Mayan Palace

I just stayed at Mayan Palace this past week as part of the Living Social SFX resorts package that was offered some time back. When I booked, I initially thought it was for the NEW Mayan Palace in Puerto Vallarta which is also part of Vida, but when the confirmation came through it was for this one in Nuevo Vallarta which is probably the oldest building in the Vidanta resort. Checking in was a mess and took about an hour, due to lack of communication with the reserving company.
The room accommodations are good, for the deal price paid. It is not really worth the price if you pay list though, 3 star at most similar to your generic Comfort or Holiday Inn. The beds are hard and a small full size, not queen as indicated. The room was clean, and maintained well.
Noise was a terrible problem here, I guess the rooms on the upper floors are being remodeled, so there was jack hammers starting at 8am that went all the way until about 6pm every day, it made being in the room excruciatingly loud. The walls are paper thin as well, could hear the lady in the next room over constantly complaining to her husband about something or other.
The grounds are beautiful, but totally artificial. If I wanted to vacation with a bunch of entitled pompous rich gringos playing golf, I could have gone to pebble beach. I’m 33yo and can tell you I was the youngest person there the whole time besides the workers! This is in no way a good place to stay if you want the true Mexican experience. I had much more fun a short drive up to Bucarias, which is where I’ll definitely be staying next time. It seems Vidanta makes it especially difficult to leave the property once you are there, it takes 20+ minutes of walking from the hotel just to retrieve your car, then another 15 minutes just to drive back to the main gate down a meandering road.
Food on site is top notch and high quality, but expect to pay $ 30−40USD per meal if you eat here. I found similar quality in Zona Romantica for about half the price.
The use of pools is stupid, it’s one huge resort, but if you stay at Mayan Palace, you aren’t allowed to use any of the other «new» pools that are for the newer hotels on the resort property, even though they are closer to you. You can only use them if you want to be sucked into the 6 hour timeshare nightmare presentation, which thankfully nobody bothered telling us about because we didn’t meet the demographic, even probably possessing more net worth than half of the people we saw getting the sales pitch.
That brings me to the culmination of this post. The Vidanta model is bullshit. They basically put a bunch of people in the Shark Tank at the PV airport to grab unsuspecting travelers and shuttle them off to this place in the middle of seemingly nowhere with the idea of a 1.5 hour «presentation». Day after day I would see older people stuck in this same sham at breakfast, getting this same pitch. «we didn’t pay the people to bring you here, that is their fault, not ours, but while you’re here listen to this». Those people are getting the hard sell, and from what I heard, they ask them for $ 20k upfront and 2k annual dues to enjoy this crap for one week a year for the rest of their lives. This is what pays for all of the ornate grounds, etc. I wouldn’t want to buy into something that still makes me pay exorbitant prices just to use it. Another time share ponzi scheme model.

I am staying at the Mayan Palace Vidanta Nuevo Vallarta. Worst experience ever. They stole from my room $ 280 dollars and $ 2300 pesos. I may have left the safe open but it doesn’t matter they shouldn’t take your money. I thought this was a safe spot know it makes me think the opposite. It’s a nice place but make sure you secure you belongings. They just ruined my vacation! DATE THAT HAPPENED 1÷28÷2016
Me stoy quedando en el Mayan palace Vidanta Nuevo Vallarta la peor experiencia de mi bida. Me robaron de mi cuarto $ 280 dollars y $ 2300 pesos. A lomejor deje la caja fuerte abierta pero eso no inporta no deberian tomar cosas de tu cuarto. Pense que era un lugar seguro haora pienso diferente, es un lugar bonito pero asegurate de guardar tus cosas importantes. Acaban de aruinar mis bacaciones dia que paso 1÷28÷2016

I can’t say enough good things about the Mayan Palace.
Upon arrival, they tag your bags and deliver them to your room and then you get on the tram that travels around to the different resorts 24 hours a day. You switch trams at Santuario and take the tram to Mayan Palace. Check-​in was easy. They even exchange money for you at the front desk if you forgot to exchange elsewhere. There is a computer lab, fitness room, massage rooms, and other things on the main floor. The lobby is not enclosed so the air from outside blows through the lobby which is actually pretty refreshing.
The rooms we had were amazing. It was a double suite with 4 beds total and then two couches that also had pull out beds hidden under them. So the room easily sleeps at least 12 people or more because you could even be comfortable sleeping on the floor. The room had a kitchenette, refrigerator, all the utensils, and microwave. There was also a sink off the living space for those that were staying on the pull out beds so that you wouldn’t have to wait for the bathrooms to clear out just to brush your teeth. Also, the Wi-​Fi was amazing.
We were closer to the ground floor so you didn’t get as great a view as if you were up higher but that was ok. Mayan Palace is in close proximity to the building with shops to suit your needs if you forgot something at home or if you just want a snack later in the evening. The shops have clothes, froyo, a chocolatier, patisserie, a candy shop, a liquor store with local specialties, a meat/​cheese store, health & beauty aides and souvenirs, and an almost full grocery store with an ATM. You really didn’t have to go far to get what you need and it’s all reasonably prices in pesos. The outside and fountains are of course very well kept.
It’s also in very close proximity to all the restaurants and breakfast buffet as well as a short walk to the beach. It’s really a beautiful resort. The service is super great too as many are fluent in more than one language and they really seem to try hard to get exactly what you’re asking for. It felt super luxurious to stay here. I really could get used to that.