I am an SPG member who just returned from 8 days and 7 nights at the "It's not really a Westin" Cancun Resort & Spa. Let me first say that your staff was EXCELLENT - friendly, professional, helpful - Ileana & Melissa-concierge, Jorge-bartender, Allen, Marco, Bernardo-waiters, Jose, Jorge-Royal Beach Club-front desk. They are an asset to Westin. Without them, we would have tried to leave the facility VERY early on.

Unfortunately, the facility itself left much to be desired, even prompting unsolicited comments from a concierge (Eduardo), a Vacation Ownership salesman (Hilberto) and a Westin rep from "corporate" who recently tranferred to Cancun from Hawaii (I forgot his name), all of whom said "this is not really a Westin property" we purchased it after the hurricane and are using it while our other facility is under construction. I stated - the sign on the door says Westin, the promotional invitation that I signed up for says Westin, your clothing says Westin, if this property does not live up to those standards you should not be representing it as such.

I purchased the promotional package for $299 ($50 more than most other guests that I spoke to), I added 3 more nights at the Royal Beach Club with SPG points, I upgraded my standard room (first 4 nights) to the Royal Beach Club with SPG points only to find out that we were staying in an OLD, OUTDATED, badly in need of repair facility that "is not really a Westin."

During our first night the air-conditioner BANGED so loudly we jumped out of bed. This happened EVERY 18 minutes ALL NIGHT & DAY. A call to "Service Express" at 2:00 a.m. was returned by the Night Manager at 3:00 a.m. The next day we were moved to another room (2 Doubles - we were previously in a King which we requested from the outset). This room had sliding doors to the balcony that DID NOT CLOSE or obviously LOCK. No one was surprised at this as it seems most of the sliding doors are broken. Our first room had little more than essentially a "hook and eye" closure screwed to the doors.

This quick fix was added to our doors the next day after we spent the night listening to a howling/whistling wind ALL NIGHT LONG (the winds were VERY strong all week - the ONLY negative that was NOT under Westin's control).

Mold on the spartan furnishings, no carpeting, ... I can go on and on.

Bottom line - we feel that Westin misrepresented this facility as a WESTIN RESORT and SPA. In addition to the $300 I spent on promotion (a great deal if it were not for the facility), I used 30,000 SPG points for additional nights and upgrades, 50,000 Continental points and 50,000 AMEX points for airline tickets to stay at an inferior "It's not really a Westin" Resort and Spa in Cancun.

My wife & I stayed in the Royal Beach Club June 13 - 20. While many people are staying away from Cancun due to the H1N1 (Swine Flu) we went anyway. The hotel had plenty of rooms availabe & the beach was deserted. We like quiet & that is what we got.
It was our 6yr anniversary & the 3rd time we have stayed at this location. I think we saw 1 kid in a stroller at the hotel the entire week. A handful of kids under age 14. Mostly adult couples which was very nice!

We had a great time. We stayed in Room 2613, which had an awesome view. Since so few people were in the Royal Beach Club, the main desk (for the royal beach club) was closed & the normal breakfast & happy hour location was closed & we had to go to the main hotel for breakfast & happy hour. This was a slight pain in the butt as we had to walk all the way over there.. but it was worth it.

I took a video of the breakfast spread & have uploaded it. If you walk away hungry from breakfast then you just simply have a bottomless stomach. The spread was AWESOME.. nothing like a 2 egg omelette made infront of you.. service was great as well. We did tip our waiters cash for both breakfast & dinner. It definitely helps. Couple bucks each day goes along way.

The happy hour was a little stingy on the food, normally 2 appetizers (chicken wings, cheese sticks, chicken skewers, steak skewers, ect) and a couple desserts. The drinks were huge.
The Royal Beach Club gets you 2hrs of happy hour drinks & food (5:30-7:30pm) each night. It also gets you free internet access in the computer lab. WiFi access is $15 bucks a day i think - Would be nice if Wifi was free for the Royal Beach Club - but I got by with my computer access.

The Royal Beach Club also gets you free accces to the fitness area & spa which are both very nice.
Royal Beach Club also has its own pool area & is very quiet.
If you are into snorkeling there is a great spot to snorkle like 100 yards from the hotel (near club med just to the right of the rock break/peninusula area). Take your snorkle gear with you & check it out. It is a public area so there is no charge to snorkle.

Couple negatives:
no king bed in the royal beach club
the wave runner gringo that hounds you daily to ride/boogie board
no free wifi
royal beach club reception area closed
limited food for the happy hour

If you go, spring for the royal beach club. The food is worth it.
This hotel is at the far end, furthest from the "action". The Westin probably has the 2nd largest beach access, 2nd only to Club Med. The ocean is calm thanks to the "break" out in front of the hotel. Hotel is close to the airport so if you ride in a van with others you will be the first stop! We are already planning our next trip back... We love this hotel. If you want quiet book here, if you want action & like clubs don't book here. This place is really far from the action. If you have any questions email me. I will do my best to answer your questions - safe travelling!

