Guest Check: Belmond Maroma
A true Mexican oasis that's easy to reach, but there's still some room for improvement
Welcome to Guest Check, a series where I review the most hyped-up hotels, restaurants, and hotspots worldwide to see if they’re really worth the buzz.
Guest Check started as a restaurant-only review series a few months back, but because I travel a lot (obviously), I wanted to expand it to fit the overall Mindholiday ethos a bit more. There are so many places that get hyped up – hotels, spas, restaurants, and stores — and one of my duties as a travel advisor is to tell readers which spots are truly worth the $$$ and which ones you should avoid.
The first hotel to be put under the Guest Check stress test is the Belmond Maroma in Mexico. It’s a buzzy hotspot that seemingly everyone in the travel planning space is lusting after, and for good reason. The property recently underwent a massive renovation after LVMH acquired Belmond, and then it was promptly awarded two Michelin Keys when it reopened (think Michelin stars but for hotels). Because of all of the chatter, my expectations were sky-high when booking a stay here to celebrate our first wedding anniversary. I expected unbelievable service, incredible food, and serious attention to detail, and I took notes on everything throughout my two-day stay.
The Property: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Belmond Maroma sits along a stunning stretch of the Riviera Maya, about 30 minutes south of Cancun airport, making it an easy trip for East Coasters. Yes, you do have to deal with the absolute hellscape that is Cancun customs and border patrol, which can take over an hour and cost you your sanity, but on the other side? Paradise.
It’s wild to think that just up the road, people are doing body shots at Señor Frog’s, yet here, you’re enveloped in jungle foliage, coatis and lizards running around, and calming energy pulsing through the resort. There are several types of gorgeous orchids growing on the trees, and everything smells like petrichor in the best way possible.
The property is small and easily walkable. You can borrow bikes to get around, but I genuinely don’t know where you’d ride them.
The beach itself is postcard perfect. Soft white sand, clear turquoise water, and no loud, obnoxious crowds. The beach is great for morning and afternoon walks. I highly recommend walking left when strolling the beach; while you’ll pass some abandoned resort buildings, the stretch is completely empty and peaceful and not filled with loud vacationers.
There’s a gorgeous gym + spa on site, with all of the essentials. That said, the gym is on the very small side, and each morning, there was a 30 minute wait to use the two treadmills. Not ideal, but doable.
Would I bring young kids here? No. While there are some kid-friendly options, this place screams romantic couples’ retreat. The crowd skews a bit on the older side, though there was a gorgeous, younger, rich influencer I’m familiar with staying on property with her family while we were there, and we became BFFs with her cute kids, who kept complimenting my outfits (slay!)… but I could tell she was stressed out that her kids kept running up and interrupting us. As parents, we didn’t mind, but there’s truly not much here to keep little ones occupied.
The Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A week before arrival, I had to reach out to the Belmond myself to provide our arrival details and access the pre-arrival form. I thought this was weird, usually high end hotels are proactive about reaching out to guests/travel advisors for these details. The pre-arrival form asked about dietary restrictions, any special occasions we were celebrating, and even our pillow preferences (there were seven listed pillow options! Much appreciated, as I have pillow OPINIONS).
I’ve heard that all guests receive a pre-arrival playlist, but we were never sent this, which I was a bit sad about as a music girlie.
A beautiful touch: Upon arrival, you're greeted with a Mayan cleansing ceremony using copal, a Mexican incense burned during indigenous ceremonies — a lovely ritual that instantly resets your energy for a relaxing stay. It’s burned out of an ancestral Quetzalcoatl copalera, shaped like an animal head. If you’re allergic to smoke or sensitive to incense, you might want to say something, but I enjoyed it.
After the ceremony, we were intercepted by Jean-Luc, an incredibly kind staff member who gave us a detailed tour of the property and checked us in directly in our room — a vastly superior experience to sweating at a front desk while they scan your passport.
Inside the room, we found anniversary welcome gifts: fresh chips and guacamole, chocolates made in house, and crunchy crickets (which I ate, because yes I am an insect freak). All of the delicious food was appreciated after a long morning of travel, and really started off the trip on the right foot.
After check-in, you can contact your personal host via WhatsApp, which is great when you have quick questions about scheduling spa appointments or moving dinner reservations.
That said, service slipped a bit after check-in. Despite the pre-arrival form, our requested firm pillows weren’t in the room, and when we called, we were told they actually didn’t have any. The guy on the phone said they never had firm enough pillows for most of the guests and they got constant complaints. Ok dude!
Food service was slow at times, and we had to ask multiple times for basics like salt, pepper, and water. If I am paying a pretty penny to stay in a LVMH property, I expect all of my needs to be anticipated and promptly met.
One thing I did appreciate were the little beach treats they brought around every afternoon. One was a delicious mandarin sorbet, but another was a bit of a flop — the smallest piece of unripe watermelon I’ve ever received. Still, I love a surprise and delight moment, and to me something is better than nothing, but the execution could and should be better.
The Room: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks to my Mindholiday perks, we were upgraded from a lower level garden facing room to one overlooking the ocean and adults-only pool. The view was absolutely incredible, and the room was spacious and well-appointed, featuring a gorgeous (not so mini) bar setup, a roomy bathroom, and thoughtful amenities like straw hats, caftans, sandals, and a beach bag to borrow, perfect if your luggage gets lost and you still want to hit the beach ASAP.
A big win: The TV in the room actually worked for casting. I’m not a huge TV-on-vacation person, but when I’m sun drunk and exhausted after dinner, I like to fall asleep to my favorite nature show, Wild Babies. Most hotels claim to have easy streaming and then totally botch it, but this one was seamless and super easy to use.
