Guest writer for thePointsPage
After just a few too many days out of the sun, we recently booked a last minute trip to Cancun to sample the beautiful and (mostly) new Secrets Playa Blanca resort. Despite the resort only being a year old, we knew that Hyatt was increasing its points price from category D to category E so we snuck in just in time and got to enjoy a four night getaway with absolutely perfect weather. Check out my full review below to learn more about the property and our experience there.
The Basics
Hotel Booked: Secrets Playa Blanca Costa Mujeres
Date Visited: March 30 – April 3, 2025
Booking Type and Cost: 35,000 per night
Hyatt Status: Discoverist
thePointsPage Rating: 7 / 10
The Price
This particular stay cost us a total of 140,000 points plus cashing in a Club Access Award (CAA) to guarantee availability to the onsite Club areas which usually contain complimentary alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, as well as snack foods in a semi-private area. Our booking was for four (4) nights in a standard room during peak pricing, so just slightly higher than our hopeful expectation of how many points we were going to have to shell out.
For those unaware, Hyatt’s award night pricing operates by tiered categories represented by Standard, Low Season, and High Season. Combine this dynamic pricing capability with the properties overall category rating, Category D, and you end up with a nightly price of either 25,000, 30,000, or 35,000 points per room per night. The total cost, if paying cash, would have been $3,044 for the four nights, which represents a cent-per-point valuation of 2.17cpp which is almost smack dab in the center of what we’d expect to see Hyatt points valued at.
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Reception and Customer Service
Our interaction with the resort began before we even arrived, since we booked our airport transfer through their preferred company, Amstar. After landing we made our way to the pick up spot where we were checked in by an Amstar employee and waited for our driver to arrive. In the approximately ten minutes we were waiting we were approached by a woman who identified herself as working for Secrets. She was offering us $400 in credits to be used at the resort and was very insistent that she sign us up for a free champagne breakfast (ie – a sales presentation). While she was very pushy and we may have gotten close to considering her offer, she then stated that she needed $20 from us to hold our place. Nope. We were out. We found our driver and settled in for the approximately 50 minute drive to the resort, mildly put off by the interaction. Our driver later confirmed that she does in fact work for the resort.
When we arrived at the resort we were dropped off at a breezy, open air lobby with a beautiful view of the property. We were each offered a standard welcome drink and then directed into the air conditioned front desk area. Our check in experience was fairly unremarkable (our Discoverist status was never acknowledged) and we hit a bump when my husband Jason realized they hadn’t mentioned anything about our Preferred Club Access. We booked a standard room through points, but then used a Club Access Award in order to have access to the preferred pool and other exclusive amenities. The front desk agent couldn’t find it on our booking and only added it for us after Jason explained that he cashed in a CAA solely for this promised benefit.
They explained that we would be in building 9, at the far back corner, and the preferred pool area was in the complete opposite direction. Now, typically this wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow, that is what we paid for, but it’s worth mentioning here that I arrived at the resort on crutches. We later found out that the resort was at only 60% capacity and there were indeed preferred rooms available. So, while we can’t technically hold it against them that they didn’t offer us a closer room simply for the ease of access with me being on crutches, it didn’t go unnoticed.
At that point we were told we had to wait for our rooms to be ready (it was 12:30pm and they weren’t ready until 2:00pm, for which we never got a text or email notification, we simply had to ask) and before we could leave the lobby area we had to sit and speak with another employee. It wasn’t someone who wanted to tell us about all the great amenities available, or even to talk about excursions (not really an option on crutches anyway) but it was yet again someone pushing the $400 in credits to be used if we sat through a presentation. Between that and the woman at the airport it felt very pushy and unwelcoming. We politely said no and headed to the buffet.
Before moving on to the other aspects of the resort I will add that by the end of the first day, when I realized crutching my way through the resort was completely unrealistic, the front desk really was helpful in arranging for me to get an electric scooter. Our concierge (who we hadn’t met yet) called a medical rental service in Cancun and had them bring it to the resort (at the price of $50 per day). It absolutely saved my arms and made the rest of the trip much more enjoyable.
Paying for the scooter, on the other hand, was a bit of a debacle. The company that provided the scooter would only take cash payment for the rental which meant we were forced to utilize the on-resort ATM machine and pay their ridiculous usage fees. Luckily, we were able to have the $31.30 fee completed refunded just by using our Schwab debit card to pull out the funds. There are only a handful of checking accounts that offer this perk, and this is one of them. Read more about how it works in Jason’s post in thePointsPage Community FB page.
The Room
After inquiring at the front desk to see whether our room was ready or not (we were still in pants and very eager to change) we were given our keys and shown to our new home for the next 3 nights. The bellhop who brought us to our room was very helpful and cheery. He showed us everything we needed to know about the lights, alarms, TV, minibar, shower, and everything else as if we hadn’t actually been guests of our very own bedroom mere hours before, then left us to enjoy. We were on the second floor of the 9th building with a “jungle view”. Technically you could see the ocean in the far off distance, but mostly we were looking at a swim out pool directly below and the beautifully landscaped property ahead.
We had a welcoming and well-decorated room just as you would expect at a new resort. There was a king bed, a seating area with a couch, table and chairs, a balcony and a large bathroom with a freestanding tub, shower stall, separate room for the toilet, and his-and-hers sinks. The only unusual part of the room was that the “wall” to separate the bathroom from the rest of the room was a sliding panel wall made entirely of wooden slats. Was it technically a wall? Yes. Did it provide privacy? Not really.
