We stayed at the Bel Air Cancun this past week. Cancun is a beautiful place, but this hotel added some stress to my vacation that would have been avoided if I booked a better hotel. We found a Groupon for Bel-AIr and chose the all-inclusive option-MISTAKE!
Pros- The beach and pool area is beautiful. We loved being right on the beach, and the view was nice. The bartender at the lobby bar was very nice and actually made the drinks strong, unlike at the pool bar. The staff was always friendly, and the beach was never crowded. It's further down and away from all the main bustle of the hotel zone, which was nice.The bus stop was right outside the hotel too.
Cons- Where do I even begin? We arrived past check-in, yet our room was still not ready. We then decided to go to the pool and have lunch while waiting. The pool bathroom was pretty horrendous. The food at the pool bar was edible, but definitely not the quality I was expecting. The OXXO across the street sells frozen pizza that looks remarkably like the pool bar's. ALL of the drinks are literally watered down- even the beer. Gross. We just decided to buy cheap 6 packs at OXXO instead. Now the room...the wifi was slow, towels were stained (or, we just didn't get towels), bed felt damp, bed was uncomfortable, the curtains were stained and had this weird white powder on them, the floors were never mopped or swept, the toilet wouldn't even flush liquid waste (unless you pour water in the back, because who doesn't want to play plumber on their beach vacation?), no fan in the bathroom, mold on the ceiling, mirrors are rusted, the bedside drawers open when you put anything on the top, horrid fluorescent lighting, bedside lamps didn't work, the couch was gross and stained, maid came at unpredictable times, did not always get turndown service, A/C broke for two days, staff never responded when something was broken in our room, lock didn't work very well, shower didn't look clean, and the doors had no insulation. Now, for the hotel itself- it is really old and needs a little maintenance. It has this gross and moldy red carpet the runs everywhere. Pool stairs are slippery and have no grips. The pool bathroom looks like it is never cleaned. The beach chairs are literally photoshopped on their website and on Groupon- what a joke! We would just go to the hotel next door and sit in their lounge chairs since they were much more comfortable. On the note of photoshop- Do not believe what you see in their pictures online! EVERYTHING IS PHOTOSHOPPED TO LOOK BETTER/RENOVATED! Now, let's talk about the food. I am really not a picky eater, but I have NEVER had food this gross in my life. It looks like a Banquet frozen meal that was partially heated and left out for hours. The rolls were hard as rocks, the calamari tasted like fried rubber bands, and the "beef red wine" was atrocious. We decided on our first day, after leaving the restaurant without eating barely anything that we would just forget the all inclusive and eat at restaurants outside of the hotel. I should also mention that barely anyone i the hotel ate at their restaurant or sushi bar- we never saw anyone there! We ate in town at some great places- There is a restaurant next to the OXXO across the street from this hotel called KM 19.5- the food is cheap and AMAZING! Also, there is a little fish taco place called Pescadillas a Galeon a little ways down the street by the water, and you can get cheap and delicious fish tacos for 1$. We also ate at Surfin Burrito and Blue Gecko-check these places out instead of getting all-inclusive at Bel AIr.
I confronted the front staff about all of these problems, and they were unresponsive. They always said they would fix issues, but never did. I tried to get a refund so we could move hotels, with no success. We even tried to negotiate maybe a partial refund for the all-inclusive, since we ended up spending extra for it. No success, but Groupon gave me a $270 credit (of course not eligible for any actually NICE hotels in cancun, just terrible ones with the same crap quality as Bel-Air. The worker at the front desk promised to speak with his manager and never did. After we complained, the service got terrible. Literally 5 minutes after complaining, they sent workers to FUMIGATE OUR ROOM WITH US IN IT. I'm not even kidding. Also, our A/C broke that day. Coincidence, or deliberate?
Also, there was constant loud music on the pool deck from 10am-6pm. It was nonstop Bieber and Maroon 5. It got old really fast. There was also really loud construction nice next door, and literally a tennis court full of toilets that you can see from your balcony. Stay classy, Bel Air.
Stay anywhere else in Cancun. Many of the hotels are 100% nicer for the same price. We enjoyed visiting Cancun (and all the restaurants I talked about above), but we will never stay here again. read more