Mia Bacalar Luxury Resort & Spa

This resort is great. Reading all the reviews it seems like a lot of people misunderstand the hotel rating system in Mexico vs. the states. We stayed for 8 nights. The staff were the best part. Very friendly and helpful. The food is excellent and every meal we had was delicious. Seeing people complain about a dirty pool or grounds is laughable. It’s literally a jungle so leaves and whatnot are going to be a thing. That said, we saw the pool being cleaned 3X a day. The hacienda we had was perfect. Cleaned daily very well also. Again, I can’t say enough about the staff. From the kitchen to the wait staff to the cleaning crew and the front desk. We will be back!

Check-in & Room: Check-in was smooth, and the front desk staff was very attentive. A gentleman helped us with our luggage, which was nice. We booked a room with a big round hot tub, and the room itself was nice and smelled fine. The best part? The hot tub had really good hot water, which we enjoyed! However, we did notice some moldy silicone around the hot tub and in the toilet room—it could definitely use some extra cleaning. Welcome dessert was a nice touch. One thing that felt a little weird was that, even though the hotel was mostly empty (only four or five rooms occupied), they put us right next to the reception instead of in one of the rooms with a lake view. Hotel Grounds & Safety Issues: The property is big and has potential, but it definitely needs more maintenance. It was sad to see such a nice place looking run-down. The worst part was the wooden area around the pool—it’s damaged by termites, and my husband actually got hurt when he stepped on a loose wooden plank. It flipped up and landed on his other foot, which was really painful. It’s not something you’d expect at a hotel, and I really hope they fix it before someone else gets seriously injured. Breakfast: Breakfast was actually a pleasant surprise! We got to choose between Americano coffee or fresh orange juice (which was actually fresh-squeezed). The meal came with a plate of fresh fruit, a little yogurt with granola, and a plate of eggs (you could choose how you wanted them) with either spinach or ham. It was simple but really good! If you wanted something extra, you could order a latte or cappuccino for an additional charge. Pier & Common Areas: The pier area is cute, and they have some nice swings there, but like the rest of the hotel, it needs some love. We love that kayak and paddle boards are included and they have a lifeguard on the territory. Overall Thoughts: The service was good, and we didn’t have any issues with that, but the biggest problem was the maintenance and safety of the place. If they put more effort into fixing things up, it could be a really great spot. I really hope they do something about it because, right now, it feels like the property is slowly falling apart. Would we come back? Maybe—but only if they make some real improvements.

Day 1 breakfast was good, service was great. Dinner was terrible. There was only 2 tables. After 25 minutes we had to ask the bar girl to get our waiter so we could order. Took another 35 or longer to get food. They never checked on us. Took longer to pay the bill since it apparently never got put in system. Paid cash so hopefully the hotel got the money. Later that night I got food poisoning. I was throwing up and diarrhea. So bad I messed the sheets a little. I got charged 500 pesos for having them change my sheets because their restaurant gave me bad food poisoning. The faucet water by the bathrooms in the restaurant smelt like sewer. Went to spa to get a tour and possibly get a massage. The spa smelled so bad there was no way we could endure being in there for a massage. There was no hot water, just room temp water for shower. The lightning in bathroom is a joke. Tho it’s unique bungalows, they need a lot of tlc and for goodness sake, do something about the sewer smell. Never coming back. Live Bacalar and the area .