out a new location. We knew to expect the same floor plan of the room with the plunge pool on the balcony (we love), many of the same restaurants (nice variety) and lots of pools & onsite activities.
Upon arrival at the Puerto Vallarta airport, we took the complimentary bus service that was provided by the resort. Once we got dropped off at the drop off point within the gates of the Vidanta resort, we had to take two more shuttles to get to The Grand Mayan. We just wanted to check in and grab dinner.
I had been to several timeshare presentations at The Grand Mayan in the Riviera Maya and found that they were always unpleasant, they always took at least 3 – 4 hours out of my precious vacation and always involved pushy salespeople. I had read all of the Unilocal reviews about negative experiences with the timeshare salespeople at this location so I avoided them at check in. At the conclusion of check in, they hand you an envelope with your wristbands in it and then point you to the timeshare people and tell you that they will help you put on your wristbands. No thank you… we went to our room and put on our own wristbands… and saved 3 hours of our vacation!
Now on to the details about the resort… according to the Vidanta resort map, it includes 9 different «hotels» onsite. There are so many pools/​beaches (14), so many restaurants (18), so much to do and many places to just relax and do nothing. There are several fitness centers within the resort, a spa and a salon. My daughter loved the wave pool and lazy river. There is also this cool area called The Plaza which contains:
— fashion boutique
— creperie
— frozen yogurt
— pastry shop
— bakery
— chocolatier
— flower shop
— pharmacy
— books & magazines
— wine shop
— fine meats & charcuteria
— cheese shop
— grocery store
We are only halfway through our vacation at The Grand Mayan but so far so good. The only negative is our room location. We have a very ugly view of a parking structure and roof tops. This alone would probably deter me from coming to this resort again. We may not have had ocean views on our trips to the Grand Mayan in the Riviera Maya but at least our balcony faced a golf course, a lake or nice greenery.
4 stars for the beautiful resort, the reasonable prices at the onsite restaurants and the large variety of activities.

Oh my. This was our first trip to the Grand Mayan. We went with a friend who is an ‘owner’ at this resort. All I can say is WOW! From the entrance (very cool!) to the housekeeping staff — this place has it dialed in. Looking for food? They have it covered. Need a drink? No worries. Nowhere to sit? They’ll pull up chairs for you. Want the beds turned down nightly? Just call housekeeping.
Seriously. They lack in nothing at this resort. There is a grocery store, clothing store, chocolate store, gym, gelato store, kids club, and just about anything else you may want for. They will shuttle you from place to place or you can walk along the boardwalks that connect all the properties. They have service down to a science. It’s hard to go anywhere else now that we’ve seen what the good life looks like!
If you are considering a vacation here — DO IT!
There’s a lazy river, wave pools, kiddie pool area, water slide, swim up bars (who also serve food), beach, and crazy amount of people there to meet your every need.
This place is fabulous. Just go!

The Grand Mayan is a time share resort that is part of the Grupo Mayan resort complex in Nuevo Vallarta which also includes the Grand Luxxe and Grand Bliss. We’ve been visiting the resort for almost a decade now and still love it for the kid friendly environment, endless pools, clean beaches and dining choices both on resort and within walking distance off resort.
Not to be too repetitive but what makes the Grand Mayan so wonderful is how kid friendly it is. When our kids were young they loved (I mean begged) to go to the resort «Kids Club» which meant we had hours of peace and quiet in the sun. Now that our kids are older and more independent we feel totally safe in giving them a lot of freedom to go around on their own… which also means a lot of peace and quiet in the sun! With all that said; if you do not have kids then there are probably better choices.
The rooms are well appointed and comfortable (although they are starting to show some wear and tear), on resort dining includes Italian, Asian Fusion, Tapas, Mexican Seafood and tons of pool/​beach dining. Two happy hours a day help keep you smiling as you bake. The staff is extremely courteous and leaves you wanting for nothing. All the standard activities can be arranged by the concierge like fishing, snorkeling, site seeing, etc. There is also high end shopping and a high end grocery store (Think Whole Foods) located at «The Centro». Everything on the resort is reachable via electric shuttle cars or a nice walk along the raised board walks. Travel from the airport to the resort can be arranged when making reservations but the trip back to the airport will require a taxi.
All this great stuff… so why only 4 stars? If you are not an owner and thus rented from an owner or traded into the resort you are not getting a beach front room. Getting a higher floor marina view room will require a little extra effort on your part. This is a time share resort and thus they REALLY REALLY want you to come to their presentation about becoming an owner; Pro Tip: JUST SAY NO!
Overall wonderful place to spend quality family time.
Cheers.