Grand Mayan

Arianda took us on the botanical tour. We told her we were interested in birds and she also showed them to us. At the very end of the tour we even saw the chacalacas. She was very pleasant and knowledgeable. We enjoyed our time with her and are enjoying our time at Vidanta. What a great place!

After we booked this resort (via external exchange using our Hilton Grand Vacations ownership), many of the recent reviews left me so nervous about this trip that I had already picked a backup resort to go to just in case. Thankfully, that wasn't needed. We arrived with a rental car. Parking is 100 pesos a night, valet only, and it will take 15-20 minutes to retrieve your vehicle each time. For us, the timing was pretty perfect if we just called before we left our room and took the tram to "Lobby central" where we would get our car. (We rented from "easyway rent a car", which I highly recommend. See separate review). At our car, someone took our checked sized baggage, ran it through an Xray machine, and put it on a cart that was then sealed in front of us. They then take this and deliver to your room for you. This saves you from having to lug it around on the trams. We were given a ticket to take a photograph of for our car, and a paper ticket for our luggage. We then walked through metal detectors and placed our carryon bags on another xray machine and entered the Lobby Central - which was a beautiful welcome to the resort. We were then taken by golf cart to the Grand Mayan lobby for check-in. We arrived around 3:15PM, official checkin time is 5PM. Our room was ready. We did the typical paperwork (handing over passports and the like) and paid the $150 resort fee we had been quoted. We also paid $1,500USD as a deposit for charges to the room. We were then taken to a desk to speak with Jessy, who told us a bit about the resort and then began the sales presentation hook that you have undoubtedly seen in other reviews. Ours was presented as a way to "unlock benefits". We had two "problems" here (in addition to the fact that we simply didn't want to go to the presentation). I hadn't been to an ATM yet and we had no cash to pay the $20 refundable deposit for the breakfast to unlock our benefits. I was also genuinely not feeling well (and had a dental appointment to address that scheduled for the next morning during breakfast time anyway). Jessy tried to work with us on the $20 and finally my husband explained that I really wasn't feeling well and needed to get to the room. To her credit, she then immediately stopped the pressure to attend this meeting for the "benefits" (of a discount on food/beverage, golf, activities, etc.) and helped us get to our room. She also called the bellman to arrange for our luggage which got to the room around the same time we did. We unpacked, showered, explored the room a little (which was fabulous) and I don't know if it was a function of when we visited or that the resort has incorporated feedback received but many of the things we worried about didn't come to pass at all and others I believe are a matter of personal preferences. We then returned to the lobby in search of dinner and Jessy personally walked is to Havana Moon for a wonderful meal with a spectacular view. We had great f