Desire Resort Forums

Recent posts on Tripadvisor from multiple travelers are mentioning poor food, uncleaned rooms, very few towels, poorly maintained beach, mosquitoes, long check in process, preferential treatment to members, boring activities. What happened? We are first timers scheduled for first week in June. I am having second thoughts now.

We were at the Pearl for 7 nights in early April and are returning for another 7 night stay starting May 22. We did not encounter any of the issues you described above. The beach isn't in the best of shape but not from a lack of attention on the part of the resort. A result of last year's hurricane.

I think there is a good chance that two of the reviews you are referring to are from the same person, perhaps with a bit of an axe to grind. Case in point, two reviews in a row, both from someone with the same first name, with mostly the same criticisms.

Poor food would surprise me. In all our trips we've always thought the food was good quality for a Mexican All-Inclusive.

Uncleaned rooms... I get that one. We've had days where the maid hasn't come by 4PM or so, and by then it's really too late to bother with having to get ready for dinner and theme nights. It stands to reason that they let people go during covid... They're ramping up occupancy rates now, and I could easily see them lagging in re-hiring. We'll be there in 3 weeks... I wondered about how room cleaning would go.

The beach "is what it is". If you're going to Pearl for a beach vacation, you're doing it wrong.

We've never once found mosquitos to be a problem. We do have friends that HAVE complained about that though.

The rest is picking nits.

It is an all inclusive resort, so when it comes to food you have to take with a grain of salt negative reviews. Is it the caliber of a Michelin star restaurant, no, is it an Applebees no, it is resort food and some things they are amazing at and some things they are not. The beach complaints about seaweed are again to be taken with a grain of salt as every resort in Cancun area ( and many parts of the Caribbean) are fighting Mother Nature and the seaweed problem. The Beach is a small beach, but as many will tell you most of us don’t even notice the smallness because the action tends to be around the pool and hot tub. Lastly Desire is what you make it...we go for the people, the time together, the ability to be open and free...the rest to be honest is just noise. If you go and look at all the imperfections you are missing the opportunity to meet and speak with wonderful people from around the world and that would be a shame. Just our two cents worth for what it is worth!

cfsax_ny wrote:Recent posts on Tripadvisor from multiple travelers are mentioning poor food, uncleaned rooms, very few towels, poorly maintained beach, mosquitoes, long check in process, preferential treatment to members, boring activities. What happened? We are first timers scheduled for first week in June. I am having second thoughts now.

I would not have second thoughts at all. Go and enjoy your week. You will love it.

We have gone 5 times since Pearl opened in July. We just returned two weeks ago....everything is fun, fabulous, clean and great food as always. I leave $5 on the bed everyday and they are always quick to clean the room everyday. The review seems odd...we always stay 7-10 days so have a good feel of both resorts during the week, Monday-Wednesday is always quiet and then back to busy and loud Thursday-Saturday. You will have as much fun as you want to!

Thank you all for your feedback, especially Texascouple who pointed out that 2 of the reviews appear to be from the same person. We are now excited again to be going on this new adventure!

Let us also mention that some times, someone has a bad experience, because they did something that violated a rule or code at desire and they were informed they wouldn’t be allowed back.

We saw that once. It was handled with swiftness.

I think if someone wants a 5 star dinner every night....don’t go to ANY resort. Even Breakers in Palm Beach will disappoint once in awhile.

But never ever, have we ever been taken care of so well and so nicely than Desire. Its why we’re returning.

I take trip advisor with a grain of salt. I also can’t imagine most people would actually post on such a public forum.

Also never encountered anything overly negative. It’s not the St Regis, but the staff is nearly on par.

My wife and I went to Grand Lido Braco for years and see a fair number of folks @ Pearl that did as well. If Braco was still a Grand Lido (or something similar), many say that's where they would be - just a lovely place.

As with the Desire properties, you would see weeks and weeks of 4- and 5-star reviews, and then a 1-star. Sometimes you could discern a disgruntled employee, but often just an expectation "miss." For example, for those that may have not have spent time in Jamaica, it's mostly "soon come, mon" and if you're expecting speedy service, well, that's not likely to happen. It was easy to identify these folks because they tended to get, ah, well, "animated," and sometimes that negative review followed. Sometimes the reviews were so "off," I wasn't even sure they were posting about the same resort.

In any event, the resort is the resort, the hotel is the hotel, the cruise is the cruise, and so on. It didn't change because they came, so maybe their research was flawed.

My husband and I were at Pearl this past March for 3 days and we had a great time. The staff was amazing, the food was great, the other guests were welcoming and the vibe was terrific. There were a few minor complaints we had, but nothing notable and certainly nothing to keep us from visiting again.

I also want to mention that the COVID19 testing on-site is very quick and convenient. They schedule it on your arrival date.

Just got back from our second trip (May 5-10). I think the extreme bad review is someone with an axe to grind as well. Food is very good and they actually have upgraded recently with a couple of new chefs. Rooms were clean and got them cleaned when needed. I will agree with a post above though that sometimes it might be later in the day which you may or may not want....we did not have a problem with them coming while we were still at the pool or hot tub. Staff is as always, amazing and you can have as much fun as you want or get away from the crowd and relax. Service is a little slower now as they are recovering from Covid and are not as fully staffed as they will be now that business is picking up. Lastly, as for the beach, much of the coastline of Cancun is not where you would choose for a "beach" vacation if by that your meaning you want lots of sand and swimming area. However there is plenty of beach to take a stroll or even splash in the water, the colors are amazing and the location of DP gives you a spectacular view of the ocean. There was a lot of seaweed (always is this time of year), but not enough to impede you from enjoying the coastline.
P.S. The Covid test was a piece of cake, took very little time and got our results quickly as well as the required documentation.