Ocean Dream

I have never felt compelled to write a Unilocal review before. This is my first one and I came here specifically to write about this hotel.
My family and I stayed for six nights at Ocean Dream during Cancun’s busy Christmas season, 2015. The hotel is still undergoing renovation and there are roped off areas and a generally unkempt appearance. This is understandable.
There were nuisances from the get-​go. Unlike any other hotel I saw in the Zona Hotelera (Hotel District), every guest at Ocean Dream has to wear a plastic wristband throughout their entire stay. I was so relieved to finally cut off the wristband a week later, at the airport on my way home.
Vicky was the hotel staff in charge of all the condo rooms. While she was sweet, informative, and always prompt before we were in Cancun, upon arrival, it became apparent that she knew little English, so communication was exceedingly difficult. Throughout our stay, we had to use google translate in order to ask for anything.
The bellboy first took us to the wrong room, to a floor where random cleaning supplies were in plain view in the halls. When we finally arrived at our room, it was smaller than expected but the furnishings were nice. Unfortunately, our sheets seemed dirty or badly washed — there was a number written in permanent marker on one side and a brown smudge on the other. Some of the towels had similar small stains. The sheets were also the wrong size for the king bed so kept slipping up the mattress over the course of every night.
There was only one roll of toilet paper to share between the two bathrooms when we arrived. We had to ask for more the next day.
The batteries in the remote controls for two of the three A/​C units were dead. I wound up having to transfer the batteries from one remote to another every time I wanted to adjust the cooling of any room.
The kitchen included useful tools but not any kind of knife bigger than a butter knife for preparing vegetables or meat for cooking.
Appliances generally seemed a bit janky — one of the A/​C units seemed impossible to set at a temperature higher than 27C. Instead of a general wi-​fi password for all devices, we were given one code per device and given five codes — which you’d think would be enough for a family of five, but every person had their own phone plus computer so we had to share. One of the passwords didn’t work at all so we could only connect four devices.
It was strange that the condos were managed just by Vicky out of a hotel room and that there was no other front desk or office that could help us. Luckily she was usually there but sometimes we had to wait to ask for things.
Overall, the hotel contributed negatively to our Cancun experience. I hope that things will improve in the future after the renovations are finished.

Note on 1÷7÷16 — The review below was based on my experience staying here in December 2014. The owner died suddenly and unexpectedly in December 2015 and it is very likely that changes here, for better or worse, will occur or have already occurred.
Ocean Dream Hotel is undergoing extensive remodeling that should be complete in 2015. We were fortunate to be assigned to a room where renovations had only been completed the day prior, so everything in our room was fresh and new.
We had an outstanding visit, and would stay here again. We loved the abundant space, as well as the thoroughly modern kitchen and bathroom. The windows facing the ocean were nice. Hotel staff were friendly and responsive to our requests, and housekeeping did a very nice job maintaining our room. Towel and sheet quality were excellent. The room air conditioner (located in the ceiling) was powerful, but very quiet. The big flat screen TV was great, and there were several Engiish channels.
We were so comfortable at the hotel that one morning we just esconced ourselves in the room and watched episode after episode of «Big Bang Theory». Of course that day, the red flags were flying everywhere on the Cancun beaches, meaning that a relentless heavy southeast wind was making water activities unsafe.
This is a small hotel, with less than 100 rooms. While currently there is not a restaurant nor other shops in the hotel, Ocean Dream is less than five minutes away by foot from Cancun’s nightclub hotspot, where Hard Rock Café, Señor Frog and other über-​popular clubs are situated. Also, the excellent Le Natura restaurant (which is good for breakfast, lunch, dinner and drinks) is located just a few footsteps away from Ocean Dream.
Security is solid at the hotel, both at the entrance on Kukulkan Blvd and on the backside, next to the beach. Visitors cannot enter the property without facing scrutiny. You and your possessions will be safe.