Catalonia Playa Maroma - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

12927 reviews

• 

  Nothing like the pictures or reviews

  7 Friends we booked Catalonia Playa Maroma from November 29-December 5th. We read the reviews and saw the beach pictures decided it was the perfect place to spend our vacation. We got 4 rooms. We were all so excited to start our vacation. Whe we arrived at the hotel. We had to drag our luggage inside ourselves, while few of the workers just looked at us. We got to the reception desk to check in, there were 4-5 workers standing around and ignoring us. At this point I was annoyed. It was my 6th visit to Playa Del Carmen and never have been ignored or treated this way. 2 of the girls were trying not to laugh. I had chosen and booked this hotel telling my friends how beautiful and friendly people were and it said 5 stars. Forget 4 stars, I wouldn't give this hotel 3 stars. Every hotel I visited we were greeted with cold drinks and with a smiling faces. But this one we had to ask. Finally one of the personnel brought us warm drinks because I said so. They took forever to check us in. We asked if we can be in the same building or stay close to each other. We were spread all over the place. Rooms were midiocre, not 5star quality. I regretted not staying at one of the previous hotels I had stayed at(Rui, Allegro Blue Coral, Turquaz). We decided we should make reservation at the specialty restaurants We were told because there were 7 of us we couldn't sit together , they would have to split us to 2 seperate tables. This was the boiling point. I asked if family of 6 came with 4 kids would the kids sit at a seperate table, I wanted to talk to the manager. We were told manager was gone for the day and it wasn't even 3 in the afternoon yet. We decided to make the best of our vacation and went to our rooms. one of the rooms smelled of mold it was so strong, they had to change it 4 times. One of the rooms smelled of cigarettes. thank god they changed it. We had to go to the guest services next day to make restaurant reservations. After sitting with them for 2 hours we were able to make reservation. House keeping was wonderful. Cecilia our house keeper had the brightest smile and always asked if we needed anything. Beach was beautiful and was cleaned every night. grounds were nice. Animation team, can't say much, it seemed they were there to entertain themselves. We sat and watched them dance. They took up the whole dance floor by the beach and didn't try to get others involved in their dance. As I said before Every vacation Ive been at animation personnel always made sure to include everyone, Shows at the theater weren't that exciting either. We went everynight hoping for something different but left in the middle like most people did. As you noticed I didn't give any names of the personnel but our house keeper who made our stay pleasant because we don't want anyone jobless. I just wish rest of the crew could be trained better and more friendly.

  Dec 10, 2025
• 

  1 week at Catalonia playa Maroma

  We stayed for a week at Catalonia Playa Maroma and the experience truly exceeded our expectations. To be transparent, we booked this trip through a bargain Air Canada Vacation package and, based on reviews, we expected something modest for the price point. What we actually received was far better. Beach and Atmosphere The beach is one of the nicest I have ever been to, genuinely stunning every single day. Soft sand, clear water, beautiful scenery, and a peaceful atmosphere made this a highlight of the entire trip. Beloved Upgrade Upgrading to Beloved was absolutely worth it just for the food alone. We never even set foot inside the buffet once, simply because there’s a la carte access for breakfast and lunch and they were exceptional. You also get free room service as a privileged member. For the leader half the week we opted for fruit platters for breakfast every day before heading out to the à la carte restaurant for proper lunch.  Food Quality The food was the biggest surprise of the entire stay. It far exceeded our expectations. The steaks alone were comparable to, if not better than, what we would get at places like The Keg or Earls back home, with juicier flavours and more careful preparation. Another bonus that many guests may not know is that you can order multiple mains at any of the à la carte restaurants. We often ordered two or three each simply because everything was that good and we were hungry!!! (We ordered every entree on the menu for the Tapa restaurant 😂). Paired with unlimited wine and excellent service, meals were consistently a highlight. Service The service was outstanding. While we are generally not fans of tipping culture at home, here we genuinely wanted to tip because of how professional, attentive, and warm the staff were. It would be unfair to highlight only a few, because almost every server we encountered delivered exceptional service. Room Quality The only minor downside was the room. The one we stayed in felt slightly outdated, and the air conditioning unit was louder than expected. That said, it worked properly, the bedding was comfortable, and housekeeping was reliable. Overall Impression Overall, we would rate our stay 9 out of 10. The beach, food, service, and value made this one of our favourite vacations, and we will definitely return in the future. Highly recommended. ⸻ PS regarding restaurant reservations and the Beloved upgrade: Some reviews mention difficulties with restaurant bookings, and this is partially true. If you upgrade to Beloved (Privileged), you gain access to the exclusive Beloved restaurant, which offers à la carte breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This restaurant alone is worth the upgrade. The food quality is superb, the service is excellent, and the best part is that it is almost always empty, meaning you can book it easily with many time slots available. We went there twice for dinner and nearly every day for breakfast and lunch because it was consistently outstanding. For the other à la carte restaurants, we did experience some difficulty booking at peak hours, but we still managed to secure reservations for most places, including the steakhouse, Italian, and tapas restaurants, without major issues. We chose to upgrade because the price difference for us was only about 150 dollars per person, and based on our experience, it transformed our dining experience completely. If you find a good deal, we would 100 percent recommend upgrading. It made such a difference that we would absolutely upgrade again on a future trip.

