Dreams Tulum Resort and Spa

This experience has been horrendous. False advertising and bait and switch on booking. Paying thousand to stay here, expecting 13 restaurants and multiple pools, and several bars open. Come to find out, the whole place is under renovation. With the buffet only open and 1 bar, which is now overrun by 5 weddings here. DO NOT BOOK HERE. Save your money and go to a motel 6 worth $100 a night

We travelled from London for an 11-night family holiday at Dreams Tulum Resort & Spa, and what a wonderful experience we had! This was our first time staying at a Dreams resort, and it certainly won’t be our last!

The hotel is situated in Tulum, which is a much quieter area compared to somewhere like Playa del Carmen. It’s worth bearing in mind that if you want to explore outside the resort, you’ll need to take a taxi to visit other areas.

The resort itself is absolutely beautiful, surrounded by lush tropical greenery and set within the stunning Tulum jungle. The grounds are gorgeous and really give you that tropical paradise feeling.

As the resort is situated within a protected natural habitat, it operates a no-smoking policy, with one designated smoking area. Smoking is not permitted anywhere else within the resort, including on room balconies, which is worth knowing before you travel.

At the time of our visit, the hotel was undergoing renovations, meaning we didn’t get to experience the main lobby or main swimming pool during our stay. Although this was a little disappointing, it certainly didn’t spoil our holiday. Renovations are due to be completed by November for peak season.

Our check-in was handled through the Coco Lounge and was a lovely experience. Both the Coco Lounge and Preferred Club areas are absolutely gorgeous!

We particularly enjoyed visiting Coco Café for its delicious ice creams and coffees. The Preferred Club Lounge was another favourite spot, perfect for relaxing with a drink and enjoying some family games.

We stayed in a Preferred Club room with a beautiful beach view. The room was lovely, spacious, comfortable and well maintained. It was fully stocked with toiletries, and the minibar was replenished daily. We also loved the evening turndown service, which was such a lovely extra touch. One small issue we experienced was with the sleeping arrangements. We travelled as a family of three (two adults and our three-year-old daughter), but on arrival, our room only had one king-size bed. We had to request an additional bed for our daughter, which was arranged the following day.

A huge thank you to Luisa from the concierge team, who was absolutely amazing and went above and beyond to resolve this for us.

Our room also included room service, which we made the most of throughout our stay. We really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend giving it a try!

We thoroughly enjoyed the food during our stay. The resort places an emphasis on fresh, organic and locally sourced ingredients, which we really appreciated. The World Café buffet was very good for an all-inclusive resort, with plenty of options to choose from.

Due to the ongoing renovations, the à la carte restaurants were operating on a reduced schedule. However, we still managed to experience five out of the seven restaurants during our stay. We would recommend trying as many as possible, as they all offered something different. Our personal favourites were Portofino and the sushi restaurant – both were fantastic!

One of the biggest highlights of our holiday was undoubtedly the staff. The service we received throughout our stay was fantastic, and so many members of the team went out of their way to make us feel welcome.

A very special shout-out to Haze, Eloy, Luisa, Santos and Benito from the concierge team. You were all absolutely wonderful and took such great care of our family. Your kindness, attentiveness and willingness to help made such a difference to our holiday.

Another huge thank you to the boys at Sugar Reef Bar, who kept the drinks flowing throughout our stay! Always friendly, hardworking and providing service with a smile!

We also want to give a special mention to the bell boys, who were absolutely brilliant. They work incredibly hard, are always on hand to help and deserve so much recognition for everything they do behind the scenes. Thank you for looking after us so well!

Without a doubt, one of the biggest highlights for our three-year-old daughter was the Explorers Club and water park! The water park was amazing, and we spent time there as a family every single day. It was such a lovely place to make memories together.

We also cannot praise the Explorers Club team highly enough. A massive thank you to Xally, Diana, Tania and Xam, who took such wonderful care of our little girl. As parents, feeling comfortable and confident leaving your child in someone else’s care is so important, and the team made us feel completely at ease. Our daughter loved her time there, and we felt she was in very safe hands.

