My boyfriend and I got a great deal here. The free breakfast alone is worth the price. This is not a continental breakfast buffet but a real restaurant. Not to mention that the ocean is right there. The pool is so beautiful and there is a bar at the hot tub! There are waiters that come and bring you pina coladas on the beach. And the best part is that there are no children so the pool is aways nice and calm. Even though the hotel was fully booked it was not crouded at all and there were plenty of cozy cushions on the beach to claim (and some umbrellas). It was VERY romantic.

The weather was just perfect from April 8 to April 14, sun and temperatures around 85 degrees F. The Bel Air's location is near the southern end of the Hotel Zone where it was quite windy and the red flags were up the whole time we were there because of the churning waves so there was little access to the sea. Nevertheless the hotel does have a nice pool although I never observed too many taking advantage of it. Most of the guests seemed content to lie in the sun and relax.

The transportation to and from the airport was not included in the package price, but the hotel service was prompt in picking us up and getting us back to the airport on the day of our departure. At our arrival at 1:00 PM, the room was not ready yet so during the couple of hours wait we had lunch.

The hotel appears to be one of the older ones that has somehow survived the effects of hurricanes but it's beginning to show its age. It looks like it's being taken care of, many layers of white paint slowly obscuring details of architecture, and it's kept clean and swept up. The staff is very courteous and helpful, always anxious to assist.

While we were there, we had the all-inclusive plan. Although the food was good, it was the same menus everyday with no variation (like no specials for dinner). Yes, I said menus. This place does not have a buffet, except for some fresh fruit and cold cuts in the morning. The breakfast and lunch menus were the most appealing. We soon became bored with the choices on the Mexican dinner menu and had no interest at all for the Fusion menu. So we ended up going out for dinner 3 of the 6 nights that we were there. There is one excellent place across the street, JC Capitán Seafood Restaurant, but to get to the other restaurants you have to take a taxi or public transportation. It's a good 15 minute ride to the Flamingo Plaza area to give you an idea.

The hotel describes itself as minimalist and that is no exaggeration. First of all everything is white; walls, ceilings, curtains, furniture, bedding, even the building. Red is used sparingly for accents. The Bel Air Collection (collection of what ... I'm not sure) provides most hotel services as well: spa, laundry, massage, a small women's gift shop. Wireless internet is only available in the lobby area.

At night there is no entertainment nor open bar. It's a very quiet place which suited us just fine but I'm sure it would not appeal to the younger crowd and there was certainly nothing for children to do except play in the sand. If you want peaceful and serene then this is the place, far from the party-crowd and night revelers.

We were welcomed with a free 5 minute massage and a glass of Champagne in the out of this world lobby by the friendly and helpful staff. The feeling here is of total relaxation and calm. The lobby area is open to the stars, or sun and you are encouraged to lounge on the comfy seats and sofas and has stunning floral arrangements. The bar is here and opens in the evenings, as does the Sushi Bar. I don't do fish, especially raw fish, but has the Tempura Chicken and Vegetables too and they were great. It is nearly always windy in Cancun, welcome in the heat of the day but a Shawl or cardigan can be a bonus in the evenings whilst lazing and enjoying the stars. When we got to our room we were blown away by the trail of red petals to the bed and Swan towel sculptures, Beautiful! We were ocean view which has sun rise views where as lagoon view is sun set side.
We were on a bed and breakfast deal, but what ever board basis you are on there is morning coffee and biscuits from 6 till 8 ish and coffee and cake in the evenings from around 5pm, both in the lobby. Also they offer free Champagne on the 6th floor as the sun goes down. Get there in plenty of time for once its gone its gone.
Breakfast is served from 7 till 1130am, (how civilised it that!) and was again, wonderful. The choice available is second to none, vast, served in beautiful surroundings overlooking the infinity pool and Blue Caribbean sea, with smiley helpful waiters too.
The pool area is beautiful with thick red soft sunbeds abundantly available and there is also a swim up bar but they will take orders from you bed for the ultimate in lazy luxury! The drinks were reasonably priced too.
The beach is great with ample sunbeds and umbrellas and a life guard 6 days a week. His job is made harder by the fact that there are rocks right in front of the hotel and as they are just hidden, it is dangerous so be careful. The sea is often very rough here with quite an undertow and as a paddling holiday maker, I stuck to the pool. There are many other beaches about where the sea is calmer, so have fun investigating!
Do take advantage of the local buses, they cost just 7.5 Pesos and come along every couple of minutes 24 hours a day! Take care though as they are mainly wanna be rally drivers! We even had Mexicans with guitars on more than one occasion busking on the buses which was great fun!
If you are after organised activities, water games and full on partying, go elsewhere or take a bus, cos what you get here is peace, and lots of it. Enjoy!
The staff made a huge effort to make us feel welcome and all tried to speak English, most very well.