  Dec 10, 2025
• 

  Very poor quality

  We are staying here until this Saturday, and it’s important to share that this resort is not living up to the price it charges. The worst part is the food: at the buffet, it is repetitive at every meal, with no quality or care whatsoever. There is variety, yes, but everything is clearly the cheapest and lowest quality available. The à la carte restaurants are the same — not in quantity, but extremely poor in quality. Lunch by the pool: pizza with raw dough, served cold, and nothing about it resembles a properly cooked pizza. Bed: what initially seemed like mosquito bites turned out to be flea bites from the lack of hygiene in the mattresses. We complained, but nothing was done. Positives: Large rooms, fantastic beach. You have better options for the same price and beautiful beach. Please see comments before booking. Dont chose thos one. My honest opoinion

  Dec 04, 2025
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  Lovely staff and location..

  This is our second Catalonia experience in Riviera Maya and white there are areas for improvement, the trip was still lovely. Before I get to the pros and cons I need to start off with the staff. Thank you to Roberto for expediting our checkin on arrival day when one of group members started to feel ill and needed to lay down - greatly appreciated! Yolanda kept our room clean and tidy esch day and made sure we had everything we needed! Dianadria (not sure I spelt that right) was fantastic at the Italian and Bloved restaurants Giovanni was our main guy at the pool and beach bar - kept the best drinks and shots coming even during the thunderstorm.. he also put up with our groups shenanigans. His side kick Antonio was also an all star throughout the week! Lastly a big thank you to Carlos and Alejandro at the Lobby Bar and Night Club shaking cocktails like nobody else ! Now the Pros and Cons The resort grounds are beautiful and meticulously maintained by staff. The Main walkway from the lobby to the beach / rooms is very jungle like and beautiful- but because of this- BRING BUG SPRAY those suckers will get you good. (Alao a snake fell out of a tree and smacked my husband in the arm - he didnt think it was funny.. the rest of our group did) We decided to do the Privilege Superior room and loved its layout, bed, pillows and close proximity to the beach and restaurants (Building 5). The food at all of the restaurants was great - our fave was the Italian and Mexican. The buffet has a lot of options however it does not change very often..but nice to have variety ( we liked the sushi). The beach is beautiful- truly where we spent a majority of our time. Do note that some guests encountered jellyfish and one a stingray. The pool was excellent lots of room and chairs. The feedback: Compared to the other Catalonia near by this resort seems to lack entertainment and by that I mean the other Catalonia had FANTASTIC cruise like shows with costumes and props and here rhe staff did their best. The rock show and fantasia were great. The night club mever really got going.. probably because the DJ is upstairs and not approachable to take requests.. playing the same playlist over and over...which is likely no one joined in. We were told you needed reservations for dinner at BLoved.. so we made one.. and still ended up waiting 20 minutes as it seemed as though walk ins were being taken still. The 24/7 room service was bad.. we ordered once for dinner.. the options are not good..i mean you cant even order fries! just a basket of fries that takes 2 minutes to make. Same with the "late night snack bar" - definitely needs improvement. While we did pay for a couples massage.. we did not do our water circuit that was included...we saw the "spa" and decided it wasnt worth it.. which again is disappointing because the spa at the other Catalonia was awesome! Another let down as a Privilege member. Lastly... this is our second time as Privilege members and our second time being denied late check out.. we were told we had to check at 9 AM the day of checkout if it was available.. but Im prettt sure they can see their reservations a week out... so of course we go down, wait in line and were told no late check out... which is unfortunate given our flight was not until 10 PM and we were at the resort all day swimming and sweatinf with no where to shower or clean up before check out... All in all it was good trip thanks to the staff above, the beach and the weather holding out and staying sunny - however, we likely will choose some of the other resorts in the area over another Catalonia who's Upgraded packages actually give guests their moneys worth.