The hotel also offers an onsite photography service. Yes this is an additional cost, however the photos were beautiful and captured timeless memories for our family. Thank you to Juliana, Angelica and Benjamin who took the most gorgeous photos for us. Thank you to Emanuel in the photoshop who made the process so easy for us.

You are all a credit to the resort, and we are so grateful for the care and kindness you showed her!

Another massive shout-out has to go to Ronny from the entertainment team! Ronny really is the life and soul of the resort! His energy, enthusiasm and personality are infectious, and he does an incredible job of keeping everyone entertained and creating such a fun atmosphere.

We thoroughly enjoyed the evening entertainment, particularly the fire show, acrobatic show and Brazilian show. The live band performing in the evenings was also fantastic and a lovely way to finish the day.

There was always something to enjoy, and the entertainment team worked incredibly hard to make each evening special.

Despite the ongoing renovations and a small hiccup with our room on arrival, we had an absolutely wonderful 11-night stay at Dreams Tulum.

The beautiful surroundings, lovely food, fantastic family facilities and, most importantly, the incredible staff made this a holiday to remember. What really stood out to us was how genuinely warm, friendly and hardworking the team were. So many people went above and beyond to make our family feel special, and that is what truly makes a resort memorable.

This was our first experience of the Dreams hotel chain, and we loved it so much that we will definitely be booking another Dreams resort in the future!

Thank you, Dreams Tulum, for a wonderful family holiday and some very special memories. 🌴❤️

I have stayed at 40–50 resorts throughout the Yucatán Peninsula alone, not to mention resorts in many other parts of the world, and I can honestly say this is by far the worst resort experience I have ever had. The second-worst resort I have ever visited feels like heaven compared to this place. I genuinely do not know how to put into words just how bad this experience was.

We came here for a wedding, expecting what should have been an exciting, relaxing vacation. Instead, we arrived to find that essentially the entire resort was shut down for renovations. And somehow, despite checking the resort’s website, multiple booking websites, social media, and even its own app, there was absolutely no mention of these renovations. Nothing. Had we known what we were walking into, we never would have booked this place.

The food situation was absolutely pathetic. Almost all the restaurants were closed, leaving us with a buffet that had some of the worst food and most limited selection I have ever encountered at a resort. The other available dining options were terrible as well. Room service was no better, with an awful, extremely limited menu. We literally skipped meals because there was so little available that we didn’t even want to bother eating. Food was one of the main reasons we chose this resort, and the experience was an absolute joke.

The beach was disgusting. The sand was gross, seaweed was everywhere, and the water was brown and uninviting. The one pool that was open was equally disappointing. And when you wanted to grab a drink and try to salvage what was left of your vacation? Good luck. Almost every bar was closed, too.

The only bar available was the Preferred Club bar, and I was literally turned away multiple times when trying to get a drink because I wasn’t part of the Preferred Club. Let that sink in: the resort had practically everything closed, leaving guests with almost nowhere to eat or drink, and rather than finding a reasonable way to accommodate paying guests, they simply turned people away. No alternative options, no meaningful compensation, no upgrade, no discount, and no real effort to make things right. Nothing.

I will say that some of the staff seemed genuinely kind and were doing their best. Unfortunately, even the nicest employees cannot make up for a resort that is fundamentally failing its guests. The people working there are put in an impossible position because the property itself has so little to offer.

What makes this experience so infuriating is the complete lack of transparency. If a resort is undergoing major renovations that result in most of its restaurants, bars, pools, and other amenities being unavailable, guests deserve to know BEFORE they book and pay. Hiding that reality while continuing to sell the experience as a resort vacation is completely unacceptable. It feels like a scam, and I struggle to describe it any other way.

I do not normally take the time to write reviews like this. I understand that things happen, renovations are necessary, and not every vacation will be perfect. But this was not a case of a few minor inconveniences or one disappointing meal. This was an entire resort experience that failed on nearly every level.

We came for a wedding and what should have been a memorable getaway. Instead, we spent our time frustrated, hungry, disappointed, and wishing we could just go home. That is not a vacation.

I would not recommend this resort to my worst enemy, and I would not return even if someone offered me a completely free stay. That is how bad this experience was.

Save your money. Go somewhere else. There are far too many incredible resorts in Mexico to waste your time and money on a place like this.