My boyfriend and I just returned from our trip to Cancun. We stayed at the Bel Air Collection for two nights from March 22-24. We booked the room through united.com for a rate of $75 / night - with taxes included, the grand total came out to $166. I looked through the tripadvisor reviews and thought "there are more good than bad, so at least I have a 50/50 chance of having a good experience." I seriously beleive that we got what we paid for with this hotel. It was an economical place to lay our head, but the service was poor as was the cleaning...

If you have never been to Cancun before (we have never been there), it's helpful to know a couple of things. 1) It's hard to avoid spring breakers at any hotel if you are going there during spring break time -- loosely defined as the end of Feb to the middle of April. This hotel was no exception. 2) Cancun's "hotel zone" aka where all of the hotels are located is on a peninsula that juts out from the main city area. You can get on to this peninsula from the downtown area (starting at KM 0) or through the airport area (starting at KM 30 or so) The hotel zone is approximately 25 kilometers of hotels / condos / villas on one side and then restaurants / leisure areas on the other side. 3) The flavor of Cancun is a mix between the "STRIP" locations of South Beach, Miami (think hotels and party scene), Las Vegas (think partying and entertainment for all ages) and Orlando (somewhat of a place of a strip mall)

With that being said, this hotel is located on KM 20.5 - well away from the middle of Senor Frog's and the like. It's towards the end of the strip, about 15 KM away from the airport. Despite the proximity to the airport, expect to pay around $270 Pesos or more ($25 USD) to get from the hotel to the airport, otherwise you can take one of the buses on the main strip to the downtown terminal and then transfer to another bus -- long trip and a pain in the you know what when you have luggage.

So, now on to the hotel. When you first arrive, you are greeted by champagne and a cherry and escorted to check in. The lobby is pretty swanky - think Beverly Hills meets South Beach chic. Check in is at individual desks and through miniature laptops.

The check-in lady was RUDE and did everything in her power to rush through check in. Check in is at 3 p.m., so if you come early - say around 1 or so, expect to wait a long time to check in as well as wait for your room. Even when we had questions (they make you put down money for a "voucher" or cash for all food expenses if you are not on an all-inclusive) she hastily answered our questions and looked at the couple behind us as if trying to anticipate how quickly she could get rid of us in order to speed up the long check-in line. Moreover, they make you sign a piece of paper upon check in stating that the hotel is not liable for anything that is left in the room that is not placed in the safe deposit box. [See other post about a couple that was robbed of their money, jewelry and camera while they were sleeping inside the room]

We were then told that we had to wait to check in and decided to take advantage of the pool / beach area. The pool area is very nice (see picts from other posters) but we decided to take advantage of the beach. As a side note, they allow topless sunbathing in the beach area, but not in the pool area. There were quite a few females who were topless on the beach.

We also decided to order food / drink. We ordered a club sandwich and hamburger from the hotel. The drinks are strong and good, but by the time the food came to us, the fries were soggy and cold. When we asked the waiter to change them, he said that there was nothing that he could do about it since the walk from the kitchen to the beach was too long and that's why the fries were cold. We were still charged full price for the food on the beach.

We stayed in room 6507. The room did not have a safety chain on it as most hotel rooms do. Instead, the entire safety chain was removed (although the holster was still on the door) and the door frame had markings on it as if it had been jammed previously with a crowbar for forced entry. We slept with a chair propped against the door each night to at least warn us if the door would be forcibly opened.

The room itself was portioned nicely, but you could somewhat tell that it was cracking around the edges. The dining room table in the bedroom had chairs whose legs were almost completely rusted...

The bathroom in and of itself was completely modern and we appreciated the clothesline. What we do not appreciate is the fact that we picked up athlete's foot from the hotel. I developed it after the first night when my feet starting itching the next day. Although the showers are nice looking, you can smell the fungus from the drain covers -- we believe that the showers are not throughly cleaned, which led to some bacterial growth.

The hotel is also not close to many restaurants / take out options / clubs..which is a plus and a minus. The plus side is that you get to relax a bit from the craziness that is Cancun. The minus is that you will have to travel if you want any of that. There are buses that cost $7 pesos (.50 cents) each way that can get you where you need to go.

All in all, you take the good with the bad. We got what we paid for with the hotel, although we expected more.