My Holiday Getaway at UNICO 20°87° Riviera Maya

Hi friends!

Happy New Year! I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday season and is starting 2019 with a bang. I definitely took time off to relax and refocus, which included spending a few days in Mexico, at UNICO 20°87° Riviera Maya, before Christmas. My husband and I love a good beach getaway, and flying to Cancun is super quick and easy for us, so we have made it an annual holiday tradition to go there before Christmas.

We have tried a few different resorts including the Overwater Palafitos at El Dorado Maroma, the Imperial Suite with private pool at the Finest Playa Mujeres, and most recently the One Bedroom Estancia Suite at UNICO 20°87° Riviera Maya. We generally select the highest level of accommodations as this trip is our Christmas gift to ourselves, and it also allows us to compare the same level/type of product and service across the board. So without further adieu, I’ll dive right into the review of our stay at UNICO 20°87° Riviera Maya!

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Accommodations

First and foremost, the accommodations were beautiful at UNICO 20°87° Riviera Maya. I really loved the style and aesthetics of the rooms and resort. However, we did have an issue with our room, and that kind of got us off on the wrong foot. While we were given the room type we booked, we happened to get the worst possible room in that category, which had an enclosed balcony since it was above one of the restaurants. The solid wall that enclosed the balcony did not afford any ocean or beach views when sitting on the balcony or inside; you literally could only see the ocean if you were standing up. It was very disappointing to get assigned this room. I called the front desk twice to see about a room change, and one alternate option was a room with palm trees completely blocking the ocean view and very little light, it was worse than the concrete wall view we currently had, if you can believe that. After calling again and being told there was no other units of our room type available, I ended up asking our host (each room gets a host assigned as a point of contact), to help us out. Initially she said she didn’t deal with reservations, but I explained that I had reached out twice to the front desk with no luck, and I was hoping she could look into it for us. Well, either she had some strong pull and/or maybe they realized I wasn’t going to let it go, but they moved us to a fabulous direct ocean front one bedroom suite unit, with the normal open/glass wall balcony, that “somehow” just became available. This move completely turned our trip around. We finally were able to settle in, and start enjoying our vacation. I know some people wouldn’t care too much about the balcony issue, but we always go for the top tier room and expect top tier accommodations, view and all, since that is what we are paying for. I feel like it should be noted that that room type has the option of having an enclosed balcony, it is such a disappointment for anyone who ends up with that room. I was even considering downgrading rooms to move from that enclosed balcony, but luckily we didn’t have to. While it was an inconvenience and struggle to get the right room, in the end it worked out and just goes to show that you have to be your own advocate and don’t be afraid to ask (and continue asking) for what you want and deserve.

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Here’s a link to a video walk through, showing both our original room and the balcony of our new room.

As you can see having the open/glass balcony was honestly a necessity!

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So once the room situation was settled, we set out to explore the property and get some food!

Beach

We are 100% beach bums, and usually park ourselves next to the ocean on vacation. Unfortunately, the beach was super small and the water had so many rocky areas that it was really easy to hurt yourself. The beach setup only had chairs, no beds or cabanas, and we got mixed info about drink and food service availability. Sadly, we only spent a few hours by the beach on this trip, but we were still able to get some fun photos! 🙂

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Food

Ok, onto the food, I will say that the food was better than I expected. With all inclusive resorts, you kind of go in knowing food won’t be the best, but you’re also hoping it’s not the worst. I was pleasantly surprised by the food here. On the first day we tried their lunch buffet where you could also order sushi, which I defintiely enjoyed. Service was iffy; twice we ordered stuff that never made it to our table, and some of the servers seemed a bit absent minded but friendly enough. We had breakfast in the room twice and went to the breakfast buffet once; both were decent with a good selection of items and fresh fruit and juices. As for drinks, there were plenty of bars to frequent, and service at the pool was quick and easy. At other resorts, we’ve had full bottles of liquor available and readily restocked in our rooms, but here they only provided soft drinks and beer in the rooms. We had to call room service for replenishments too. Prior to arrival, they send an email allowing you to customize your stay, and select your preferred arrival beverage and mini-bar drinks. I submitted my requests, but there was no welcome drink when we got there, and mini-bar preferences were not tailored, just the basic varieties. Also, they advertised that you could pick your choice of room aromatherapy and pillows – which was awesome, but there was no way to actually request these prior to your arrival, and we found out when we got there, that they don’t do aromatherapy anymore, so I think details like that fall through the cracks and don’t get updated on the website… I think attention to detail is one of the shortfalls of all these all-inclusive resorts; there really needs to be someone to check in with guests prior to their arrival and make sure that any questions and preferences are taken care of AND/OR let the guests know what they can and cannot expect; managing expectations is absolutely critical for success in any business. I think there is such a huge gap there and a resort that takes the initiative on this will really put themselves above every other option out there. I think this is especially important for folks who pay top dollar for an amazing room and experience; there really should be someone available to them to coordinate everything from the get go.

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Spa

So, one of the really nice amenities that UNICO 20°87° Riviera Maya offers is included spa services along with other activities. I think this is genius. I always spend time at the spa on vacations and the fact that they include certain spa and beauty services charged at only a 20% service fee is really cool. My husband and I got massages every day and they were around $45 each. Keep in mind only some services are included in this offering, but a basic 50 minute massage for that price is great. If you wanted more intense or specialty massages/treatments, those were at regular price, but they had a nice variety of options that were included, so you could easily take advantage of the opportunity. The spa had small locker rooms for men and women. One thing I noticed was that they kept the door open to the women’s room from the hallway. Oddly the spa manager’s office was right outside the women’s locker room, and staff would be walking back and forth in front of the open door. I thought it was weird, and maybe just a one-off thing, but it was that way for the 3 days I went to the spa. Also, they had a sauna, plunge pool and outdoor lounge area with small pool, but I did not take advantage of any of those options. We had massages scheduled for the end of the night each night so we just went in for the massages and left. The spa was decorated nicely and I enjoyed the ambiance.

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Final Thoughts

Overall, the trip was a really nice getaway. I was so relieved to have gotten the proper room, and waking up to a beautiful sunrise every morning was just the best. I loved the decor of the rooms and resort, the pools were great, and the spa inclusions were definitely a nice touch. Overall though, I felt service was a little lacking, and could be a bit more fine tuned. Also, it’s something they can’t change, but worth noting that the beach was very small, and the water with all of the rocks, was a bit treacherous. The food was better than expected, and the grounds were very well kept. Although we will try another place in 2019, I would recommend this resort to those looking for a nice all-inclusive experience.

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Hopefully you found this review helpful, if you have any specific questions, I’m happy to answer them, just drop me a comment below. Since I’ll be looking for a new place to try this year, let me know if you have had an amazing experience at a resort in the Cancún area!