My husband and I stayed at the Westin from 6/15-6/22 upgraded to the Royal Beach Club. It was great! I was a bit scared after reading some not-so-hot reviews, but I have to say it was the best choice to stay at the WEstin. I found this out after talking at the airport with other people and them sharing their experiences.
The rooms are pretty good, spacious and great views from large balconies. I was on the 6th floor which I'm sure made a difference for my view. Nothing spectacular, but very comfy, roomy and up to date. Do not take anything from the mini frigde (very expensive) walk to the small store down the street about 200yards and cross the street (it's on the opposite side) buy your drinks and chips there. The digital safe was very useful and user friendly. The beds, very comfortable, yet I wouldn't say "heavenly".
The breakfast however was FABULOUS! @ "Palmar" inside the hotel. It is huge with many many different choices. The evening appetizers and open bar were also great. It's a mini buffet with chicken wings, mini BBQ ribs, tacos, deep fried calamari. Different array of dessets as well. ANyway, different every day. My husband and I are not drinkers but the margaritas and strawberry daquiris were very good. These two things right here are what really makes this hotel stand out. You save so much and the service and qualitiy of the food is excellent so it's not like it's included becuase it's bad, no! It's all great quality and quantity.
The beach was great. Ample lounge chairs, palapas and umbrellas. The various pools were good too. We spent most our time in the pools opposite the beach since they were almost always empty. The jacuzzi is on the RBC pool side and was almost always off, this i didn't like. The jetski rentals are right next to the hotel, they were asking $70/30 min ,my husband bargained and we paid $50 for 30 min. Lots of Fun!
We had dinner by the beach at the Sea and Stones, it was ok, nothing fabulous. The concierge helped us with other dinner reservations. They recommended a lobster rest in town (LORENZILLOS, ExCeLlENt!!) you must go, it's so delicious, bit pricey though. We also took advantage of the 30min. free internet in the business center for RBC guests, that was helpful for checking emails.
Prepay your transportation, we bought it in the package from expedia, BEST DAY. they were awesome, great service, highly recommended. Do not take the cabs, very expensive. Use the bus service, comes by every 3 mins and you get to your destination really quick 5-15 minutes. Only 50 cents/ 7.50 pesos. We took 3 tours. Did 1 one day and rested the next, then took the other one and rested the next day and so forth. They were great and we had so much fun!
1. Xcaret- take your swimsuit and camera, do the underground river and night show!
2. Tulum- take your swinsuit-so amazing and beautiful. take the camera again.
3. Chichen Itza- Take water, hats, sunblock, camera. Amazing sites, good buys on souvenirs directly from Mayan decendants, shop here instead of the stores.
If you are going soon, I'm so jealous. YOu are going to have such a wonderful time at the hotel, the tours, the restarants, everything! We had a blast, wish we were there NOW!

Where do I start? My girlfriend & I stayed at the Westin for four days and four nights. We arrived at The Westin and Jose immediately greeted us with a smile, getting our bags and taking them inside. Everyone was friendly and so helpful. We arrived a few hours earlier but our room was ready which was nice.

It is definately worth it to upgrade to the Royal Beach Club because the huge breakfast buffet is included as well as cocktails & appetizers in the evening which were meals in themselves. The buffet was the largest and most amazing buffet I've ever seen. It had everything you could possibly think of. We chose to eat outside by the ocean every morning which was so wonderful. We are not drinkers, but we enjoyed some fruit drinks and appetizers and relaxed outside during the cocktail hours. Another plus to having the RBC upgrade was the 30 minutes of internet in the computer lab free every day.

The beds were very very comfortable and the balcony view of the ocean was incredible. The air conditioned room felt soooo nice especially coming in from the heat outside. We opened the sliding doors when we went to bed at night so we could hear the waves.
There were times that it felt like we had the whole beach to ourselves. We enjoyed boogie boarding, but the best experience we had was snorkling and diving for seashells. We were able to find several sand dollars and even four large conk shells. The best snorkeling for marine life however, was on the other side of the reef which was only a short walk over by Club Med.

Don't listen to any of the bad reviews. Honestly, they had me worried because of some of the negative things I had read prior to our trip b/c we had ever been to Cancun before. The only thing I can figure is they must be people that are hard to please, because I do not have a single negative thing to say about our stay at the Westin. We were treated like royalty, everyone was so helpful & friendly, the facilities were amazingly spotless, the room was sooooo nice, and the beach was awesome. It was the most relaxing and fun vacation we have ever had.