We were also later told that they forgot to give us our welcome gift on arrival, but upon hearing it was a bottle of vodka, we said no thank you. Every afternoon employees came by and asked to restock the mini bar and the few snacks that they typically leave (M&Ms and chips). Housekeeping was prompt and did a good job. They also came for a turndown service every evening. The room felt well air conditioned during the day for the brief periods of time we were there, but at night it felt like it struggled a bit and we both found ourselves a little warmer than we’d like to be.
The Grounds and Pools
The property itself was beautiful, well designed and well maintained. Of course, the property is just over one year old, so it still feels shiny and new. There was a constant breeze coming off the ocean making the 85 plus degree weather feel much more enjoyable. The pathways are lined with a variety of tropical plants that even bend overhead at times, making it almost feel as though you were walking through a jungle tunnel. Closest to our room was the aptly named Jungle Pool, which is where we first ventured to, not realizing it was the quieter, more peaceful option on the property. This pool was beautifully shaped and designed to feel shady and private. There are cabanas to be rented and thanks to all the greenery, each of them felt quite secluded.
We quickly realized though that this pool is much less attended. The servers rarely come by to check if you need a drink and in fact there were no towels to be seen. Jason had to wander the property until he found the main pool in order to find us towels. Being further back on the property this pool gets less of that breeze, making the water a touch warmer and more calm than the other pools.
Between our room and the other pools we repeatedly passed the cluster of restaurants (more to come on those later), the gift shop, coffee shop, and bars. The property was accessible to me in my scooter (thank goodness) with two large ramps allowing me to reach the lower level as the back of the property is one level higher than beach/pool level. The two other pools (not including the swim outs on the ground floor of each block of rooms) were either the main pool or the preferred pool. Because we had preferred access we actually spent zero time at the main pool and I’m quite glad for that. The main pool had all the scheduled activities like games, live music, dancing and more and despite being not too far from the preferred pool, you couldn’t hear any of it. We were very much there to relax and the preferred pool was just the place for that.
The preferred area consisted of a large covered lounge area and bar, a small air conditioned snack room with TVs, and a beautiful pool that practically met the edge of the beach. Every day at 1pm there was a special food stand where they made things like tacos, elotes, paella and more. As I mentioned, there was a constant and welcomed breeze, though at times it picked up a little too much and the pool attendants were required to keep the umbrellas closed. One large umbrella actually did fall into the pool, but they quickly recovered it.
Despite the resort only being at 60% capacity, we did struggle just a bit to find chairs at the preferred pool. Perhaps it would have been easier at the main pool but again, that wasn’t our vibe.
The concierges at the preferred pool were excellent in helping us find chairs and bringing us anything else we might need, and the servers were equally as good. They remembered us each day and were both friendly and helpful, however, each day the concierges come around and confirm your room numbers to ensure that you do in fact have club access. The first two times they did this there was an awkward pause and a question of “you do know that the club pool is for preferred guests only, right?” At which point we had to explain that yes, even though we don’t have a club room number, we did in fact have club access. It was a little awkward.
Food and Beverage
Secrets Playa Blanca had quite the variety of food options for us to choose from and, seeing as we were only there for four nights, we actually didn’t get to try them all. There was of course a main buffet for breakfast, a few options for lunch, including the buffet, and then five main dinner restaurants. We could choose from French, Italian, Asian, Seafood or Mexican each night and we weren’t required to make reservations (that might be different when the resort is at a higher capacity). Our first night there we ate at the French restaurant and actually thought, “wow, this might be the best resort meal we’ve ever had” but none of the other restaurants matched the level of that meal. Food for the most part was so-so.
There were some things we quite liked, such as the taco stand for lunch in the preferred area, all the fresh fruit, and the options at the breakfast buffet, but other things fell flat, most notably the desserts. (Except for the French restaurant. The paris-brest was great). At the Asian restaurant Jason ordered the duck dish and it was definitely…chicken.
This is also the first resort we’ve ever been to that strictly enforced a dress code. I wore long sundresses but because Jason was in shorts, they insisted on seating us outside for every meal. Each restaurant had a nice outdoor patio area so this wasn’t a problem. It was cool enough to eat outside, but still felt a little too warm to be wearing pants. Many people did though, and there seemed to be quite a mix of people sitting both inside and out.
Each afternoon we visited the coffee shop for iced coffees (and sometimes ice cream) and that was a nice, refreshing treat to have. The drink options at the resort were exactly what you would expect. The servers were always super accommodating to any particulars we asked for, but I found the drinks to be consistently too sweet.
Getting to the Point(s)
In the end, we found this to be a nice, sunny and relaxing vacation which is exactly what we were looking for. The resort itself is beautiful and new, but the food wasn’t very impressive and the check in / customer service experience wasn’t great either.
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While I’m glad we went and just got to chill for a few days, I question whether it was worth the almost one hour drive from the airport, when I’m sure there are equally nice resorts that are less of a hike.
From the points perspective, knowing that this resort is jumping from category D to category E, I’m certainly glad we got in when we did because I don’t know that it’s exactly worth the Category E points rate.
