Cancun – Hyatt Caribe Hotel

Picking a hotel in Cancun is similar to picking a hotel in Vegas. All the hotels are huge, they all have different features and they all have different target markets. Seeing how I was only going to be there a short time, I chose the cheapest five star one on the strip!

The hotel is pretty good. I booked a sea view room and ended up with a view of the sea. Good stuff. I also had a view over one of the pools, which was nice.

My room was large and clean and had a nice balcony. It was mostly too hot to use during the day, but as the sun set, it was nice to sit out there and look at the water. It was the perfect way to enjoy the scene.

As with all the Hyatt hotels, everything ran smoothly and the staff all spoke English and were very helpful. Getting anything organised was a breeze. There was a tour desk to help me getting to Chichen Itza. They were also very helpful in organising taxis for short hops around Cancun. No complaints here.

The one thing which did annoy me though, was due to the hotel’s location in Cancun. As I checked in, I was informed by the front desk staff that all external food and drink were not allowed in the hotel. Say what? That’s right. They wanted me to buy everything from the hotel and not wander down the road five minutes to the convenience store if I didn’t fancy a four dollar Coke. I ignored them, of course, but I was a bit insulted that they had such a stupid policy. Dumb arses.

What did annoy me a lot though, was the hotel’s convention centre. The problem is, that’s under construction right next to my hotel room. This meant constant noise during the day, stating at about 9am. This wasn’t the best thing for a relaxing hotel. Luckily, I wasn’t in the hotel much during the day, so it didn’t bother me too much.

The beach in front of the hotel was rather nice. Apparently, some other hotels have had their beach washed away by a nasty hurricane a few years back. The beach here was fine enough, but it was closed the entire time I was there due to bad weather. I’m not sure if that’s a regular event, but it was a bit annoying having to walk up the beach to a bit that was open.

The hotel had some nice pools. The older part of the hotel has two large lagoon type pools, whilst the new wing has an ultra groovy infinity type pool. All of them have bars, umbrellas – everything you need.

As a base for exploring the area, the hotel was good value. Compared to some of the other hotels, it was rather cheap. I stayed in the older wing, which was a little tired, but still neat and clean. It was the perfect place to stay for a few days, but I don’t think it would be the place to stay for a luxury trip away.