Originally I was planning to write a review of the Grand Palladium Kantenah resort near Akumal, Mexico in the Riveria Maya. Unfortunately we ran into quite a few issues at the property so here I am writing up some of the reasons I’d avoid this property in the future.
Our Stay
Our group was ten people booked across four separate hotel rooms (three children and seven adults). I made our booking in November 2024 directly with Grand Palladium via phone (their website couldn’t handle a reservation with more than two rooms). We stayed for seven nights in June 2024 and ended up spending about half the nights at the Grand Palladium Kantenah and half at the Grand Palladium White Sands. It’s worth noting that both of these properties are part of the larger five resort complex at the Grand Palladium Riveria Maya so I think it is reasonable to extrapolate our experience out to the all of the resorts at this property as many amenities are shared.
We had some good experiences at these properties but we experienced major problems and I encourage you to avoid these properties unless you are going in with very low expectations. How bad were the issues? Well, a couple of months ago I reviewed the Sunscape Sabor Resort in Cozumel, and while it didn’t blow me away, it was overall a much better experience than the Grand Palladium.
So, why do I think you should skip the Grand Palladium resort on the Riveria Maya?
1. Staff Lied to Us And Then We Weren’t Allowed to Leave the Resort
We were verbally told multiple times a service was free. When we went to checkout we were charged for the service. The front desk said there was no way to dispute the charge. We were not allowed to check out and leave the property until we paid the fradulent charge under duress.
2. No Air Conditioning for 24 Hours
It was 100+ degree heat index and there was no air conditioning at the entire Kantenah/Colonial/Family Selection resort. Some beach resorts don’t really need AC, but the Grand Palladium does as most of the rooms are nestled into a jungle area set back from the beach where there is no sea breeze. I do understand that sometimes things break – but how you handle the issue matters. Handling of the situation was extremely poor. They never told customers the AC was out unless you complained. Rooms had no fans and were drenched in moisture. There was no effort on the part of the hotel to establish cooling stations or proactively try to move people to other properties with AC (the White Sands and TRS parts of the resort still had AC and after numerous hours of discussion they did finally agree to move us to the White Sands, though not without additional problems during the move).
3. Multiple Other Room Maintenance Issues
In room safes that were not reliable even after maintenance said they were fine. Highly variable water temperatures, missing trash cans, water not available at one point, and rain causing a puddle on the floor to name a few. Oh, and did I mention room keys that just stopped working and a room that had a huge pile of dust in the middle of the floor? It just seems like maintenance is secondary and/or corners are being cut.
4. The Bog of Eternal Stench
Have you ever visited Yellowstone National Park or another geothermal area? If so you’d recognize the sulfurous stench that was emanating from the lagoon beside the lobby at the Grand Palladium White Sands. Some days it was so bad that as we walked through the area my 8 year old daughter was clutching my shirt to her nose to avoid breathing in the awful smell.
5. Drug Dealers On The Beach
While the beach area is one of the highlights of the resort, it too has its problems. Members of our group were offered cuban cigars, marijuana, and cocaine numerous times by individuals on the beach while sitting in the resort provided chairs.
6. They Overbook Their Restaurant Reservations
Since there were ten of us we had to make reservations at the ala carte restaraunts we wanted to eat at, reasonable enough. They allowed us to book reservations two days in advance at 8AM by going to the coneirge in the lobby (if you join their timeshare program or buy an upgraded room then you can book a week in advance, which we found out the hard way when we couldn’t get a reservation we wanted). As such someone in the group had to be there at 8AM most days to get reservations. So, it is frustrating that then you get to a restaurant and are told they double booked the table.
7. Used Cooking Oil Spilled At Our Feet
We were happy to be able to book one of the Teppanyaki show tables during our stay, even if we couldn’t get all ten of us at the same table thanks to not having bought a high enough end room. Unfortunately as we sat down at the table we noticed a pool of oil draining out from the table at our feet. This did eventually get cleaned up but our dinner started about 30 minutes late and the show was shortened to avoid making things even later for the next seating.
8. Our Worst Check In Experience At An All Inclusive
They mixed up room assignments, didn’t offer us any sort of welcome drink/snack, focused on selling us upgrades, and didn’t provide us with basic resort information. Oh, and they almost forgot to give us towel cards – and if you lose those cards or a towel it will cost you $30/card at checkout.
9. Incompetent Front Desk/Concierge Staff
There were numerous incidents where we were told something by these teams and it didn’t happen close to when we were told – or it didn’t happen at all. One example was a golf cart to pick us and our luggage up at checkout. They never showed up and we had to walk instead.
10. You Are The Product, Not the Customer
Finally, it is worth stating that this resort is chock full of upsells to an extent I’ve never experienced before. There are things like the typical wine list upsell from the poor house red/white. But expect to be hit up 10+ times a day by people selling timeshares, wanting to take photos for you, or selling a snorkeling trip. Oh, and then there’s the quarter of a large pool they have dedicated to a waterpark that you have to pay to use. While this is an all inclusive resort it frequently just doesn’t feel like it because of all the add ons that are being sold.
Final Thoughts
It’s clear based on the many positive reviews on Google and Tripadvisor that not everyone has the same poor experience that we did at the Grand Palladium Kantenah. Honestly, I’m very happy about that as vacations should be relaxing and enjoyable!
I do think one of the issues we ran into is that this resort is very poor at dealing with a bigger groups (which is frankly baffling as the place is huge). As such, I do think if you only have a single room your experience would be better. That said, a lot of what we experienced (eg. maintenance problems, lack of knowledgeable/helpful staff, awful smells, drug dealers on the beach, etc) are going to be problems no matter how many people are in your group.
And maybe my expectations were just too high? I guess that’s possible, but ultimately I don’t think so. The Grand Palladium promotes themselves as a five star resort and didn’t come anywhere close to that standard. In the end it doesn’t matter for us as we won’t be back. I hope what I’ve outlined above is helpful for you in deciding if this is the right place for you on your next trip.
