Grand Sirenis Mayan Beach Hotel Akumal

We had a terrible stay at the Grand Sirenis Mar 15-29 2009. I would NOT recommend the Grand Sirenis for groups or weddings. They were unable to resolve any problems during our 2 week stay.

We made arrangements prior to our departure for our rooms to be in the same area. The hotel and wedding coordinator were aware of several families such as ours who had multiple rooms with teenagers that needed to be together. Our rooms were several buildings apart. This is a large resort and we were not comfortable with the kids across the resort. The hotel had us spend many hours over several days in the lobby waiting for them to check availability. They made little effort to accommodate us. It was a terrible start with long days arguing in the lobby. They eventually offered the teens a laundry and spa package. Although our 17 year old had no interest we asked her to accept as it was all they were going to do. When she went to book the spa package they said she had to be 18 and she got nothing. They did find here a room 2 days before departure and wanted an additional $300 USD after she had no room for the first 5 days!

Service was really poor. We ordered room service one night and it took 5 hours!

Food was ok but not nearly what we have had at other resorts. We had lots of problems booking into the restaurants. Despite them appearing to have many tables we could not make a reservation. Several members of our group got really sick and spent a day where they could not leave their rooms.

I felt we were treated really poorly anytime something went wrong. The lobby staff would explain it was not their fault instead of seeing how it could be fixed. Staff could not approve or find information. Much time was spent on the hotel problems instead of our holiday.

For the wedding, the bride and groom spent much of the 3 days before the wedding working out details with the wedding coordinator. The bride had not been to the beach or pool once before the wedding day. DON’T book thinking they will take care of the details. The hair dressers charged $110 USD for hair and we were really disappointed. She did not speak any English. And it took over 2 hours for some of us. There was only one hairdresser available and time ran out. It left little time to finish getting ready.

There were constant “UpSelling” at the hotel. Hotel packages, restaurant reservations, beach dinners, and much more are all EXTRA. The hotel will call you a cab to Playa Del Carmen for $25 each way or if you walk 30 steps to the road it is $15 for a cab or $2.50 each on the shuttle bus. We felt like they were reaching in our pockets all the time.

We have travelled to other places in the Mayan Riviera and never had so many problems or staff unwilling to make any solution.

We travelled to Grand Sirenis March 2009 with our young boys. The bathrooms are completely open to the room allowing no privacy for dressing at all. Our room had 2 double beds and a pull-out couch. It took 2 days and 7 calls to get bedding for the pull-out. The kids program was not great but we rarely use it. Overall, we did not find the hotel family-friendly at all.