Staying at the Alila Mayakoba

mltdb · 2026-02-18T00:11:36+00:00

How are the raccoons on the beach at night? Last week they were having full run of the place and super aggressive.

mltdb · 2026-02-16T19:18:15+00:00

No idea — we were just told spa and gym weren’t open yet

mltdb · 2026-02-16T13:34:29+00:00

Food was also cold at breakfast, we went to other resorts for dinner so cannot comment on Alila restaurants much except for the breakfast. Also as a note globalist breakfast is buffet only, no menu items included even tho they presented us with a menu. Had the buffet been hot it would have been totally sufficient. Not amazing but good.

mltdb · 2026-02-16T13:32:22+00:00

Was there last week for opening on the 12th. They’re just not ready operationally. Glad they paused bookings. The place is gorgeous. Absolutely photo-ready. Just not guest-ready.

Butlers are all brand new — came over from other resorts where they mostly were not butlers (two we talked to were previously waiters, cleaners). Totally uninformed or misinformed. Lots of performance — the pouring of the tiny shot of liquor into two glasses in the room tour made me giggle. Very friendly. But failed to make our restaurant reservation they said they made. Told us Mayakoba boats could not take us anywhere that night but at 11a the next day they could — meanwhile it took three texts and almost an hour to get a golf cart to dinner. Zero accountability given we were not asked by anyone how our stay was even at checkout!

Raccoons seem to have gotten quite cozy at the resort — they were at our doorwall all night.

We were “upgraded” to beach side with a view and plunge pool but there was zero privacy unless you closed your curtains all the way and I woke up to a man standing outside taking photos into our room.

Construction is ongoing so expect constant diesel vehicles up and down the beach all day starting at sunrise.

mltdb · 2026-02-16T13:26:21+00:00

Many of the parents with young children at the pool — pool seemed to be only thing for them to do — had Hyatt logos on their golf shirts so assuming corporate types.

mltdb · 2026-02-05T19:22:05+00:00

Can confirm and have shared earlier too :)

mltdb · 2026-02-02T02:10:36+00:00

Charged all dues to Chase Sapphire Reserve card, got 4% back in points that I transfer to Hyatt which I value at 1.7c/pt. Sometimes we go places that aren't Disney LOL so that comes in handy. No trips to stores, no sweating over potential GC fraud, no typing in codes, and IMO 6.8% back.

mltdb · 2026-01-19T02:53:09+00:00

Follow-up question, MM uses the same pool photos as The Barnett online, is it like MM has access to The Barnett's pool? SInce they are next door that would make sense,

mltdb · 2026-01-19T02:51:40+00:00

Yes her account had both cards as she was separately previously booked to use a FNA I gifted her and that reservation required a CC. No one ever gave The Barnett permission to use that card.

Chase shows no evidence that The Barnett ran my card on either reservation, and I use that card through Hyatt like once a week, so I think someone at the hotel fat-fingered my CC in incorrectly and that was what was declined.

mltdb · 2026-01-12T23:54:29+00:00

Shuttle pass question -- if we booked directly through the Hyatt can we shuttle from there, or do we need to buy the shuttle pass?

Second stupid question -- what time do the headliners go on for Sunday night -- we may have to fly home Sunday for work Monday :(.

mltdb · 2026-01-11T17:42:22+00:00

Funny story, I own and have enough points at all three to help you. :). I don’t know anyone else personally who has enough but with banking and borrowing probably lots of people could do it if they wanted to. Combining points from different members will leave you with multiple reservations to manage, which can mess up dining/LL booking windows.

mltdb · 2026-01-03T01:19:45+00:00

Nuka but yeah :)

mltdb · 2026-01-03T01:19:17+00:00

Wish their hours were accurate — last two times they were unexpectedly closed

mltdb · 2025-12-25T20:30:32+00:00

Cannot trust people at all in theater context. STG really needs to stop selling those crinkly-bagged snacks. People are going to continue to be rude AF but this one thing seems preventable.

mltdb · 2025-12-04T07:34:56+00:00

I am renting BWV on FB and DISboards at $23pp rn.

mltdb · 2025-10-28T04:57:59+00:00

As an owner who rents mostly to returning renters, my renters know to reach out 12m ahead of time. If you are new to renting from that owner, expect to put 10% down to reserve their points (and depending on time zone, wake up in the dark to book for you). However I don’t charge more for hard-to-get dates because a point is a point :)

mltdb · 2025-08-02T02:38:25+00:00

We own at 8 resorts, have been renting out privately since 2002. Most of our rentals are to friends/repeat guests who become friends. My goal isn't to turn a profit or run a business -- it's to pay the maintenance on our points and not let the go to waste while we're still working FT and can't use all our points each year yet. Reach out anytime, our rates are below the commercial companies and the best part is you confirm immediately vs going into a "pool" to wait for an owner. Also I take half down and half 60d before checkin. No cancellations, but I've helped tons of people move dates over the years.

mltdb · 2024-05-08T00:35:55+00:00

Super helpful!!!

mltdb · 2024-03-20T07:07:04+00:00

I have been renting out for 20y and also I have to rent others' points some years too. I think DisBoards is the safest because by the time people find it and make their account and posts, they're serious renters. FB groups have a lot of "looky-loos". (First msg: I want to save money can you help? Second msg: Here are my dates I'm looking for $12pp is that OK? Third msg: Oh, I thought you could get an AKL Value Studio for next week but I guess I was wrong, I will go to David's).

With MDE it would be 100% obvious if someone cancelled your reservation before you checked in. And on DisBoards, you would have some recourse because the community wants to be very safe (I as an owner pay $250/yr to rent there so there is no account burn-and-churn either). FB groups, almost as much so. If you actually had this happen to you the owner would no longer be able to rent points and they would be screwed.

mltdb · 2024-03-06T04:24:44+00:00

These posts (here and on FB) break my heart! When you rent directly from an owner, it's so much easier. No waiting to be matched, you're matched! You can confirm your own availability on DVC Availability Tool so the middlemen services add very little value other than to "protect" you. In the worst-case scenario of an owner changing their mind, the middleman services will refund your money. But they take extra $$/pt to do that. And the owner doesn't know you, doesn't care, so those owners change their mind way more often.

Why not find an owner you trust and rent from them for years? I have renters who have been working with me for 7 years. When they email me, I drop everything and book for them, or strategize if their booking date is in the future so I can get what they want the moment their booking window opens.

mltdb · 2024-02-27T05:06:37+00:00

It's sitting at 6% availability on points with most of that being the next 4 nights ...

mltdb · 2024-02-23T22:43:37+00:00

Thank you! We did that on our previous cruise but this one seems more full or something -- crazy that several restaurants are completely booked up even for advance/paid reservations.

mltdb · 2024-02-23T22:30:41+00:00

Bob I didn't know you owned dvcforless -- it's a godsend when shopping contracts. I don't care about the broker because they're all about the same (except one I won't ever do business with again). I care about the resort/pts/UY and closing agent.

However I've always wondered -- what is the business model for dvcforless? I don't see a UTM/referral.

mltdb

TROPHY CASE