  Nov 12, 2025
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  Little piece of paradise

  This is a beautiful hotel, set in fabulous grounds and staffed by an absolutely brilliant team. The long driveway leads you wondering what’s at the end but nothing prepares you for the gorgeous open lobby with its little pools and fountains and central open garden feature. The concierges that meet you are delightful - nothing is too much trouble! We were checked in quickly and given a welcome drink. We had asked for a ground floor room on medical grounds and as we checked in, a lovely gentleman from Guest Services approached my husband, asked him if there was anything more he may need and to contact him directly if there was. We thought that was a very lovely, genuine touch. Our room was spacious and gave plenty of room for us all (myself, husband and our teenage son). The fridge was restocked daily and the room staff left us with fabulous ‘towel animals’ each day- complete with hibiscus flowers! The pool area is brilliant. The pool is huge and has plenty of variation in depth- from ankle depth right up to 2m Plenty of sun beds both around the pool and on the beach. We had Privilege access and the beach area for Privilege has hammocks (which we loved!) There are 7 or 8 restaurants to choose from for your evening meal. We ate at most of them and the food at each one is fantastic. It is hard to say that any one is better than the other- they genuinely are all amazing- but there is one chef who was stand out for us. I believe he is the chef at the Italian restaurant, we ate there (it’s was superb), a couple of nights later we ate at BLoved and the skillet dish was incredible - the chef came out to say hello- the following night we were back at the Italian and saw the same chef. Apparently when one restaurant team has a night off, they are covered by the team from one of the others. The Italian team were covering BLoved for their night off- as such we got the same chef. No idea of his name but his food is exceptional. Another special mention needs to go to the Entertainment team. These ladies and gents work so very hard. They were fun, upbeat and full of entertainment options for everyone. Having watched aqua Zumba and the fun games, we joined in making paper tissue marigolds for Day of the Dead celebrations - there really is something for everyone! From beach or pool volleyball, dance competitions, pool parties, water pistol fights to yoga, arts and crafts and evening productions/ the entertainment team were fantastic. (Note we are not loud music, party kind of people but none of this was intrusive and it was so much fun to watch). As others have said, the service and friendliness from everyone you encounter at the resort is first rate. It was a privilege to meet everyone and be welcomed so warmly. It is a beautiful resort full of absolutely fabulous people. The wildlife is crazy- literally! A bunch of coatis stole my bag from under my sunbed and emptied it among the bushes- all in search of the crushed Trevor mint that was squashed in the bottom! Coatis, raccoons, capibaras, frogs ,hummingbirds- a proper little paradise. We consider ourselves quite well travelled and the Catalonia Playa Maroma gave us one of the best holidays we have had.

  Nov 11, 2025