The downsides? The room was very, very dark. The covered balcony made the interior feel cavelike, and the ceilings were lower than I prefer. If you’re booking, I highly recommend asking your travel advisor to request a top-floor, end unit for maximum light. Also, it was impossible to keep the bathroom light on overnight without having other lights turned on. I really hate stumbling through the dark for a 4AM pee, but maybe that’s a me problem.
The Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
With two Michelin Keys, I had extremely high hopes for the food. While it was fairly good, it wasn’t blow-your-mind amazing, and without pictures and referring back to the menus online, I’d struggle to remember anything specific I ate.
Breakfast at Casa Mayor was a solid, largely thanks to the off-menu squash blossom quesadillas made right in front of you by Maria, who hand-presses the freshest tortillas. These are a must. The chocolate croissant, paired with their green juice, was an unbelievably solid way to start the day after a workout. Balance.
Between the two dinner restaurants, Casa Mayor and Woodend, I preferred the more upscale Woodend. The Belmond makes a huge deal of Woodend — the chef is Curtis Stone, a Michelin starred restaurateur from Australia. His name is everywhere, but he is obviously nowhere to be found. Woodend is focused around wood fired cooking techniques. The flavors were bold, and the menu items were more interesting than other offerings at the property. For me, the best bite of the trip was the gnocchi with nopal and hoja santa — peppery, creamy, and vegetal in all of the right ways.
Casa Mayor lacked creativity and felt more like the family restaurant, although I love that they kept all of the windows open in the dining room, allowing the sea view and breeze to permeate. The food was fresh and well-executed, but nothing was particularly exciting, except for the lava cake dessert, which was so good we ordered it via room service after dinner at Woodend on our last night. I will say that both restaurants had an orgasmic bread service with butter and several dips, which I scarfed down in its entirety. I’ll never turn down a grand display of free pre-meal carbs, especially on vacation.
The food by the pool and at the beach was great. During the day, we basically thrived off of delicious ceviche, Topo Chico, chips, and guacamole. No complaints here, but also nothing completely standout.
At night, we enjoyed mocktails while playing Backgammon at Bambuco, the bar near the pool. Their cocktail list was designed by Handshake Speakeasy out of CDMX, ranked the #1 best bar in the world in 2024. I didn’t drink anything alcoholic, so I can’t speak to their menu curation, but the virgin mojitos I slurped down hit different.
The Spa: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Though I didn’t book any treatments, the spa environment itself was incredible. The thermal pools are outside in a bullseye formation, featuring a room-temp pool, a hot tub, and a cold plunge in the middle, alongside a steam room, and a sauna… the perfect self-guided spa experience. I didn’t take pics of this, as to me it seems rather invasive to bring cameras into relaxing spaces, especially when other guests are enjoying themselves.
There’s also a gorgeous small plunge pool that anyone can use, right smack under one of the oldest trees on property. It kind of felt like an Instagram trap, but I had a blast waterboarding myself under the fountain after taking a garden gummy.
It was so nice to be outside enjoying these amenities! I feel like often at hotels, the spa stuff is located in the triple lower level of the cave suite where no light can enter, so to be able to cold plunge while staring at banyan trees and vines was a welcome change.
The Value: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is a gorgeous resort with a hefty price tag. While the service and food didn’t fully justify the cost, the setting, amenities, and overall experience mostly made up for it. That said, I recognize that this is not an affordable option to most travelers unless it’s a very special occasion, and I think they have work to do in order to justify the insane price. More special touches and moments of surprise are needed, and they need to work on the service a bit.
Rooms start at around $1100/night.
Complimentary perks when booking through Mindholiday:
Complimentary room upgrade to next category, subject to availability
Early check-in / Late check-out, subject to availability
Complimentary breakfast for 2 daily
Welcome amenities in room upon arrival
$100 resort credit per stay
With breakfast free and the resort credit, we saved ~$250 on food. Not bad!
That said, I can’t stop mentally comparing the value of every single hotel I stay at in Mexico to my favorite Mexican hotel, Cuixmala. It hasn’t been awarded Michelin keys, and yet it’s the prettiest, most well-run property I’ve ever stayed at, and I’ve been dying to go back ever since. They will make you any food item you want (request their off menu breakfast tacos), all of the produce and flowers used are grown on property, the tennis court is a hidden gem, and the beaches are so remote that only guests staying at the property can access them. You never have to charge anything to the room, or sign a bill. It’s all taken care of for you, and they know your name wherever you go. It’s a completely secluded paradise, and I think I’ll have to make a return pilgrimage next year. I probably won’t write a Guest Check about it though, because I really don’t want it to blow up in popularity.
Easter Eggs
Order the off menu squash blossom quesadilla at breakfast. They don’t really advertise any of their breakfast quesadillas, but they are a necessity.
We weren’t shown this in the property tour, but climb the stairs and go to the tower/bridge for an unbelievable view of the ocean. I would imagine sunrises are insane here! Ask a staff member if you can’t find it, we found it accidentally on the last day.
In the nightstand drawer along with the room service menu is gorgeous Belmond stationery you can take home as a keepsake. It’s sort of hidden, and I found it at the end of the trip. I’m planning on using mine in my scrapbook journal to remember our stay!
Final Verdict
The Belmond Maroma is an oasis, perfect for couples who want peace, luxury, and a stunning beach. The service was very good but not flawless, and while the food was solid, it wasn’t quite next-level.
Would I return? Maybe, for a short stay. It’s super easy to get to, with its close proximity to the Cancun airport, and the beach is stunning. Would I say it’s a must-visit? If you’re looking for three days of total relaxation in a beautiful, easy to reach setting, sure. Just temper expectations on service and food if you’re expecting true Michelin-level excellence.
This one is Guest Check approved, but I think a few changes need to be made.
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