Marival Distinct Residences & Spa - Handwritten Collection - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

5570 reviews

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  Beauty and Fitness!

  From the moment I entered the property, I was mesmerized by the beauty. It has a very peaceful and relaxing atmosphere. Marival Emotions is just a short cart ride away from Distinct, and we attended the amazing NRG 2 GO fitness classes there taught by Madison. The Zumba and Aqua Zumba classes were so enjoyable, we had a great time!

  Feb 20, 2025
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  Not Near as Good as it Once Was

  Aside from the staff, which are fabulous as always, I find the little things that used to make this place stand out just aren’t there anymore. Food options haven’t changed much over the years. Food is good by Mexican resort standards…not great, but good. It speaks to value. This resort used to offer good value — premium price BUT for a premium product. Now the prices continue to increase yet the product continues to diminish year over year. The blended and creative cocktails are delicious. The liquor options are numerous. The one constant in our view. However, water in soft plastic cups that make the water taste funny if it sits for 40 seconds in sunlight—not a big fan. That’s new. We used to get bottled water at the pool or beach. As far as beer options, this place used to have a plethora of options in bottle and can—I’m not a draft beer fan but now they’re pushing draft like every other cheap run of the mill resort. One of the things I used to love about this place was how plentiful canned beer was. Seems to be a lot less canned or bottled beer available now than in past years. Again, speaks to value. They used to serve cocktails in nice glassware(or phaux glass). Now drinks come in the same cheap standard plastic cups you find at cheaper resorts or an elementary school lunchroom. Again, speaks to the value. They used to do a wonderful turndown service. That’s a thing of the past. Again, speaks to value. The steak nights pre-mozza mare were always great with sizzling hot flavourful cast iron bowl fajitas. I find the fajitas at mozza mare to be quite listless. They come on a cold cast iron pan now, purely for show I think. Lacks flavour because of it in my view. My father had chicken on a few different occasions at a few different options and was inedible—80% of it was impossible to chew. We stayed in a room on the main floor that had plumbing in the ceiling above us banging and chirping like crazy assuming every time someone flushed a toilet in the 6 floors above us or something. Made it impossible to sleep in since it was so prevalent early in the morning. The toilet in the main area also didn’t work consistently. Brought it up to staff on day 1. Said they’d send someone to look at it. No idea if they did or not but regardless the toilet wasn’t fixed and continued to be an issue the entire stay. It wasn’t constantly not working, I think that’s the issue. Perhaps they showed up and it flushed well the one time they tried and assumed all was good. Regarding the room, they appear to have added new air conditioners in the rooms that have the temp displayed in large LED letters on the front of the units. If you like sleeping with a nightlight, you might enjoy it, be we aren’t 4 years old. Apparently there is NO WAY to dim or turn those LED digits off. Ridiculous. Who buys units like that for a hotel room where people like to sleep?!? Maintenance ended up having to come and put several strips of heavy tape over the numbers for us so we could get a half decent sleep (until the plumbing issues started every morning at least.) Again, speaks to value. They’ve now added day beds in front of the pool at the beach which detracts from the view unless you’re a person who wants to pay extra money for them. They’ve also added cabanas for an extra charge at the front of the beach, which again, blocks the view for a large number of other patrons. Again, speaks to value. When you’ve spent well over $5000 on a weeks vacation, being asked to pay for spots at the pool or beach is a total slap in the face. I mean, I get having the cabanas, but having put them all in line of vision and in premium spots that detracts from the experience of all the other patrons is a total slap in the face. All in all, many of the things that used to set this place apart other resorts just aren’t there anymore in our view. To think when we started about a decade ago we were paying about $100USD per day for quality that was better then than it is now, for what is now double the price, is quite sad to us. We are Canadian, so at the $198 USD per person, per day (no doubt will be more next year) that we are forking over this year, it works out to approximately $560 CAD of our hard earned money per day for my spouse and I to eat and drink here. I’m not sure about you, but $560 a day on eating out and booze would actually even go quite a decent ways back home, let alone in Mexico. I feel it’s actually insane what they’re charging now for all inclusive fees. Imagine the food and drink you’d get in the PV area at various restaurants if your budget was $560 a day? Honestly we would never eat and drink close to that—even with dining out. Again, all in all, the VALUE is severely lacking now. Period. Cost continues to increase and the things that at one point made this place great are either no more or severely lacking. My honest assessment is that whoever owns this place now is trying to squeeze as much profit out of it while minimizing or eliminating everything else that used to set it apart. Again, sad. We actually spent a week this year at the Riu Palace just down the road. It’s a bit bigger resort, but not massive by any means. The service was great. The food was excellent. The restaurant and food options were numerous daily. Great system too. No reservations. Put name in and get a buzzer and go for drink. Genius. The rooms were excellent. Lots of canned beer, great selection of liquor. Only thing that isn’t great there (compared to Distinct) would be the blended drinks. All of them tasted quite chemically/artificial over there…but that is literally the only thing we didn’t love. The value was EXCEPTIONAL. No one pressuring us to do some stupid sales pitch at check-in. We did a week there for $2450 USD for 2 people. Exceptional value. It honestly might be our new choice over Distinct now, as much as it pains me to say that—again love the staff at Distinct. So many amazing humans there, but the cost / value analysis is just hard to ignore now.

  Feb 19, 2025
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  Romantic couples getaway at Marival residences luxury resort

  This was a really nice spacious hotel room, great service, great drinks, but poor hot tub/ fire pit hours (8&9pm, resp.), & very marginal food. Granted, we are big into quality food and it’s true, there may be even a little bit of food snobbery on our end. So pretend that we are giving 4 1/2 stars here! Depending on what you are looking for in a resort. We very much enjoyed the staff. For the most part, they were excellent. Manuel and Leslie in the wine bar were amazing. Elias provided very attentive and quick poolside service. Fidel Padilla in security was wonderful- great personality and likeability, and very helpful when I misplaced my purse. IMO he ought to be hosting or serving as he would be effective in front-of-house customer service. I would give five stars despite any flaws, as the resort is actually very quiet, relaxing and enjoyable- but as our main focus on any given vacay is trying out the local food (as well as hoping for super high quality for price, it being Mexico), we think it allows for a little room to improve. 4 1/2 stars would’ve been a more accurate rating to give this resort. I know that food prices have increased, but I think at these rates, we ought to be able to expect just a bit higher quality. We really appreciate the experience in the staff at Marival Distinct, and we thank you all for our wonderful 5 night stay!

  Feb 18, 2025
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  Wonderful staff, beautiful resort

  Te amo Marival Distinct. The resort is beautiful, the rooms are amazing and the food is so very good. All of the staff members are very caring and compassionate. We are very happy to have met Felix, Carlos, Brenda, Fidel and all of the people who made us feel so welcome

  Feb 11, 2025
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  Fun in the Sun!

  The food was delicious. The staff was very friendly and helpful. Everything was very clean. There were so many fun things to do. In particular, the NRG2GO classes were a great workout and a great addition to my vacation. The instructor was so kind and helpful. She had so much energy, and her playlists were so fun. I would highly recommend making Marival Distinct the destination of your next vacation!!

  Feb 08, 2025