We described the issues & he said he would send a machine that helps neutralize the air/smells, as well as someone to fix the phone. I attempted to call the concierge only to realize the cordless phone was not working, so I sent Martin a quick message and asked if he could return to the room, which he did in record time.

We noticed a strong smell in the room, I would liken it to pine-sol (a cleaner), as well as a smell of paint where the toilet was located & a HORRIBLE smell in the shower that can only be described as vomit. The is the second & last icky part of this day coming up. Martin turned our ceiling fan on for us and gave us a quick tour of things and said for us to let him know if we needed anything at all. Upon arrival, there were some maintenance guys still in the room with a ladder at which point Martin was so apologetic, we told him it was no big deal & just hung out for a few mins in the hallway while they wrapped up inside. I believe it ended up being around 1:30pm when Martin let us know the room was ready and escorted to our Oceanfront swim out suite, room 1105. We weren’t in any rush to get the room, but Antonio had told us he was going to do everything possible to get our room ready for us before 3pm, which was very kind. We know that we can pack our swimsuits and head to the pool, but we prefer to get into our room & settled before we do too many things, and we don’t mind just hanging out & having drinks in a cool place, so that is what we did. It had already been a long morning of travel (6am flight, at the airport at 4am etc.) and we just wanted to chill in the ac.

No problem! We enjoyed a delicious breakfast at leisure and then once done we headed back to the preferred lounge to relax and wait for our room. We chose Rosewater for the outdoor seating & amazing view, and it was a fantastic choice! Martin escorted to the restaurant & I had told Martin that I could be reached via Whatsapp & he said he would message us when the room was ready. He is a true gem, kind, understanding, funny and accommodating! He told us the room wasn’t quite ready and asked if we would like to have breakfast at either Spoon (the buffet) or Rosewater. At this point, we were introduced to what would quickly become our most favorite person of the trip, our butler Martin. As we were so early, our room was of course not ready, which was to be expected & not an issue at all. The bartender came over after a few secs and gave us each a cold glass of champagne which was very welcome at that point. I try very hard not to let things like that taint my opinion of what is to come, and just moved along with our check in. She took us down to the preferred lounge for check in, where we were greeted by Antonio, who was very pleasant & after I made small mention of the lackluster arrival for us, he apologized profusely for no one assisting us when we arrived with our bags or check in. At this point, I was less than impressed with what was happening and trying very hard not to get irritated with the staff & the lack of care shown by them. Still no offer for assistance with the luggage we had as we trekked down TWO flights of stairs hauling our own bags. I spotted a woman with a clipboard, approached her, and asked where we needed to go to check in at which point, she consulted her clipboard paper & said to follow her. We walked past the luggage counter, and no one ever acknowledged us or offered any help with our bags.

It was about 10:30am and typically you would be greeted by a luggage person or the person with cold cloths, OR SOMEONE, but we were greeted by no one. We stayed at Secrets Riviera Cancun resort for 6 nights over the 4th of July and overall had a great stay! The trip did not start off all sunshine and roses, however it definitely ended that way! The arrival started off on the wrong foot, with no one to greet us at all when our transportation dropped us off.

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